(Part 2) Best entrepreneurship books according to redditors

The interesting thing about dating apps is the negative feedback loop embedded in the match algorithm. If you keep getting rejected by people who are more desirable you will eventually not see them anymore. This helps attractive people, liked by many, to continue using the service. Was quite the discovery to learn attractiveness is actually measured on matchmaking platforms. Described in more detail in this book if anyone wants to learn more.

Hm. That's tough. Are you in law school, or is this some sort of survey class? If it's a survey, the stuff on wikipedia is actually pretty good. Also, there's a book called "The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law" that is very very useful: http://www.amazon.com/The-Entrepreneurs-Guide-Business-Law/dp/0324204930

There's two sides to the Game Designer coin: One is developing a good set of rules which are enjoyable, stable, and of appropriate complexity, while the other is creating a good physical prototype which can reasonably be used for heavy playtesting.

Developing a good set of rules is a vague and nebulous thing, and counterexamples can be found for virtually any advice someone gives you. There are a few constants, however:

• Make sure your game doesn't contain any false choices: If a player is given a choice, there should be strategic value in all possible options. Cake or death? It's not really a choice at all, is it? Similarly, if moving Admiral Reinhardt from his starting position overwhelmingly leads to his demise, there's not really a reason to move him at all, is there?
  
  
• Study some Game Theory, but don't get lost in its ivory towers. Game Theory can quickly transition from discussion of the interaction of game mechanisms and various game types into purely abstract mathematical concepts indistinguishable from a college-level Calculus class.
  
  
• Dabble in computer programming. This may seem completely unrelated, but a games rules are actually a system of logical instructions, and one of the most common problems with amateur game designers is that their game will literally "crash" with unhandled exceptions or edge cases. If you understand how computer programs work, this will help you create a stable ruleset, which you should strive for before you...
  
  
• Playtest. Repeatedly, often, and with a wide variety of people who do not know you personally. Take notes. Try to keep in mind who your target audience is: People who are primarily Monopoly fans aren't going to have favorable things to say about Puerto Rico or Agricola. Listen to your target audience, but do not feel compelled to change your game for every complaint. Try to be objective towards your own ideas.
  
  
• Revise. Playtesting will always highlight problems, from the minor to the game-breaking. Sometimes you can fix things with just a new line of text in the rulebook, the addition or subtraction of some tokens, or changing the specific effect of a card or board space. Sometimes you will have to take the whole thing apart and start from scratch. Try to cast your net as wide as possible: A single rule which catches 12 problems is better than 12 smaller rules that catch 1 problem each.
  
  Keep bouncing back and forth between the playtest and revise stages until your target audience is pleased with the game.
  
  On the physical prototype side of things:
  
  
• Pawns - Don't be afraid to cannibalize existing games, or use off-the-shelf materials from Dollar Tree or similar stores. Shaped erasers, beads, or just cheapo chess pieces colored with magic marker can work fine for virtually any kind of pawn in a prototype.
  
  
• Cards - Thanks to places like ArtsCow, these are now the easiest part to get at factory quality. Failing that, print your cards on standard 8.5"x11" paper, cut to size, and place in a protective card sleeve with a regular playing card to add stiffness.
  
  
• Non-Modular Boards - Typically, boards don't actually require much thickness in order to be functionally playable. I tend to print on multiple 110lb cardstock sheets, trim to size, then use Post-it notes on the underside to hold it together while playing.
  
  
• Modular boards and tiles - This is perhaps the most tedious part, and it gets harder the more complicated your tile shapes are. The quickest way is to print on standard paper, glue to foamcore or chipboard, and trim to shape. For something closer to factory quality, print on 110lb cardstock, then glue the printed cardstock on top of 5 other sheets of cardstock. This will create a tile roughly the thickness of Settlers of Catan tiles. For higher print quality, you can print your graphics through a photo printing service (such as through your local Walgreens or Rite Aid), and use that as the top layer. If you're feeling particularly ambitious, purchase a Xyron Wishblade, and use it to cut shapes out of cardstock. It won't cut things much thicker than 110lb, though, so you'll still have to glue layers together for thicker tiles.
  
