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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

One of the best books around.


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.

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...

Just some ideas -- hope it helps!

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

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/

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.

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.

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.

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

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.