00:00:00
so one of the greatest investors the
00:00:01
world has ever seen recently passed away
00:00:03
at the ripe old age of 99 years old and
00:00:05
if you were to ask most people on the
00:00:07
street they would have no clue who this
00:00:09
guy was but Charlie Munger was revered
00:00:12
in the world of Finance as a sort of
00:00:14
business Yoda and he said something once
00:00:17
that's really stuck with me he said in
00:00:19
my whole life I have known no wise
00:00:22
people who didn't read all the time none
00:00:26
zero and this is proven true time and
00:00:29
again in my own personal experiences but
00:00:31
something I really struggled with at the
00:00:33
beginning of my entrepreneurial Journey
00:00:35
was just figuring out which books are
00:00:37
actually worth reading I mean a book can
00:00:39
transform your life but the harsh truth
00:00:41
is that most books are nothing more than
00:00:43
300 pages of fluff surrounding one
00:00:45
interesting idea well I'm here to cut
00:00:47
the fluff and I'm going to share with
00:00:49
you some of the books that played a
00:00:50
pivotal role in my life and that I've
00:00:51
used over the last 12 years in building
00:00:53
a 100 million dollar Empire
00:00:56
[Music]
00:00:57
[Applause]
00:01:01
now on a side note I recently did a
00:01:03
video breaking down the 12 books that I
00:01:05
reread every single year so I'm going to
00:01:08
leave those off this list but you should
00:01:09
go check out that video when you're done
00:01:10
with this one to see my 12 favorite
00:01:12
books of all time all right for this
00:01:14
video I'm going to break these down into
00:01:15
categories based on what I call the four
00:01:17
spheres of influence which are mindset
00:01:19
health wealth and skills so let's dive
00:01:22
in with the first sphere of influence
00:01:23
which is your mindset the first book on
00:01:25
the list is from one of the grandfathers
00:01:27
of the stoic philosophy senica this book
00:01:29
is called called letters from A stoic
00:01:31
now stoicism has gained a lot of
00:01:34
popularity over the past decade thanks
00:01:35
to the efforts of guys like Ryan holiday
00:01:38
who've done just an incredible job
00:01:39
translating these ancient works for
00:01:41
modern audiences and don't get me wrong
00:01:43
those books are great but if you really
00:01:45
want to understand something you got to
00:01:47
get as close to the source material as
00:01:49
possible for instance if you want to
00:01:51
learn economics you go read Wealth of
00:01:53
Nations and Communist Manifesto if you
00:01:55
want to learn about biology and
00:01:56
evolution go read the Origin of Species
00:01:59
or the e day of creation reading from
00:02:01
what's called primary sources is the
00:02:03
best way to build up a lattice work of
00:02:05
understanding around a topic because
00:02:07
you're starting at the ground floor in
00:02:09
building up your own knowledge base
00:02:11
rather than just relying on somebody
00:02:12
else's interpretation and then summary
00:02:15
of that topic so if you really want to
00:02:16
learn about the stoic philosophy I
00:02:18
recommend you go straight to the primary
00:02:20
sources one of which is this book
00:02:23
Letters From A stoic by senica one of
00:02:25
the things I love about it is it's just
00:02:26
a treasure Trove of wisdom broken down
00:02:28
into easily Digest ed sound bites and
00:02:31
this is one of my all-time favorites we
00:02:32
are more often frightened than hurt and
00:02:35
we suffer more from imagination than
00:02:37
from reality all right the next book for
00:02:40
developing your mindset is The Four
00:02:42
Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz I think
00:02:44
the world would generally be a better
00:02:46
place if everybody was required to read
00:02:48
this book as a child the lessons are
00:02:50
simple yet profound and universally
00:02:53
applicable they are be impeccable with
00:02:55
your word do not take anything personal
00:02:57
do not make assumptions and always do
00:03:00
your best now you might hear those and
00:03:02
think those are incredibly simplistic
00:03:04
and there's no reason to dig any deeper
00:03:06
but in my experience the most impactful
00:03:08
lessons in life are the simplest my
00:03:11
favorite lesson from this book or at
00:03:12
least the one that's played the biggest
00:03:14
role in my life is that first one be
00:03:16
impeccable with your word truly I
00:03:20
