24 Best Books That Every Female Entrepreneur Should Read (in 2024)
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Currently, more than 36% of all businesses in the US are owned by women, and more and more women are jumping into entrepreneurship every day to take control of their earnings, potential, and lives.
Being an entrepreneur can be challenging, however, particularly as a “fempreneur” (female entrepreneur) who has many other areas of her life to balance while running a business.
These books will help aspiring and current fempreneurs by providing additional information, anecdotes, inspiration, and ideas to get them into the right mindset to move forward and achieve their entrepreneurial dreams.
Table of Contents
1. The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance- What Women Should Know
2. girl, stop apologizing – a shame-free plan for embracing and achieving your goals, 3. start your own business: the only startup book you’ll ever need, 4. girl on fire- how to choose yourself, burn the rule book, and blaze your own trail in life, 5. the path made clear: discovering your life’s direction and purpose, 6. lean in: women, work and the will to lead, 7. thrive: the third metric to redefining success and creating a life of well-being, wisdom and wonder, 8. shark tales: how i turned $1,000 into a billion dollar business, 9. ladies who launch: on embracing entrepreneurship and creativity as a lifestyle, 10. crushing it: how great entrepreneurs build their business and influence, 11. zero to one: notes on startups or how to build the future, 12. grit: the power and passion of perseverance, 13. leap frog: the new revolution for women entrepreneurs, 14. profit first – transform your business from a cash-eating monster to a money-making machine, 15. side hustle- from idea to income in 27 days, 16. disrupt-her: a manifesto for the modern woman, 17. unscaled: how ai and a new generation of upstarts are creating the economy of the future, 18. presence: bringing your boldest self to your biggest challenges, 19. #girlboss, 20. you are a badass: how to stop doubting your greatness and start living an awesome life, 21. launch your inner entrepreneur: 10 mindset shifts for women to take action, unleash creativity and achieve financial success, 22. how to win friends and influence people: the only book you need to lead to success, 23. rich dad, poor dad. what the rich teach their kids about money that the poor and middle class do not, 24. getting things done- the art of stress-free productivity.
Katty Kay and Claire Shipman (Harper Collins, 2014)
In this book, Kay and Shipman dissect what confidence is all about by tapping into its elusiveness and unpacking what it takes to find it.
Through diligent research, they connect with top psychologists to provide information on how women can become more confident through risk-taking and propelling themselves into action, which leads to a prolonged shift in their thinking and boosts their confidence level.
They also provide anecdotes from female leaders to uncover how their confidence affects their success and how women can learn through failing and avoiding perfectionism. Although confidence is somewhat genetically determined, they assure readers that it is not fixed and can be developed while providing women with methods to do so.
Confidence is critical for fempreneurs (female entrepreneurs) who can glean a lot from this book.
Rachel Hollis (Harper Collins Leadership, 2019)
A plan for businesswomen everywhere, this book helps women eliminate their negative internal self-talk and the limiting beliefs they’ve been taught by showing them how to stop defining themselves in terms of how others see them.
Related: 19 Best Business Books for Women
Hollis provides tips for women on how to modify their mindsets and alter negative thoughts and behaviors in order to increase their growth, confidence, and self-esteem to ultimately achieve their goals.
Inc. The Staff of Entrepreneur Media (Author), Jennifer Merritt (Editor), Jason Feifer (Foreword) (Entrepreneur, 2018)
This book is a practical guidebook for anyone hoping to start their own business. It covers the gamut from the beginning as a side-gig to driving sales, marketing, using influencers, and more.
It also includes tips from business leader, Gary Vaynerchuk , and has a foreword by Jason Feifer, Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine. A wonderful read for current and aspiring fempreneurs.
Cara Alwill Leyba (Passionista Publishing, 2019)
A strong advocate for women’s empowerment, Alwill Leyba helps mentor women by providing guidance on how they can create their own opportunities and trust their intuition as entrepreneurs while navigating their life choices.
She suggests that women challenge the status quo, push boundaries, and do things their own way in order to achieve the goals and opportunities that they desire—all integral aspects of developing a fempreneurial mindset.
Oprah Winfrey (FlatIron Books, 2019)
I love this book by the great Oprah Winfrey- who better to learn from than one of the most influential female entrepreneurs of our time.
What I particularly like about it is that Oprah focuses on not just being successful, but on being significant. It’s a fantastic read because she infuses her own stories and lessons throughout the book while also sharing the ideas of other influential thought leaders.
We’d all do better as women to focus on joy and purpose, and this book can help you to do just that.
