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If you want to be a successful blogger and female entrepreneur then you need to continually be learning and growing.

Books are an incredible (and economical) way to educate yourself, get inspired, and grow faster.  In this post, I am covering 10 books for bloggers that I feel every female entrepreneur should read.  These books have made a difference in how I run my businesses and I hope they will help you as well!

Prefer listening to books over reading them?  Several of the books mentioned below can be accessed for free on Audible.  Start a free trial here.

Books for Bloggers: 10 Must-Read Books for Female Entrepreneurs

1. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller

Read this if … you are struggling with how to connect with your audience

Building a Story Brand is an amazing book for understanding how to connect with your audience through storytelling.  It’s an easy read that may turn everything you know about marketing on its head!  

Miller explains how to position yourself as the guide, not the hero in your customer’s journey.  He also discusses the importance of meeting the 7 needs that customers have by using simple, effective copy. 

His approach involves a less is more mindset when it comes to appealing to your ideal customer.  Simplicity is better when it comes to your marketing, because if you ‘Confuse you lose.’ There is also a must-read chapter on how to build your website using the Storybrand principles. 

My coach gave this book to me when I first started working with her and I have been using Miller’s principles ever since.   

Building a StoryBrand will forever transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.

2. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Read this if … you want some inspiration related to living a creative life

As a female entrepreneur, you are using your creativity in some form, whether it be through writing, art, music, design, video, audio, or one of the numerous other creative outlets.   

I love Elizabeth Gilbert’s writing, so when I heard she had a book talking about creative living and the ups and downs of living a creative life I was immediately interested.  I listened to the entire book in 2 days and really related to so many of Gilbert’s views on creativity. 

She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives in a very honest and straightforward way. It is important to note that this is not a detailed how-to book though.  If you are looking for specific tactics on how the creative process then this is not the book for you.  

Big Magic is simply an encouraging book about discovering and embracing your creativity which I believe all female entrepreneurs can relate to in some form.https://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?o=1&p=12&l=ur1&category=audibleplus&banner=0MG2XKQ7PYPP84NBNFR2&f=ifr&lc=pf4&linkID=1aee82e10b8dea0e3de7dcd947636d18&t=theothsidofsi-20&tracking_id=theothsidofsi-20 

3. Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals by Rachel Hollis

Read this if … you are struggling with doubts and a fear of being judged

Every female entrepreneur needs to read this book!  

Rachel Hollis has seen it too often: women being afraid of their own goals. They’re afraid of embarrassment, of falling short of perfection, of not being enough. But the biggest fear of all is of being judged for having ambition at all.

In this book, Rachel addresses so many of the doubts and fears that women face when pursuing their dreams and she does it her no-nonsense, hold nothing back way. 

She challenges women everywhere to stop taking themselves out of their dreams by identifying the excuses to let go of, the behaviors to adopt, and the skills to acquire on the path to growth, confidence, and believing in yourself.  

4. The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your life, Your Success by Darren Hardy

Read this if … you are struggling with consistency

I believe the three things that set successful bloggers apart from the rest is their ability to stay consistent, be persistent, and have the ability to master their mindset even when it seems like they are moving at a snail’s pace.   

The Compound Effect discusses the things we must do and what we must avoid to be successful. Hardy teaches how small efforts, repeated over time, create compound effects.  

This is exactly how blogging works.  It is a long game and many drop out before they can see the compound effect begin to work.  The little habits and small actions you take each day can quickly build into a much larger accomplishment than you might realize.  

5. The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau

A great read if … you are just starting a business and need some motivation

We all have to start somewhere and this book provides an in-depth look at how different entrepreneurs got their start.  

Before writing this book, Guillebeau identified 1,500 individuals who have built businesses earning $50,000 or more from a modest investment (in many cases, $100 or less), and focused on the 50 most intriguing case studies. In nearly all cases, people with no special skills discovered aspects of their personal passions that could be monetized and were able to restructure their lives in ways that gave them greater freedom and fulfillment.

I read this book when I was trying to transition my first blog in the parenting space into a blogging business that would make an impact on others while providing me with an income and more freedom.  I found it incredibly motivating to read story after story of how others built their businesses from the ground up.   

