This time last year, I wasn’t baking cookies, shopping for holiday gifts or doing anything remotely holiday related. I was getting ready for the challenge of my life — launching my own firm.

I would love to be able to claim that the minute I walked away from a steady paycheck and a job I’d oted a decade to, that I slipped into the CEO’s chair with a flourish. But as with so many things in life, it didn’t work quite that way.

I’d say that the enormous thrill of being in charge lasted until about lunchtime on day one. The giddy feeling of accomplishment that came with writing “president’ in the title line of my email signature was like bubbles in champagne — great, and gone quickly. By afternoon, I realized that I actually had to do something to dig in and get my public relations firm in gear. I had to turn my great business idea into the semblance of something that actually, well, did business.

Lucky for me, I had a solid ten years of reading business books in my favor. What’s more, I actually got paid to read some of those books that I turned to in year one, when I provided PR support to the authors. This came with the huge fringe benefit of tucking the pieces of wisdom into my back pocket for the day that I needed them. And it quickly became empty-the-pockets time. While I had taken some small steps toward my own firm, on January 1 this year it was, as my favorite-CEO Larry Bossidy would call it, “execution time.”

Here’s what I learned:
From The E-Myth by Michael Gerber, I was reminded that I now had TWO jobs. One doing the PR work I was familiar with and one was running this thing called a company and involved things like payroll and tech support.
From First, Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, I learned that I could flout conventional wisdom in selecting and rewarding my team.
From Seduced by Success by Bob Herbold, I learned not to get giddy with my company checkbook when my first clients climbed on board.
From The Middle Class Millionaire by Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff, I learned that entrepreneurs who stayed with their line of business even in the face of setbacks and failures, are the ones most likely to succeed. I also learned to worship Ben Franklin, but you won’t understand why until this book actually launches in February!
And in the aforementioned Execution by Larry Bossidy, I learned that the best leaders have the confidence and power to push their plans into reality.

I realize this is anecdotal evidence of the power of business books, but it comes from everything I do and see every day.

Year one has been quite the ride. The end of it finds me very grateful for everything I’ve learned and with a heart full of thanks for my team, Dennis Welch, Sara Schneider and Lew Campbell, who never hesitated to do anything and everything it took to move us ahead.

And for those of you who also have not purchased your holiday gifts, consider a business book? You really can’t go wrong.