Sheryl Sandberg (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013)
All women can get solid takeaways from the experiences of Sheryl Sandberg- she really gets to the heart of the things that can hold women back in business, including not taking risks or going after goals.
I love that Sandberg provides solid research to back up her ideas as well as practical tips. Plus, she makes it fun and inspiring too. It’s always wonderful to learn from women who have made their way up in an often male-dominated world, hearing what worked and what didn’t.
Arianna Huffington (Harmony Books, 2015)
What I love about this book is that Arianna Huffington provides guidance on reimagining the way we perceive success.
Huffington is an extraordinarily successful fempreneur- one who recognizes the importance of work-life balance and self-care. Her viewpoint is so critical because, as women, we tend to overcommit and put ourselves last on our own to-do lists, often neglecting our health in the process.
By sharing her experiences as well as related research, Huffington underscores the need to reprioritize our lives, adjust the way we perceive success, and even the way we live.
Barbara Corcoran and Bruce Littlefield (Portfolio Penguin, 2011)
The name Barbara Corcoran is now practically synonymous with entrepreneurship. This book chronicles Corcoran’s experience of failing multiple times before setting out on her own and growing her billion-dollar company.
It is essential for all entrepreneurs to get comfortable with failure, and it’s crucial to note that even very successful people encounter failure before achieving their goals. Corcoran is an amazing mentor and role model to current and aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere.
Victoria Colligan, Beth Schoenfeldt , and Amy Swift (St. Martin’s Press, 2007)
This is a really interesting book because the Ladies Who Launch program helps aspiring female entrepreneurs start their own businesses while providing support and encouragement.
In this book, they present their 4-step incubator process to help fempreneurs achieve their entrepreneurial dreams by taking action, putting in the effort, and taking care of themselves in the process.
Gary Vaynerchuk (HarperCollins, 2018)
Vaynerchuk provides readers with lessons from entrepreneurs and influencers who built successful businesses and personal brands after ditching unfulfilling corporate jobs and going after their dreams-furthering their brands, startups, and ultimate success stories.
In Crushing It, he discusses how to leverage social media platforms to achieve one’s goals and maximize profitability. Leveraging social media is a vital skill for all female business owners to grasp, in addition to the other aspects of developing an entrepreneurial mindset and building presence that are mentioned in the book.
Peter Thiel with Blake Masters (Random House, 2014)
Thiel and Masters give readers practical advice on methods to change their way of thinking and learning how to build and create new innovations in any area of business or industry.
They discuss how, through altering your mindset, you can learn to ask questions which help you to uncover your unique selling proposition and find value in unexpected places to innovate and further your business and yourself.
Zero to One also delves into crafting your USP, adding value and creativity—a solid pick for all female founders.
Angela Duckworth (Simon & Schuster, 2016)
This book is so widely-quoted and well known that it should definitely be on the reading list of all female entrepreneurs. You will never be successful in business if you do not build up your grit because there will be a lot of ups and downs along your journey as a business owner.
Duckworth’s research on grit is eye-opening, and her experiences inspirational. To thrive as a startup founder, women must be tenacious, and fempreneurs can certainly learn a lot about grit from Duckworth.
Natalie Molina Nino and Sara Grace (Tarcher Perigee, 2018)
Grace and Molina Nino, a tech entrepreneur, provide female entrepreneurs with advice for circumventing a business world where wealthy white men have an advantage.
In Leap Frog, they provide fifty leap frogs, or loopholes, for women business owners to use in order to overcome hurdles and maximize their success in business and life. An ideal read to help women “outsmart the status quo.”
Mike Michalowicz (Portfolio Penguin, 2017)
Michalowicz’s book assists entrepreneurs in making wise financial decisions related to their startups by understanding this basic equation: Profits= Revenue – Costs , enabling them to maximize their profitability and succeed in business.
He gets into accounting basics and how a business owner should focus on developing a mindset aimed towards growing profits- critical for every fempreneur to master!
Chris Guillebeau (Penguin Random House, 2017)
Guillebeau helps readers become entrepreneurs while still working their day jobs by guiding them to take their business concepts to viable side hustles within 27 days.
This book is a step-by-step guide for launching a profitable project within a month allowing readers to realize their entrepreneurial dreams in a low-risk fashion. It provides information about why it’s a good idea to begin a business as a side hustle, as well as offering practical business concept and development steps.
Sage advice for those aspiring female side hustlers out there!
