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Many people (myself included) consider books one of the best investments. Valuable books help a great deal with personal growth and are packed with information and practical guidance. Some can teach you the basics of running a business, and they motivate you to perform brilliantly and build good habits. Here are the best books for freelancers and entrepreneurs.
Table of contents
The best books for freelancers and entrepreneurs
Reading something valuable and full of information can genuinely change your life. The books below are not ranked from best to worst, because all of them contain interesting insights and perspectives from their authors. Each one suits a different reader: some are better for freelancers, others more for modern entrepreneurs. Still, I believe everyone will find something right for them here and feel inspired, so let’s get started.
The Freelance Way (Na volné noze)
Robert Vlach
Are you just starting out on your own, or have you been working for yourself for a while but need a boost? The book Na volné noze (The Freelance Way in English) offers complete business know-how, from the basics to strategies and tools for running a successful business.
Don’t expect an easy guide to becoming a millionaire, though. The book draws on the experiences of dozens of entrepreneurs whose journeys included both successes and failures. Not every topic in the book will be tailored to you, but you will certainly recognise yourself in many of them and pick up valuable tips.
The $100 Startup
Chris Guillebeau
The $100 Startup is another good choice for new entrepreneurs who are worried about funding their business. The author selected the fifty most interesting stories out of a total of 1,500 entrepreneurs who started with a small sum and built a business with a turnover of over 1 million CZK (about 46,000 USD). He then looked for the common traits that helped these people succeed and turned their hobbies and interests into a successful business idea.
Business for Bohemians
Tom Hodgkinson
This book also contains valuable information for entrepreneurs. The author draws on his own experience and describes funny situations that happened to him personally. He also offers practical advice and tools for turning your talent into a successful business that you will never stop enjoying.
Show Your Work!
Austin Kleon
Show Your Work! is a great launch pad for all creatives, freelancers, scribblers, painters… and I could go on. It offers ten proven tips for making yourself visible and getting discovered. You can read the full review of this book in the article Austin Kleon: Show Your Work!, as well as a review of its sequel, Keep Going.
Jak na sítě (How to Do Social Media)
Eliška Vyhnánková, Michelle Losekoot
Two marketers with years of experience decided to share it with the wider public, and the result is the book Jak na sítě. It contains practical tips, real-life examples and simple rules for mastering social media content. It is especially useful for freelancers working in online marketing, but also for people who have been put in charge of their company’s social media and don’t know where to start.
ŽijÚspěšně tip: Also read the article How to put together a marketing plan and strategy.
Getting Things Done
David Allen
In his book, David teaches time management, productivity and work planning in a completely different way from everyone else. Perhaps that is why his book became a phenomenon and has been selling for several years. In it, he explains the GTD method, which will bring more free time, more calm and less stress into your life.
Did you know? The book was so successful that the author has also written a book in the same spirit for teenagers: Getting Things Done for Teens.
WTF
What the future holds and how to survive it
Tim O’Reilly
For those of you who love predicting the future and creating your own visions, I can recommend the book WTF, in which the author ponders what on earth is actually happening to the world. The rapid development of technology, the rise of social media and the automation of work prompted him to write a book about the future he would like to see. In his ideal future, machines will not replace people, but who can guarantee that this will really be the case? We ourselves, or perhaps politicians?
So Good They Can’t Ignore You
Cal Newport
In his book So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport shatters the illusions of everyone who believes their passion can make them a living. Love for a particular activity and the dream of carefree money-making will always run up against the reality of life.
Fortunately, Cal doesn’t just take away readers’ illusions. He also restores their hope with a guide to how to actually do it: how to make a living from something that fulfils you and that you enjoy. According to him, the keys to success are skills, persistence and hard work, and he will teach you to handle these with ease.
The 4-Hour Workweek
Timothy Ferriss
Who wants to slave away at work their whole life just to enjoy retirement? What if retirement never comes? And do you really want to wait decades for a few years of rest, when you probably won’t have the energy for anything big because you sacrificed it all for those few years of peace?
In his book, Timothy Ferriss offers insights and ideas on how to make use of all the modern opportunities that life today gives us and how to enjoy it to the full. All of this in a very witty style that will appeal to you.
ŽijÚspěšně tip: You will certainly also find the article How not to forget important information from books useful.
Entrepreneur Revolution
Daniel Priestley
Don’t miss the boat, a new era, the age of the entrepreneur, is here – that is the author’s message as he urges readers to take action. In his view, the businesses with the best chance of success today are small firms, agile start-ups and flexible companies that can become titans in their field. He also describes his own success in the business world, how to build contacts and how to improve your mindset.
Remote
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
The authors of the hit Rework return with another addition to the bookshelves of freelancers, digital nomads and entrepreneurs who believe the office is unnecessary. The book takes the form of a kind of discussion: it raises basic questions and classic excuses and then refutes them with practical experience and information.
The authors show the advantages of working from anywhere and praise working from home as an option of the modern age. They also recommend specific steps for switching to office-free work, for both employers and employees.
Built to Last
Collins Jim, Porras I. Jerry
If you like to rely on practicality in life and theorising isn’t your thing, this book could be a wellspring of inspiration for you. It contains hundreds of examples and concepts that you can apply directly in practice. What sets companies apart from their competitors? What approaches do successful companies follow? You will find out after reading this book.
Hit Makers
Derek Thompson
Let’s head back into the waters of freelancers who make a living from online marketing and social media. What makes a viral hit go viral? And how is it that one thing becomes popular overnight while another goes completely unnoticed? Every project has a secret recipe behind its success. And it wasn’t the audience it was served to, but that audience’s audience. Does that make sense? No? Then you had better read the whole book, Hit Makers, and you will understand more.
BONUS, tools of Titans
Timothy Ferriss
As a bonus, we have one more hot tip: the exclusive book by Tim Ferriss, Tools of Titans. The book is a bible of extracts from dozens of interviews with brilliant and inspiring people in three areas: wealthy, wise and healthy.
The book isn’t designed to be sat down with and read like a novel. It is more of a very deep well of interesting tips and information that can move you forward in your relationship with business, money, health and the way you see the world.
You will find the vast majority of these great books for freelancers and modern entrepreneurs on the website of the publisher Jan Melvil Publishing. Next time, we will look at a list of the best books for personal growth and motivation. Stay tuned.
USD amounts are approximate, converted at the Czech National Bank rate of 21.75 CZK per USD on 9 October 2026.
