Here you’ll find a list of the top resources I recommend to learn more about starting and running your own business.
Books
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
This book provides valuable insights on how to approach business ownership, including tips on systems, processes, and avoiding common pitfalls.
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses” by Eric Ries
While not specific to plumbing, this book offers a methodology for building successful businesses by focusing on customer feedback and rapid iteration.
Markup & Profit: A Contractor’s Guide by Michael C. Stone
This guide is tailored for contractors, including plumbers, and covers essential topics like pricing, estimating, and managing a profitable business.
Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz
This book introduces a cash management system that helps businesses become more profitable by prioritising your finances differently.
The Small Business Start-Up Workbook: A Step-by-step Guide to Starting the Business You’ve Dreamed of by Cheryl D. Rickman
Tailored for the UK, this workbook offers practical advice on starting a new business, including sections that would be relevant to plumbing
1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd
Serial entrepreneur Allan Dib reveals a marketing implementation breakthrough that makes creating a marketing plan simple and fast. It’s literally a single page, divided up into nine squares. With it, you’ll be able to map out your own sophisticated marketing plan and go from zero to marketing hero.