A Piece of the Action: How Women and Minorities Can Launch Their Own Successful Businesses.

Every entrepreneur just starting out needs someone to provide a coach-like pep talk: "This is the big game - our competition is tough and they don't always play fair. But we have worked hard and we're well-prepared. If you just remember our game plan and don't get sidetracked by the competition - we can do this; we can win."

This then is the ultimate value of Suzanne Caplan's book, A Piece of the Action: How Women and Minorities Can Launch Their Own Successful Businesses. Included is a basic primer on starting a business, as is covered in most start-up manuals. (But if you take the time to look. much of that information can be found for free from the SBA and other organizations.)

As a seasoned business owner, I found most handy the resource guide listing private and government sources of business and financial assistance; general information; and gender and race-based business networks, which the author endorses using.

While Caplan doesn't believe that entrepreneurs should be daunted by racism and sexims, she does acknowledge that set-asides are "another way to level the playing field by increasing buyer's awareness of the availability of nontradional companies."