  
• Boxes - Strictly speaking, as a game designer, your prototype's box should be purely functional - Large enough to contain the game, and with enough marking to clearly identify the game within your collection. Tackle boxes and bead craft storage boxes are often good candidates for game prototype storage. If you have lots of playing cards, check the sports cards/collectible cards section of your local Wal-Mart type store: They should have multi-compartment card storage cases.
  
  As for actually getting your game published, that's a whole other matter.
  
  Some recommended reading: Sid Sackson's A Gamut of Games is not only a good collection of simple games designed by one of America's most innovative game designers, but also a fascinating look into the thoughts and methods behind the creation of those games. The Game Inventor's Guidebook is also good reading, and contains interviews with industry people - it's not completely up to date, however, and some of the interviews are more about a game as a product (A fast-selling game is "better" than a slow selling game), rather than concepts regarding balance, strategy, complexity, or innovation. Similarly, Paid to Play: The Business of Game Design gives some good insight into the industry in general.

Welcome to the big leagues. It's very, very, very hard to make a successful business. There's no shortcuts.

From reading your posts it sounds like you're making the classic mistake of over-investing in technical development before you've validated your value proposition.

You should NOT be relying on internet traffic to get your first customers. You should be doing in-person interviews and good ol' fashioned telephone sales.

Search and paid search work once you've established what the people you are selling to want, and that your product delivers that. You'll never get good data just relying on the internet.

Check out the book Nail it, then scale it" -- it has a lot of great advice, and talks about how to do this kind of validation early and at low cost.

Indeed, and I am pretty much in agreement with James D'Angelo when he talks of the need to remove anonymity from voting in the senate.

However, it doesn't really apply to actors and companies in the bitcoin space who invariably need to conduct their business in the open. The loudest voices then, are gonna' be scrutinized from every possible angle.

Which means looking beyond the masks; to the information they choose to share; the friends they have in their circles; companies they are linked to and, above all, the way they speak to and treat others (especially those in disagreement with them). It is then possible to make a broad assessment of the motivations behind certain actors as increasingly their online personas become irrevocably linked to the social capital and influence they have in the 'real' world.

This is the same stuff Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen spoke about in The New Digital Age and a result of the blurring of cyberspace and meatspace. That blurring is only set to increase as we carry these personas into VR and beyond.

And, of course, it all leaves a digital trace for future historians to trackback through when charting the history of humanity (of which bitcoin is surely to be a major stub). So it would be wise at this juncture, to think "how do I want humanity to remember me?" for it is sure to all come back one day, good and bad...

Conflate all that with the openness and accessibility of github, bitcointalk, facebook, twitter, dev mailing lists and youtube talks/discussions and what you have, is the most transparent project build (of this magnitude) in the history of humankind.

Under such conditions, those working against bitcoin from the shadows, whilst they may come and go, will never earn enough trust to be able to influence the long term aspirations of this groundbreaking project.

You might have a look at some of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Video-Game-Industry-Developers/dp/0415828287

https://www.amazon.com/Extra-Lives-Video-Games-Matter/dp/0307474313/

https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Sweat-Pixels-Triumphant-Turbulent/dp/0062651234/

https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Game-Transforming-Future-Business-ebook/dp/B001I8QVJC/

https://www.amazon.com/Gamers-Work-Stories-Behind-People/dp/1430233516/

https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Marketing-Video-Game-Industry-ebook/dp/B01G2BOQGY/

https://www.amazon.com/Total-Engagement-Virtual-Changing-Businesses/dp/142214657X/

I felt the same way, so I went and found a bunch. Here they are:

Start Your Business is the single greatest book on starting a business. It is a pretty comprehensive overview of all aspects. I would definitely recommend it.

Finance:

Financial Accounting is a decent text. The usefulness of financial accounting in general is quite limited for an entrepreneur though. The techniques are mainly used by outside parties to evaluate companies, whether for investing or lending. But it can be useful in that it gives a metric for how your company is doing.

Managerial Accounting is a good book. The subject matter is extremely important and should definitely be learned. Get a book on managerial accounting.

Marketing:

Marketing Management is a really good text for an overview of marketing. One of the best.

