Starting a Business All-in-One For Dummies®

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Table of Contents

1. Cover
2. Introduction
   1. About This Book
   2. Foolish Assumptions
   3. Icons Used in This Book
   4. Where to Go from Here
3. Book 1: Moving from Idea to Reality
   1. Chapter 1: Your Business in Context
      1. An Overview of Feasibility Analysis
      2. Understanding Your Industry
      3. Researching an Industry
      4. Defining Your Market Niche
      5. Zeroing In on a Brand-New Product
   2. Chapter 2: Refining and Defining Your Business Idea
      1. Recognizing the Power of a Good Idea
      2. Brainstorming New Business Ideas
      3. Identifying Business Opportunities
      4. Putting a Promising Idea to the Test
   3. Chapter 3: Creating a Business Model
      1. Identifying Who Needs a Business Model
      2. Common Aspects of All Business Models
      3. Business Models in Their Simplest Form
      4. Examples of Business Models
      5. Finding Success with a Business Model
   4. Chapter 4: Finding Your Target Market
      1. Gauging the Target Market
      2. Determining Industry Attractiveness
      3. Looking for Niche Attractiveness
      4. Checking Out Customer Attractiveness
      5. Finding Your Place on the Industry Value Chain
   5. Chapter 5: Considering a Franchise
      1. Understanding What a Franchise Is
      2. Recognizing the Importance of Brands in Franchising
      3. Identifying the Three Types of Franchising
      4. Being Aware of the Roles and Goals of Franchisors and Franchisees
      5. Reviewing Franchise Relationships
      6. Nuances of the Franchisor/Franchisee Relationship
      7. Considering the Pros and Cons of Franchising
4. Book 2: Planning for Your Business
   1. Chapter 1: Writing a Business Plan
      1. Selling Yourself on the Importance of Business Planning
      2. The Anatomy of a Business Plan
      3. Setting Out Your Planning Objectives
      4. Identifying Your Business Plan Audiences and Key Messages
      5. Establishing Your Plan’s Time Frame
      6. Preparing for the Real World
   2. Chapter 2: Finding the Funding
      1. Starting with a Plan
      2. Tapping Friends and Family
      3. Finding an Angel
      4. Daring to Use Venture Capital
      5. Selling Stock to the Public: An IPO
      6. Finding Other Ways to Finance Growth
      7. Guarding Your Interests
   3. Chapter 3: Setting Your Franchise’s Wheels in Motion
      1. Surveying Your Options for Locale
      2. Finding Your Franchise’s Habitat
      3. Protected Areas, Exclusive Areas, and Encroachment Policies
      4. Signing the Lease
      5. Meeting Your Franchise’s Requirements
      6. Getting the Goods: Merchandise and Supplies
      7. Receiving Merchandise
      8. Maintaining Inventory
      9. Getting Good Training for Yourself and Your Management
   4. Chapter 4: Starting a Home-Based Business
      1. Looking at the Basics of Home-Based Business
      2. Examining the Good News and the Bad
      3. Taking the Home-Based Business Quiz
      4. Starting Something from Scratch
      5. Transitioning into Your Home-Based Business
   5. Chapter 5: Creating an Online Presence for Your Business
      1. Feng Shui-ing Your Website
      2. Creating Content That Attracts Customers
      3. Nip and Tuck: Establishing a Visual Identity
      4. Inviting Comments from Customers
      5. Moving from Website to Web Presence
   6. Chapter 6: Starting with the Right Legal Structure
      1. Introducing the Legal Business Classifications
      2. Going It Alone: The Sole Proprietorship
      3. Choosing a Partner: The Partnership
      4. Going for the Gold: The Corporation
      5. Offering Flexibility: The S Corporation, the LLC, and the Nonprofit Corporation
      6. Benchmarking Your Best Choice
5. Book 3: Handling Your Finances
   1. Chapter 1: Setting Up the Books
      1. Bookkeepers: The Record Keepers of the Business World
      2. Wading through Basic Bookkeeping Lingo
      3. Pedaling through the Accounting Cycle
      4. Tackling the Big Decision: Cash-Basis or Accrual Accounting
      5. Seeing Double with Double-Entry Bookkeeping
      6. Differentiating Debits and Credits
      7. Outlining Your Financial Road Map with a Chart of Accounts
      8. Starting with the Balance Sheet Accounts
      9. Tracking the Income Statement Accounts
      10. Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts
   2. Chapter 2: Reporting Profit or Loss in the Income Statement
      1. Presenting Typical Income Statements
      2. Taking Care of Housekeeping Details
      3. Being an Active Reader
      4. Deconstructing Profit
      5. Pinpointing the Assets and Liabilities Used to Record Revenue and Expenses
      6. Reporting Unusual Gains and Losses
      7. Watching for Misconceptions and Misleading Reports
   3. Chapter 3: Showing Financial Condition in the Balance Sheet
      1. Expanding the Accounting Equation
      2. Presenting a Proper Balance Sheet
      3. Judging Liquidity and Solvency
      4. Understanding That Transactions Drive the Balance Sheet
      5. Sizing Up Assets and Liabilities
      6. Financing a Business: Sources of Cash and Capital
