Hope you are safe and sound at home? With the lockdown dominating our lives right now, a lot of us have started using the extra time we have on our hands and started working on projects or dreams that we love. If you are planning on starting your own business we have a few books in store for you that would really help. This week in our segment NP Recommends, our editors have picked the best books published by our Indie Authors. You can use our Read Instantly platform to begin reading these books online even as your physical copy makes its way to your doorstep. Here is a list of books you would definitely love.

Don’t Startup

By Karthik Kumar 

No one tells you that:
Money is seldom the reason why people don’t start businesses – fear of money is.
Failures will far outnumber successes. Make failure a friend. Become familiar with it – know how to look it in the eye and find out more about it.
People do business with people they like and are familiar with. To most people, YOU are the business. There is no good or bad investor; there are only right or wrong investors.
What makes an entrepreneur special is the bridge of intelligence between the left and the right brain, the bridge between Business and Art. Through this never-before-seen side of entrepreneurship, Karthik Kumar explores the various emotional challenges an entrepreneur’s faces and also tells you how to overcome them. Don’t Startup is not about giving you the knowledge and the know-how of starting up. It is about imparting the wisdom that Karthik has gained from his Evam journey and how that wisdom will be the strength in yours. Click to read more.

The Entrepreneur’s GuideBook

By Suresh G. Bharwani

This book closely resonates with my journey as an entrepreneur. The book can be a wise counsellor to the people who are embarking on this entrepreneurial journey. Just like Suresh’s personality, this book is understated with simple and real-life experiences but highly impactful insights, tools and framework from his personal journey as an entrepreneur. His experience of more than 40 years from the revolutionary DIY Radio Kit, to a world-class training institute that has trained more than 7,00,000 students till date, his journey says it all. This book is simple to understand and a ready reference guidebook that can be a handy tool for any entrepreneur. I particularly like the Start, Stop & Continue tool that helps readers reflect on actionables as per their strengths and weakness. I would recommend this book to all entrepreneurs and professionals in any part of their career. Click to read more.

Blockchain for Non-IT Professionals

By Srinivas Mahankali

The increased digitization and automation taking place at a rapid pace across all the spheres are our activity are creating a world of unforeseen convenience. However, we are put to an unimaginable risk of cyber-threats. At the same time, there is a lack of trust sweeping across with the counterparties and a tremendous threat to the privacy of the global citizens with the trusted third parties like governments and organizations that are unable to prevent breaches of data and malicious cyber-attacks. 

In such a scenario, how do we de-risk our transactions from these threats and still take advantage of the digital transformation pioneered by the emerging technologies? Blockchain! 

So, what is this Blockchain technology and how does it endow its users with all these compelling benefits? Let us dissect the various components of this technology and demystify the various aspects and be prepared for the revolution ahead! Click to read more.

Above and Beyond

By R. Srinivasan, Shrihari Udupa, R. Mukund

Above and Beyond begins at a point where most management books end—profits, shareholder wealth and success. According to the authors, truly great organisations do not stop there; they leap to the space beyond excellence. This leap itself is powered by a foundation of solid values, a goal towards a common good and the realisation of a larger purpose, which help the organisation make a significant impact on the world outside. Click to read more.

Get Funded Now: Find Out How

By Nalin Singh

The world is captivated by a startup frenzy, yet ninety percent fail in the first few years. Entrepreneurs start businesses in a daze of enthusiasm only to realize that running the business and scaling it, requires the continuous lubricant of money. The close-knit investor world is brutal with its own code and language. Entrepreneurs could spend years receiving encouragement, smiles, and handshakes but no cheques. Nothing has trained or prepared them for this world where one misstep could prove fatal for the future of their business. You could spend years wandering or pause and master this seemingly impossible task of raising timely finance.

The book demystifies the world of funding and provides actionable insights on how to prepare for it and engage with investors, in a successful and timely manner. Tips on everything from preparing oneself, planning one’s own business, crafting materials for investors and engaging with investors for long-term funding, are covered in an easy and comprehensive manner in this book. Give yourself and your business the best shot they deserve. Click to read more.

Are We Leading?

Kaushik Mahapatra

Are we Leading? is a book that will change the way you lead your life and the world around you.

It is designed for those who are on the journey of personal discovery and who get a constant feeling that they are not doing enough or they are not good enough. This book will completely change the way you view your life and the world around you, as you would be in a leading mode and can take charge of your own personal and professional life no matter what phase of life you are in. It’s an easy-to-read book and recommended for anyone who would like to take some simple steps towards achieving greater success and happiness by simply getting into a leading mindset.

So far, we largely associate leadership with professional adults who are in executive management roles in politics, government or business. In fact, we have always treated leadership as something which is bigger than us and beyond us. However, anyone can be a leader – both personally and professionally. It’s about doing those small things which can influence you or people around you, and it can be simply attained by consistently improvising on whatever we have been doing which finally would lead us to excellence. So, keep leading and elevate your life.
Click to read more.

We hope you enjoyed the list! Catch you next Monday to explore more books!