Start It Up is a complete guide that helps budding entrepreneurs realize their dream and expand their horizons. It covers the entire process of starting a business, from the initial planning to official paperwork filings to customer service. In each step, Rankin presents factual information required to accomplish the step, tips that will facilitate and enhance the process, and anecdotes from successful teen entrepreneurs. For example, this book describes the pros and cons of each of the three type of legal structures for a business: sole proprietorship/partnership, limited liability company, and corporation. It also provides several arguments for whether or not to form a partnership or go solo. Lastly, stories of teen entrepreneurs on their experiences throughout the process reinforce the themes described in the book. Founders of Free Mania and Milo.com, among many others, describe what they learned since starting their businesses as teenagers. There are also web resources at the end of every chapter that provide useful information to supplement the material presented. Overall, this is a very thorough manual to starting a business and should be an interesting read to anyone with a desire to become an entrepreneur.
Like I said before, the book is fairly thorough and covers pretty much every aspect of starting a business. Being an introductory book, it serves as a beginning guide for people (especially teenagers) who are interested in entering the entrepreneurship field. But it is certainly not detailed enough at every single step to be the sole consultant of a starting business. One of the most helpful features is the personal anecdotes by people who have gone through the same process and excelled. Reading their stories put things in perspective and helps us learn from their experiences.
Personally, I believe that the hardest part of starting a business is finding that Next Big Idea . The obstacle for an entrepreneur is not necessarily whether or not a company name is trademarked, but what product/service to provide in the first place. It often seems like every conceivable idea out there has already been thought of. In terms of finding that lightbulb moment, Start It Up offers little advice other than pursue something you are good at . While the stories do offer how other teen entrepreneurs first came up with their ideas, I'd prefer if more tips are given on how to come up with a unique idea that combines both a person's strength and a necessity in society. Other than that, the rest of the book will be of significant help to the beginning entrepreneur.
Reviewer Age:17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Palo Alto, CA USA
Like I said before, the book is fairly thorough and covers pretty much every aspect of starting a business. Being an introductory book, it serves as a beginning guide for people (especially teenagers) who are interested in entering the entrepreneurship field. But it is certainly not detailed enough at every single step to be the sole consultant of a starting business. One of the most helpful features is the personal anecdotes by people who have gone through the same process and excelled. Reading their stories put things in perspective and helps us learn from their experiences.
Personally, I believe that the hardest part of starting a business is finding that Next Big Idea . The obstacle for an entrepreneur is not necessarily whether or not a company name is trademarked, but what product/service to provide in the first place. It often seems like every conceivable idea out there has already been thought of. In terms of finding that lightbulb moment, Start It Up offers little advice other than pursue something you are good at . While the stories do offer how other teen entrepreneurs first came up with their ideas, I'd prefer if more tips are given on how to come up with a unique idea that combines both a person's strength and a necessity in society. Other than that, the rest of the book will be of significant help to the beginning entrepreneur.
Reviewer Age:17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Palo Alto, CA USA
