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Start by putting some business books on your iPod and listening to them
in every spare minute you have -- while driving, while walking between
classes, while waiting in line, whatever. Most books now come on CD or as
an MP3 file. Here are five books that I would start with. These are
"mindset books" -- they get you into the right mindset to start a
business:
Mindset books:
Then I would go read books about
people who have started successful businesses. Start with these, and there
are a thousand other books like these that you can easily find:
Examples of businesses that have succeeded:
- The
Sam Walton Story, by Austin Teutsch - Tells how Sam Walton went from
being a guy with one little store in Arkansas to the richest man in the
world.
- Dave's
Way, by David Thomas - The story of Dave Thomas, the founder of
Wendy's. He started as an orphan bussing tables in a restaurant, and he
went on to create an empire.
- Built
from scratch - the subtitle says it all: "How a Couple of Regular
Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion"
- Nuts!,
by Kevin Freiberg - The story of Southwest Airlines.
- Be
my guest, by Conrad Hilton - The story of Hilton Hotels.
Also, go to a bookstore or Amazon or a library and find a basic
"How to start a small business" kind of book. Or two. There's a million of
them to choose from. Page through several and find one that appeals to
you. It will teach you about basic stuff like incorporating, simple
accounting and accountants, business licenses, federal tax ID numbers,
lawyers and so on -- the minutiae that you need to deal with when starting
and running a business.
Finally, here are several web links that you may find helpful:
That's it -- start reading these books and thinking about something you
can do that other people will find valuable. You are on your way. You just
have to take that first step...
And once you make your first million, please send me an email and let
me know so I can congratulate you.
Thanks,
Marshall Brain.
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