23 Business Tips & Lessons from the Entrepreneur’s Bookshelf

You’ve heard you are what you eat, well we believe that you are what you read. Teach a CEO presents lessons from our bookshelf on how you can improve and grow your venture. We have taken nuggets from our library and provide them for entrepreneurs and business owners.

1. Design thinking is a problem-solving approach with a unique set of qualities: it is human centered, possibility driven, option focused, and iterative. (Design Thinking for the Greater Good: Innovation in the Social Sector)
2. What makes a membership organization is the attitude of the organization and the feeling of its members–not whether members subscribe. Companies' failure to see themselves as part of this bigger trend can limit their potential to build relationships and strengthen their models. (The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue)
3. Strategies are necessary. Plans are required. Goal setting is critical. Lists of things to do are important and necessary. But the success of any individual or organization is measured in what has ben accomplished, not in what was planned. (The Thing About Work: Showing Up and Other Important Matters [A Worker's Manual])
4. Property management is the glue that holds the segments of the real estate investment industry together. (The Landlord Entrepreneur: Double Your Profits with Real Estate Property Management)
5. Design thinking places the focus not so much on value capture as on value creation, because now learning is built for value. (The Business Case for Learning: Using Design Thinking to Deliver Business Results and Increase the Investment in Talent Development)
6. …I came to realize that we are spiritual beings having a physical experience on this planet. And we have all the power within us to make this experience an incredible one! For that, we need to understand the laws of the universe in which we live in, so that we can understand how it all works. We also need to understand how the mind works because that's the only tool we have, that can help us understand and connect even deeper with the universe so that we can create the most magnificent meaning for our lives! (YOU ARE A STAR! SHINE!)
7. Collect people every day. Business is all about developing relationships. Relationships don't flourish if you never leave your cube or never look up from your phone. Get out, do something, meet people, the relationships you form are your currency. (The Thing About Work: Showing Up and Other Important Matters [A Worker's Manual])
8. The maker movement manifests design thinking's iteration process in which tinkers devise, design, try, test and retry to build something. (Design Thinking for the Greater Good: Innovation in the Social Sector)
9. What makes a good marketer is an interest in what motivates target buyers, how they buy, and what earns their loyalty. (The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue)
10. You must design to deliver results. This will increase your influence on the talent development investment in the future. (The Business Case for Learning: Using Design Thinking to Deliver Business Results and Increase the Investment in Talent Development)
11. In my experience, the building is the second part of the equation. You should first turn your focus to the people who will rent your property, and learn what the renters in your target area actually want, based on demographic and psychographic data. (The Landlord Entrepreneur: Double Your Profits with Real Estate Property Management)
12. So your job is to GET A UNIVERSAL PERSPECTIVE by raising your consciousness above and beyond your physical reality to remember to trust your struggle–because there is a cosmic reason behind everything that's happening in your journey. (YOU ARE A STAR! SHINE!)
13. All successful innovation begins with an accurate assessment of what is going on today. Starting by developing a deep understanding of the present situation is a hallmark of design thinking and is at the core of design's information-intensive and user-driven approach. (Design Thinking for the Greater Good: Innovation in the Social Sector)
14. When good customers ask for small favors and you can give them, it builds loyalty. (The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue)
15. Too often, organizations implement these programs without clearly defining the expectations of each stakeholder group at the appropriate level of success. Without clear expectations, participants may not know what they must do to make it successful. (The Business Case for Learning: Using Design Thinking to Deliver Business Results and Increase the Investment in Talent Development)
16. The most successful real estate investors and entrepreneurs truly understand how to navigate all five phases, from purchasing, managing, and stabilizing properties to facilitating dramatic growth before executing a sound exist strategy. (The Landlord Entrepreneur: Double Your Profits with Real Estate Property Management)
17. Focus on your best clients as you build your membership organization, and create valuable experiences that would attract like-minded people. (The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue)
18. When you start a business, you're hungry. You're trying to find something that sticks so you can start a profit. And that's okay. Everyone starts there. But I see a lot of real estate entrepreneurs become slaves to their bills instead of focusing on the company's goal and purpose. (The Landlord Entrepreneur: Double Your Profits with Real Estate Property Management)
19. Maintaining your focus on the solutions rather than the problems. (YOU ARE A STAR! SHINE!)
20. While as an investor you are required to wear many different hats, you don't need to (and can't) wear all of them. Instead, you need a team. When we refer to “team,” we're not suggestion you go out and hire a team of employees to work under you. A “team” is merely a collection of individuals in various different businesses whom you can rely on to help you move your business forward. (The Landlord Entrepreneur: Double Your Profits with Real Estate Property Management)
21. The onboarding process is crucial for a Membership Economy organization's success.(The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue)
22. Formal learning will always be a part of organizations in advanced societies. Fat-paced changes and the demand for instant knowledge and information will increase the need for even more learning in the future. However, learning must translate into value for the individuals and the organization. (The Business Case for Learning: Using Design Thinking to Deliver Business Results and Increase the Investment in Talent Development)
23. If you're in marketing and sales, membership makes your job easier. You have to make only a single transaction to win a customer for life. (The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue)

What is your favorite quote from above or do you have another awesome quote from one of the books above? Let us know in the comments below.