112: 5 Personal Development Books Every Female Entrepreneur Should Read

Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast. I’m your host, Sabrina Gebhardt. Here, I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing business, motherhood, and life. Myself, along with my guests will get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories because we’re willing to go there.

If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too, The shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.

Welcome back to the shoot straight podcast. My friends today, I’m really excited about what I’m sharing with you because it’s something that I get asked about pretty frequently. It is something that comes up in discussion specifically in my mastermind route to rise. So if you’ve ever heard me talk about my mastermind, or maybe you’ve been a participant in it before, maybe you’ve looked into it, but didn’t join, you know, that part of the program is that we read personal development books together.

The entire premise behind this program and what makes it so unique in the industry is that I am not only teaching you how to be a better photographer and run a better business, but we are bettering yourself. To better your business. Okay. So we’re working on a lot of things that have to do with you internally.

Right. And part of that process is reading personal development books together. Now you’re probably thinking, well, Sabrina, you’ve run the mastermind five times now. So don’t you read the same books? And the answer is no, no, we have had some repeats, some books that we’ve read a couple of different times, but many times we read a book one time and then we don’t read it again.

It really depends on like, I don’t know what I’m feeling is needed at the moment. Uh, it really is kind of like an intuitive thing how I select these books. I, I wish I had a more concrete process for you, but I don’t. It’s kind of based on who registers and what I know about them, the vibe I’m getting, I don’t know.

It’s a very intuitive thing, how I choose these books. So originally in the program, the first few runs, we did four books together and it was one book a month, which is doable. You know, reading a book in a month is doable, but it’s also a lot because personal development books for most people. are not, they’re not books you blow through, let’s say, right?

There’s, there’s not as many stories in them. You’re not getting lost in, you know, uh, another era or something and it’s hard, right? And, and then when you also add in the fact that we have at least one call a week inside this program Voxer hours, It’s several days a week and you’re still running your photography business and you’re still taking care of your family and your life.

It’s a lot, right? And so what I’ve learned is that four books is too many. So this past run of the program, we only did two and that was way, way better. So I think that’s where we’re going to land for a little bit. I still think it’s really important. It brings up really good discussions. It gets our head.

Into thinking about personal development in a new way kind of keeps us focused on that separate from our photography business, which is a really important part of this program to me. So anyways, the reason this comes up is because every single time I start this program, one of the questions I get asked on one of the early calls by new students is, do you have a list of books that you can recommend?

Because obviously I’ve read a lot, I’ve taught on a lot of them, and so, So I’m kind of, you know, I guess a good resource on personal development books. And so I get asked about it and I thought this would make a really fun podcast. I will tell you that I could recommend 20. I could easily recommend 20 personal development books just off the top of my head.

That would be a really, really long podcast episode. And I want this to be short and sweet. Okay. I’m going to give you five recommendations. You have maybe heard of them and maybe you have not. I’m going to give you just five. It’s a really solid place to start. I will have all of them linked in the show notes, and I’m not going to give you like a deep rundown on all of them because you can just go to Amazon or your bookstore and read the back, right?

I’m going to tell you what I enjoy about these books. Okay? So it’s just going to be a short and sweet little five recommendations for personal development books that I think all creative entrepreneurs should read. Okay, so we’re going to start at the top and that is Profit First by Mike Michalowicz.

Okay. Prophet first. You’ve heard me talk about this. If you’ve ever listened to the podcast before, you’ve heard me mention this multiple times. I have taught on this in groups. I, I am such a fan and such a believer. It has absolutely changed my business. It has also changed my personal life. When you think about profit first, what is profit first?

It is a type of money management system for your business. I don’t want to say accounting because that feels too complicated, but that’s kind of what it is. And you’re probably thinking you want me to read a book about like organizing money. That probably makes you want to pull your hair out and sounds so boring.

It is not. Mike is hilarious. All of his stories are extremely relatable. It is one of the easiest reads, quite honestly. It is so easy. And if you are an audio book person, listen to it on audio because he’s hilarious. Okay. This book has absolutely changed the way that I do my business and I will literally never go back.

If you’ve heard me tell the story. About how several years ago, I finally was able to start taking a consistent paycheck every other Friday forever and ever. Amen. And it’s the same amount of money, except, you know, when I get a raise, that’s how I’m able to do that because I started using profit first in my business.

I have had the money I need to pay for all of my expenses, which if you listened to last week’s episode, you know that I have a lot of expenses because I have a huge team at this point, not to mention all of the regular, you know, fees and memberships and coaching and all those other things that I do, right?

My monthly expenses are really high. Okay. And they’re always covered. And I’m always able to pay myself and I’m able to take quarterly bonuses for myself and I’m able to save for taxes and I’m able to save for paying off debt and all of these things because of profit first. The book is so easy to read.

