5 Books That Inspired Me to Start My Business
These five books are not all directly related to business, but they are directly related to why I started my business. You can order all these books from Powell’s and help Portland’s legendary independent bookstore recover from Covid-19.
5.Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days
By: Chris Guillebeau
It can be really hard to know where to start. This book helped me to get my mind turning in a business oriented way. It gave me very practical exercises to help me generate ideas and get creative about my strengths. As someone who was already working long days of overtime at a steady job, it was helpful to have some tangible laid out steps that could be conquered during my “off-time”. I did not follow every tip given in this book, but it mostly helped me move ideas from a hope into an action.
4. I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
By Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb
This book has nothing to do with business. When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. At fifteen years old Malala was shot in the head at point-blank range and at 16 she has recovered and was the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Malala and I are the same age and when I read her memoir at eighteen she became my role model. It brings tears to my eyes now as I think about the first time I read this book and felt the deep gratitude in my heart for all the freedoms I have taken for granted. Her words do not illicit guilt, but they instead call women to rise to our incredible capacity. It showcases “...parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.”
Of course starting a floral business does not involve the same risk that Malala took by any means, but her example of bravery is pinned in my mind as a reason to never let fear stop me. Her voice reminds me that as a woman with free access to education and opportunity, I have an obligation to use every chance I can to create more opportunity for others.
3.Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
By: Brené Brown
This book is not directly related to business, however it can apply to any area of your life. Brown talks about different shackles that shame puts in our lives and breaks it down into something tangible, so that we may better learn to address it. I was deeply impacted as she explained how we can disengage from our lives when facing uncertainty, risks, hurt, and fear. She calls us out in this book to face life with vulnerability and engage with our whole hearts.
The title is inspired by a famous Theodore Roosevelt quote:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”
2.Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
By: Austin Kleon
This book showed me that I needn’t already have a full, beautiful portfolio to start this dream. It put into words why I feel connected to some creators and disconnected to others. In a world where perfectionism is glorified it reminded me how honesty and vulnerability are like a breath of fresh air. Kleon illustrates simple ways to practically draw attention to one’s work, while also emphasizing the importance of developing one’s personal style - which has been so helpful to me since I am largely self taught. I always thought (who am I kidding, I still fall into the mindset trap at times) that if I don’t know everything then no client would trust me or think I was professional (who am I kidding, I still fall into the mindset trap at times). This is not true. Sometimes people are even more engaged with a journey than a product.
1.The Invention of Wings
By: Sue Monk Kidd
Discussing floral work may seem largely unrelated, indeed trivial, compared to this title by Sue Monk Kidd, but I intend for my business to reflect my values so I must include the titans which have helped shape them. This novel takes place in the early eighteen hundreds when an eleven year old girl named Sarah was given ownership of a ten year old girl named Handful. Throughout the book it juxtaposes their individual experiences growing up in South Carolina.
The book changed me in a few different ways, but in relation to this post there was a line from the character Handful directed to Sarah stating, “My body might be a slave, but not my mind. For you it’s the other way round.” This line caused me to confront the privileges I have as a white woman. I had to really ask myself what is holding me back and how I can build something to help lift up those around me. My heart breaks for all the injustice that has happened and is happening around race.
