photo credit: mistersnappy
There’s a nice, no-nonsense list from Small Biz Survival: Checklists for starting your first business. Some folks may take issue with starting as a sole proprietorship, some say you should never do that and should always do business as an LLC, S-Corp, etc., but it’s up to you! Check out the list!

Check it out: Half-Assed Startup: How do I start my company and keep my day job?

Blogtrepreneur has a really useful, no-BS list of resources for entrepreneurs. They cover communications/VoIP, data backup, invoicing, financial management/accounting, time/project management, contact management, hiring resources, online reputation, accepting payments, shopping carts, fund-finding and CPC revenue.

The list is very clean and readable and does not seem to pushing any products. Nice.

Check it out: 101 Useful Resources for Online Entrepreneurs

Check out How to save money running a startup. In a nutshell, he’s saying DO spend money where it counts, where you’ll get good ROI with happy, productive employees.
My favorite is #1:

Buy Macintosh computers, save money on an IT department

He caused a bit of a stir by saying “only hire workaholics” but modified it to “hire people who love their work” … his response to the backlash

Check out the killer interview of Michael Gerber (of E-Myth fame) over at timferris.com: Escaping the Entrepreneurial Seizure: Interview with Michael Gerber and then check out Michael Gerber’s new book, Awaking the Entrepreneur Within. Great stuff.

Michael E. Gerber

Thoughts/Words/Reviews:

“A business without a dream is like a life without a purpose.”
—Michael Gerber

Dream • Vision • Purpose • Mission

These words have been defining the life of Michael Gerber, bestselling author and international small business guru. He created E-Myth Worldwide in 1977 to transform the way that small business owners grow their companies. Now he’s created In The Dreaming Room as a place where entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs come to discover how to make their dreams a reality.

Michael’s Dream: to inspire people to dream by awakening the entrepreneur within them.

Michael’s Vision: to be the authority for helping dreamers everywhere create the small businesses they once could only imagine.

Michael’s Purpose: to transform the lives of ordinary people by providing them with the thrill of creation while creating the means to generate their own and others’ economic freedom.

Michael’s Mission: to create a turnkey system for awakening the entrepreneur within every person who wishes to go into business for themselves, while providing them with the support for doing it.

And he has done it. In Awakening the Entrepreneur Within you are invited into the Dreaming Room, where your own entrepreneurial dreams will come alive and become reality. Michael will help you shape your dream into a viable, economically successful company! As he writes: “It is time to dream. It is time to care about something bigger than you. It is time to imagine something sorely needed in the world—the world you live in—that somebody would pay to have. It is time to look around you and ask yourself, ‘What’s missing in this picture?’”

If you see something missing in your world, it’s time to start dreaming. Let Michael Gerber welcome you to the Dreaming Room.

View More about Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies

Tim Ferris’s Four Hour Work Week is an unconventional and inspirational book … a must read, even if you don’t desire constant adventuring nor VERY minimal working hours.

Tim presents the following “Core Four” books as MUST READS:

David Schwartz

Our Rating:

Thoughts/Words/Reviews:

Millions of people throughout the world have improved their lives using The Magic of Thinking Big. Dr. David J. Schwartz, long regarded as one of the foremost experts on motivation, will help you sell better, manage better, earn more money, and — most important of all — find greater happiness and peace of mind.

View More about The Magic of Thinking Big

Dan S. Kennedy

Our Rating:

Thoughts/Words/Reviews:
In this book, Dan Kennedy provides many examples on how to turn an idea into cash. The examples are from the real world and are drawn directly from his experience as a highly paid consultant. An easy read and well worth the investment.

View More about How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur’s Guide

Michael E. Gerber

Our Rating:

Thoughts/Words/Reviews:

In this first new and totally revised edition of the 150,000-copy underground bestseller, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business. He walks you through the steps in the life of a business from entrepreneurial infancy, through adolescent growing pains, to the mature entrepreneurial perspective, the guiding light of all businesses that succeed.

View More about The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

Rolf Potts

Our Rating:

Thoughts/Words/Reviews:

Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life — from six weeks to four months to two years — to discover and experience the world on your own terms. Veteran shoestring traveler Rolf Potts shows how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel.

View More about Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel

Daniel Grissom

Thoughts/Words/Reviews:

STEP UP! - 6 steps make 80% of the difference in the improvement and achievement of superior results. YOUR COMPETITION HAS STEPPED-UP, SHOULD YOU? In STEP UP! Daniel identifies the critical challenges facing sellers,street-smart strategies and shows you how to work smarter, not harder. As well, the author provides a collection of “classic quotes” from other leaders in the field of excellence including his mom. Every idea, tip and suggestion in this book is focused on helping individuals and organizations improve their performance and results. All of the content is the result of many years of research, interviews and personal experience. So, the advice is not mere theory; it’s the real deal on results! It’s the book for achieving business excellence. for achieving business excellence.

View More about Step Up!: How to Win More and Lose Less in Business!

Edward de Bono

Thoughts/Words/Reviews:
an amazon.com customer says:
Great Easy Read
I would recommend this book to students of every discipline, as well as non-students. This book has great examples for each lateral thinking concept. It’s one of those feel-good books that can be motivating and empowering.

View More about Six Thinking Hats

Man I love the blog from the Trizle folks. They make business fun and deliver no-BS advice. They posted another great one today:

How To Work Your Performers

Their advice of paying 1.5X and asking me to do double would have worked on me when I was a star performer at a small company!

Chic Thompson

Thoughts/Words/Reviews:

View More about What a Great Idea! 2.0: Unlocking Your Creativity in Business and in Life