Starting a Business All-In-One For Dummies E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 957

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

All the practical advice you need for starting a business Starting a business? Don't sweat it! Reflecting today's uniqueopportunities and challenges, Starting a Business All-In-One ForDummies is packed with everything you need to manage yourpersonal and business risks and successfully navigate your firstyear in business. Written in plain English and packed with simple,step-by-step instructions, it shows you how to start up your dreambusiness from scratch, write a winning business plan, securefinancing, manage your risks successfully, navigate your first yearof operation, and much more! The information inside is amassed from 11 bestselling ForDummies books, covering everything from franchising and home-basedbusinesses to bookkeeping, accounting, branding, and marketing. Ifyou're a go-getter looking for a way to launch a great idea and beyour own boss, Starting a Business All-In-One For Dummiesprepares you to beat the odds and become successful in yoursector. * Covers proven strategies on successfully branding and marketingyour business * Includes step-by-step guidance on keeping on top of thebooks * Provides coverage of employee engagement and motivatingemployees * Offers helpful hints for overcoming obstacles in starting abusiness Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or an expert looking toinnovate, Starting a Business All-In-One For Dummies is theonly reference you'll need to start a business from the groundup.

Leseprobe

Starting a Business All-In-One For Dummies®

Published by:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,111 River Street, Hoboken,NJ 07030-5774,

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Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014957354

ISBN 978-1-119-04910-4 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-04908-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-04907-4 (ebk)

Starting a Business All-In-One For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/startingabusinessaio to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Cover

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Book I: From Idea to Reality

Chapter 1: Your Business in Context

An Overview of Feasibility Analysis

Understanding Your Industry

Researching an Industry

Defining Your Market Niche

Zeroing-in on a Brand New Product

Chapter 2: Refining and Defining Your Business Idea

Recognizing the Power of a Good Idea

Brainstorming New Business Ideas

Identifying Business Opportunities

Doing Your First Reality Check

Chapter 3: Creating a Business Model

Evolution of Business Models

Business Models Are a Hot Topic

Who Needs a Business Model?

Common Aspects of All Business Models

Business Models in Their Simplest Form

Examples of Business Models

Finding Success with a Business Model

Chapter 4: Finding Your Target Market

Gauging the Target Market

Determining Industry Attractiveness

Looking for Niche Attractiveness

Checking Out Customer Attractiveness

Finding Your Place on the Industry Value Chain

Chapter 5: Considering a Franchise

So What Is a Franchise, Anyway?

What’s the Deal with Brands in Franchising?

The Two Types of Franchises

The Roles and Goals of Franchisors and Franchisees

Franchise Relationships

Pros and Cons of Franchising

Book II: Planning for Your Business

Chapter 1: Writing a Business Plan

Selling Yourself on the Importance of Planning

The Anatomy of a Business Plan

Understanding Your Starting Position

Setting Out Your Planning Objectives

Identifying Target Audiences and Key Messages

Establishing Your Plan’s Time Frame

Preparing for the Real World

Chapter 2: Finding the Funding

Starting with a Plan

Tapping Friends, Family, and Lovers

Finding an Angel

Daring to Use Venture Capital

Selling Stock to the Public: An IPO

Finding Other Ways to Finance Growth

Guarding Your Interests

Chapter 3: Setting Your Franchise’s Wheels in Motion

Surveying Your Options for Locale

Setting Up Shop: Finding Your Franchise’s Habitat

Avoiding Encroachment

Securing Your Space After Finding Your Piece of Heaven

Getting the Goods: Merchandise and Supplies

Receiving Merchandise

Maintaining Inventory

Getting Good Training Before and After You Open Your Franchise

Chapter 4: Starting a Home-Based Business

Looking at the Basics of Home-Based Business

Examining the Good News and the Bad

Taking the Home-Based Business Quiz

Starting Something from Scratch

Transitioning into Your Home-Based Business

Chapter 5: Creating a Website for Your Business

Feng Shui-ing Your Website

Creating Content That Attracts Customers

Nip and Tuck: Establishing a Visual Identity

Inviting Comments from Customers

Moving from Website to Web Presence

Chapter 6: Starting with the Right Legal Structure

Deciding on the Best Legal Form for Your Business

Going It Alone: The Sole Proprietorship

Choosing a Partner: The Partnership

Going for the Gold: The Corporation

Looking for Flexibility: The S Corporation, the LLC, and the Nonprofit Corporation

