Want to start the small business of your dreams? Want to breathe new life into the one you already have? Small Business For Dummies, 3rd Edition provides authoritative guidance on every aspect of starting and growing your business, from financing and budgeting to marketing, management and beyond.

This completely practical, no-nonsense guide gives you expert advice on everything from generating ideas and locating start-up money to hiring the right people, balancing the books, and planning for growth. You’ll get plenty of help in ramping up your management skills, developing a marketing strategy, keeping your customers loyal, and much more. You’ll also find out to use the latest technology to improve your business’s performance at every level. Discover how to:

• Make sure that small-business ownership is for you
• Find your niche and time your start-up
• Turn your ideas into plans
• Determine your start-up costs
• Obtain financing with the best possible terms
• Decide whether or not to incorporate
• Make sense of financial statements
• Navigate legal and tax issues
• Buy an existing business
• Set up a home-based business
• Publicize your business and market your wares
• Keep your customers coming back for more
• Track cash flow, costs and profits
• Keep your business in business and growing

You have the energy, drive, passion, and smarts to make your small business a huge success. Small Business For Dummies, 3rd Edition, provides the rest.

Introduction.

Part I: Becoming an Entrepreneur.

Chapter 1: Is Small Business for You?

Chapter 2: Laying Your Personal Financial Foundation.

Chapter 3: Finding Your Niche.

Chapter 4: Crafting Your Plans.

Chapter 5: Financing, Ownership, and Organizational Decisions.

Part II: Buying an Existing Business.

Chapter 6: Exploring Buying a Business.

Chapter 7: Finding the Right Business to Buy.

Chapter 8: Evaluating a Business to Buy.

Chapter 9: Negotiating Terms and Sealing the Deal.

Part III: Running a Successful Small Business.

Chapter 10: Owners as Jack-of-All-Trades.

Chapter 11: Marketing: Product, Pricing, Distribution, Promotion, and Sales.

Chapter 12: Keeping Your Customers Loyal.

Chapter 13: Managing Profitability and Cash.

Chapter 14: Learning from Others’ Experiences.

Part IV: Keeping Your Business in Business.

Chapter 15: Finding and Keeping Superstar Employees.

Chapter 16: Providing Employee Benefits.

Chapter 17: Handling Regulatory and Legal Issues.

Chapter 18: Mastering Small-Business Taxes.

Chapter 19: Cultivating a Growing Business.

Part V: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 20: Ten Tips for Home-Based Businesses.

Chapter 21: Ten Smart Ways to Harness Technology.

Chapter 22: Ten Tips for Managing Your Growing Business.

Index.

Eric Tyson, MBA: A personal financial writer, lecturer, and former financial counselor, for the past two-plus decades Eric has been his own boss. He works with and teaches people from a myriad of income levels and backgrounds, so he knows the small business ownership concerns and questions of real folks just like you.
After toiling away for too many years as a management consultant to behemoth financial-service firms, Eric decided to take his knowledge of the industry and commit himself to making personal financial management accessible to everyone. Despite being handicapped by a joint BS in Economics and Biology from Yale and an MBA from Stanford, Eric remains a master at “keeping it simple.”
An accomplished freelance personal-finance writer, Eric is the author or coauthor of numerous other For Dummies national bestsellers on personal finance, taxes, investing, and home buying, and is a syndicated columnist. His Personal Finance For Dummies won the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Business Book.
Eric’s work has been critically acclaimed in hundreds of publications and programs, including Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Bottom Line Personal, as well as NBC’s Today show, ABC, CNBC, PBS’s Nightly Business Report, CNN, FOX-TV, CBS national radio, Bloomberg Business Radio, and Business Radio Network.

Jim Schell: Contrary to what some people may think, Jim has not always been a grizzled veteran of the small-business wars. Raised in Des Moines, Iowa, and earning a BA in Economics at the University of Colorado, Jim served in the U.S. Air Force in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Jim’s entrepreneurial genes eventually surfaced when he and three Minneapolis friends started The Kings Court, at the time the nation’s first racquetball club. Two years later, Jim bought General Sports, Inc. After another two years, he started National Screenprint, and, finally, he partnered with an ex-employee in Fitness and Weight Training Corp. Each of the start-ups was bootstrapped, and each was privately held. For several years, Jim involved himself in the management of all four businesses at the same time. His third business, National Screenprint, ultimately grew to $25 million in sales and 200 employees.
Relocating to San Diego, Jim began a long-simmering writing career, authoring four books (The Brass Tacks Entrepreneur, Small Business Management Guide, The Small Business Answer Book, and Understanding Your Financial Statements) and numerous columns for business and trade magazines.

Use the latest technology to improve performance

The fun and easy way to be your own boss and run a successful business

Want to start a small business — or energize the one you already have? This practical, no-nonsense guide gives you expert advice on everything from generating ideas and locating financing to hiring the right people, balancing the books, and planning for growth. You'll ramp up your management skills, develop a marketing strategy, keep your customers loyal, and more!

Discover how to:

• Obtain financing

• Make sense of financial statements

• Navigate legal and tax issues

• Set up a home-based business

• Buy an existing business

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Distributor: John Wiley & Sons
Publication Date: 03-04-2008
Pages: 410
Measurements: 236.20mm X 188.4mm X 22.799mm X 22.72oz