Reddit mentions of Bookkeeping All-In-One For Dummies

"As a minor, I can't do a ton as far as money goes."

Its an interesting legal gray area for sure. Suffice it to say that the courts have given you so much power with regard to disaffirming a contract that its stacked life against you.

"I understand that in order to do this I need to basically have an adult own the business and pay me and others a salary. "

As far as I know, if you have a Social Security number, you can have a sole proprietorship. Folks at this level usually want to formally incorporate for liability purposes, but again...you've got a lot of power when it comes to contracts.

"I would be starting off with me and possibly 1 or 2 other friends working on this. How would this work? I need to be paid at least minimum wage in order to run the business legally right?"

Your profits are going to be treated as regular income in a sole proprietorship. As far as your friends go, how much money are you realistically expecting them to make off of this? Can you pay them by the job and just 1099 them? The IRS doesn't even require that you 1099 anyone that you paid less than $600.00 in a given year.

"What if I make money from the business and decide to treat myself to a nice meal? Can this come out of the money the business made?"

No. You can't take write-offs like this unless you have a reasonable expectation that the meal will result in some sort of material benefit to your business.

"Where the hell can I learn all of the financial side of this stuff?"

Major in Business Administration when you get to college.

"I've been reading about Warren Buffet and he just ran around doing little ventures with his friends, selling pinball machines to business owners and such, but nobody questioned him for it. I feel like it's different now. I don't feel like I have that freedom. Am I wrong? "

Not really. Sales is still sales, and relationships with people are still relationships with people. A lot of things will open up to you when you reach the age of majority. I'm not saying it never happens, but there is a considerable amount of risk to a corporate buyer to enter into a contract with a minor.

"Where can I look to learn things about the bookkeeping part of business, business accounts, running stuff as a minor, etc.?"

Bookkeeping is simpler than you might think. Its a very straightforward process.

https://www.amazon.com/Bookkeeping-All-One-Dummies/dp/1119094216/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491587782&sr=8-1&keywords=bookkeeping

Accounting is the more difficult subject. I recommend you take the free courses on Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting from saylor.org if you wish to learn more. Also, you can take tests on both of those courses at that website for college credit. They cost $25 a piece, and you take them from home using a web-based proctor. You might have to check and see if the college you plan to attend will accept credits from ACE or NCCRS, though.

Good luck!