What are some college text books that would be good reading for a aspiring small businessman?

Rock,

I think Jerry Made a good point. Aspiring Small Businessman, is a little vague. But I should say that it is definitely admirable.

I enjoy watching Parents who are really passionate about helping their children grow through the right type of education.

My thoughts on this would be the following.

Being a Successful Businessman is primarily a 3-Dimensional Subject. In the sense that in order for anyone to Master the Realm of business a minimum of three attributes are required.

1.Leadership Ability

This is often one of the most overlooked aspects. Primarily because it is very much confused with Management.

Management and Leadership are two different things. A manager is one who is followed and Listened to due to an assigned position by a higher authority in a corporate structure, while a Leader is one who is willingly followed by others, regardless of their title and position.

Why Does this Matter?

A Manager Requires an Assigned position in order to be in control, while a Leader already embodies attributes that can be applied anywhere and anytime without the necessity of an assigned position!

So now you may ask "Ok how can I get a young child interested in the whole idea of leadership?". Often times Leadership is learned from those who the child admires the most. And usually those who the child admires the most are either friends or family. So in a nutshell, if you become a strong leader yourself, your child will admire and respect you and tend to follow your footsteps.

You may also look into a couple of books. This one is available at Barnes and Noble, It's a Kids book in the Kids section titled "Stone Soup". Books of this nature induce the principles of Leadership in kids. For older children you can also check out this website:

http://www.johnmaxwell.com/

At the lower hand side of the page you will find a tab that says "Young Reader List: How to build leadership at a Young Age".

2. Financial Education (High Financial IQ)

Financial Education is Very important to the success of a Business man. An understanding of how money works and the principles surrounding the mechanics of wealth creation. If you take a look at yourself you might be shocked to find that your Money Habits are one of two ways:

1. You are the Same as your Parents

2. You are the opposite of Your Parents

So again it is very important to be the Number one option for your Child. And in this case rock, I am pretty sure that you are number one, or why else would you be posing such a great question.

Here are some good sources for your child on this subject:

http://www.richdad.com/

(Their are a variety of sources for children on this website and Robert also has books written specifically for kids and Young Children.)

http://www.daveramsey.com/

(Dave is a well renowned Financial Guru, who also has a great radio show where even kids ask him questions about the subject of money. he also has many sources for children.)

3. Strong Technical Know - How

Finally. A strong Business person must have a strong background in whatever field he/she elects to take on. This is what completes the triangle. This section is really going to be up to you and your child. So for example based on what Jerry said, if your child wants to be an accountant, then accounting text books would be where you want to go.

Note: The sources mentioned above include sources for all Age ranges.

So Rock, a Final word. I admire you for taking on the stance of a leader in your child's future. I only wish their were more and more people like you around. Anyway, I hope this helps, and I wish you and your Family, the best.

Okay, I must admit to being biased (my major was accounting).

I think the first thing you should scan are a complete set of accounting texts (Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced) Note that I said scan -- not read.

Basically that's it for the college texts. What you really need are books written for the entrepreneur -- not books written for the college student who aspires to become the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Look for books that have gotten good reviews at amazon.com and books that have been recommended by a number of others. Subjects you want to read up on include accounting, taxation, marketing and general business operations.

Happy reading

Jerry-the-bookkeeper