As 2018 was approaching, I remember thinking to myself how I really didn’t accomplish much in my day to day activities. Sure, I was a full time student, I went to the gym and kept busy, but I felt like there was more to gain from the hours in my day. I set a goal to read just one book per month.
If you break it down, it isn’t as daunting as it seems (even if you’ve never read a day in your life).
1 Book of 300 +/- pages รท 30 days in a month = 10 pages per day.
If you can read a page a minute, then it would take you just ten minutes a day to read twelve books in a year. Simple enough?
In this article, I hope to provide you with some great books that I have read which changed my mindset on personal growth, investing and business as a whole. While there are many great books that are ideal choices, I have chosen only books that I have read.
Let’s get reading!
10. “Atomic Habits” by James Clear
In Atomic Habits, the author provides insights into ways our habits shape our daily behaviors, whether we notice it or not. By changing our daily habits, we retroactively will be come more productive and fulfilled. If somebody has bad habits, they may never notice the subconscious actions they perform each day, and as a result, never fulfills their goals that they set out to do. When we decide to be proactive in changing our habits, we aid change in our results from these positive actions.
9. “The richest man in Babylon” by George S. Clason
This text, focused on seven principles to achieve wealth can be summed up pretty simply. Save money, do not spend more than you make, invest the leftover, be cautious in your investments and protect this wealth and continue to educate yourself.
While this is an extremely high-level overview, the book is a quick read (4-5 hours if you have some time), just be prepared for some old-time english.
8. “How to Win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie
This book is a classic. If you search up “self-help books”, you’ll see this on every suggestion- for good reason. This book is not just a book to help you in business, but the principles will help your personal relationships as well. Carnegie breaks down the book into easy to understand steps for getting others to be interested in you, and gravitate towards you. In short, be interested in others before yourself and the rest will pan out.
7. “Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight
Written by the man who created Nike, this book is just a great overall story about the true struggles of building a business. With any large company, you expect challenges. However, Phil Knights takes into the trenches of the difficulties he faced when getting the mega-brand off the ground. Moral of the Story: DO NOT give up when the going gets tough. You never know whats waiting on the other side of a challenge.
6. “The Millionaire Real Estate Investor” by Gary Keller
For anybody looking to buy and invest in Real Estate, this book is a necessary tool. Gary Keller breaks down the business of owning real estate into very specific sections regarding building your personal wealth, finding your team, deals and how to manage your portfolio. What i really liked were the personal stories of real investors at the end of each chapter, which gave their background into their investing careers, showing you that any normal person can achieve financial freedom through real estate
5. “Best ever apartment syndication book” by Joe Fairless and Theo Hicks
If you are looking to be an active Real Estate syndicator and capital raiser, this is the book for you. Joe Fairless clearly articulates the steps needed to build a brand, build a team and find private investors to fund your deals. What i specifically liked about the book was the clear outline he provides before each sub-section so you can easily track your own progress in real time.
4. “Raising Capital for Real Estate” by Hunter Thompson
If you have a knack for finding deals, but you need money to close these deals, Hunter Thompsons entertaining and informative book on the real challenges of raising private capital will help you get deals done. He breaks down the methods he uses to raise money from family and friends, as well as outside investors through webinars, meet ups and formal dinner meetings. Raising money is already difficult, this book will take a load off your plate.
3. “Never Split the difference” by Chris Voss
While this isn’t technically a business book, FBI Agent Chris Voss’ techniques into negotiation can be extremely powerful when you’re at the closing table or negotiating with a seller on a big deal. He presents the reader with five main points: Intently listening, using mirrors (not, not the one in your bathroom), tactical empathy, labeling and saying “no”. I’m keeping this vague for a reason: I suggest you read the book to learn more.
2. “Cashflow Quadrant” by Robert Kiyosaki
Famous financial Author, Robert Kiyosaki will get two spots on this list, and for good reason.
Cashflow Quadrant is about moving from the left side of the quadrant to the right side. We have four letters in a 2×2 grid.
E, S, B, and I.
Top Left: E- Employee
Bottom Left: S- Self employed
Top Right: B- business Owner
Bottom Right: Investor
The goal: move from the left side to the right side as fast as you can.
The reason: the Employee and the Self employed may have lots of money, but they trade money in exchnage for their time. On the other hand, a business owner can leave his business for a 2 week vacation and becuase he has systems in place, the business does not need his/her active particiaption. furthermore, an invesotr is the ultimate goal. the investor has enough money to invest, which will proivde him generational wealth without him trading his time.
The ultimate goal is financial and personal freedom, so learning to build wealth that produces cash flow whether you work or not is the key here.
- “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki
By far the most influential book I’ve read on personal finances, this gem gives the reader the guidlines to build wealth through asset-based investing. When you understand the correct path of money, you decide to buy assets that produce cash flow, rather than buying liabilities that take away money. An easy example of this principle is as follows:
If you want a new car, rather than buying the car (which goes down in value), buy a piece of real estate that will pay your car payment every month. Using the cashflow, you can now pay for your car, and when the car is fully paid off, you will still own the asset that is producing cash flow for as long as you own it, and you will have built up equity in the process. Pretty cool, huh?
While this list does not give the entire breakdown of these ten books, that was never my intention. If you’ve been pushing off reading for these years, i strongly encourage you to pick one of these books and start reading just ten pages a day. Let that compound to 70 pages that week, and 300 pages that month. By the end of the year, that will be 3600 pages of knowledge you just gave yourself. Your business and personal relationships will improve, guaranteed.
If you have any suggestions of good books, please email me at Jason@3pillarsrei.com.