Introduction
You’re a mom, and you can’t get away from the demands of life for long. But that doesn’t mean you need to put your business on hold. These 5 books are some of my favorite recommendations for mom entrepreneurs. They’re all about creating a business that sells, so you can design the life you want. And that’s exactly what entrepreneurship is.
The freedom to work from anywhere, work the hours that fit into your personal life, and financial freedom. That’s a whole lotta freedom and flexibility that entrepreneurs get. And to get to that point in your life, it’s going to take a lot of grit, a lot of education, and a lot of strategy.
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Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Everybody Writes: Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
- 2. Building a Story Brand
- 3. Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
- 4. Pressing Pause
- 5. How Are You, Really?
- Bonus! 2 Weeks Notice by Amy Porterfield
- Books Help Grow Your Business and Yourself
- Conclusion
And these 5 books will help you elevate your game so you can take your business to the next level and reach those freedoms. I hope these books will help inspire and motivate you just like they have for me:
1. Everybody Writes: Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
Everybody Writes: Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley.
Content creation is at the top of the list for all online businesses in 2023 and with good reason. Content is the way to generating more online traffic organically (free). Content is what attracts your ideal audience and helps you get in front of the right people, at the right time in the buying process. It’s how you get sales and make money online.
And any small business owner trying to create better content, faster should read Everybody Writes.
As someone who read Anne’s first version of this book, as well as the new and improved version that came out in the fall of 2022, I firmly believe that.
Everybody Writes is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn how to write better in general. This book is especially useful for moms running an online business if you want to improve your writing skills. Because any type of content that you create requires writing: blog posts, podcast scripts, YouTube Video scripts, text posts on social media, your website, and even captions or text overlays for short form videos. All content requires writing.
And this book is your guide. It provides practical tips on how you can improve your overall content creation process, and how you can sound more authentic. It’s writing like yourself, but better.
2. Building a Story Brand
Building a Story Brand is a book written by Donald Miller, a best-selling author and CEO of StoryBrand, a Marketing company. The book is designed to help your business clarify your message and build a more compelling brand through the power of storytelling.
In the book, Miller argues that the key to building a successful brand is to focus on creating a clear and compelling story that resonates with your customers. He explains multiple times the important of being clear over being clever.
He also introduces a framework called the “StoryBrand BrandScript” which consists of seven elements:
- A Character
- Has a Problem
- And Meets a Guide
- Who Gives Them a Plan
- And Calls Them to Action
- That Helps Them Avoid Failure
- And Ends in a Success
According to Miller, a good brand story should clearly establish who the hero of the story is (i.e., the customer), what problem they’re facing, and how your company can serve as a guide to help them solve that problem. The plan, call to action, stakes, and success all serve to drive the narrative forward and convince the hero to take action.
Throughout the book, Miller provides examples of companies that have effectively used the Storybrand Brandscript to build their brands, as well as practical tips for how to apply the framework to your own business.
If you don’t have a strong brand story, then your business will never reach its full potential because people won’t know who you are or what makes your business special. And what makes your business special is your Unique Selling Proposition.
Building a Story Brand revolves around getting to know your ideal customer inside and out. You need to know what your customers want, what their pain points are, and how you can solve those problems in as few steps as possible.
3. Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade is a book that’ll transform the way you market your business. It’s all about how you ethically influence and persuade others. It’s written by Robert Cialdini, PhD, who has spent his career studying how people are influenced. He’s also the author of six other books on persuasion, including Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
Cialdini explains that most people don’t realize they’re being persuaded until after they’ve made up their minds about something–and then it’s too late! We need to learn how our brains work and what makes us tick before we start pitching ideas or selling products. Pre-suasion helps us do just that by teaching us how our brains react when presented with new information in different ways. For example:
- We’re more likely to buy something when there’s an offer attached compared to when there isn’t an offer. Examples: 1. Buy one shirt for $25, get one free. 2. Pay $25 for two shirts.
- We’re also more likely to buy something if we see others buying it. Many online businesses have a wall of love or an “as seen in” page. Example: A business owner’s homepage showing past clients’ logos. (There are many tools to provide this option for your website. Check out Popupsmart’s blog post “12 Best Social Proof Tools That Will Better Your Business.”
4. Pressing Pause
Pressing Pauses: 100 Quiet Moments for moms to Meet with Jesus is a great book for all moms, even if you aren’t religious. Yes, this book has a religious element to it. It conveys that right in the title, but it’s also a great mindset book as well.
It helps you see the gratitude that we should have for even the worst task (whether that’s in motherhood or business). In the book, one of the chapters gives the example of being thankful that we get to clean our house.
