The Top 10+ Business books for videographers. EP #333 - Den Lennie

Hey guys, it's Dan here. And after one of my clients asked me to create a list of books that I think are worth reading. As a videographer owning a videography business, I thought I'd make this episode about that.

Welcome to the Video Business Accelerator Podcast. Each week we uncover the secrets to creating a wildly successful and scalable video production business. With your host, Dan Lenny, discover how the Accelerator program is transforming the lives of our members at www.videobusinessaccelerator.com. enjoy this episode.

So in no particular order, this book here Built to Sell by John Warrilow is a great book to read from the point of view of it tells a story of a graphic designer who goes from a freelance business to building a business that he then sells. Now, it's a great anecdotal story. Don't hang on to every word and think you've now got to build your video business to do the same thing. I don't know many video businesses that have sold because generally speaking, there's so much of the owner in them. But but it's a great story in terms of thinking about systems and removing yourself from lots of the day to day. So that's the first one. Next book I want to recommend to you is the One Page Marketing Plan by Alan Dibb. This is a fantastic book that gives you a very good strategic overview of what marketing you should do and understanding who you're marketing to. Again, really great book with lots and lots of very helpful. As you can see, I've marked this up. If you're watching this video, lots of helpful tips, tricks, crafting your message, all that stuff. Very, very good. Read this book here. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. One of the greatest books you'll ever read about taking ownership of everything good and bad that happens in your life. Written from the perspective of a Navy SEAL who had to make life and death decisions, but he's translated it into business lessons and this is a fantastic book and it really is a.

Mantra that I live by. Extreme ownership, good and bad. Whatever happens in your life, it's down to you. So extreme ownership. Fantastic read. This book Here is probably my favorite business book of all time in terms of business strategy and lessons and it's called the Road Less Stupid by Keith J. Cunningham. Now I would recommend that you listen to this audiobook because there are lots of anecdotal extras in the book, but this is a book that I think is the most underrated business book ever written and I strongly recommend this is the book you read as a matter of priority. And then this book here, great by choice, Jim Collins, was actually written quite a while ago. When was it written? I think we just go back here. It was first published in.

2011. And this book here is the study of many bigger businesses over a 20 and 30 year period. And the essence of this book is that great businesses take time to build and grow incrementally each year and sustain decades of growth. And one of the key lessons in this particular book is the idea of the 20 mile march. And that is a story about two explorers at the turn of the century who went to Antarctica. One survived and one perished. And one of the key lessons in that was the idea of the 20 mile march. And again, that's a philosophy I very much live by, that, you know, building a business, gradually taking your time, doing it properly and not killing yourself every day and having these roller coaster months where you're up and down and busy working and then you've got nothing on the plate. A fantastic book there. Now I'm going to move to the iPad for those of you that are watching, because I've got some other books here that I reckon.

Hang on, that's just actually started playing, so Can't Hurt Me, David Goggins. I thought I could actually show this on my iPad, but it's. It's just going to play the book, which is not much cop. Can't Hurt Me, David Goggins. Probably the biggest motivational book you can ever read. Now, Goggins is a bit mental. He is cut from different cloth to the rest of us. However, it does demonstrate how much the brain prevents you from pushing through when you think you've got nothing left in the tank. Can't Hurt Me, David Goggins. Another book that I really recommend is your One Word by Evan Carmichael. And that's a book that really focuses on purpose, focuses on.

Taking you through a process of understanding. If you could.

Describe your business in one word, what would that one word be? Again, quite an easy read. A nice book to think more broadly about the philosophy around why you're doing what you're doing. Atomic Habits. My next book recommendation, James Clear. Atomic Habits. Phenomenal book about building daily habits around getting shit done. That's it in a nutshell. One of the things that I think as creators we struggle with the most is not being consistent enough in all of the tasks that a business likes and needs money. Like structure business. Like structure business, marketing, sales. You need to be saying the same thing over and over and over again to a broad audience so that when the audience needs what you've got, you become the only option.

Another book that I think if you're looking for something a bit deeper on planning and strategic planning is called Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnisch. J.D. rockefeller was a tycoon in the US who I'm guessing most of you would have heard of, and he had a process of planning in 90 day blocks. And so Verne Harnisch has studied his work and has built this planning structure around quarterly objectives, annual objectives, and tracking goals on a weekly basis to achieve those milestones.

Another book that I think is really worth reading if you are thinking about the future is Die With Zero by Bill Perkins. This is a book I've just started reading and it was recommended by a friend in a Mastermind that I'm in and essentially it's turning the idea of using your money that you earn throughout your life to create experiences so that you don't leave lots and lots of money around for the government and family to enjoy. You actually spend it all creating experiences so you literally die with Zero. Phenomenal book. Great way to change perspective on how you think about things.

Can't do this without mentioning $100 million offers by Alex Hermosi. What Alex has done in this book has really solidified some of the core messages of direct response, marketing and feeding a starving crowd. And again, there's some great principles in this book in terms of how to put your message in front of the right audience. And then finally, I think it's worth a notable mention is Work Less and Make More by James Schramko. James Schramko has written this book and it really is a testament to making more money more whilst working less. And of course we can't.

Thought of this go without mentioning business of filmmakers. The Quick Dirty the Quick Dirty and Uncensored Secrets to a Six Figure Video Business from the World's Balliest Filmmaker by me, Ben Lenny and the other book I recommend you get is the Filmmaker's Guide to Budgets and Quotes that increase Profit Margin on production by 20 to 30% instantly. That is my book recommendations. I hope you found this useful. Go check them out. Let me know what you think. See you next time.

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