Small Business For Dummies

Make big sense of small business

Small Business For Dummies has been a leading resource for starting and running a small business. Calling upon their six decades-plus of combined experience running small businesses, Eric Tyson and Jim Schell once again provide readers with their time-tested advice and the latest information on starting and growing a small business.

This new edition covers all aspects of small business from the initial business plan to the everyday realities of financing, marketing, employing technology and management--and what it takes to achieve and maintain success in an ever-changing entrepreneurial landscape.

• Write a strategic business plan

• Start, establish, or rejuvenate a small business

• Hire and retain the best employees

• Get a small business loan

If you're a beginning entrepreneur looking to start and run your own small business, this book gives you all the tools of the trade you'll need to make it a success.

Auteur

Eric Tyson, MBA, has been a personal financial writer, lecturer, and counselor for 25 years. He is the author of the award-winning Personal Finance For Dummies and several otherFor Dummies bestsellers.

Jim Schell has successfully launched and operated several small businesses. He has written other books and numerous columns on entrepreneurship.

Texte du rabat

Make big sense of small business Small Business For Dummies has been a leading resource for starting and running a small business. Calling upon their six decades-plus of combined experience running small businesses, Eric Tyson and Jim Schell once again provide readers with their time-tested advice and the latest information on starting and growing a small business. This new edition covers all aspects of small business from the initial business plan to the everyday realities of financing, marketing, employing technology and management and what it takes to achieve and maintain success in an ever-changing entrepreneurial landscape. Write a strategic business plan Start, establish, or rejuvenate a small business Hire and retain the best employees Get a small business loan If you re a beginning entrepreneur looking to start and run your own small business, this book gives you all the tools of the trade you ll need to make it a success.

Résumé

Make big sense of small business

Small Business For Dummies has been a leading resource for starting and running a small business. Calling upon their six decades-plus of combined experience running small businesses, Eric Tyson and Jim Schell once again provide readers with their time-tested advice and the latest information on starting and growing a small business.

This new edition covers all aspects of small business from the initial business plan to the everyday realities of financing, marketing, employing technology and managementand what it takes to achieve and maintain success in an ever-changing entrepreneurial landscape.

• Write a strategic business plan
• Start, establish, or rejuvenate a small business
• Hire and retain the best employees
• Get a small business loan
  If you're a beginning entrepreneur looking to start and run your own small business, this book gives you all the tools of the trade you'll need to make it a success.

Contenu

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 4

Beyond the Book 5

Where to Go from Here 5

Part 1: Getting Started with Small Business 7

Chapter 1: Is Small Business for You? 9

Defining Small Business 10

Small (and large) business basics 10

Financial basics: The same whether you're big or small 11

Small business: Role model for big business 12

Different people and businesses, similar issues 13

Our definition of a small-business owner 14

Do You Have the Right Stuff? 15

Getting started with the instructions 16

Answering the questions 16

Scoring the test 18

Analyzing your results 18

Identifying the Pros and Cons of Owning a Small Business 20

The reasons to own 20

The reasons not to own 21

Exploring Alternatives to Starting a Business 23

Chapter 2: Laying Your Personal Financial Foundation 27

Getting Your Financial Ducks in a Row 27

Cutting the umbilical cord 28

Improving your business survival odds 28

Maintaining harmony on the home front 29

Creating Your Money To-Do List 30

Assess your financial position and goals 30

Shrink your spending 34

Build up your cash reserves 35

Stabilize income with part time work 35

Assessing and Replacing Benefits 36

Retirement savings plans and pensions 36

Health insurance 37

Disability insurance 37

Life insurance 38

Dental, vision, and other insurance 39

Social Security taxes 39

Time off 40

Managing Your Personal Finances Post-Launch 40

Chapter 3: Finding Your Niche 43

Why You Don't Need a New Idea to Be Successful 43

Choosing Your Business 45

Consider your category 45

Take advantage of accidental opportunities 48

Inventory your skills, interests, and job history 48

Narrow your choices 50

Go in search of fast growth 51

Take advantage of government resources 53

Inventing Something New 54

Say yes to useful invention resources 55

Run away from invention promotion firms 55

Recognizing Your Number One Asset You 57

Chapter 4: First Things First: Crafting Your Business Plan 59

Your Mission: Impossible If You Fail to Define It 59

Writing your mission statement 60

Keeping your mission in people's minds 61

Your Business Plan: Don't Start Up without It 63

Using your business plan as a road map 63

Finding financing with your business plan 64

Writing Your Business Plan 65

Part 1: Business description 66

Part 2: Management 67

Part 3: Marketing plan 68

Part 4: Operations 72

Part 5: Risks 74

Part 6: Financial management plan 74

Keeping Your Plan Current 78

Chapter 5: Making Financing, Ownership, and Organizational Decisions 81

Determining Your Start-Up Cash Needs 81

Using Your Own Money: Bootstrapping 84

Profiling bootstrappers 85

Tapping into bootstrapping sources 86

Outsourcing Your Capital Needs 88

Banking on banks 89

Getting money from nonbanks 90

Exploring Ownership Options 96

You as the sole owner 96

Sharing ownership with partners or minority shareholders 98

Deciding between sole and shared ownership 99

Going public: Cashing in 100

Deciding Whether to Incorporate 102

Weighing unincorporated options 102

Considering incorporated business entities 106 **Part 2: Buying an Existing Business</b...