It means we have a home that we get to live in. We get to clean it because it’s our place, while many others remain homeless.
Ultimately, this book helps you find peace in your day-to-day life by teaching you how important it is for moms (and everyone) to spend time alone with God each day (or simply quiet moments with ourselves).
You’ll learn how easy it can be for us moms who are busy with work and family obligations, along with our own personal struggles, frustrations and challenges–all of which add up into one big tangled mess!
Pressing Pause shows us how we can unwind, press pause, and take a breather from the tangled (and sometimes stressful) moments that make up our life. It’s a great read for just taking a break and getting some “me” time each day.
As I write this I have a few chapters left of the book, but I’ve been reading one per day (sometimes a couple at a time). But just reading one chapter, which is usually just a page or two has really helped to calm and ground me each day. It’s given me a different perspective, and it’s really helped me to see the good in all the chaos.
Even when I’m trying to get all three kids to the car for school drop off, and they all throw me last minute curve balls that’ll inevitably make us late. (This is a daily occurence that I have to plan ahead for.) But, now I try to see the humor in it and make the best of it.
And the same goes for our business life as well. Not every business idea we have will work. Some will completely bomb. But that’s okay, because we don’t get one chance and we’re done. We get as many chances as we’re willing to put the work in for.
5. How Are You, Really?
How Are You, Really? by Jenna Kutcher. This book helps you find your happiness in life again. We all get bogged down with life and the mundane every day tasks, but are we really checking in on ourselves to make sure we aren’t overworked and stressed to the max?
Kutcher, whose goal was to share her journey of becoming an entrepreneur with other women who are interested in starting their own businesses really dives right in, even the first few chapters really hit home for me.
She talks about how we ask each other how are you? And we immediately answer with an “I’m fine,” or some other automatic answer. We don’t think about the question itself or try to answer it truthfully whether we’re aware we aren’t truthful or not.
And for me, it hit the nail on the head. I’m so busy with everything I have to do, that I don’t stop to ask myself, “How am I, really?” It’s a great read, and honestly a quick read. I felt like I flew through this book. As an entrepreneur and a Mom, it was an eye-opening book to the struggles that all moms and women face in their professional and personal lives. We get busy and start going through the motions, rather than living intentionally.
If you’re looking for a mindset book for Moms and entrepreneurs? This is a good one to check out.
Bonus! 2 Weeks Notice by Amy Porterfield
2 Weeks Notice by Amy Porterfield. If you’re looking to quit your 9-5, or just want to start a side hustle, this book could be huge for you. It came out early 2023, and you can order 2 Weeks Notice on Amazon.
It’s chocked full of practical tips and advice that’ll help you create financial freedom or just freedom in general. Porterfield is a really big influencer in the online marketing world. She took her experience from corporate and turned it into an empire helping other entrepreneurs create courses that lead to financial freedom, the freedom to create a job they love, and the freedom to live life on their terms.
And this book details exactly how she did it, as well as actionable steps to help you do the same. I love hearing others experiences in their entrepreneurial journey, but I also like to see how others have made it happen. It always gives me new inspiration for ideas to infuse into my own online business.
And one of the best things about Amy Porterfield is how she can take something that’s complex and break it down so it’s simple and easy to follow. Plus, I love that’s she’s always upbeat about her business, but also real. She doesn’t leave out the hard parts of her business. If you haven’t already, check out her podcast. It’s great for anyone running an online business or wanting to start one in the future.
Books Help Grow Your Business and Yourself
Books are a great way to learn new skills and grow your business. You can read about other people’s experiences, mistakes, successes, and more. But most of all, they allow you to learn about yourself as an entrepreneur.
What do you need to improve on?
What are some things that have worked well for others in similar situations?
Reading books written by other entrepreneurs has really changed how I look at my own business. No two entrepreneurs have had the exact same roadmap to growing their business. But through reading others’ journeys, success and failure, I’ve been able to gather inspiration from multiple other entrepreneurs to help me create a better roadmap to success for myself.
Conclusion
I really hope that you’ve found this list of mom entrepreneur books helpful. There are so many amazing resources out there, and I know that reading is one of the best ways to grow your business and yourself as an online entrepreneur. I wish you all the best in your online business journey.
And I hope I’m able to help you in some way. Especially if you’re trying your hardest to find a way to stay at home with your kids. Believe me, I know what it’s like. It was only a few years ago that I was scouring the internet trying to find passive income jobs or side-hustles that I could do as a stay at home mom. And now, I have just that! Learn more about me and my story.
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