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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