By Homer Smith

Reading is something I have always enjoyed, but over the last few years with running my own business and having a young family, I have not found as much time to pick up a book as I would have liked.

Growth/development is one of my top values and reading is a big part of that for me. I recently became much more consistent with my reading and I would like to share a few of the books as I finish them and review the best of what I am getting out of each one.

For a deeper dive you may want to check these out on your own and I also look forward to sharing more information about these individually with you, and how they might apply to your business or family in our meetings.

1. The Miracle Morning – Hal Elrod
   1. This book is the one I have been looking for, for an exceptionally long time, I just didn’t know it! I have always wanted to have a more consistent morning routine that made sense for me and my life. Creating a pattern where I would be more disciplined with working out and really preparing for my day. I just couldn’t pull all the details together in a way that worked for me. This book changed all that, making it very simple by mapping out the path to combining thinking time, to focus on what I want for my family and business, exercise to get the blood flowing, and reading and journaling time to keep my learning and reflection more consistent. I am about 3 weeks into this routine, and it has been the easiest new habit I have ever formed, truly encompassing all I need. I now wake up before my alarm almost every morning (before 5am) and get more done before 6:30am than I used to complete by 9am!
2. The Messy Marketplace – Brent Beshore
   1. The lifecycle of many of my business owner clients has them thinking about their next step, and I wanted to review this book and see if it would be a good piece to send to those who are heading that direction. The author has been through hundreds of transactions, has looked at thousands of companies along the way and provides a lot of good insight about how to approach selling your company and what you would need and how to prepare for the next step. This is an excellent read for any owner thinking along this path, especially with future potential tax law changes that could make it more expensive to sell your business after 2021!
3. Small Giants – Bo Burlingham
   1. This book takes us in the opposite direction of wanting to sell your company and just as the sub-title suggests, this book is all about creating a company that is focused on being Great instead of Big. It walks through multiple case studies of private companies that were self-funded but still grew at a significant pace as they were focused on a very clear owner-driven purpose. These owners said no more often to opportunities than yes, as they were laser focused on what mattered most to them. Despite all of this, a couple of the profiled companies still grew to a level where they obtained significant valuations, even though that was not the sole focus. I like this book a lot. It presents another path for business owners that do not want or do not need to sell their companies and would like a view into what other owners have done to build lasting legacies.

I look forward to sharing more with you on these and other books I am reading in the coming months!