I absolutely highly recommend that you read it and then you implement it. I will say I implemented it into my business about 18 months before I implemented it into our personal life as a way of like, Kind of budgeting and using our money at home and both have been a game changer. Absolutely. I will never go back.

So highly, highly recommend Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. Next. This is a book. This is one of the few books that we have read multiple times in the mastermind. If you are a female creative entrepreneur and you have not read this book, what are you doing? It is called, we should all be millionaires by Rachel Rogers.

Again, this is a great audio listen because Rachel narrates it and she is in it. your girlfriend in your ear. She gives it to you straight and she has a very natural, fun voice to listen to. So it is a really great listen, but this book is so easy to read. Again, her stories are relatable, but she gives so much.

Such powerful advice. Now I will say the one negative comment that I’ve gotten from my mastermind students is that she is teaching from the position of a multimillionaire CEO with huge teams and huge investments. And she’s at a different level than an entrepreneur. Okay. But she started out as a solopreneur.

Okay. And she walks you through that journey. Your path may not be the same as hers. You may not have these huge visions of business that she has, and that’s okay. You can absolutely pick and choose what you’re getting from the book, right? The things that she talks about, about growing to seven figures and beyond and expanding and doing all these things, you can just ignore that if you want.

Okay. Maybe you do have visions of that someday. The thing about it is there are, there’s too much value in the book for you to discount it because of the few pieces of advice that are meant for, you know, multi millionaires and huge CEOs. Okay. Don’t discount the entire book because of that. Okay. There’s too much value.

There’s mindset stories. There’s money stories. There’s stories about, Things that you should and shouldn’t be doing things that are holding you back. It is absolutely an incredible book and it’s written from the point of women need to have more money because when we have money, we do good in the world.

It’s what we can do for our family, what we can do for our communities, what we can do for society. It is such an impactful book. If you have not read it yet, you need to go get it. Like I’m giving you homework, go get this book. Order it on Amazon, pick it up at your local bookstore, get this book immediately, get the audio book, whatever you want.

It is a game changer for sure. Today’s episode is brought to you by route to rise a four month mastermind and retreat for female photographers. That is where personal development meets business growth. During the four month experience, students have weekly calls focusing on a variety of topics that both better their lives and their businesses.

Think topics like goals, boundaries, money, and marketing, and many, many others. The program also includes incredible guest teachers, a private Facebook community, and weekly Voxer hours where you get individualized guidance and mentoring from me on topics that matter to you and your business. One of the best parts of the experience is definitely the three day in person retreat.

Consider this the most fun girls weekend ever. We eat well, do yoga, photograph three sessions, work through portfolio reviews, take headshots and build deep friendships. I can tell you that the women who have gone through this program have had some absolutely incredible transformations. Reached massive goals and changed the trajectory of their businesses.

If you wanna get on the wait list to be notified when enrollment opens again soon, you can head over to the link in the show notes and get on that list. And now back to the episode. The next one is Atomic Habits by James Clear. You’ve probably read this. I feel like this book was the 2020 book during the pandemic.

It was all anybody could talk about. Everybody was reading it and loving it and raving about it. I will say if you are somehow you’ve held out and you haven’t read it at this point, there’s a reason why everyone was talking about it. There is a reason why it was all anybody could think about, talk about.

It was all over social media. It is so good. It is such a good book. Again, relatable stories, easy to follow. What I think is so important about this book is as a successful entrepreneur, owning a business, running a business, growing your business, growing your team, whatever goals you have. I truly believe that Marching towards success and growth, no matter what your definition of the two are, marching towards those things requires you to have good, healthy habits.

I do not believe that you can grow a business, grow a team, hit these exciting goals. see these dreams come to fruition without having healthy habits in place. I just don’t. I don’t think that it’s possible. I’ve told this story before or this example before, but when you are trying to reach goals and see growth, but you are not taking care of your habits or your personal health or your mental health or your routines, it’s like you’re swimming with a brick tied to you.

Technically you’re swimming. You’re staying afloat. You’re moving forward maybe, but it’s really hard. It’s really hard and you will never get as far as fast as if you were to take the dang brick off of you and then all of a sudden it becomes easy. Right. And you are moving forward. That’s what it’s like when you are not taking care of your physical mental health habits, anything like that.

That’s where this book comes into play. This book comes into play and gives you actionable steps to start taking care of your life. It is so wonderful. It’s written so well, and it’s in such bite sized little steps to truly just get your life in order. Okay. And as a creative entrepreneur, when you have control of your life, when you have control of your habits, when you’re taking care of yourself mentally and physically, your business becomes so much easier, so much easier.

