Not everyone has the opportunity to attend a business school before starting out an enterprise. As such, books are a great resource for learning just about anything. Reading is like traveling around the world without a visa but through the eyes and minds of others.

Honestly, I’m not much of an avid reader because I’m very choosy about what I read. My design background has heavily influenced my collections; this is why I’m more interested in books that bother mostly on creativity and sometimes African literature.

As one of the plans to mark Hingees’ second anniversary, I thought it’ll be nice to share some of the books that were really helpful while I was
planning to launch, so here goes:

Make Your Mark: The Creative’s Guide to Building a Business with Impact

Edited by Jocelyn k. Glei and Foreword by Scott Belsky (Founder of Behance)

Make your Mark is the third book of the 99u book series. Featuring insightful thoughts from 21 leading creative entrepreneurs, the book will arm you with practical insights for building a business that will make a lasting impact.

Entrepreneurial success seen through the lens of this book is quite different from the usual world standard. The introductory chapter talks about finding your purpose; how will the world be better off thanks to you having been on this earth? What are your unique gifts and superpowers? The book will help you uncover answers to these questions.

Other themes running through the book looks at how you can create beautiful experiences rather than just selling products. So, when you’re creating and evolving a product, your primary role is really managing the experience of those who will use it.

“Decide what you stand for. And then stand for it all the time.”

~ Clayton Christensen

One of the greatest drains on a company’s resource is the lack of clarity and direction. Make your mark further elaborates on how you establish a culture that supports great communication. Overall, the language of the book is simple, concise and easy to comprehend. No business jargons.

You can get a copy from Amazon.

Work for Money; Design for Love

Written by David Airey (A self-employed graphic designer from Northern Ireland)

Although this book focuses more on starting and running a successful design business, I find it very useful for anyone running a creative, service-based business.

In this book, you will learn:

• How to find your niche
• Planning for the growth of your business
• Best practices for launching your online presence
• How to spot red flags and avoid projects you don’t want.
• Building successful relationships not just with clients but with everyone you collaborate with.

In practical terms, the 279-page book teaches you how you can make a living from doing what you love while having fun at it. The layout is beautiful with very legible type and print. You can also get a copy on Amazon.

Confucius once said, “you cannot open a book without learning something”. This has proved to be true as most of the steps I have taken within two years of running Hingees have been lessons I’ve learnt from these 2 books and others.

Pick up a book today and be greater.