Eric Tyson, MBA, has been a personal finance writer, lecturer, and counselor for the past 25+ years. He is the author or coauthor of numerous For Dummies bestsellers on personal finance, investing, and home buying.

Bob Nelson, PhD, is considered one of the world’s leading experts on employee engagement, recognition, and rewards. He is president of Nelson Motivation, Inc., a management training and consulting company that helps organizations improve their administration practices, programs, and systems.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Book 1: Moving from Idea to Reality 5

Chapter 1: Your Business in Context 7

Getting an Overview of Feasibility Analysis 8

Understanding Your Industry 11

Researching an Industry 16

Defining Your Market Niche 21

Zeroing In on a Brand-New Product 24

Chapter 2: Refining and Defining Your Business Idea 27

Recognizing the Power of a Good Idea 28

Brainstorming New Business Ideas 32

Identifying Business Opportunities 36

Putting a Promising Idea to the Test 40

Chapter 3: Creating a Business Model 45

Identifying Who Needs a Business Model 46

Assessing Common Aspects of All Business Models 47

Understanding Business Models in Their Simplest Form 49

Checking Out Examples of Business Models 50

Chapter 4: Finding Your Target Market 63

Gauging the Target Market 64

Determining Industry Attractiveness 65

Looking for Niche Attractiveness 68

Checking Out Customer Attractiveness 74

Finding Your Place on the Industry Value Chain 75

Chapter 5: Considering a Franchise 79

Understanding What a Franchise Is 79

Recognizing the Importance of Brands in Franchising 81

Identifying the Three Types of Franchising 82

Being Aware of the Roles and Goals of Franchisors and Franchisees 85

Reviewing Franchise Relationships 88

Knowing the Nuances of the Franchisor/Franchisee Relationship 94

Considering the Pros and Cons of Franchising 95

The advantages 96

The disadvantages 97

Book 2: Planning for Your Business 101

Chapter 1: Writing a Business Plan 103

Selling Yourself on the Importance of Business Planning 103

Breaking Down the Pieces of a Business Plan 105

Setting Out Your Planning Objectives 107

Identifying Your Business Plan Audiences and Key Messages 109

Establishing Your Plan’s Time Frame 111

Preparing for the Real World 113

Chapter 2: Finding the Funding 115

Starting with a Plan 116

Tapping Friends and Family 119

Finding an Angel 120

Daring to Use Venture Capital 122

Selling Stock to the Public: An IPO 126

Finding Other Ways to Finance Growth 130

Guarding Your Interests 131

Chapter 3: Setting Your Franchise’s Wheels in Motion 135

Surveying Your Options for Locale 136

Locating Your Franchise’s Habitat 141

Looking at Protected Areas, Exclusive Areas, and Encroachment Policies 145

Signing the Lease 148

Meeting Your Franchise’s Requirements 149

Getting the Goods: Merchandise and Supplies 152

Receiving Merchandise 156

Maintaining Inventory 159

Getting Good Training for Yourself and Your Management 162

Chapter 4: Starting a Home-Based Business 167

Looking at the Basics of Home-Based Business 168

Examining the Good News and the Bad 173

Taking the Home-Based Business Quiz 175

Starting Something from Scratch 178

Transitioning into Your Home-Based Business 180

Chapter 5: Creating an Online Presence for Your Business 193

Feng Shui-ing Your Website 194

Creating Content That Attracts Customers 197

Nip and Tuck: Establishing a Visual Identity 204

Using clip art is free and fun 207

A picture is worth a thousand words 207

Creating a logo 209

Inviting Comments from Customers 209

Moving from Website to Web Presence 213

Chapter 6: Starting with the Right Legal Structure 215

Introducing the Legal Business Classifications 216

Going It Alone: The Sole Proprietorship 218

Choosing a Partner: The Partnership 220

Going for the Gold: The Corporation 222

Deciding where and how to incorporate 225

Offering Flexibility: The S Corporation, the LLC, and the

Nonprofit Corporation 225

Discovering Your Best Choice 228

Book 3: Handling Your Finances 229

Chapter 1: Setting Up the Books 231

Bookkeepers: The Record Keepers of the Business World 232

Wading through Basic Bookkeeping Lingo 233

Pedaling through the Accounting Cycle 235

Tackling the Big Decision: Cash-Basis or Accrual Accounting 237

Seeing Double with Double-Entry Bookkeeping 240

Differentiating Debits and Credits 242

Outlining Your Financial Road Map with a Chart of Accounts 242

Starting with the Balance Sheet Accounts 244

Tracking the Income Statement Accounts 250

Recording the money you make 251

Tracking the Cost of Goods Sold 252

Acknowledging the money you spend 252

Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts 254

Chapter 2: Reporting Profit or Loss in the Income Statement 257

Presenting Typical Income Statements 258

Taking Care of Housekeeping Details 264

Being an Active Reader 266

Deconstructing Profit 267

Pinpointing the Assets and Liabilities Used to Record Revenue and Expenses 271

Reporting Unusual Gains and Losses 276

Watching for Misconceptions and Misleading Reports 278

Chapter 3: Reporting Financial Condition in the Balance Sheet 281

Expanding the Accounting Equation 282

