- Five books that changed my life.
I get asked all the time, Dan, you talk about reading,
but what are the books that you've read
that have really impacted your life?
That's what I want to share with you guys in this video.
I remember, I was 23 years old, living in Ottawa,
working for the government.
I didn't have a business.
I was just consulting on contract,
and I'd previously tried building two companies
and completely failed; 17, I started
Maritime Vacation, then I did again with
NB Host when I was like 19, and then I was just
doing contract work trying to find my way,
and everybody kept saying, you gotta read books.
So, I was just so not a reader.
At that point, I had never read a book
in my whole life, and I figured I was sitting
there in this place called the Rideau Centre
and there was a Chapters, which is a Canadian
version of Indigo Books, and I walked in and I said,
alright, let's look at these books, and I was so
not a reader that my first book was an audio book.
It was the title that got me,
but it literally changed my life.
I pretty much binge-listened to it over the next
three to four days and that's what I want to share
with you because that sent me down a trajectory
and a path that really changed my life.
I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the books
and the people that inspired me along my journey,
and that first book, and it's the first one I wanna
share with you guys out of the top five.
It's called Love is the Killer App by Tim Sanders.
What an amazing book, and really to me,
it was the right book that I needed to read at that moment
in my life.
Tim argued that you needed to acquire knowledge
and really for yourself and your customers.
He talked about your network as your net worth,
and then he also shared his ideas around being
a love cat, or somebody that gave value
and is just a good person in the world,
and I really resonated with me.
I pretty much took what he said in those books,
and just did it.
So, that was the first book.
The second one that really had the big impact
on me was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
As I kept reading other books, they kept
referencing this one.
I don't know if you guys have heard of it, but it is
arguably the first and the oldest personal development
book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and in there
the chapter that really kind of resonated the most with me
was the chapter on finding a partner and how valuable
and important it was to find somebody that would
support you and be on the shared journey
to build a better life.
So, Napoleon Hill's book, Think and Grow Rich,
number two, top most important, change-my-life
kind of books in my personal journey.
Number three is Awaken the Giant Within
by Tony Robbins.
I don't know if you guys have ever listened.
I listened to the audio book.
Again, it took me a while to finally figure out
how to read books, but that book, I remember
I was driving for 12 hours, from where I lived
in New Brunswick, Canada to Montreal City,
and it was the perfect book for me to read that moment.
I was just kind of really questioning myself.
I was starting to build my company.
I didn't know how to really do it,
and it was all these limiting beliefs that Tony
really talked about in Awaken the Giant Within.
So, I wanna share that one.
That was number three,
really truly transformational book for me.
Number four, another one that just really took
things to the next level was The E-Myth by Michael Gerber.
If you've never read it, it's all about Sara's pies
and his argument is you wanna build a franchise
prototype.
So, maybe you've heard of franchise systems
and even if you have no aspiration whatsoever
to build a business to be a franchise,
thinking of a way to build those businesses because
many of the biggest companies in the world
are franchises, McDonald's, et cetera.
So, he talked about building systems, repeatable,
scalable systems, and as a computer geek, that's kind
of my background, it resonated with me.
So, number four is the E-Myth by Michael Gerber,
changed the way I build companies and just looked
at strategy in general, and number five,
one of the most impactful, when I think of just like
continously week after week thinking and implementing
the strategy, is a book called, Never Eat Alone,
by Keith Ferazzi.
That book, as an introverted, nerdy, not-outgoing geek
that used to sit there, write code, that book argued
that I really needed to start surrounding myself
with other people that were gonna support me in my mission,
and getting out and breaking bread and bringing
people together was just such a light way
and simple way of doing it.
It's something that I continue to do.
When I travel, I organize breakfast, lunches, and dinners.
Every week, minimum, I organize a founder's lunch,
all taught to me over 10 years ago by Keith Ferazzi's book,
Never Eat Alone.
So, again, I wanna recap the top five books
that have meaningfully changed my life,
and I've read hundreds of books over the years,
but these are the five, when I think about it,
they really stand out.
Number one is Love is a Killer App by Tim Sanders,
then it's Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
Three is Awaken the Giant by Tony Robbins.
Four is the E-Myth by Michael Gerber,
and five is Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferazzi,
and if you asked me, if you forced me and you twisted
my arm to pick a number six, I'm gonna throw
out there Purple Cow by Seth Godin.
From a marketing point of view, pound for pound,
if you get that right, about building a business
that's remarkable, then everything else takes
care of itself.
I wanna thank you guys for watching this video.
I want to ask you guys to subscribe to the feed
and share this video.
If you know that there's somebody out there
that's struggling to even start to read,
share this video with them so that they
can maybe get inspired by some of my selections
and I wanna challenge you guys again
to live a bigger life and a bigger business
and I'll see you next Monday.