Miki Argrawal (Hay House, 2019)
Disrupt- Her is a manifesto to enable women to take action in 13 areas of their lives in order to grow their power and presence. Agrawal includes stories of successful female business owners and influencers and provides insight based on her own experience as a female CEO.
The focus of this book is on creating as much firepower for yourself as a woman as possible. And firepower is what you should stir up as a female founder!
Hemant Taneja (Hachette Book Group, 2018)
What I really enjoy most about this book is its futuristic angle and its insight into how the economy of the future is going to change -from corporate life to government, energy, schools, transportation, and more.
Taneja gets into how artificial intelligence will continue to evolve and influence the way that we do business and function as a society and what entrepreneurial opportunities will arise as a result. He also provides amazing examples of innovative companies that he’s worked with and invested in.
This is definitely a must-read for forward-thinking, opportunistic entrepreneurs.
Amy Cudy (Hachette Book Group, 2015)
In this book, Cudy helps readers make an internal transformation in order to further their presence and grow their inner power by making tweaks to their mindset, behavior, communication, and more.
Her words inspire women to feel less powerless and more in control of their professional journeys using simple techniques and shifts in their thought processes. These tweaks are critical for aspiring and current women business owners.
Sophia Amoruso (Penguin, 2015)
In this best-selling book, Amoruso provides guidance on how women can use their strengths, become resilient (while growing from their mistakes), learn how to trust their instincts, and leverage their own unique style and background to forge a path towards success.
It contains plenty of practical advice for women on how to embrace their entrepreneurial style and further themselves, including tidbits from Amoruso’s experience as a successful entrepreneur who came from a less-than-ideal background but still rose to a high level of business achievement.
All female entrepreneurs can take away a lot of good information.
Jen Sincero (Running Press, 2013)
This book is wonderful because it’s funny and filled with stories, advice, and tips to thwart self-sabotaging behavior and thinking.
It will help you get to the life that you want, understand and accept yourself, and go out there and make things happen. All female business owners will appreciate this type of guidance.
Charlene Walters, MBA, Ph.D. (McGraw Hill, 2021)
This is my book. Launch Your Inner Entrepreneur is an entrepreneurship playbook and women’s empowerment guide rolled into one!
This book is a must-have to help current and aspiring fempreneurs (female entrepreneurs) make the mindset shifts necessary to successfully launch and grow their startups by specifically addressing areas commonly cited as the causes of entrepreneurial failures for women.
It helps women take action, fight self-sabotage, deal with haters, cultivate financial confidence, organize their time, prioritize self-care, build presence and visibility, leverage social media, lead with flexibility, boost resilience, and avoid burnout along the way.
As an added bonus, Launch Your Inner Entrepreneur contains The Fempreneur Action Plan – featuring one workbook-style, entrepreneurial mindset-growth activity to support the mindset shifts discussed in each chapter.
Dale Carnegie (Pocket Books, 1981)
This is one of the first business books that I ever read- a true classic. As the head of your startup, you need to be able to build rapport and get situations to “work for you,” as Carnegie puts it.
The advice provided by Carnegie is still as true today as when he first offered it and will help you get people to like you, win people to your way of thinking and change people without causing resentment. It has sold over 15 million copies for a reason.
Robert T. Kiyosaki (Warner Books, 2017)
This book is another classic that has been read by many people around the world. It’s about Kiyosaki’s experience learning about money from his father and the rich father of one of his best friends.
He helps show readers how they can have their money work for them instead of merely working to make more. In the process, he dispels money-related myths and the notion that you must have wealth to become wealthier.
His insight and stories are still relevant today and told in a highly relatable way.
David Allen (Penguin Books, 2015)
Becoming as productive as possible is essential for women entrepreneurs. Allen’s book gives business owners plenty of tips and advice to help them organize their time, tasks, and lives.
It also coaches readers on forming healthy habits in terms of productivity and organization- important adjustments for all business owners, but particularly women who often balance a greater load.
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Charlene Walters, MBA, PhD
Website: Own Your Other
Charlene Walters, MBA, PhD, is an entrepreneurship coach, business and branding mentor, trainer and author of Launch Your Inner Entrepreneur: 10 Mindset Shifts for Women to Take Action, Unleash Creativity and Achieve Financial Success.
She serves as a mentor on Entrepreneur magazine’s “Ask an Expert” forum and through her own consulting business (Charlene Walters, MBA, PhD, LLC), is featured among other CEOs, Influencers and Celebrities on the BAM Network and was recently selected as one of 150 Marketers to Follow by Rubicly.
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