The McGraw-Hill Guide to Starting Your Own Business A Step-By-Step Blueprint for the First-Time Entrepreneur

by Harper, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780071410120
• ISBN10: 0071410120
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-06-30
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education

Summary

The bestselling first edition ofThe McGraw-Hill Guide to Starting Your Own Businesssold more than 75,000 copies, and took the reader step-by-step through the entire process of starting a new venture. This completely revised second edition once again shows entrepreneurs the keys to determining the best business opportunities, creating a business plan, and formulating a winning marketing strategy. In addition, it now profiles alternative sources of funding from SBA loans to angel investors and provides valuable do's and don'ts from over one hundred entrepreneurs.

Author Biography

Stephen C. Harper, Ph.D. is a professor of management at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and president of management consulting firm Harper and Associates, Inc.

Table of Contents

Lessons for Starting Your Own Business	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 1
Prerequisites for Start-Up Survival and Success	p. 5
Creating a New Business	p. 6
Can You Beat the Odds?	p. 7
Don't Be One of the Losers	p. 8
Prerequisites for Start-Up Survival and Success	p. 9
Key Entrepreneurial Qualities	p. 9
Conclusion: Starting a Business Is Survival of the Fittest	p. 15
Entrepreneurial Qualities Self-Test: Part 1	p. 16
Identifying New Business Opportunities	p. 19
An Opportunity Can Be Found within Every Problem	p. 19
Creating Customers	p. 19
Maintaining Customers	p. 21
Are There Any Opportunities Left for New Businesses?	p. 21
Find Gaps in the Market	p. 22
Yes, There Are Opportunities!	p. 26
What Kind of Business Should I Start?	p. 26
Entrepreneurial Qualities Self-Test: Part 2	p. 47
Scoring Breakdown for Question 8	p. 48
Notes	p. 49
Preparing Your Business Plan	p. 51
The General Overview and Legal Structure	p. 52
The Executive Summary	p. 54
Overview of the Business Concept	p. 55
The Objectives for the New Business	p. 55
The Legal Form of Organization	p. 56
Profile of the Management Team and Organization Chart	p. 64
Description of the Market(s) to Be Served and the Location of the Business	p. 67
Basis for Financing the Business	p. 69
Timetable for Establishing the Business	p. 71
Exit Strategy	p. 73
The General Overview Helps You Think Things Through	p. 74
Selecting the Right Target Market	p. 75
Studying the Industry	p. 76
Analyzing the Market	p. 77
Competitive Analysis	p. 78
Identifying Your Prospective Customers	p. 82
Putting Together the Customer Profile	p. 88
Product and Price Strategy	p. 92
Product-Service Strategy	p. 93
Pricing Strategy	p. 100
Promotional Strategy and Physical Distribution Strategy	p. 108
Promotional Strategy	p. 108
Physical Distribution Strategy	p. 117
Be Prepared to Change Your Marketing Mix	p. 122
Determining Your Initial Capital Requirement	p. 123
Determining Your Initial Capital Requirement	p. 123
Estimating the First Year's Sales	p. 126
Identifying Your Cash Outlays	p. 131
Estimating Monthly Cash Outlays	p. 132
Identifying Starting Costs That You Have to Pay Only Once	p. 140
Completing the SBA Worksheet	p. 144
Proceed with Caution	p. 146
Projecting Your Financial Status for the First Years	p. 147
Profit Planning: Conducting Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis	p. 148
Cash Flow Projections	p. 155
Preparing Your Pro Forma Financial Statements	p. 158
Preparing Your First Calendar-Year-End Balance Sheet	p. 162
Running the Numbers Is an Essential Part of the Business Plan	p. 167
Sources of Funding, Alternatives to Starting from Scratch, and Entrepreneurial Do's and Don'ts	p. 169
Sources of Funding	p. 170
"Show Me the Money!"	p. 170
Few Entrepreneurs Have All the Money They Need	p. 170
Entrepreneurs Have to Be Willing to Accept Risks	p. 171
Don't Expect to Get a Loan from a Bank	p. 171
Take a Good Look at Yourself ... Are You Credit/Investment-Worthy?	p. 172
Sometimes You Have to Give Up Something to Get Something	p. 172
Raising Money Takes Considerable Time	p. 173
You Will Need to Be a Salesperson to Get Funding	p. 173
Raising Funds Also Takes Resilience	p. 173
Not All Money Is Alike	p. 173
You Need an "F-Plan."	p. 174
Developing the F-Plan for Your Venture	p. 174
Bootstrapping: Proactive Ways to Raise and Conserve Cash	p. 175
Bootstrapping Techniques	p. 176
Funding Sources Come in All Shapes and Sizes	p. 178
Criteria That Banks Use When Considering a Loan Request	p. 188
Other Factors to Consider When You Seek a Loan	p. 197
Conclusion: Anita Roddick Was Right--Finding Funding Can Be a Real Challenge	p. 197
Notes	p. 199
Buying an Existing Business	p. 200
Sometimes It's Better Not to Start from Scratch	p. 200
Why Buy an Existing Business?	p. 201
Some Businesses Are for Sale, Others Can Be Bought	p. 203
Buyer Beware: All That Glitters May Not Be Gold!	p. 204
Guidelines for Analyzing a Business	p. 206
The Book Value Approach to Valuing a Business	p. 207
The Capitalization-of-Earnings Approach to Valuing a Business	p. 209
The Cash Flow Approach to Valuing a Business	p. 214
Valuation May Be a Hybrid of Various Approaches	p. 215
Closing the Sale: Don't Forget Your Accountant and Your Attorney	p. 215
Notes	p. 217
Acquiring a Franchise	p. 218
Buying Someone Else's Formula for Success	p. 218
The Benefits of Buying a Franchise	p. 219
The Drawbacks of Buying a Franchise	p. 220
Finding the Right Franchise Opportunity	p. 225
Checking Out the Franchisers	p. 228
Look before You Leap	p. 230
Epilogue: Entrepreneurial Do's and Don'ts	p. 231
Take a Good Look at Yourself, Your Life, and What Is Driving You	p. 232
Time: You Will Never Have Enough	p. 233
Preparation: Stack the Odds in Your Favor	p. 234
Management: Who Ever Said It Would Be Easy?	p. 235
The Business Plan: The Mental Journey Must Precede the Physical Journey	p. 238
Strategy: How Do You Plan to Gain Sustainable Competitive Advantages?	p. 239
Human Resources: Your Business Will Be Only as Good as Your People	p. 240
Legal: It's a Minefield Out There!	p. 241
Financial Side: Money Is like Oxygen--You Need It to Live	p. 241
The Business Opportunity: Analyze the Marketplace and Do the Right Marketing	p. 242
Suppliers: You Can't Live without Them	p. 243
Closing Points	p. 244
Sources of Helpful Information	p. 245
Index	p. 248
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