      7. Recognizing the Hodgepodge of Values Reported in a Balance Sheet
   4. Chapter 4: Reporting Cash Sources and Uses in the Statement of Cash Flows
      1. Meeting the Statement of Cash Flows
      2. Explaining the Variance between Cash Flow and Net Income
      3. Sailing through the Rest of the Statement of Cash Flows
      4. Pinning Down “Free Cash Flow”
      5. Looking at Limitations of the Statement of Cash Flows
   5. Chapter 5: Controlling Costs and Budgeting
      1. Getting in the Right Frame of Mind
      2. Getting Down to Business
      3. Looking into Cost of Goods Sold Expense
      4. Focusing on Profit Centers
      5. Reducing Your Costs
      6. Deciding Where the Budgeting Process Starts
      7. Homing In on Budgeting Tools
      8. Preparing an Actual Budget or Forecast
      9. Understanding Internal versus External Budgets
      10. Creating a Living Budget
      11. Using the Budget as a Business-Management Tool
      12. Using Budgets in Other Ways
   6. Chapter 6: Satisfying the Tax Man
      1. Tax Reporting for Sole Proprietors
      2. Filing Tax Forms for Partnerships
      3. Paying Corporate Taxes
      4. Taking Care of Sales Taxes Obligations
      5. Keeping Up with and Researching Tax Strategies and Rules
      6. Paying for Tax Help
6. Book 4: Managing Your Business
   1. Chapter 1: Tackling the Hiring Process
      1. Starting with a Clear Job Description
      2. Defining the Characteristics of Desirable Candidates
      3. Finding Good People
      4. Becoming a Great Interviewer
      5. Evaluating Your Candidates
      6. Hiring the Best (and Leaving the Rest)
   2. Chapter 2: Setting Goals
      1. Knowing Where You’re Going
      2. Identifying SMART Goals
      3. Setting Goals: Less Is More
      4. Communicating Your Vision and Goals to Your Team
      5. Juggling Priorities: Keeping Your Eye on the Ball
      6. Using Your Power for Good: Making Your Goals Reality
   3. Chapter 3: Embracing Corporate Social Responsibility
      1. Understanding Socially Responsible Practices
      2. Developing a CSR Strategy for Implementation
      3. Doing the Right Thing: Ethics and You
   4. Chapter 4: Managing with Technology
      1. Weighing the Benefits and Drawbacks of Technology in the Workplace
      2. Using Technology to Your Advantage
      3. Getting the Most Out of Company Networks
   5. Chapter 5: Delegating to Get Things Done
      1. Delegating: The Manager’s Best Tool
      2. Debunking Myths about Delegation
      3. Taking the Six Steps to Delegate
      4. Sorting Out What to Delegate and What to Do Yourself
7. Book 5: Marketing and Promotion
   1. Chapter 1: Optimizing Your Marketing Program
      1. Know Yourself, Know Your Customer
      2. Finding Your Marketing Formula
      3. Controlling Your Marketing Program
      4. Refining Your Marketing Expectations
      5. Revealing More Ways to Maximize Your Marketing Impact
   2. Chapter 2: Laying a Foundation for Growth
      1. Measuring the Growth Rate of Your Market
      2. Responding to a Flat or Shrinking Market
      3. Finding Your Best Growth Strategies
      4. Growing a Market Segmentation Strategy
      5. Developing a Market Share Strategy
      6. Designing a Positioning Strategy
      7. Growth Hacking to Build Leads and Market Share
      8. Selling Innovative Products
   3. Chapter 3: Taking Stock of Your Business Image
      1. Making First Impressions
      2. Auditing the Impressions Your Business Makes
   4. Chapter 4: Forging Your Brand
      1. Recognizing What Brands Are and What They Do
      2. Building a Powerful Brand
      3. Your Market Position: The Birthplace of Your Brand
      4. Conveying Your Position and Brand through Taglines
      5. Balancing Personal and Business Brands
      6. Maintaining and Protecting Your Brand
   5. Chapter 5: Creating Marketing Communications That Work
      1. Starting with Good Objectives
      2. Developing Effective Marketing Communications
      3. Making Media Selections
      4. The Making of a Mass Media Schedule
      5. Evaluating Your Efforts
   6. Chapter 6: Social Marketing: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest
      1. Using Facebook for Engagement That Builds Sales
      2. Building Your Twitter Presence
      3. Igniting Your Social Presence on Instagram
      4. Expanding Your Network through LinkedIn
      5. Promoting Your Brand with Pinterest
8. Book 6: Staying in Business
   1. Chapter 1: Developing Employees Through Coaching and Mentoring
      1. Understanding Why Employee Development Is Important
      2. Getting Down to Employee Development
      3. Coaching Employees to Career Growth and Success
      4. Finding a Mentor, Being a Mentor
   2. Chapter 2: Keeping Your Customers Loyal
      1. Retaining Your Customer Base
      2. Dealing with Dissatisfied Customers
   3. Chapter 3: Cultivating a Growing Business
      1. Recognizing Growth Stages
      2. Resolving Human Resources Issues
      3. Addressing Time-Management Issues
      4. Choosing Your Management Tools
      5. Troubleshooting Your Business Challenges
      6. Redefining Your Role in an Evolving Business
9. Index
10. About the Authors
11. Connect with Dummies
12. End User License Agreement