Presenting a Proper Balance Sheet 283

Judging Liquidity and Solvency 288

Understanding That Transactions Drive the Balance Sheet 290

Sizing Up Assets and Liabilities 294

Financing a Business: Sources of Cash and Capital 301

Recognizing the Hodgepodge of Values Reported in a Balance Sheet 302

Chapter 4: Reporting Cash Sources and Uses in the Statement of Cash Flows 305

Meeting the Statement of Cash Flows 306

Explaining the Variance between Cash Flow and Net Income 311

Sailing through the Rest of the Statement of Cash Flows 318

Pinning Down “Free Cash Flow” 322

Recognizing Limitations of the Statement of Cash Flows 324

Chapter 5: Controlling Costs and Budgeting 327

Getting in the Right Frame of Mind 328

Getting Down to Business 329

Looking into Cost of Goods Sold Expense 342

Focusing on Profit Centers 345

Reducing Your Costs 347

Deciding Where the Budgeting Process Starts 348

Homing In on Budgeting Tools 349

Flash reports 352

Preparing an Actual Budget or Forecast 353

Understanding Internal versus External Budgets 357

Creating a Living Budget 358

Using the Budget as a Business-Management Tool 360

Using Budgets in Other Ways 362

Chapter 6: Satisfying the Tax Man 363

Tax Reporting for Sole Proprietors 363

Filing Tax Forms for Partnerships 364

Paying Corporate Taxes 365

Taking Care of Sales Taxes Obligations 366

Keeping Up with and Researching Tax Strategies and Rules 367

Paying for Tax Help 370

Book 4: Managing Your Business 381

Chapter 1: Tackling the Hiring Process 383

Starting with a Clear Job Description 383

Defining the Characteristics of Desirable Candidates 385

Finding Good People 386

Becoming a Great Interviewer 390

Evaluating Your Candidates 394

Hiring the Best (and Leaving the Rest) 398

Chapter 2: Setting Goals 401

Knowing Where You’re Going 402

Identifying SMART Goals 404

Setting Goals: Less Is More 406

Communicating Your Vision and Goals to Your Team 408

Juggling Priorities: Keeping Your Eye on the Ball 409

Using Your Power for Good: Making Your Goals Reality 411

Chapter 3: Embracing Corporate Social Responsibility 415

Understanding Socially Responsible Practices 416

Developing a CSR Strategy for Implementation 418

Doing the Right Thing: Ethics and You 420

Chapter 4: Managing with Technology 425

Weighing the Benefits and Drawbacks of Workplace Technology 426

Using Technology to Your Advantage 429

Chapter 5: Delegating to Get Things Done 433

Delegating: The Manager’s Best Tool 434

Debunking Myths about Delegation 435

Taking the Six Steps to Delegate 439

Sorting Out What to Delegate and What to Do Yourself 440

Book 5: Marketing and Promotion 445

Chapter 1: Optimizing Your Marketing Program 447

Knowing Yourself, Knowing Your Customer 448

Finding Your Marketing Formula 456

Controlling Your Marketing Program 459

Refining Your Marketing Expectations 461

Revealing More Ways to Maximize Your Marketing Impact 462

Chapter 2: Laying a Foundation for Growth 465

Measuring the Growth Rate of Your Market 466

Responding to a Flat or Shrinking Market 467

Finding Your Best Growth Strategies 469

Growing a Market Segmentation Strategy 474

Developing a Market Share Strategy 476

Designing a Positioning Strategy 479

Growth Hacking to Build Leads and Market Share 480

Selling Innovative Products 483

Chapter 3: Taking Stock of Your Business Image 485

Making First Impressions 486

Auditing the Impressions Your Business Makes 494

Surveying your marketing materials and communications 494

Creating an impression inventory 495

Improving the impressions you’re making 496

Chapter 4: Forging Your Brand 499

Recognizing What Brands Are and What They Do 500

Building a Powerful Brand 502

Understanding Your Market Position: The Birthplace of Your Brand 504

Conveying Your Position and Brand through Taglines 507

Balancing Personal and Business Brands 508

Maintaining and Protecting Your Brand 510

Chapter 5: Creating Marketing Communications That Work 515

Starting with Good Objectives 516

Developing Effective Marketing Communications 522

Making Media Selections 526

Building a Mass Media Schedule 529

Evaluating Your Efforts 531

Chapter 6: Social Marketing: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest 533

Using Facebook for Engagement That Builds Sales 535

Building Your Twitter Presence 540

Igniting Your Social Presence on Instagram 541

Expanding Your Network through LinkedIn 541

Promoting Your Brand with Pinterest 544

Book 6: Staying in Business 545

Chapter 1: Developing Employees through Coaching and Mentoring 547

Understanding Why Employee Development Is Important 548

Getting Down to Employee Development 550

Coaching Employees to Career Growth and Success 554

Finding a Mentor, Being a Mentor 560

Chapter 2: Keeping Your Customers Loyal 563

Retaining Your Customer Base 564

Dealing with Dissatisfied Customers 572

Chapter 3: Cultivating a Growing Business 575

Recognizing Growth Stages 576

Resolving Human Resources Issues 578

Addressing Time-Management Issues 580

Choosing Your Management Tools 582

Troubleshooting Your Business Challenges 586

Redefining Your Role in an Evolving Business 588

Index 593

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