Start It Up is a complete guide that helps budding entrepreneurs realize their dream and expand their horizons. It covers the entire process of starting a business, from the initial planning to official paperwork filings to customer service. In each step, Rankin presents factual information required to accomplish the step, tips that will facilitate and enhance the process, and anecdotes from successful teen entrepreneurs. For example, this book describes the pros and cons of each of the three types of legal structures for a business: sole proprietorship/partnership, limited liability company, and corporation. It also provides several arguments for whether or not to form a partnership or go solo. Lastly, stories of teen entrepreneurs reflecting on their experiences throughout the process reinforce the themes described in the book. Founders of Free Mania and Milo.com, among many others, describe what they learned since starting their businesses as teenagers. There are also web resources at the end of every chapter that provide useful information to supplement the material presented. Overall, this is a very thorough manual for starting a business and should be an interesting read for anyone with a desire to become an entrepreneur.

As I said before, the book is fairly thorough and covers pretty much every aspect of starting a business. Being an introductory book, it serves as a beginning guide for people (especially teenagers) who are interested in undertaking an entrepreneurial endeavor. But it is certainly not detailed enough at every single step to be the sole resource for someone starting a business. One of the most helpful features is the personal anecdotes by people who have gone through the same process and excelled. Reading their stories put things in perspective and helps the reader learn from their experiences.