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I've been dreaming about finding other business owners that want to do a Do-It-Yourself MBA ( http://personalmba.com/manifesto/) -like reading program and discussion group, but have yet to make the time to organize such a thing.

I've considered getting either my MBA or my CPA, but didn't find the return on investment to be worth it.

discuss

jsiarto|15 years ago

The Personal MBA is a great program and his book is just as good (http://www.amazon.com/Personal-MBA-Master-Art-Business/dp/15...). My wife and I are part-way through both and he covers just about everything you could care to know about running a successful business.

I have a BA and MA from a large state school and found the most rewarding things from my tenure in college were the relationships I built--not the classes. I would NEVER go into debt for a Master's or MBA--it's just not worth it. Find someone else to pay (scholarship, assistantship, teaching) or get to work, it's better experience anyway.

wesgarrison|15 years ago

I read "I'm starting my own MBA reading club and you're not invited" [ http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/i-started-a-diy-mba-group-y...] and that's where I got the idea from. Do it locally, face-to-face discussion over a lunch every X weeks.

Invite local business owners to come and speak so you're building relationships between the group and the outside business community.

I hadn't considered a remote group, meet over Skype, or just via forum. If you're interested, shoot me an email and we'll go from there.

tst|15 years ago

About two years ago there was this idea of a "HN book club": http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=407067

I didn't know if it was realized probably not. But I would be delighted if we could start one! This year I started a book challenge for myself (http://111in2011.tumblr.com) and looked for discussion platforms. GoodReads is not really useful because there are too few people interested in business books. And writing short reviews/summaries about books is nice but I miss the conversations :)

So, if you start a discussion board or whatever, I'm happy if I can participate!

rjett|15 years ago

http://www.hn-books.com/

farout|15 years ago

I liked your synopsis.

Haha. I had to smile at "Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity and don’t be a wimp." for Robin William's Non-Designer’s Design Book. I brought up CRAP in a meeting and I swear everyone thought I had three heads. I would have settled for two :-)

louhong|15 years ago

I find Fred Wilson's series (and blog posts) really informative (http://www.dailylit.com/books/mba-mondays) and highly recommended in case you wanted to add it to your list.

mbesto|15 years ago

A reading program/discussion group is a great idea. I'd join up but I'm based in the UK.

mindcrime|15 years ago

Put me down as tentatively interested in that if somebody organizes it.