Introduction: Profit Reading: Make Money from Books Worth Reading
When was the last time you read a great book? The kind of book that made you stop to think about what you were reading? I have this theory that you can profit from the books you read, if you read the right books. I am calling this idea profit reading – making money from the books you read.
If you invest the time to read and digest a book, you deserve to reap the benefits of the applied knowledge. I believe you should get a return on investment for your time. Profit in this case could be a promotion, an in-demand product you create to sell, a new service you offer, and so on.
I think if more professionals approached their reading with this mindset, they would want to read more. And they would make the time to read, even if it means giving up another activity.
The most successful people understand the concept of profit reading, even if they do not call it that. Take Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, he spends about three hours each day reading, even though he is a billionaire. In his book, How to Win at the Sport of Business, Mark Cuban says,
“I learned from magazines and books, but I also learned from watching what some of the up-and-coming technology companies of the day were doing. It’s funny how the companies that I thought were brilliant back then are still racking it up today.”
Profit Reading: How to Make Money from Books Worth Reading
The first step is to find books worth reading. And if you're like most people, you have a pile of to-be-read books waiting for you to flip them open. You bought the books for a reason. Are those reasons still valid? If you have valid reasons, choose a few nonfiction books from the pile. The next step is to change your definition of what it means to read a book. This means you'll preview each book, reading only the important sections.
When reading the Introduction of a book, you'll likely find the core ideas in it. As you're reading books, look out for good ideas. Many times when you're reviewing your notes, the ideas pop off the page. The Haystack Method that Rohit Bhargava created enables you to synthesize information from books. This is a critical part of profit reading.
Have you read?
Prioritize Your Reading with the Eisenhower Matrix!
The Components of the Haystack Method for Synthesizing Information
- Gathering: The information you find in the books you read.
- Aggregating: Get ideas from the books you read
- Elevating: Combine ideas to make them bigger
- Naming: Name ideas so people quickly understand what you’re trying to communicate
- Proving: Do the ideas have “teeth.” How can you demonstrate that the ideas are important?
Profit from Innovative Ideas
To profit from your reading, you need a systematic way to generate innovative ideas. The profit is in the innovative ideas that you generate. Take notes while you are reading a book. Tie the information to what you already know.
Any insights that come to you while reading, jot them down. And if ideas come to you about how to use the information, jot that down as well. When you finish reading each book, review your notes, then extract the core ideas.
What I have noticed about myself, is that I have to read over my notes several times for the information to start to gel. While you are re-reading your notes, if insights come to you, write them down.
You may find that you want to group your notes differently. So copying and pasting information may become your best friend. When you have read five books, start combining the ideas from the different books you read. Another point that I would like to make, is that it is important to read diverse books in a concentrated amount of time. I read that Bill Gates used to take two one-week reading sabbaticals every year and binge read.
Not everyone has that luxury, but you can copy what he does. To read five books in a month, you need to read a book every sixth day.
Further Reading
_______________________
Burned Out? Take a Creative Sabbatical
Bill Gates Discusses His Lifelong Love for Books and Reading
_______________________
To ensure that you profit from the ideas from books, make sure that you tie them to a human need. What you are trying to do is to create a solution to a problem that matters. It is good idea to revisit the Maslow Hierarchy of needs at this point.
Have you read?
_______________________
Abraham Maslow and the Hierarchy of Needs
Non-Obvious: How to Think Different, Curate Ideas and Predict the Future by Rohit Bhargava
Where Do Great Ideas Come From: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
Good Note Taking Techniques When Reading
_______________________
Profit Reading: What Books Are Worth Reading
I want to spend a few minutes talking about what makes a book great. I emphasize this because I do not think that every book will allow you to make money. You are looking for profitable ideas, so you want to focus on the kinds of books that will deliver. The late Professor J Rufus Fears says,
Four Characteristics Define a Great Book:
- Focus on great themes such as love, courage, and patriotism
- Ability to speak to readers not as groups, but as individuals
- Composition in a noble language
- Ability to speak to readers across the ages
The books that Professor Fears is referring to are classic literature such as: Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the Odyssey, In Praise of Folly, Utopia, The Brothers Karamazov, Animal Farm, Tristan and Isolde, and Brave New World.
There are also many contemporary books that are worth reading. The most successful people like to read books that make them think. Besides reading books that make me think, I also like reading books that teach me skills, and books filled with great ideas. I think the profit is in the ideas that live between the pages of books that are worth reading.
Have you read?
_______________________
Classic Education: The Essential Value
_______________________
When you read a book, you should have a purpose for reading it. One way you can find books worth reading on a topic is to conduct research on Amazon, then take the time to read a few reviews. What I prefer to do, which is not for most people, is to visit the library and talk to a librarian. Sometimes I do the research on the library’s website. You can also talk to your colleagues to get book recommendations.
I also pay attention to what great thinkers read.
I recommend that you watch the lectures at the Floating University because they deal with big ideas. There are 12 lectures, and each is close to an hour long. I watched them over a space of two weeks a few years ago. It is time for me to watch them again.
Profit Reading: Reading Books to Thrive in the Future
Read books that will help you achieve your short- and long-term goals. If you are up for the challenge, I would recommend that you also read some of the classic literature that I mentioned above. This adds diversity to the books you read, therefore, adding diversity to the big ideas that you generate.
If you can take a reading sabbatical, read the books within a concentrated time frame to see what kinds of results you get. It is worth mentioning that you will not profit from your ideas if you do not apply the knowledge. And remember the more the idea solves a meaningful problem, the more profitable it will be.
Next Steps
Wondering what to do next, you can do all of:
-
Buy my new book, Leadership Reading: Spilling the Tea on How Top Leaders Read
-
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
-
Join the Art of Learning Membership Site
-
Download Unlock Your Genius Power Reading Tips Sheet
-
Buy me a cup of coffee!
If you want access to my Bookish Notes, please consider joining my membership site, the Art of Learning.
This post contains affiliate links and The Invisible Mentor® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!