Most marketing texts are smaller and not textbooks like you're looking for. There are some detailed texts that go into complicated calculations related to marketing decisions. Go check them out. It's like marketing science or something like that.

Business Law:

Business law is not really worth going into extreme detail. So a good book is The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law .


Final Note: It's important to note that it makes way more sense to just get into business and learn as you go. You could spend years learning from every text possible and get nowhere.

Here is one problem I see with every game store I walk into (and all but a few are no closed in our area). It's how do you get people to buy merchandise to keep the business running. I have been to many a game store that are PACKED on a Friday night with kids playing games. Problem is they aren't buying that much merchandise, especially if their parents aren't there.

The last one I grew familiar with (which is now closed) used to bring in 30 or so people for Friday nights. Say that each one comes in with $5, and you sell packs of Magic for $3.99, and have a good assortment of snacks for under a back. You have a total sales for the night of $150, your net on that is going to be roughly $1.50 meaning you will be netting $45 (not even including rent, staff, and taxes yet). And this is on your BEST night!

I don't want to dissuade you from doing this, but you need to have a REALLY good hook in order to get people to both come, and drop cash!

Also not sure of the size of your town, but 3 gaming stores sound like A LOT. Are you ready to get into a price war (meaning you are cutting your margins which are thin already).

Again, not saying this to sound mean. I started my own business not too long ago and these are all things I had to think of before I signed the dotted line on the incorporation paperwork. You need to study the business you are getting into, see the weakness that you can fill or do better, then build your business around that point. A lot of things I can't see about your plan from this point.

If you want some good advice about whether you should start a business, before spending a lot of cash on classes start with a book. Here is the first one I read before I started my company and it helped a lot!

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Business-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1118083725/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0BSSTE4Y08KSAC4B1QQR

u/CosmicTransmutation - I agree with most folks here - you should get a CPA - but you should also increase your own level of knowledge so you're not 100% reliant on your tax professional.

For that, I recommend "The Confident Indie - A Simple Guide to Deductions, Income and Taxes for The Creatively Self-Employed" by CPA June Walker.

June advises self-employed "creatives" on taxes and how not to cheat themselves on deductions.

Great interview with her here.

You can get her book right now for $9.99 on Kindle.

I also recommend you get some kind of organizer for your paper records. I use this $9.49 spiral bound notebook with categorized and labeled pockets for just about every category [Referrals].

Hope this is helpful and good luck!

What you are discussing is a marketplace or platform app... you will need to bring together people with stuff to rent as well as people who want to rent things. These can be incredibly lucrative businesses, but are also very difficult to get going... largely because without one side of the market you cannot draw in the other.

I would suggest reading this book for some great insight: https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Revolution-Networked-Transforming-Economyand-ebook/dp/B00ZAT8VS4

I loved "The Knack"

http://www.amazon.com/The-Knack-Street-Smart-Entrepreneurs-Whatever/dp/1591842212

Non-mobile: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009XECPMA

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

A few books that, while more geared towards finding a publisher than what you need to do to publish games yourself, probably still have some good information about the business for you, especially the first one:

• The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook
  
  
• Paid to Play: The Business of Game Design
  
  
• The Game Inventor's Guidebook
  
  You could also try contacting someone who had a successful and shipped Kickstarter. They're probably more approachable than a major company, and they probably do things on a more budget-conscious level than some of the larger companies, which should make their advice pretty valuable for you.
  
  Good luck!

I strongly recommend Disciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet. It's become the de facto textbook on entrepreneurship at MIT, I think for good reason.

It breaks the process of validating a business down to 24 specific steps which each have concrete deliverables. Some steps require you to go back to previous ones if your prior assumptions turn out to be incorrect. The book itself is a quick read, but the legwork it asks you to do can seem a little daunting. I think that makes sense, though, because successfully starting a business is hard and this become is trying to take the guesswork out of it. If you follow the steps, then before you even build product, you will have validated:

• That customers really want what you've got.
  
• That they've got the money to pay for it.
  
• That your cost of acquiring a customer works out with your customer lifetime value to produce a financially sustainable business.
  