believe that you could accomplish
00:03:21
literally anything in the world if you
00:03:23
just do this one thing become the type
00:03:26
of person who always does what they say
00:03:29
and this does doesn't just apply to the
00:03:30
things we say to others in fact the most
00:03:32
important promises are actually the ones
00:03:34
we make with ourselves and yet those are
00:03:37
the ones we most often break I can't
00:03:38
overstate how big of a problem this
00:03:40
actually is because when we break the
00:03:42
promises we make with ourselves we pay a
00:03:45
price that's really hard to see in the
00:03:46
moment it's the price of your
00:03:48
self-esteem because at the end of the
00:03:50
day self-esteem is just the reputation
00:03:52
you have with yourself you cannot break
00:03:55
the promises you make to yourself
00:03:56
without consequence you will always know
00:03:59
and that's why it's so damn important
00:04:01
that you become impeccable with your
00:04:03
words the next book on our list is the
00:04:05
12 rules for life by Jordan Peterson now
00:04:08
Jordan is a bit of a lightning rod for
00:04:10
drama and I know he's not everybody's
00:04:11
cup of tea however I personally find his
00:04:14
perspectives and insights to be deeply
00:04:17
well considered well thought out and in
00:04:19
good faith which means I believe he's
00:04:22
genuinely trying to have hard
00:04:23
conversations in Earnest so that we as a
00:04:26
global Collective can move forward
00:04:27
toward a better and brighter future
00:04:30
now regardless of whether or not you
00:04:32
agree with his political beliefs I think
00:04:34
there's a lot to learn from him in
00:04:35
regards to self-mastery after all he's
00:04:37
spent 30 years as a clinical
00:04:39
psychologist trying to help people
00:04:41
become better versions of themselves and
00:04:43
this book is just a distillation of all
00:04:45
that learning into Simple Rules we can
00:04:46
use to govern Our Lives my favorite of
00:04:49
the 12 rules is this one compare
00:04:50
yourself to who you were yesterday not
00:04:53
to who someone is today this is a lesson
00:04:56
that I pretty much have to relearn every
00:04:58
single day all right
00:05:00
the fourth book on this list when it
00:05:01
comes to developing mindset is aptly
00:05:03
named mindset by Carol D this is one of
00:05:07
the most important books on the topic of
00:05:09
mindset and I do not say that lightly in
00:05:11
it world-renowned psychologist Carol DW
00:05:13
introduces the world to a simple yet
00:05:15
profound concept called the growth
00:05:17
mindset now to really understand the
00:05:19
growth mindset you have to understand
00:05:20
its antithesis the fixed mindset the
00:05:23
fixed mindset is the belief that our
00:05:24
traits our characteristics and our
00:05:26
skills are fixed and unchangeable people
00:05:28
who say things like I'm just not a math
00:05:30
person or I'm bad at learning languages
00:05:33
are falling victim to the fixed mindset
00:05:35
the growth mindset by contrast believes
00:05:37
that anything can be learned and
00:05:39
developed so instead of saying I suck at
00:05:41
this and therefore will always suck at
00:05:43
this the key to the growth mindset is a
00:05:45
simple word called yet yet changes
00:05:48
everything when you say I'm not good at
00:05:50
math yet you're signaling one of the
00:05:53
most important beliefs any of us can
00:05:55
adopt which is with enough time effort
00:05:57
and intention you can master practically
00:06:00
anything now there's a lot more Nuance
00:06:02
to this book than I can give Justice
00:06:03
here so definitely go check it out in
00:06:05
the meantime let's move on to our second
00:06:06
sphere of influence health I have read
00:06:09
hundreds of books on exercise and
00:06:10
nutrition over the years and without a
00:06:12
doubt the best book I've read is outlive
00:06:15
by Peter AA this book lays out a
00:06:17
comprehensive framework for Not only
00:06:18
living longer but living better I mean
00:06:20
what's the point of living until you're
00:06:21
100 if the last 20 years of your life
00:06:23
are spent in absolute misery unable to
00:06:26
get out of bed and do the things that
00:06:27
you love that is not a life I think
00:06:29
anybody wants for themsel so it's
00:06:31
important you start doing the work now
00:06:33
but that begs the question what exactly
00:06:35
should you be doing right now to ensure
00:06:37
you live a long healthy awesome life
