004 • Two books that helped me start an online business
Since the end of May, I’ve started earning my first online income through writing Medium articles.
This wasn’t an overnight breakthrough though.
Since this time last year, I’ve been looking into starting a business. I didn’t feel like I had the skills, however, so I put off beginning to work.
Despite this, I was learning through articles, podcasts, videos and, of course, books.
There’s a completeness about a put-together book that other sources of information don’t provide, so it’s often books that I turn to when I want to learn about a topic in depth.
Most books fade away into the depths of your brain, but there are a select few that truly change you, improving your skills in the real world.
I can count two main books that I’ve read since this point last year that have had this effect on me, and I wanted to share them here…
Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
A year ago, I was likely to head to university in the autumn, so I wanted to learn some strategies for knowledge management so that I’d land on my feet when it came to studying.
I’d seen Tiago’s interview with Ali Abdaal on Ali’s YouTube channel, so I knew of the book when it was released.
I wasted no time buying and reading it, and was blown away by what Tiago demonstrated. Here was a simple and effective way to manage all your knowledge and projects digitally, from capture to output.
Building a Second Brain, or BASB, is based on the acronym CODE, which stands for capture, organise, distil and express. The book covers each step in detail, explaining the role each plays in generating meaningful work.
I became so engaged in what was being taught in this book that I carefully built my own second brain from the ground up in a note-taking app, Obsidian. It’s upon this topic I can now earn money by writing about the ins and outs of what I’ve learned during this process, and the systems I have in place to deal with university and other creative work.
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
I’d become a lot more self-aware surrounding device and internet use towards taking my A-levels earlier in this year, seeing as I had to spend time focused on revision.
To accompany this, I read this book, which is all about developing a healthier relationship with technology, so that we can use digital tools and services without them using us.
The book sheds light on the motives behind much of the services and platforms that you can find on the internet. It gives you some steps to claim your life back from technology, including deleting social media and cultivating some high-value leisure activities to fill your time with.
I’ve focused on developing a minimalist ‘philosophy of technology use’ so that I can disregard much of the digital clutter that I come across in favour of what’s actually going to make an overwhelming positive impact upon my productivity and creativity.
Honourable Mentions
Deep Work by Cal Newport - another book from Cal Newport that I read whilst contemplating starting a business. Very popular, this one talks about methods for eliminating distraction and engaging in focused and productive work for long chunks of time.
Make it Stick by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger and Mark A. McDaniel - a book about the science of memory, this didn’t strictly help me in improving my business. Having said this, it helped me learn more efficiently over the university year so that I had more time and attention to direct towards business endeavours.
Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker - a bible for sleep science. This book gave a detailed outline of sleep and why it’s so important. It’s safe to say that this knowledge held me accountable during my first year of living the university lifestyle.
All of these books I’ve given, take the vast majority of the credit for the knowledge that I’ve built which has allowed me to take the first steps into the world of solopreneurship and online business.