Entrepreneurship Skills For Young Adults
Author: RJ Barranco · Status: Coming Summer 2026
What this book is about
Entrepreneurship for teens who are already running side hustles, considering one, or being pitched into them. The book tells the difference between a real business, a real side hustle, and a scam — clearly and without softening the line. It treats money, taxes, and the legal basics as part of the skill stack, not optional later-learning.
Who it's for
Grades 9–12, college first-year, CTE Business / Entrepreneurship / Marketing pathways, FBLA / DECA advisors, work-based-learning coordinators, and adult learners restarting an entrepreneurship education. Fits comfortably alongside Nevada CTE Business standards and equivalent state frameworks.
What's inside
Thirteen chapters covering the real conditions teens build businesses in today — side hustle vs. business vs. scam, AI as an unfair advantage, ten-customer sprints and cheap landing pages, money and taxes that actually apply at this stage, and the moments when the work gets real. Includes a capstone that integrates the whole toolkit into a single working venture plan.
Specialty review
Chapters 9 (Tax) and 12 (When It Gets Real) have been reviewed by a working CPA/EA. Specifics — LLC carve-outs by state, hobby-expense rules, 1099-K thresholds, quarterly-estimate triggers, Wayfair updates, AFR for family-money arrangements — are current.
For educators
The free educator companion guide for this book — chapter-by-chapter teaching notes, sensitivity protocols, discussion questions, and standards-alignment documentation — lives at skillsforyoungadults.org and is freely usable in adopted classrooms and adjacent contexts.
The full thirteen-chapter classroom toolkit — twelve files per chapter (lesson plans, anchor-read excerpts, worksheets, student-retained reference cards, project rubrics, Marp slide decks, quiz banks, standards-alignment crosswalks, differentiation protocols, teacher notes; tax content in Chs 9 + 12 has been CPA-reviewed) — is available to schools, districts, and programs adopting the book for classroom use. To inquire about classroom adoption + toolkit access, contact skills@mojavepublishing.com.
Get the book
First seven titles in the series arrive Summer 2026. Sample chapters and direct-purchase links will be posted here as the book ships.
For press, school visits, librarian inquiries, or institutional licensing: skills@mojavepublishing.com.