List of Tables

1. Book 1 Chapter 3
   1. TABLE 3-1 Types of Business Models
2. Book 1 Chapter 4
   1. TABLE 4-1 Value Chain for Coffee
   2. TABLE 4-2 Value Added for Coffee
3. Book 3 Chapter 1
   1. TABLE 1-1 How Credits and Debits Impact Your Accounts
4. Book 3 Chapter 6
   1. TABLE 6-1 Comparison of Tax Obligations for Sole Proprietors
5. Book 5 Chapter 1
   1. TABLE 1-1 Marketing to Millennials
   2. TABLE 1-2 Marketing to Generation Xers
   3. TABLE 1-3 Marketing to Baby Boomers
   4. TABLE 1-4 Getting a Grip on Your Marketing Program
6. Book 5 Chapter 5
   1. TABLE 5-1 Features versus Benefits
   2. TABLE 5-2 Mass Media Comparisons

List of Illustrations

1. Book 1 Chapter 1
   1. FIGURE 1-1: Finding your niche.
2. Book 1 Chapter 4
   1. FIGURE 4-1: Bell curves for the household cleaner market.
   2. FIGURE 4-2: Entering the market on the fringes.
3. Book 2 Chapter 2
   1. FIGURE 2-1: Three stages for financing the typical business.
4. Book 2 Chapter 5
   1. FIGURE 5-1: A home page is the point from which your site branches into more spe...
   2. FIGURE 5-2: This arrangement divides the site into two sections.
   3. FIGURE 5-3: A mobile site’s home page needs to be simple and load quickly.
   4. FIGURE 5-4: Many surfers prefer using a search box to clicking links.
5. Book 2 Chapter 6
   1. FIGURE 6-1: This chart shows a summary comparison of legal categories of busines...
   2. FIGURE 6-2: Six questions point you in the right direction for choosing your leg...
6. Book 3 Chapter 1
   1. FIGURE 1-1: The accounting cycle.
7. Book 3 Chapter 2
   1. FIGURE 2-1: Typical income statement for a business that sells products.
   2. FIGURE 2-2: Typical income statement for a business that sells services.
   3. FIGURE 2-3: Typical income statement for an investment business.
   4. FIGURE 2-4: Fundamental natures of revenue and expenses.
   5. FIGURE 2-5: Comparing asset and liability changes for three profit scenarios.
8. Book 3 Chapter 3
   1. FIGURE 3-1: Expanded accounting equation.
   2. FIGURE 3-2: Illustrative two-year comparative balance sheet for a product busine...
   3. FIGURE 3-3: Summary of changes in assets, liabilities, and owners’ equity during...
9. Book 3 Chapter 4
   1. FIGURE 4-1: The statement of cash flows, illustrating the direct method for cash...
   2. FIGURE 4-2: The statement of cash flows, illustrating the indirect method for pr...
10. Book 3 Chapter 5
    1. FIGURE 5-1: Your income statement for cost control analysis.
    2. FIGURE 5-2: Analyzing your gross margin increase.
    3. FIGURE 5-3: Your year-end balance sheets.
    4. FIGURE 5-4: A basic SWOT analysis.
    5. FIGURE 5-5: A quarterly forecast.
    6. FIGURE 5-6: What-if forecasts.
    7. FIGURE 5-7: Variance analysis.
11. Book 5 Chapter 4
    1. FIGURE 4-1: This formula helps you build a positioning statement.

Guide

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2. Table of Contents
3. Begin Reading