00:06:39
well Peter rtia breaks it down into core
00:06:41
categories including exercise sleep
00:06:43
nutrition mental health and
00:06:45
relationships this book is a tour to
00:06:47
force but written in a way that you can
00:06:49
start applying immediately and because
00:06:51
this book is so damn good it's the only
00:06:53
one I'm going to recommend in this
00:06:54
section so let's just move on to the
00:06:55
third sphere of influence which is
00:06:57
wealth money is by far the thing that
00:06:59
caused me the most stress in my life
00:07:01
it's probably because it's the one that
00:07:03
impacts pretty much every aspect of our
00:07:05
lives and yet it's the one that if
00:07:06
you're like I was you know the least
00:07:08
about so let's take our heads out of the
00:07:10
sand and change that by learning the
00:07:12
rules and strategies for winning the
00:07:14
money game to do that I'm going to break
00:07:16
this down into two different parts we
00:07:17
have basic money knowledge and then
00:07:19
Advanced money knowledge okay so we're
00:07:21
going to start with basic money
00:07:22
knowledge because you can start applying
00:07:24
the lessons from these books to your
00:07:25
personal financial situation immediately
00:07:28
the first book Is the psychology of
00:07:30
money by Morgan howel the first step in
00:07:32
winning the money game is just to change
00:07:34
how you think about money and this is so
00:07:36
important because most of us have
00:07:38
accumulated all sorts of unhelpful
00:07:39
baggage and misguided beliefs around
00:07:41
money that are unconsciously sabotaging
00:07:43
our efforts to get ahead listen how you
00:07:46
think about money influences how you
00:07:48
feel and ultimately act around money and
00:07:51
unfortunately most of us were taught how
00:07:52
to think feel and act towards money by
00:07:54
people who were not winning the money
00:07:56
game as a general rule do not take
00:07:58
advice from someone you wouldn't trade
00:08:00
places with which means don't take
00:08:02
Financial advice from somebody who isn't
00:08:03
winning the money game if you do you're
00:08:05
going to adopt their same thoughts
00:08:07
beliefs and actions that are keeping
00:08:09
them from winning the money game so step
00:08:10
one on your financial journey is to
00:08:12
break this cycle and learn a new way to
00:08:14
think around money which is where this
00:08:15
book comes in psychology of money here's
00:08:17
one of my favorite quotes from this book
00:08:19
saving is the gap between your ego and
00:08:21
your income all right now the next book
00:08:23
in developing your basic money knowledge
00:08:25
is I will teach you to be rich by RIT
00:08:27
sethy this is one of the very first
00:08:29
books on personal finance that I read
00:08:31
when I decided to turn my life around
00:08:33
all those years ago now the beauty of
00:08:35
this book is that it's not just Theory
00:08:37
REM lays out a stepbystep plan with
00:08:40
actionable next steps you can start
00:08:41
taking today to automate your finances
00:08:44
and this is important because as RIT
00:08:46
himself says in the book it's more
00:08:48
important to get started than to spend
00:08:49
an exhaustive amount of time researching
00:08:52
so read this book understand the plan
00:08:55
and start implementing I promise you're
00:08:56
going to be further ahead in 6 months
00:08:58
than you are now all right so the third
00:08:59
book on basic money knowledge I'm going
00:09:01
to share with you it has practically
00:09:03
zero actionable steps but it is my
00:09:05
all-time favorite book on the topic of
00:09:07
money it is called how to get rich by
00:09:09
Felix Dennis so most of the people
00:09:11
writing books on money are either
00:09:13
millionaires or want to be millionaires
00:09:16
very very very few billionaires have
00:09:18
ever written books on money and so when
00:09:20
they do it's generally worth paying
00:09:22
attention to what they have to say now
00:09:24
unfortunately most billionaires are
00:09:26
actually kind of lame and they have zero
00:09:27
personality so the books they write
00:09:29
often suck but this is not one of those
00:09:31
books this book how to get rich by Felix
00:09:33
Dennis is one of the most entertaining
00:09:35
books I've ever read and I'm not just
00:09:37
talking about money books here the
00:09:38
reason this book is so well written and
00:09:40
interesting is because Felix Dennis
