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Square Readers Book Club: The Big Benefits of Reading Business Books

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As a small-business owner for most of my life, just about everything I’ve learned about running a business came from experience. There was a lot of trial and error, lessons learned from what worked well, but even more taught from the mistakes that I made. It’s a really hard way to learn, but it’s how most of us do it.

 

As part of the Seller Community’s Small Business Month, I'm ecstatic to share the story behind the new Square Readers Book Club and hopefully provide some inspiration and motivation for sellers to get involved! I believe that reading and discussing business books can help you to learn new strategies and skills to reach your goals.

 

Most of us don’t have advisors or mentors to teach us how to navigate complex situations or help us through difficult decisions. There is a lot of knowledge out there, but without access to it, every business owner would need to start from scratch and reinvent the wheel. This is not a great way to run an effective business. 

 

Why Business Books?

 

There is a lot we can learn by reading business books, but I personally never really thought about reading them when I had my shop. I opened the business with my father who was an entrepreneur his whole life, too. He was never a reader, so business books were just not a part of running our businesses. 

 

Even if I did consider reading some of them along the way, that thought would have quickly disappeared. I never really had the time or energy to read, and I wouldn’t even know where to start to find books that were relevant to my needs.

 

The Square Readers Book Club was born out of this need. By curating a list of business books that are written for us, and coming together to read and discuss them as a group, we can be better equipped with the knowledge, skills, and strategies to navigate challenges and run our businesses more effectively. 

 

About our Book Club

 

Every two months, we vote on one book to read that aligns with our goals as business owners. In the group forum along with a live video discussion, we talk through the theories and practices presented and see how we can incorporate them. We share our own experiences and best practices, make connections, and learn from the authors and each other. We motivate each other to stay on top of the reading and to constantly work to better our businesses.

 

So far we have over 2,000 members from around the world, all excited to learn more. We’ve talked about which book subjects we’re interested in, announced our first book, shared about ourselves, our businesses, and our core values as owners, our thoughts on the first book so far, and so much more. Thank you to everyone who has participated, including @DLRosenberg, @Moreplease, @Doran, @JUYBoutique20, @YBF, @CareyJo; and so many more. We love seeing your thoughts in our discussions! 

 

Become a Square Reader & Join us LIVE on May 23

 

Does this sound like it’s up your alley? Join the Square Readers Book Club and be a part of the excitement and experience! 

 

Join the first book club Live Discussion on Tuesday, May 23, at 4 p.m. (U.S. and CA Eastern) for a conversation about our first book, Start with Why, by Simon Sinek

 

RSVP for the Live Discussion

 

 

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Aylon Pesso is a former small-business owner, consultant, and Square Super Seller in New York. In his role as Small Business Evangelist at Square, Pesso works to understand and assist sellers’ business needs, including creating and running the Square Readers Book Club.

9 Comments
Admin

Thank you for sharing a bit more about your relationship with books and what motivated you to kick-off book club here in seller community @Pesso!  I can imagine its hard for lots of folks to find the time to read (myself included. It's audiobooks all the way for me!!!).

 

I am really looking forward to the first LIVE discussion event next week -- its the cherry on top to the lively conversations happening in the group!

Admin

Thank you so much, @LeahK ! 
I'm really excited for it too and can't wait to dive into talking about Start with Why.

Seller Community Mentor

Hey Pesso~

Thanks for the mention!  I've been trying to keep up with the group, all the notifications and the book all at the same time... my life is super busy and I haven't finished the book, but I will still be on the call tomorrow.  I'm hoping not to be late but my daughter has a court appearance that I need to attend at 1:30 and I'm honestly not sure if I will be done in time.  I will hop on as soon as I'm out!

Super Seller

Thanks so much for starting such a great group.... Can't wait for the live discussion.  I might actually be able to join in.

Admin

Thanks @CareyJo ! Totally understand the busy life -- hope everything goes well, and hope to see you even for a bit!

Admin

Thanks @JUYBoutique20 ! Hope to see you there!!

Super Seller

I actually used some helpful information  and tips from our first book when presenting a proposal to a company, so I’ll say that this book club was an excellent idea 🙂

Admin

That is great to hear @Stacelyn24 - I hope the proposal went well! 

Admin

Ah, that's incredible, @Stacelyn24 -- thank you so much for sharing! I'm so glad it was able to help you practically like that. So happy to hear you're getting so much out of book club! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the next book-

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