When I think back to my biggest mistakes as an adult, it’s not reading to improve my skills and mindset from when I graduated from college until I was approximately 42.
Yes, you read that right. For 20 years as an adult entrepreneur, I short-circuited my success by neglecting to read all the time.
But, like they say, the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, and the second best time is today. Below, you’ll find my reading suggestions and WHY!
Good luck, if you have a book you think I’d love email me your suggestion, matt@mattplapp.com
Easily the best book I’ve EVER read. We all know Nike, but none of us really do. The story of how Phil Knight started Nike is beyond insane. What he did with the brand that everyone of us paid thousands is beyond comprehention.
And if the story of Nike wasn’t enough, Phil’s writing is next level. It’s hard to imagine someone can write this good, I never wanted to put the book down.
And no you DON’T KNOW the story just because you saw the Air movie about Michael Jordan, so pick up the damn book!
When you see the Nike logo you know what it is, you know how BIG the company is and it’s really hard to think that not too long ago it was a guy with a dream and some shoes in the trunk of his car at high school track meets.
What can I say about DSP…HE’S THE BEST!
Not only is David Scott Peters one of the best humans I’ve ever met, but he’s the only person you need to listen to when building your restaurants operating systems., PERIOD!
Marketing is amazing, you know I believe that, but if you don’t have your #s right then it’s like putting shiny expensive wheels on a car that’s about to break down.
This is where it all starts: Online Marketing and DOTCOME Secrets is an excellent book for understanding the fundamentals. Russell is an OG in online marketing, and he started one of the largest marketing platforms on the Internet, Click Funnels.
What I enjoyed about this book is how someone new to internet marketing and a veteran like me can each read it and be excited. It’s written at a fundamental level, and regardless of your level of expertise, you’ll find massive value and the book with page after page of notes.
This book is a combination of sales and marketing. Alex studied under Russell Brunson and took his teachings to an entirely new level.
This book is what they call A GAME CHANGER!
I don’t know what else to say about it, but READ IT!
My goal is for every restaurant owner to understand how to DOMINATE their customer’s attention every day. This book’s goal is to stop you from going down that rabbit hole.
First lets end one argument, MULTI TASKING does not exist!
This book is DEEP and is going to mess with your mind. You’re going to understand why you make so many mistakes, why you haven’t learned to think DEEP and why constant distractions are crushing your business.
And I won’t sugarcoat it, you’re going to struggle with Cal’s ideas. You’re going to say “I can’t do that!”
But you need to. We all need to learn to go DEEP in what we do for a living and get out of our own way.
This is a hard read, and I honestly stopped reading it with about 20% left. It’s a long, hard, and stressful read. By the time I got close to the end, I “got the picture” and was ready to move on.
But with that said, it’s an amazing book to understand the insane task Elon had ahead of him when he decided to launch Space X and Telsa. For me, it gave me some relief that I wasn’t alone in tackling too much, and it made me feel like a lightweight seeing what he did 🙂
The other big takeaway for me was that he’s a maniac, a very strange man, and really hard to work for. I’ve always said I’m a leader in learning, but when I read books like this one, I realize that while I may not be anywhere close to as smart as Elon, I’m much farther ahead of him in being a good person for my team. This book, along with info I’ve seen on Steve Jobs and others, makes me realize there’s a different path for CEOs/Founders, and it’s the right one.
We all struggle with presenting what we do, why we do it, and why others need it. Whether you’re a marketer like me or a restaurant owner, we must fine-tune this skill. Steve Jobs was a LEGEND in Apple meetings. His ability to present an idea that might typically be 50 words on a PowerPoint slide with a picture and under five words is what we all need to learn. Less is more, let pictures tell stories.
This can also easily be applied to how we communicate daily with friends, family, clients, and coworkers. I just got off a call in which I asked a simple question: “How much in sales are they getting from this?” The response I got was a two-minute word salad. All I wanted to know was the number. This book will showcase the importance of simplifying your message.
Jesse is INSANE and inspiring. His story as an entrepreneur is a whole other story, but this book showcases how risk doesn’t bother him AT ALL!
By now, you’ve heard of David Goggins; this good made him famous. From what I understand, the early prints of it did not mention David by name; that happened later after the stories and social media brought the spotlight to him.
Why do I love this book? Because it shows that we are all capable of SO MUCH MORE. Jesse proved that we take the most straightforward routes too often in this book.
STAY HARD!
My second favorite restaurant entrepreneur behind DSP is Bruce Nelson. Ironically, Bruce is now our CFO, four years after I found his book in my journey to find restaurant experts to tell the world about.
Just like DSP’s book above, this one is full of the math and science you need to put behind your restaurant before you start screaming from the rooftops.
Love him or hate him, GRANTS RIGHT!
We all underestimate what we are capable of, and his best-selling book 10X Rule is proof.
Grant Cardone is IN YOUR FACE and flies against every rule people with his type of wealth play by. He shows you his jet and Rolls Royce, but he also lets you know WHY!
The reason is that we can have precisely what he’s got if we aim high enough. Want to make $100,000? Why not aim for $1,000,000?
What you say and how you say it is how you get what you need from people.
This book, a tough one to find, is GOLD!
Enough said…
Marketing Outragesly – He was the marketing VP for the New Jersey Nets, and the ad campaigns that drove ticket sales to all-time highs were ads telling people MJ or Isaiah was coming to town—you know, THE COMPETITION!
One might say that was outrageous, and it was. But that’s what it takes. Triggers above is about how you present it, this book is what you present and it’s not always what we think.
In this podcast, I talk with David Scott Peters about our Vivid Vision. Have a listen. CLICK HERE
This book is a game-changer. Imagine driving from your home to the beach 1,000 miles away without any directions, only a vague idea of the general direction. It will take you longer and likely encounter many issues and turns.
But throw that address into a GPS, and you’re there without any thought. Well, this book will teach you how to build the map and navigate how to find your vision.
I read this book in 2019 and wrote our company’s first Vivid Vision. It was for the time from January 2020 to December 2023. We did an OK using it to guide us, and we hit 75% of the goals.
This link takes you to our current VV, which ends May 17, 2027. We’ll hit it all! CLICK HERE TO READ IT!
I remember watching the show Million Dollar Listing New York when it launched in 2010 and thinking “who is this guy, he’s not a big time realtor.”
Then MANY years later knowing that Ryan had become the biggest name in the industry and reading this book I was able to put all of the pieces together.
This book is a great read for entrepreneur, it’s a reminder of what we can become the journey it takes to get there.
I love “Founders Books” or books on the journey of a brand, and this is a great one. We all know what McDonald’s is today, but until you read how it got there you’ll never truly appreciate it. If you’ve seen the Netflix show “Founder”, this book is what that was based off, but the book goes about 10x deeper. I was blown away by the stoires and now they relate to where I am in my journey of growing my company and brand. Seeing how something started, almost crashed many times and then pushed through is what the American dream is all about.