00:09:42
spent his entire life immersed in the
00:09:44
publishing industry and he did some
00:09:46
pretty wild things with his life now
00:09:48
you've maybe never heard of Felix Dennis
00:09:50
but chances are good you've heard of his
00:09:51
magazines like Maxim or men's fitness or
00:09:55
computer buyer this book is the rambling
00:09:57
insights of a man who managed to Summit
00:09:59
the money mountain and then spent the
00:10:01
last few years on Earth just sharing
00:10:02
what he learned along the way of all the
00:10:04
lessons he shares in his book my
00:10:06
favorite is the following anyone not
00:10:08
busy learning is busy dying for as long
00:10:11
as you Foster a willingness to learn you
00:10:13
will ward off sclerosis of the brain and
00:10:16
the hardening of the mental arteries
00:10:19
Curiosity has led many a man and woman
00:10:21
into the valley of serious wealth all
00:10:24
right so now that we've laid the
00:10:25
foundation here are three books for
00:10:26
developing your Advanced money knowledge
00:10:28
first up is economics in one Lesson by
00:10:30
Henry Haslett I'll be honest I did not
00:10:33
enjoy learning about economics in high
00:10:35
school or college it always seemed like
00:10:37
this overly convoluted and esoteric way
00:10:39
of understanding the world that
00:10:41
politicians and economists created just
00:10:43
to make themselves feel smart and
00:10:44
important and that may be true but it's
00:10:46
also true that economics impacts
00:10:48
absolutely everything we do in life it's
00:10:51
everywhere affecting all things at all
00:10:53
times remaining ignorant of that truth
00:10:55
only makes our lives harder than
00:10:57
necessary and it puts us at a
00:10:58
disadvantage AG relative to those who do
00:11:01
understand economics so do yourself a
00:11:03
favor arm yourself with a basic
00:11:05
understanding of Economics by checking
00:11:07
out this book It's relatively short it's
00:11:09
easy to consume but it packs a mighty
00:11:11
punch all right the second book on
00:11:13
Advanced money knowledge is taxfree
00:11:15
wealth by Tom Wright all right all right
00:11:17
I can see your eyes already glazing over
00:11:19
At The Mention Of taxes but listen up
00:11:21
because one of the most important
00:11:23
lessons to be learned when it comes to
00:11:24
winning the money game is this it's not
00:11:26
about how much you make it's about how
00:11:28
much you keep and like it or not the
00:11:30
biggest expense you will incur in this
00:11:32
lifetime are taxes so if you want to
00:11:34
keep more of what you make you must
00:11:36
develop a basic understanding of taxes
00:11:39
now unfortunately most books written
00:11:41
around taxes are about as exciting as
00:11:43
having your teeth drilled at least with
00:11:44
this book taxfree wealth it feels like
00:11:46
they gave you some anesthesia so go
00:11:48
check it out okay now the last book on
00:11:50
our quest to develop Advanced money
00:11:52
knowledge is what every real estate
00:11:53
investor needs to know about cash flow
00:11:56
by Frank gallinelli don't be deterred by
00:11:58
the title of this book it it's actually
00:12:00
really really helpful even if you're not
00:12:01
interested in real estate in fact if
00:12:03
you're any sort of entrepreneur I highly
00:12:05
recommend you check out this book
00:12:07
because accounting is the language of
00:12:09
business the better you speak the
00:12:11
language the better you'll be able to
00:12:12
communicate with the locals okay so as
00:12:14
you might imagine the problem with books
00:12:15
on accounting and finance they're often
00:12:18
very dry and boring and I'm not going to
00:12:20
pretend like this is a riveting Frolic
00:12:22
through fields of Dand lines but here's
00:12:23
what I like about this book it's short
00:12:26
it's clear and it's very concise so suck
00:12:28
it up buttercup if you want to play the
00:12:29
money game at the highest levels this is
00:12:31
the price of admission okay now a lot of
00:12:33
people like to say that knowledge is
00:12:35
power but that's actually not true
00:12:37
knowledge is potential power it's
00:12:38
useless if we don't apply it now the
00:12:41
beauty of Applied knowledge is that it
00:12:42
leads to our fourth sphere of influence
00:12:44
which is skills now here's the truth I
00:12:48
don't actually think reading books is a
00:12:49
great way to learn most skills in almost
00:12:51
all cases you're better off just doing