I see this time and time again, when I’m starting coaching relationships with women in the first few months, we start working together. I will see them doing all the things right in their business. having all these brilliant ideas and feeling like nothing’s working. And what ends up happening when we get to the root cause of things is things aren’t working in their business because they’re not working in their personal life.

They’re not taking care of themselves. Right? They’re not taking care of their health. They’re not taking care of their relationships. They’re not taking care of their habits. So no wonder their business isn’t working. And when you can take care of the personal side, the business becomes easy. Truly. Okay.

So if you are one of the few people who has not read atomic habits yet, it’s time. It’s so easy. You can, again, listen to it on audio if you prefer. It is fantastic. Highly, highly, highly recommend. Number four, 15 invaluable laws of growth by John Maxwell. This one is one you may or may not have read. This one is not as popular.

I don’t know why, because it’s really a fantastic book. I have read a few John Maxwell books in, uh, my mastermind over the years, but this is one of my favorites because the way it’s written. So if you can guess from the title, 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. Each chapter is a different law. Okay, so it’s kind of like you’re getting this crash course in all of personal development, one nugget at a time.

Right. It’s like you’re getting to dip your toes in, in these things and you’re just getting enough information about each law where you can really like dive in and start to see change and start to make changes and see shifts without having to like buy 15 different books because truly each of these laws could be their own book.

But they’re all compiled into one just in those little bite sized categories. And so it’s a really great read. And he writes so simply, really, it feels like you’re having a conversation or you’re sitting down with a business coach and they’re just like giving it to you straight. I love this book and it really does go into both the kinds of things that you need to be a leader, the kinds of things that you need to do to run a successful business.

There’s also mindset things. There’s things about the relationships you hold. There’s things about the stories that you’re telling yourself. There’s things about how you spend your time. It goes into so many, again, just bite size Lessons. So I highly recommend this is such an easy read. If you’re one of those people that loves short chapters, um, with digestible information, this book is for you.

15 invaluable laws of growth by John Maxwell. And the last book that I’m going to recommend today is you are a badass at making money by Jen Sincero. This book is so great. We read this this year in the mastermind and it is all money mindset, but like listening to a girlfriend. Okay. Jen is hilarious.

It’s absolutely hilarious. This is such a funny read. It’s also really great on audible. The chapters again are really short and digestible. There’s just so much mindset work here. Some of her stories are wild, where she came from and the struggles she had and the things she’s overcome and the lessons she’s learned are absolutely incredible.

I will say my caveat here is that many of my students. Don’t love how she talks about the universe. Okay, Jen is a believer in, you know, the divine and the universe and all of that. But I will say there’s a whole little mini micro chapter in the book where she specifically says, if that’s not your jam, change the word to something that is your jam.

Okay. So if you are a believer in God. If you are a believer of something else, religiously, if you’re not sure what you believe in, change the language so it fits you. And so the first time I read this book, I did that and I actually physically went through and crossed out words and changed them to what I prefer.

And then the second and subsequent times I’ve read this book, I didn’t need to read it that way because I just understand, right? It’s kind of the same premise of if you go take a yoga class. And at the end of the yoga class, you know, they have sometimes depending on how traditional the yoga studio is, they will have some sort of kind of prayer at the end.

And then they have you put your hands to third eye center and namaste, if that’s not your jam. You can say your own prayer to whoever you want. At the end, the whole point is to end in a prayer of gratitude. You don’t have to pray to the same person that the teacher is praying to. The same thing is happening in this book, right?

So you will need to look back. You’ll need to look beyond that depending on your faith beliefs. But when you look beyond that, there is so much goodness in this book. Like, mind blowing shifts that my students have made from reading her stories and the way that she talks about moving through money struggles.

So if you are somebody that knows that you have money mindset issues and that you struggle, um, absolutely read this book. But here’s the thing. Even if you think that you don’t, I want you to read this book. I’ve had many, many students read this book who thought they were great as far as money was concerned, and they still had really eye opening takeaways that have served them, um, after reading the book.

So just to recap really quickly for today’s episode, five personal development books that I think you should read. If you are a creative entrepreneur, specifically a woman that, um, we have read in my mastermind that people have loved that have really been easy reads that are really impactful, um, that I want you to go out and get add to your Amazon cart.

Okay. Number one is profit first. Number two is we should all be millionaires. Number three is atomic habits. Number four is 15 invaluable laws of growth. And number five is you are a bad ass at making money. And my friend, that is it for today’s episode of the shoot at straight podcast. I cannot wait to see you next week.

Bye now. Thanks so much for listening to the shoot at straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes And details from today’s episode@sabrinagehart.com slash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gehart Photography. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review.

Until next time, my friends shoot it straight.