He said, “When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”

I love this thinking. In essence this quote captures the power of positive thinking, and what the core of an entrepreneur ought to be.

Furthermore, I love what Earl Nightingale said. “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.”

I’ve watched and admired that you are making a strong impression in the world of Entrepreneurs. I’m happy to know we have a strong connection through JPEC and a positive business relationship.

I recognize you winning that competition was not a “need” or defeat for Book Hatchery because things have “never been better and [you] are gaining traction and moving full steam ahead”. Way to go!

But, as I’ve been thinking about this topic some more while writing you this comment. I also love what Theodore Roosevelt said that I feel ties in with your blogpost “Loosing Without Loss”.

Quoting a portion of it, he said, “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat…who strives valiantly…spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Carry on my friend. Carry on.
Go Book Hatchery!
Jason D. Myers

Start by reading essays by Paul Graham (http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html). Specifically, read the one I mentioned in the article (How to start a startup) and other articles of a similar nature (What startups are really like, Ramen Profitability, Why to start a startup in a bad economy, Why to not not start a startup, etc). Graham is one of the founders of Y Combinator and has great advice for hackers trying to start companies.

As far as paper books go, I would recommend Good To Great by Jim Collins and Tribal Leadership by the guys at CultureSync. These books will give you great insight on company culture and building a successful business long term. Both sets of authors spent years researching all of the data, and the books use case studies to illustrate the ideas so they aren’t bland to read through.

Good to Great was recommended to me by Tom Bedell, the man behind the turnaround of Pure Fishing (which later sold for over $400 million). Good to Great and Tribal Leadership have also been heavily promoted by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com as must read books. I figure they are probably good books to have at the top of the list!

The next place I would look for help is your local university; you may have classes on entrepreneurship or other resources at your disposal. Focus more on entrepreneurship specifically, not business. It turns out they are two different things in terms of academics. Also check and see if you have a small business development center near you. There are many located across the entire US, and they provide free business counsel and can help you tackle just about any business problem. If you don’t have one then look around for a local entrepreneur who might be willing to mentor you. Many entrepreneurs love to help people learn about business, and they can provide valuable connections and insights.

Also, keep doing things you are already probably doing. Follow articles on Reddit, SlashDot, and most importantly, Hacker News. You can leverage the knowledge of these communities.

Finally, just jump on in. You will learn more from running a startup then by any other method. Start building a prototype for something now, while you do some reading and research. That way you can actively employ your knowledge as things move along.

If there is anything I can do to help, please don’t hesitate to send me an e-mail at nick [at] bookhatchery dot com

…. Highly contradictory of yourself here, you first speak of so much effort involved, then gloat about how little work you actually do. Just pointing this out, not clear what your intention was.

2 having or feeling no interest in something : her father was so disinterested in her progress that he only visited the school once.

Snark is incorrect.