What’s on your summer reading list?

I tend to read books in groups, and just started reading four this weekend, including the new one by Brian Solis, Engage. More on that soon. First, I’ve been in a few recent discussions about the books I read when I was thinking about starting Clairemont, and promised to post them here.

I clearly remember the day when I could no longer ignore the thoughts of having my own agency led me to the bookstore where I bought more books than I could carry on starting and running a business. As if the number of books purchased might be related to my chance at success! From that stack of books, here are the top 3 that really helped me the most:

1. The Girls Guide to Starting Your Own Business. Written by Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio who happened to be partners in — yes, you guessed it! — a PR and marketing agency, this is an easy read that is incredibly instructional and provides helpful checklists of things you need to do/consider when starting a business, sample budgets, business terms you need to know and resources for writing a business plan. Caitlin and Kimberly, thank you! I felt like you wrote this book just for me.

2. The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz. The theme might seem a bit crude but it’s all about making do with what you have which I think is great for starting a business and for thinking about how to work with clients with small budgets. Thanks to Mike, Clairemont has immutable laws that guide us on our mission that the book helped us to define.

3. The Boss of You. Written by another dynamic female duo, Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears started Raised Eyebrow Web Studios about ten years ago. This is a straight-forward step-by-step guide to getting your business started & set-up, and I love that they give you some very specific thoughts on how you should and shouldn’t be spending money and little things that you would just never think of if you had never started a business before. Thanks to Emira and Lauren, I’m not afraid of talking about love in business (we love what we do for clients we love) or to turn down a piece of business that does not fit with what we do.