I truly believe books can change our lives and they certainly open us up to new ways of thinking. Business requires us to dig deep most of the time, and we need strength, determination, resilience, and emotional intelligence by the bucket load. Here are 8 books that will definitely make you think differently, it will be impossible not to be a significantly better person by the time you’ve read them.

If you’ve never tried journalling you’re in for a big treat. In the chaos of everyday life, this incredibly calming activity can bring out your creative side and help you get out of your everyday thinking pattern. Here I’ll outline why and how you should try journalling especially if you’re a small business owner, and give you 5 journal prompts to get started. The most innovative organisations around the whole encourage their employees to use playful techniques to boost their creativity. Companies like Lego, Google, Pixar, Virgin, and Adobe are renowned for this and there is a good reason. Engaging in creative activities stimulates neural pathways, forming new connections and strengthening existing ones, which enhances cognitive function and flexibility. Creative activities like journalling often involve a state of deep focus and concentration known as “flow,” where you become fully immersed in the present moment and lose track of time. This state of mindfulness has been shown to have numerous cognitive and emotional benefits, including improved mood, increased productivity, and heightened creativity. Set Up Your Journalling Space Firstly, set up your journalling space. It should be a place without interruptions, preferably comfortable and calming. You could light a candle and put some music on. Choose which tools you’d like to use. You might want to use just a pen or pencil, you might prefer coloured pencils, pens or even highlighters. You might opt for plain paper or if you’re a notebook fan like me, you could treat yourself to a new one just for your journalling. I have also designed this printable journal sheet with the prompts below that you can click for an instant download. You can use just words, diagrams, arrows, or spider diagrams. If you’re more of a doodler you could go for more of a sketch-note approach. You might like to add sticky notes or stickers. You might like to freeflow with time, or set yourself a timer for each question. It’s your choice, there is no right or wrong. 5 Journal Prompts for Small Business Owners Here are your journal prompts: Of course, you can swap out any of these prompts for your own, but what I find happens when someone else gives me journal prompts, is that it gets me thinking differently, almost like it’s outside of my normal thinking zone. Start with just 5 prompts for your first session and see what comes up. You want to be adding a lot to your page so it’s fine to spend several minutes just thinking, that’s the beauty of it. I hope you enjoy your first journalling session, if you use Instagram and want to post about it, use @hellopinkbusinesshub to mention the hub and I’ll give you a special mention.

Don’t let a lack of business funding hold you back from starting your business, there is an abundance of truly amazing tools which are free to use, here are 18 of my favourite ones to get you started. I hope this list inspires you to start your business. Here at the Hello Pink Business Hub no one is left behind. We are a community of small business owners who will have all started at the very beginning. If you would like to submit a question I will ask the community and it’ll be loaded onto the Q&A page.