

Ask HN: Best Business Book For a 13-year-old Girl? - DanielBMarkham

My daughter turns 13 this weekend, and I would like to get her a book on business.<p>She has run her own bubble-gum vending business for a while now, but it's very low maintenance. I know she is interested in the web and writing, and she likes creating things.<p>What book would you recommend? Is a book even the right medium - perhaps a audiobook or a series of videos?<p>Initial thoughts were Seth Godin's "Tribes", but there are a ton of great options out there, like "How to win friends and influence people" or "$100 startup"
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mknappen
Try "Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking" by Ted
Orland and David Bayles.

Pithy and written for those beginning their careers in fields traditionally
considered "creative", the discussions within are relevant to both would-be
programmers and entrepreneurs. Much of the book is about finding your work,
ignoring distractions, recognizing failed attempts as essential to success,
the intrinsic motivations of problem solving, cultivation of useful habits,
and building a life of engagement with the ideas and materials that matter
most to you.

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annaNwonderland
A lot of the books mentioned sound fabulous, but are mostly geared towards
adults. Here are a couple of suggestions that I used with my 13 year old. We
homeschooled him for a year so that he could develop his game app business.

1\. Show Me The Money by Alvin D. Hall: This book is by DK books. It is
colorful and a GREAT intro to the basics of finance, business and economics.
2\. The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting and Running a Business
(Completely Revised and Updated) by Steve Mariotti is another awesome book. He
was a teacher in a rough inner-city school when he noticed that he could keep
the kids attention when he taught math in the context of running a business.
He then developed a course around that idea. Your daughter may not want to
read the entire book. It's one of those books where you can read different
chapters based on interest. 3\. One of the homeschool writing classes my son
took was How to Write a Business Plan. The teachers used the book The One Page
Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur by Jim Horan. Great way for kids
to learn the aspects of a business. The book is VERY EASY to follow.

Inspirational book for your daughter (I got this for my daughter): -Girls
Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women

WRITING MAGAZINE: New Moon Girls (newmoon.com) My daughter has a subscription.
This magazine and web site is written and edited by the girls.

VIDEOS: Khan Academy \- Economics of a Cupcake Factory \- Raising Money for a
Startup (shows the whole process) \- The Business Cycle

VIDEOS: When my daughter was in 5th grade, I used some Schlessinger Media
videos on economics to introduce her to the basics of business. I was able to
check these out of the library (we are in the Silicon Valley). These videos
are: \- Economics for Children: Starting a Business \- Economics for Children:
What is Economics \- Economics for Children: Saving, spending, and investing
money

INSPIRATION: Resources for your daughter: \- Woman Innovate Mobile (wim.co) -
focuses on startups by female founders in the area of mobile
products/services. \- Hackbright Academy (www.hackbrightacademy.com) -
programming fellowship for women \- JumpThru Women's Business Accelerator
(<http://jumpthru.net>) \- GeekGirl (<http://geekgirlcamp.com>)

MOVIE: Inspirational movie for your daughter: \- Temple Grandin: shows how
Temple Grandin overcame the disabilities of autism and revolutionized cattle
slaughter houses so that they would be more humane. Her invention is now used
by most slaughter houses. The gore of the slaughter is kept at a minimum in
the movie. It is mostly focused on the challenges she faced and overcame.

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timo614
It really depends on what facet of business you think she'd be interested in.

To be honest I think better than any specific business resource out there
would be to just get her on the path to building the core skills she'll use
later on in life. She's already got that started with her vending business
which is great. I think pushing her towards taking on some school activities
may be great too. Things where she can help organize events and fundraisers
and really contribute to a group.