Benchmarking Your Best Choice

Book III: Managing Your Finances

Chapter 1: Setting Up the Books

Bookkeepers: The Record Keepers of the Business World

Wading through Basic Bookkeeping Lingo

Pedaling through the Accounting Cycle

Tackling the Big Decision: Cash-Basis or Accrual Accounting

Seeing Double with Double-Entry Bookkeeping

Differentiating Debits and Credits

Outlining Your Financial Roadmap with a Chart of Accounts

Starting with the Balance Sheet Accounts

Tracking the Income Statement Accounts

Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts

Chapter 2: Understanding Your P&L

Getting Intimate with Your Profit and Loss Report

Measuring and Reporting Profit and Loss

Presenting the P&L Report for Your Business

Breaking Through the Breakeven Barrier

Improving Profit

Chapter 3: Working with Cash Flow and Staying Solvent

Sorting Out Your Sources of Cash

Avoiding Confusion Between Profit and Its Cash Flow

Deciding How to Have Cash Flow Information Reported to You

Introducing the Statement of Cash Flows

Summing Up the Critical Importance of Cash Flow from Profit

Liquidity and Business Solvency

Business Solvency Measurements Tools

Liquidity Measurements Tools

Liquidity Traps

Untapped Sources of Liquidity

Financial Leverage: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Chapter 4: Controlling Costs and Budgeting

Getting in the Right Frame of Mind

Getting Down to Business

Looking into Cost of Goods Sold Expense

Focusing on Profit Centers

Reducing Your Costs

Deciding Where the Budgeting Process Starts

Honing In on Budgeting Tools

Preparing an Actual Budget or Forecast

Understanding Internal versus External Budgets

Creating a Living Budget

Using the Budget as a Business-Management Tool

Using Budgets in Other Ways

Chapter 5: Satisfying the Tax Man

Tax Reporting for Sole Proprietors

Filing Tax Forms for Partnerships

Paying Corporate Taxes

Taking Care of Sales Taxes Obligations

Book IV: Managing Your Business

Chapter 1: Tackling the Hiring Process

Starting with a Clear Job Description

Defining the Characteristics of Desirable Candidates

Finding Good People

Becoming a Great Interviewer

Evaluating Your Candidates

Hiring the Best (and Leaving the Rest)

Chapter 2: Setting Goals

Knowing Where You’re Going

Identifying SMART Goals

Setting Goals: Less Is More

Communicating Your Vision and Goals to Your Team

Juggling Priorities: Keeping Your Eye on the Ball

Using Your Power for Good: Making Your Goals Reality

Chapter 3: Embracing Corporate Social Responsibility

Understanding Socially Responsible Practices

Doing the Right Thing: Ethics and You

Chapter 4: Managing with Technology

Weighing the Benefits and Drawbacks of Technology in the Workplace

Using Technology to Your Advantage

Getting the Most Out of Company Networks

Chapter 5: Developing Employees Through Coaching and Mentoring

Why Help Develop Your Employees?

Getting Down to Employee Development

Coaching Employees to Career Growth and Success

Finding a Mentor, Being a Mentor

Chapter 6: Delegating to Get Things Done

Delegating: The Manager’s Best Tool

Debunking Myths about Delegation

Taking the Six Steps to Delegate

Sorting Out What to Delegate and What to Do Yourself

Book IV: Marketing and Promotion

Chapter 1: Optimizing Your Marketing Program

Know Yourself, Know Your Customer

Finding Your Marketing Formula

Controlling Your Marketing Program

Refining Your Marketing Expectations

Revealing More Ways to Maximize Your Marketing Impact

Chapter 2: Strengthening Your Marketing Strategy

Finding and Riding a Growth Wave

Growing with a Market Expansion Strategy

Specializing with a Market Segmentation Strategy

Developing a Market Share Strategy

Designing a Positioning Strategy

Considering Other Core Strategies

Selling Innovative Products

Writing Down and Regularly Reviewing Your Strategy

Chapter 3: Taking Stock of Your Business Image

Making First Impressions

Auditing the Impressions Your Business Makes

Chapter 4: Forging Your Brand

What Brands Are and What They Do

Building a Powerful Brand

Your Market Position: The Birthplace of Your Brand

Conveying Your Position and Brand through Taglines

Balancing Personal and Business Brands

Maintaining and Protecting Your Brand

Chapter 5: Creating Marketing Communications That Work

Starting with Good Objectives

Developing Effective Marketing Communications

Making Media Selections

The Making of a Mass Media Schedule

Evaluating Your Efforts

Chapter 6: Social Marketing: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Blogs

Developing a Business Presence on Facebook

Sharing Your Images with Pinterest

Building a Fan Base with Twitter

Using Your Blog for Profit … and Fun

About the Authors

Cheat Sheet

Advertisement Page

Connect with Dummies

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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Introduction

Welcome to Starting a Business All-in-One For Dummies!

It’s a good bet that you share the popular dream of starting your own business and being your own boss. Increasingly, this dream is becoming more relevant to the challenges of the economy that’s emerging today. It’s not just a pie-in-the-sky dream anymore; starting a business is a reality that has created opportunity and satisfaction for many people who decided to take the plunge — just as it can for you.