00:12:53
the thing and getting more reps after
00:12:55
all you can't learn to ride a bicycle by
00:12:58
reading about it you just have to go and
00:12:59
try to ride the damn thing with that
00:13:01
said there are a few skills which due to
00:13:03
their nature are kind of helpful to read
00:13:04
about especially when it comes to what I
00:13:06
call the three legs of business now the
00:13:08
way I think about this is that all
00:13:10
businesses have three legs of the stool
00:13:12
they have a marketing function
00:13:13
operations function and a finance
00:13:15
function marketing gets to customers
00:13:18
operations creates the product and
00:13:20
delivers it to the customer and finance
00:13:22
manages the bank accounts to keep
00:13:23
marketing and operations out of trouble
00:13:26
now we've already discussed the finance
00:13:27
leg in the previous section so so let's
00:13:29
turn our attention to the skills we need
00:13:31
for marketing and operations okay so
00:13:33
let's start with two books on operating
00:13:35
a business that I've used to build
00:13:36
multiple eight figureure businesses the
00:13:38
first is traction by Gina Wickman this
00:13:41
is the closest thing you're going to
00:13:43
find to an out-of-the-box operating
00:13:45
system that you can immediately plug
00:13:46
into your business in fact this book
00:13:48
will teach you a framework called EOS
00:13:49
which stands for entrepreneur operating
00:13:51
system and this is a very helpful system
00:13:53
especially when you're new because one
00:13:54
of the biggest struggles all
00:13:55
entrepreneurs ultimately face is a lack
00:13:57
of structure you know when you're
00:13:59
working for somebody else and collecting
00:14:00
a paycheck chances are there's already
00:14:02
systems and processes in place all you
00:14:04
got to do is follow the system and it
00:14:06
will produce the desired result I mean
00:14:08
you just show up at this time you do
00:14:09
that thing for this long then move on to
00:14:11
that thing for this long and then you
00:14:12
you call it a day but you don't have any
00:14:13
of that structure when you're building
00:14:14
your own thing in the beginning you're
00:14:16
going to be tempted to just slap
00:14:17
something together on your own and don't
00:14:19
get me wrong that can work but when you
00:14:21
go that route You're Building Systems
00:14:23
and processes for what you can see
00:14:24
immediately in front of you and spoiler
00:14:26
alert in the beginning of your journey
00:14:28
you can't see very far this means you're
00:14:30
going to eventually hit an inflection
00:14:32
point where the systems you built to get
00:14:34
you here are insufficient to get you
00:14:36
there and to be honest this first
00:14:38
inflection point is what breaks most
00:14:39
businesses if you want to avoid this
00:14:41
then just start from day one by
00:14:43
implementing a proven process and it
00:14:45
might seem like Overkill in the
00:14:46
beginning but if you do everything right
00:14:47
you're eventually going to grow into it
00:14:49
and then you're going to be glad that
00:14:50
you did all right the second book that's
00:14:51
going to help you with your business
00:14:52
operations is called the goal by eliahoo
00:14:54
gold Rat this book is not so much a
00:14:56
system as it is a framework for thinking
00:14:58
through the the obstacles that are going
00:14:59
to keep your business from growing it's
00:15:01
called the theory of constraints and
00:15:03
like all the best theories it is simple
00:15:05
profound and universally applicable the
00:15:07
core concept is this every process has a
00:15:10
single constraint and the total
00:15:12
throughput of the process can only ever
00:15:14
be improved when that constraint is
00:15:16
removed another way of thinking about
00:15:18
this is that the chain is only as strong
00:15:20
as its weakest link so all the time and
00:15:22
energy we put into improving any Link in
00:15:24
that chain that is not the weakest is a
00:15:27
waste because those links are not the
00:15:29
limiting factor the difficulty in
00:15:31
business in life is that it's not always
00:15:32
so clear which link is the weakest so
00:15:35
learning to identify the constraint in
00:15:37
any system it's one of the most valuable
00:15:39
entrepreneurial skills because it
00:15:40
unlocks a road map for continual
00:15:42
Improvement and therefore growth this
00:15:44
book the goal it's going to help you do
