To be honest, I’m not a big fan of bulky business books. But when it comes to books that are short, sweet, and realistic, I’m all ears. From my bookshelf, I have shortlisted a few books for freelancers and solopreneurs to help them discover new ideas.
So if you are a solopreneur/freelancer (Hi, nice to meet you) and would love to know what people around the world are doing, these books are perfect for you.
Be it about how to run a small business, or how to land a new freelance project, or how to not wait for payment. These books would give you some idea about everything.
Being a freelance content writer myself, I wanted to gather as many insights as possible. In my case, I didn’t find all the answers from the books, but I got the idea. I discovered some answers myself. And that’s good enough, right?
So to all the freelancers out there, here is a perfect TBR for you.
Books Every Freelancer Should Read
My Creative(Side) Business
I came across this book during my Non-Fiction November’21 challenge. It’s not one of those hyped books you see everywhere.
How did I find it? One day I just googled books for freelancers and came across this book. Monika, the author, herself is trying more than one creative thing at a time. For this book, she interviewed a few women who turned their creative hobby into a business.
You’ll come across women from multiple fields. Photographers, graphic designers, authors, Airbnb owners, online tutors, and more.
Each chapter is in the interview format where the women have shared every little detail of becoming a solopreneur.
It’s beautiful, motivational, and full of ideas. I would highly recommend reading this book irrespective of being a freelancer.
Good thing is, it’s available on Kindle Unlimited. If you have a subscription, go borrow it right now.
Connect the Dots
The book has a similar outline as the above. The writing style and the language is as simplest as it could possibly be.
Rashmi has interviewed 20 Indian startups/businesses from various domains. Almost none of these entrepreneurs had a business degree. They just had the idea, creativity, and the enthusiasm to never stop.
You come across 20 hassle stories that eventually became success stories. It’s wonderful to read stories of people like you and me, who live in a normal household.
These are not just the success stories though. These are failure stories of people who never stopped until they gained success.
There are hundreds of things a person has to do to run a business, and this book has got that covered for us.
Brilliant book. Brilliant Idea. Available on Kindle Unlimited.
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Anything You Want
Anything you want is a story of CD Baby, a company started by musician Derek Sivers.
Derek has shared how he started a business, accidentally turned it into a multi-million dollar company, and eventually sold it.
It’s a short read in which Derek talks about lessons he learned during the CD Baby adventure. His success, failure, mistakes, and recovering from those mistakes.
He started CD Baby for independent musicians like him. He and other indie musicians could easily sell their CDs online via the CD Baby e-commerce Website.
But it was not simple. Initially, Derek did everything on his own. When things got overwhelming for him, he started hiring people and the company got bigger and bigger.
It was all accidental according to him and he just wanted to make new music. So to focus on his music career, Derek sold the company with terms that would allow him to live with financial stability and freedom.
It’s a beautiful journey to read and witness. You could finish the book in one go as it’s fast-paced and less than 100 pages long.
You’ll find plenty of business books that glorify the knowledge one must have to run a business. But nobody talks about genuine stories of failure along the way.
I loved this book and would definitely recommend it to everyone, not just freelancers or entrepreneurs.
Show Your Work
Show Your Work is a creativity guide. It has everything from identifying your creative interest, working to improve on it, showcasing it to the world, meeting people with similar interests, and maybe starting a new business out of it.
Austin says, you don’t have to be a genius to do small things to make bigger changes. For example, starting an Instagram page to share something every day. Or launching a website to blog and sell products.
All you need is some research, practice, and a smartphone/computer.
The author has a trilogy of creative books- Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work, And Keep Going.
The books are fast reads and have great ideas for new freelancers or students to get started.
Do It Today
I think this one is to-the-point and one of the best productivity books for freelancers and work-from-home fellows.
With simple and clear ideas/instructions, Darius talks about minimizing procrastination, organizing daily tasks, maintaining a to-do list, and getting work done TODAY.
These days, it’s easier said than done. But achievable. Gradually making a few changes in your daily work or personal tasks could lead to a productive life.
It doesn’t have to be forced. Just tiny changes.
He also talks about some apps/extensions that block unnecessary distractions from your life.
It’s actually fascinating to know how much work we can get done if we minimize Instagram scrolling. Or closing all shopping tabs on chrome.
Imagine how life would be if you could finish work from 8 Am to say lunchtime. The rest of the day would be so relaxed.
Who wouldn’t want that?
Again, this book is a short read, 118 pages. You’ll probably find it on Kindle Unlimited.
Finally…
So these are my recommendations for the best and really simple books for freelancers.
If you are new to freelancing, start with Show Your Work and My Creative (Side) Business. Then you can read the rest of the books. I have some more recommendations too, that I would soon share here and on my Instagram.
If you love to read, you gotta have a Goodreads account. That’s where all the cool kids hang out, with books. And while you are there, stop by at my profile.
When I’m not reading, I spend hours staring outside the window and then writing. Find out what I’ve written so far.
Now, go get your creative juices flowing with the above books and enjoy being a freelancer.
Happy reading.