This book presents and explains a very wide variety of information, all aimed at enlightening you on what you need to know and ensuring your success. Whether you need know-how and advice on turning your idea into reality, creating a business plan and business model, finding funding, picking a legal structure, setting up your books, or marketing and promoting, you’ll find the help you need here. Most of this book is applicable to you whether your business is a local business, startup corporation, franchise, or based out of your home.

The aim of this book is to provide you with the very best ideas, concepts, and tools for starting and successfully operating your business. Using the info here, you should be able to create exactly the kind of business you’ve always dreamed of and find exactly the level of success you’ve always wanted.

About This Book

This book is a generous conglomeration of material from a number of Dummies business books, carefully selected with an eye toward getting the new business owner/entrepreneur up and running. Your current level of business experience (or lack thereof) doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about not having years of management experience under your belt or about not knowing the difference between a balance sheet and a P&L.

For a fraction of the amount you’d pay to get an MBA, this book provides you with an easily understandable road map to today’s most innovative and effective business techniques and strategies. The information you find here is firmly grounded in the real world. This book isn’t an abstract collection of theoretical, pie-in-the-sky mumbo-jumbo that sounds good but doesn’t work when you put it to the test. Instead, you’ll find only the best information, the best strategies, and the best techniques — the same ones that top business schools teach today.

This book is also meant to be at least a little fun — running a business doesn’t have to be a bore! In fact, maintaining a sense of humor can be vital when facing the challenges that all new business owners face from time to time.

Within this book, you may note that some web addresses (URLs) break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just tap the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Foolish Assumptions

This book makes a few assumptions about you. For example, you have at least a passing interest in starting your own business. (Duh.) Maybe you’ve already started a business and are looking for tips to refine the techniques you’re already developing. Or perhaps it’s something you think you may want to try and are looking to read up on it before you make your move. Either way, you’ve come to the right place.

It’s also safe to assume that you can — or believe you can — produce and deliver products or services that people will be willing to pay you for. These products and services can be most anything. You’re limited only by your imagination (and, of course, your bank account, about which you’ll soon be reading quite a bit). Finally, this book assumes you’re eager to scoop up and implement new tips and tricks and that you’re willing to acquire some new perspectives on the topic.

Icons Used in This Book

Icons are handy little graphic images that are meant to point out particularly important information about starting your own business. Throughout this book, you find the following icons, conveniently located along the left margins:

This icon directs you to tips and shortcuts you can follow to save time and do things the right way the first time.

Remember the important points of information that follow this icon, and your business will be all the better for it.

Danger! Ignore the advice next to this icon at your own risk!

This one points out slightly advanced material that you can safely skip if you’re in a hurry. But by all means, read these if you want to stretch yourself a bit.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. No matter how hard you work at creating your business, you’ll likely come across a few questions where you don’t have a clue. Check out the free Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/startingabusinessaio for helpful tips on getting inspired to start your own business, how to succeed at it, and how to handle your business’s money.

You’ll also find a handful of articles online at www.dummies.com/extras/startingabusinessaio. These freebies cover stuff that wouldn’t quite fit inside these covers, such as questions you should answer before completing your business plan, ways of boosting your web sales, and financial management rules for small business survival.

Where to Go from Here

If you’re new to starting a business, you may want to start at the beginning of this book and work your way through to the end. A wealth of information and practical advice awaits you. Simply turn the page and you’re on your way! But you can start anywhere. If you already own and operate a business and are short of time (and who isn’t?), feel free to use the table of contents and index to zero in on particular topics of interest to you right now.

Regardless of how you find your way around this book, the sincere hope of this endeavor is that you’ll enjoy the journey.

Book I

From Idea to Reality

For Dummies can help you get started with lots of subjects. Visit www.dummies.com to learn more.

Contents at a Glance

Chapter 1: Your Business in Context

An Overview of Feasibility Analysis

Understanding Your Industry

Researching an Industry

Defining Your Market Niche

Zeroing-in on a Brand New Product

Chapter 2: Refining and Defining Your Business Idea

Recognizing the Power of a Good Idea

Brainstorming New Business Ideas

Identifying Business Opportunities

Doing Your First Reality Check

Chapter 3: Creating a Business Model

Evolution of Business Models

Business Models Are a Hot Topic

Who Needs a Business Model?

Common Aspects of All Business Models

Business Models in Their Simplest Form

Examples of Business Models

Finding Success with a Business Model

Chapter 4: Finding Your Target Market

Gauging the Target Market

Determining Industry Attractiveness

Looking for Niche Attractiveness

Checking Out Customer Attractiveness

Finding Your Place on the Industry Value Chain

Chapter 5: Considering a Franchise

So What Is a Franchise, Anyway?

What’s the Deal with Brands in Franchising?

The Two Types of Franchises

The Roles and Goals of Franchisors and Franchisees

Franchise Relationships

Pros and Cons of Franchising