Guillebeau gives very specific details on exactly how much money each entrepreneur required to get their projects up and running and what these individuals did in the first weeks and months to generate significant cash; some of the key mistakes they made along the way, and the crucial insights that made their business stick.

6. You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero

Read this if … you are struggling with money mindset

We all have stories that we tell ourselves. The two biggest stories we tell ourselves when it comes to growing our business is that we don’t have enough time and/or money.

And man are there an incredible amount of money stories we tell ourselves!

What thoughts or emotions does the word money stir up for you?

Are they positive or negative?

What is your relationship with money?

Do you feel that having a lot of money makes you a bad person?  That money is hard to come by?  Money is the root of all evil?   

This book will help you uncover what’s holding you back from making money.  Jen Sincero has a hilarious and no-nonsense way of helping you get rid of the doubts, fears, and excuses that are stopping you from moving forward.

Listen to this book for free with a free audible trial.

7. No Limits: Blow the CAP off your Capacity by John Maxwell

Read this book to … take your life, leadership, and business to the next level

John Maxwell identifies 17 core capacities in this book. Some of these are abilities we all already possess, such as energy, creativity and leadership. Others are aspects of our lives controlled by our choices, like our attitudes, character, and intentionality. 

Maxwell examines each of these capacities, and provides clear and actionable advice on how you can increase your potential in each.

He will guide you on how to identify, grow, and apply your critical capacities. Once you’ve blown the “cap” off your capacities, you’ll find yourself more successful — and fulfilled — in your daily life.

This was the first book that I read by John Maxwell, but it definitely wasn’t the last.  He has written over 90 books and I have loved everyone that I have read.  Check out #10 for another one of my favorite John Maxwell books.

8. The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod

Read this if ... you are struggling with time management and creating successful habits.

Miracle Morning will help you create a solid plan for your every day so that you form habits that lead to success.

I am not a morning person, so I was reluctant to read this book, but Hal’s principles can truly work for anyone.  I challenged myself to implement what I learned and it honestly made a huge difference in my energy, motivation and focus.

“How you wake up each day and your morning routine (or lack thereof) dramatically affects your levels of success in every single area of your life. Focused, productive, successful mornings generate focused, productive, successful days—which inevitably create a successful life—in the same way that unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre mornings generate unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre days, and ultimately a mediocre quality of life. By simply changing the way you wake up in the morning, you can transform any area of your life, faster than you ever thought possible.”  -Hal Elrod.

9. Traffic Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Filling Your Websites and Funnels with Your Dream Customers by Russell Brunson

Read this if … you struggle with getting traffic to your website and/or funnel.

The biggest problem that most bloggers and entrepreneurs have isn’t creating amazing content, products or services; it’s getting their future customers to discover that they even exist.

Every year, tens of thousands of businesses start and fail because the entrepreneurs don’t understand this one essential skill: the art and science of getting traffic (or people) to find you.  

Russell Brunson, the creator of ClickFunnels and author of this book, breaks down everything in steps that anyone can implement.  

This book is packed with some truly amazing strategies for driving traffic to your site that don’t rely on social media.  You are going to want to take notes and read this more than once.  There are so many golden nuggets in here that will change the way you think about running your online business.

A must-read book if you want to explode your website and funnel traffic!  

Listen to this book for free with a free audible trial.  

10. Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success by John Maxwell

Read this if … you are struggling with a fear of failure.

Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will. It is what holds female entrepreneurs back from chasing their dreams and going all in. You are going to have obstacles and failures in your business and in life, but it is how you deal with them that will determine your success.

John Maxwell does an amazing job of helping others redefine failure and turn it into a stepping stone for success through this book.

“I want to help you learn how to confidently look the prospect of failure in the eye and move forward anyway,” “Because in life, the question is not if you will have problems, but how you are going to deal with them. Stop failing backward and start failing forward!” – John Maxwell

Books for Bloggers: Which will you read first?

There you have it.  10 books for bloggers that I believe every female entrepreneur should read.  If you are serious about blogging and growing your business then you are going to want to check these out!