• That you know your ideal user/customer well enough to understand their motivations and whether you're appealing correctly to their needs.
  
• That you know where to find more of "your customer".
  
• That you're starting in the optimal industry for your idea.
  
• And more...
  
  All in all, it's a great way to double check your business idea and make sure it's airtight before throwing serious time or capital at it.

This is a book lawyers would use.
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-S-Corporations-7th/dp/080804107X/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1469495061&sr=8-9&keywords=s-corporation

However, this would be an ideal book to start for non-legal people https://www.amazon.com/LLC-vs-S-Corp-C-Corp-Explained/dp/0981454275/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469495061&sr=8-1&keywords=s-corporation

Your local library will also have some books on corporations and s-corporation. They should do the job.

IMO, when people ask to "improve a process" it's because they are dissatisfied with the amount of time something takes, and they are frustrated when certain steps in a process block or delay them.

For QA/QC that might be a difficult thing to hone in on. Your job essentially causes delays in that you find issues that need to be revisited. Perhaps they want you to find less issues. ;)

1. I highly recommend talking with everyone on your team. Determine what their pain-points are first and foremost.
   
   
2. From there, gather some loose ideas of how you can tackle those pain-points (and your own) while keeping things within your ideal process. Work with lead developers, project managers, and managers to refine this process, and to discover whether something even makes sense. Don't get tunnel vision.
   
   
3. Finally, document the shit out of it, and ask everyone for their input. Go back to step 2. You may be in step 3 for a few cycles while you work on other projects, wait for feedback, and refine processes.
   
   
4. Once everyone is happy, stick to the process, and work with managers to ensure other's stick to it. Some issues will come up with the process, so be open to revising it. Also, account for situations where the process will get in the way. Allow a lot of flexibility, without compromising the quality of the project.
   
   The "QA/QC process" is really more of a development process, and QA/QC is a part of that. This is highlighted by a simple situation: if no ticket system is used for development, how can QA/QC track and communicate issues?
   
   Read up on how other businesses handle development processes. Read research material and approach this smartly and professionally. You are likely to step on some toes because no one likes change, and no one likes processes.
   
   Here's a book I've found useful: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321193679/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
   Look into how other companies have adopted Scrum or Agile. Look at Waterfall.
   
   Good luck!

Legitimate Work From Home Opportunities: A Phenomenal Collection of Verified Online Resources And Business Ideas

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NCBY57M

FREE until February 7th

> “Is it really possible to work from home and create a decent income online?”

>It most certainly is. In fact, the trend to move towards freelancing and the gig economy is growing stronger and stronger, each passing year. And you are about to learn how you too can do it too!

>It doesn’t matter if you are new to the work anywhere concept, or you are a seasoned internet marketer. You will find tons of online resources and business ideas to boost your income for 2019 and beyond, in this book.

>There are several legitimate resources for performing simple tasks to earn a few dollars per hour (like typing, filling surveys, etc.) all the way to earning several hundred dollars per hour (like social media marketing), depending on your expertise and skillset.

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Time-Operator-Business-Trouble/dp/163076261X

I also wrote a book about making apps

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009XECPMA

I recommend this book for a good, easy explanation of your options: https://www.amazon.com/LLC-vs-S-Corp-C-Corp-Explained/dp/0981454275/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

I recommend this book: Start your Own Corporation, by Garret Sutton. The author is a lawyer and devotes a whole chapter to each of the major incorporation forms. It's also very readable and quite interesting. I learned a lot from reading it.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Here, read this: https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Robber-Barons-Business-America-ebook/dp/B004X2IJ72

Hi Jawilson2, here's a few books I've read in the past that helped prime me. I guess at the minimum these books helped me understand who was a bullshitter and who wasn't when they claimed they "knew the business side."

Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur - Fund raising basics. Key if you ever plan to raise money. You'd be stupid to try without reading this first.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071496025/

Business Model Generation - This book helps you think through the business model issues most "hacker" type entrepreneurs skip. Makes you think more holistically.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470876417/

The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law - Basics about legal issues you should be aware exist. I haven't read through it all at once, but it's a good guide when I run up against areas I'm murky on.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Entrepreneurs-Guide-Business-Law/dp/0324204930/

Nail it then Scale it
a book by Paul Ahlstrom
http://www.amazon.com/Nail-then-Scale-Entrepreneurs-Breakthrough-ebook/dp/B0055D7O1U/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1453711535&sr=1-1

Regarding the robber barons, I'd highly recommend reading this article or the book (second link) and considering the historical and economic thought put forth.

https://mises.org/library/truth-about-robber-barons
https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Robber-Barons-Business-America-ebook/dp/B004X2IJ72

I have only read a chapter or two, but Gamers at Work is a book with interviews with famous game industry people. It might be worth checking out.

Goldilocks_is_cool: ^^original ^^reddit ^^link

Or you could buy a book and do it yourself: http://www.amazon.com/Start-Your-Own-Corporation-Companies/dp/1937832007

>Could you define "business"? It seems like a pretty ultra-broad subject to me.

OK then. If you know absolutely zippo about business (that is, no knowledge of what these terms mean: double-entry accounting, profit margin, loaded cost, unloaded cost, COGS, etc., get this book and don't be insulted.

>What markets are good for reselling for a beginner in the counter-economy

Drugs.

Kidding.

Anything that can be bought over the counter with no paperwork for cash. Tools and computer equipment are a good one. Cars probably not. However, the reseller market has very thin profit margins. It's not a good place to make a lot of money due to the Internet empowering buyers.

Here's a good book. Here's another.

Just to build on this:

I couldn't make up my mind either, so I searched for these on the Amazon US site since I don't use Goodreads to see how reviews looked, etc. The resulting links, with the smile. prefix for charity aspect in case you make a purchase, are below. YMMV.


The Other F Word: 3.4

Business Development for Dummies: 3.5

Startup Mixology: 4.27

Starting a Tech Business: 2.67

The 4 Lenses of Innovation: 3.62

StartupLand: 4.01

All in Startup: 4.18

The Customer Funded Business: 3.73

Trend Driven Innovation: 4.38

Monetizing Innovation: 4.20

The Ways to New: 3.84

Startup Checklist: 4.10

The Art of Startup Fundraising: 4.11

Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 4.26

.

Not in the original list:

The Art of Opportunity: How to Build Growth and Ventures Through Strategic Innovation and Visual Thinking

Pinchbeck is a brilliant man. I've been reading his newer book, "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl". He describes 2012 not as an apocalyptic end-game scenario, but instead as a possible time for humanity to experience a paradigm shift in conscious thought.

His argument is the following:

1 | Technology and society are manifestations of our thoughts/ideas

2 | Much of our technology and ideologies are geared towards destructive purposes (whether those are militaristic or capitalist)

3 | A global shift in consciousness [thought] will lead to radical changes in all other aspects of life

I'm not sure it's going to become a NEW major world religion, but it is already a part of several world religions as a spiritual sacrament, and has been for centuries at least. I've never heard of DMT-Nexus, but I will check it out.

I have no idea what is actually significant about 2012. I don't understand the cosmic ramifications, or what it is going to do the environment or how that's going to effect us. All I've heard is conjecture and I get the feeling that no one really has any idea what, if anything, is significant about the date. But if I had to throw my speculation in towards a specific direction, I'd probably fall on the side of Daniel Pinchbeck

I recommend reading "Small Time Operator". It's consistently one of the better selling business books on Amazon. There is alot you don't know when starting a business and this book is a great resource.

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Time-Operator-Business-Trouble/dp/163076261X

I couldn't agree more. I even wrote a book a little while ago that talks about improving selling skills on Craigslist (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BV5P4WN in case you want to check it out.) One of the only downsides I've found with trying to improve selling skills on Craigslist is there aren't many options to market your product. Most collectors online aren't living near me in order to pick up the product. Which is why I have also started to flip on eBay, at least there the product is in front of a global audience. I can also market on various forums and websites to get the product in front of high paying collectors who will then just have the product shipped to them.

Sole proprietor here. You do not have to pay any extra taxes for having a DBA. As far as the IRS is concerned, they don't care what your business name is. Unless you are starting an LLC or something like that, you will be a sole proprietor and pay taxes under your name and SSN. You'll use Schedule C.