00:15:46
that so go check it out okay so now I
00:15:47
personally lump product design into the
00:15:49
operations bucket and by far the best
00:15:51
book I've read on this topic is $100
00:15:53
million offers by Alex Heros if you want
00:15:56
to learn how to make offers so good
00:15:58
people feel stupid saying no then go
00:15:59
grab a copy of this it's like 9 cents on
00:16:02
Amazon I wish this book had been
00:16:03
available when I started my
00:16:05
entrepreneurial Journey as it almost
00:16:07
certainly would have helped me get to a
00:16:08
$100 million company way faster than we
00:16:11
all ultimately did but I'm psyched it's
00:16:13
here now because even with a decade of
00:16:15
experience behind me I've still learned
00:16:17
a ton in this book that I've used over
00:16:19
the past couple of years to make a lot
00:16:21
more money than I otherwise would have
00:16:22
now speaking of making money the way
00:16:24
that you do this in a business is by
00:16:25
selling customers a product or service
00:16:27
but the question then becomes
00:16:29
where exactly do you get the customers
00:16:31
well this is where marketing comes in
00:16:33
and honestly there's no shortage of
00:16:34
great books out there that will help you
00:16:36
develop this particular skill but here
00:16:38
are two of my personal favorites first
00:16:39
is another horoi book it's called $100
00:16:42
million leads this book only came out a
00:16:44
couple months ago so unfortunately it
00:16:46
was a little late to help me on my
00:16:47
learning curve but damn if I would have
00:16:49
had this book 10 years ago it would have
00:16:51
saved me so much trial and air not to
00:16:53
mention a ton of Heartache because at
00:16:55
the end of the day in the life of an
00:16:56
entrepreneur there's nothing quite so
00:16:58
disheartening is having a great product
00:17:00
that you can't find customers for this
00:17:02
book is the step-by-step process for
00:17:04
generating leads periods there's nothing
00:17:06
like it and by acquiring the skill of
00:17:08
generating leads on demand you pretty
00:17:10
much have a money printing machine as an
00:17:12
entrepreneur you can't afford not to
00:17:14
know how to generate leads but once you
00:17:16
know how to find them you got to learn
00:17:18
how to convert them into paying
00:17:20
customers and to do that there is no
00:17:21
skill in the world more valuable than
00:17:24
copywriting my favorite book on this
00:17:26
topic is ogal on Advertising by David
00:17:29
ogleby so copywriting is a skill by
00:17:31
which we use the written word to
00:17:33
influence perception conjure desire and
00:17:36
drive action and olivie himself was one
00:17:38
of the grandfathers of this powerful
00:17:40
craft he practically pioneered the
00:17:42
process by which we engage educate and
00:17:44
convert leads into customers using
00:17:46
nothing more than the written word and I
00:17:48
don't know about you but I find that
00:17:49
there's something almost magical about
00:17:51
the fact that you could sell practically
00:17:53
any product in the world if you just
00:17:54
wrote down the right sequence of words
00:17:56
on a piece of paper and put it in front
00:17:58
of of the right customer at the right
00:18:00
time to be a great copywriter requires
00:18:03
clear thinking a deep understanding of
00:18:05
human psychology and the ability to
00:18:07
communicate a message with impact this
00:18:09
book o Leon advertising is a great first
00:18:11
step in learning what I consider to be
00:18:12
one of the most valuable skills in the
00:18:14
world and if you take the lessons from
00:18:16
this book you combine it with all the
00:18:18
lessons from all the other books on this
00:18:20
list then it's just a matter of time
00:18:21
until you build your own $100 million
00:18:23
Empire so good luck so what are you
00:18:25
waiting for go read a book hey what's up
00:18:27
guys I hope you enjoyed the video if you
00:18:29
did and you want to go even deeper then
00:18:31
you should check out my Weekly
00:18:33
Newsletter called the hyperfocused
00:18:34
entrepreneur every week I do a deep dive
00:18:36
into business investing and personal
00:18:39
development to help you on your journey
00:18:40
to maximizing your return on life it's
00:18:42
absolutely free so go sign up I'll drop
00:18:44
a link down in the description I'll see
00:18:47
you guys in the next video
00:18:52
[Music]
00:18:59
he
00:19:02
[Music]