As for my favorite books on business I would suggest for a 13 year old:

"Death by Meeting" The author describes a fictional company that is terrible
at conducting meetings until the main character comes and helps address the
issues. I know she's not really running meetings at the moment so this may be
of less use to her until she has others working along side her.
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0787968056>

I also agree that "How to Win Friends and Influence People" is an excellent
book. I grew up with social anxiety disorder and it was one of the books that
really broke me out of my shell and gave me the confidence to really push past
it. <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671723650>

Another book I found pretty interesting was "Win the Crowd." While not a
'business' book, per se, it goes into how to really grab your audience's
attention and hold it. <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060742054>

Lastly "Secrets of Powers Negotiating" is an interesting book I'd suggest she
take a look at. There are endless applications to negotiation in business from
sales to even negotiating your first salary. [http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-
Power-Negotiating-15th-Anniver...](http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Power-
Negotiating-15th-Anniversary/dp/1601631391)

Just some ideas -- hope it helps!

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onelovelyname
I was once a 13-year-old girl and loved writing short stories and learning
about business. Some books that worked for me: \- The 4-Hour Work Week, by Tim
Ferriss \- Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Guy Kawasaki \- The Magic of Thinking Big,
by David. J Schwartz \- Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey

One not super related to business but a great short read: Vagabonding by Rolf
Potts. That book taught me to think creatively about my goals and not to allow
traditional expectations to stop me from accomplishing them.

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DanBC
An excellent post, and I look forward to seeing the suggestions.

Does she know and understand "added value"? Does she know about the chain of
production from raw material, through processors and wholesalers, to retail?

There's some BBC programmes called "Blood Sweat and Luxuries". I hesitate to
recommend these because she may be a bit young for them. (They're a bit
depressing, and they might have some swearing.) They might be available
through some unofficial method. Here's the link to the BBC information page
for them. (<http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s6103>)

The episodes about the sapphire mine or about gold are particularly good. You
see just how much work is involved in getting tiny amounts of gold out of ore.

And you can use everyday examples to show her business concepts. Coffee is a
good example for price differentiation. A cup of hot water and coffee has a
cost. Adding a squiz of cream and flavoured syrup adds very little to the cost
but allows them to sell the cup for a lot more to people who want to pay more.

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1331
Something that I wish I would have learned at 13 is basic accounting (accrual
method). Since your daughter is running a vending business, she has a great
opportunity to practice accounting! Perhaps this book would be a good one for
her:

The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand
<http://www.amazon.com/dp/1402211864/>

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michaelpinto
Instead of getting a typical fad driven business book why not instead get a
book about a creative women who launched a business? Just find a role model
and find the best biography available. Also it doesn't have to be about
someone who started a business, there are other sorts of leaders and amazing
people out there (examples: Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie, etc.). Even you grown
ups reading this would get far more from reading about someone like Coco
Channel rather than some recycled Guy Kawasaki PowerPoint presentation.

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salahxanadu
A great thing would be an experience where she meets a business woman that
shares her interest. Shadowing a professional would be more influential than a
book.

Does she know what she wants to do? Perhaps she can visit businesses and meet
real professional women that are in those jobs. It might be inspiring or it
might make her rethink what she wants to do/learn.

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orangethirty
At 13, I read How to win friends and influence people. It taught me how to
deal with people. Has she shown any interest in a given topic? At 13, I was
dying to learn about stocks, but did not have the resources to do so.

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annaNwonderland
orangethirty mentioned the book How To Win Friends ...

Dale Carnegie's daughter wrote a version of that book specifically for __teen
girls __. It is excellent! Same principles in Dale's original book, but in the
context of a teen girl's world.

The book is entitled: How to Win Friends and Influence People for Teen Girls
by Donna Dale Carnegie.

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jkaykin
Since you mentioned "$100 Startup", she should read "The Art of Non-
Conformity"

One of the best books around.

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ljf
Business Model Generation is a great practical and useful book. I reckon she
could like and enjoy that.

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gregcohn
I'm as big a book fan as anyone, but an online course might be appropriate
too.

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nekopa
I recommend 'The E-Myth Revisited' by Michael Gerber. An oldie but a goldie.