Check out this book for some good advice: The Confident Indie by June Walker

I really liked the Built to Sell and All In Startup. They're both set up as narratives, so they're very easy to read. I actually like the E-Myth as well--at least the first half of it. The Compound Effect had an impact on me and my thinking, but YMMV there.

I've been fortunate to read a lot of books that have helped me and guided my thinking when I was at an impasse. Reading books is like having a mentor, someone who has gone before you and who has taken the time to outline his/her real thoughts and strategies on what worked and didn't work in his/her experience

Contrary to the (somewhat surprising) sentiment of some in this thread, books can be VERY helpful in creating shortcuts and building a plan of your own.

Oh, I might also check out Crush It if I were you. I think Vaynerchuk is a kind of polarizing character, but I do think he's genuine, and for a book that's five years old, it has a lot of resonance and validity in our present climate.

• Beautiful Code
  
• Design Patterns
  
• The Pragmatic Programmer
  
• Refactoring
  
• The Mythical Man Month
  
• Why Programs Fail
  
• Professional Software Development
  
• Coders At Work
  
• Contextual Design

Do you not agree that there are a whole load of really immature books about game design that are sold more on the fact that "its a book about games" than its inherent content ?

Even within the space of magazines I think it would be fair to call Nintendo power immature and something like EDGE , Games TM or Develop magazine Mature.

for someone starting from scratch you would get allot more by reading these books than by watching EC ( obviously can do both and EC is a nice starting pion for someone totally new to games)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0465067107?ie=UTF8&tag=alwaysblack01-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0465067107

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0273693646?ie=UTF8&tag=alwaysblack01-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0273693646

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Game-Design-book-lenses/dp/0123694965

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Theory-Game-Design-Raph-Koster/dp/1932111972

allso over view books on Game theory , the history of the microchip and computing , evolution and basic biology can be incredibly good in helping think about games as an art and the limitations in the development of software.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fun-Games-Text-Game-Theory/dp/0669246034/ref=cm_lmf_tit_12

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321193679/zx81orguk00

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0932633439/zx81orguk00

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-History-Information-Machine-Technology/dp/0465029906


I realise EC is just easily consumable general information and that's fine just wish they did it without the pretence , like I said in other comments I'm glad they make it even though it personally annoys the hell out of me its beneficial for games as a whole as there is a general lack of even moderately intelligent talk about games.

She should look into a business class at a local community college. It might be a little more costly than just getting a $12.99 book, but the practice bookkeeping, keeping track of inventory, and that sort of thing would be really good. In addition to this, she might get lucky and have a teacher made for the job. When I took a class on Entrepreneurship, my teacher was himself a mildly successful entrepreneur, and had lots of tips and tricks to offer about what hes learned over the years.

http://www.amazon.com/Knack-Street-Smart-Entrepreneurs-Handle-Whatever/dp/1591842212

This was one of our class books. If nothing else, buy it and memorize it. Remember that a business plan is the most important thing if youre going to become an entrepreneur, so that alone is worth reading about.

How is the government staying on top of consumer encryption products, a bad thing? Every other major superpower is and they have hostile intentions, we need to know what hostile forces are capable of so we also need to stay on top of what vulnerabilities exist and will exist after new encryption methods are produced. This is all common sense and reasonable behavior coming from the government. You are protecting the people by finding the holes that other governments can exploit, whether you deny it or not.

You have a bunch of people who read 1984 too many times and are thinking the government is some evil enterprise without. When you look at why these programs exist they make perfect sense. Of course you have people spinning these programs making them out to be something that they are not to push their agenda or feel relevant. Doomsday prophecies and stories of oppressive regimes are good reads that captivate the imagination but they produce a false context and irrational fears. People eat that up and overlook the common sense nature of things.

I suggest you and everyone concerned about this issue to read A New Digital Age by Google CEO and State Department Policy Planning Staff member under Bush and Obama. It is a quick easy read that shows how technology firms will have a major role like Lockhead Martin does now in the future of military and security.

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Digital-Age-Reshaping/dp/1491512202

Daniel Pinchbeck makes me look up words twice per page a couple chapters deep.