Starting and Running a Business All-in-One For Dummies

by Barrow, Colin

• ISBN13: 9781119152156
• ISBN10: 1119152151
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2016-12-27
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

Written by a team of business and finance experts, Starting & Running a Business All-In-One For Dummies is a complete guide to every aspect of setting up and growing a successful business.

Featuring straight-talking advice on everything from business planning and marketing, managing staff and dealing with legal issues, to bookkeeping and taking care of tax obligations, this book is your one-stop guide to turning your business plans into profit. This amazing all-in-one guide brings together specialists in finance, bookkeeping,planning, marketing and sales, staffing, taxation and more, all of them eager to share their hard-won expertise with you.

• Discusses ways to identify new business opportunities and how to put together a business plan
• Get the scoop on securing the financing you need to get started
• Includes tips on finding, managing, and retaining excellent staff
• Offers information on marketing and selling your products or services

Author Biography

Colin Barrow is a strategic advisor and the author of more than 30 books. He has held senior staff and line positions in business and was head of the Enterprise Group at Cranfield School of Management for ten years. He was also a non-executive director of a high-tech venture capital fund and has served on government task forces.

Table of Contents

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: Laying the Groundwork 5

Chapter 1: Preparing for Business 7

Getting in Shape to Start Up 8

Confirming Viability 11

Going for Growth 15

Chapter 2: Structuring Your Business 19

Going into Business 20

Safeguarding Your Business Assets 30

Getting Help 35

Chapter 3: Can You Do the Business? 43

Deciding What You Want from a Business 44

Exploring Different Types of Business 46

Assessing Yourself 48

Chapter 4: Preparing the Business Plan 55

Finding a Reason to Write a Business Plan 56

Writing Up Your Business Plan 60

Using Business Planning Software 66

Presenting Your Plan 68

Chapter 5: Establishing Your Starting Position 73

Introducing SWOT Analysis 74

Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses 74

Analysing Your Situation in 3-D 81

Chapter 6: Researching Your Customers and Competitors 85

Anatomy of a Customer 86

Determining Which Customers Buy What 94

Seeing Your Product through Your Customers’ Eyes 99

Sizing Up Competitors 104

Calculating Your Market Share 105

Introducing Market Research 108

Book 2: Sorting Out Your Finances 119

Chapter 1: Finding the Money 121

Assessing How Much Money You Need 122

Reviewing Your Financing Options 126

Determining the Best Source of Finance for You 130

Going for Debt 131

Sharing Out the Spoils 138

Chapter 2: Seeking (Nearly!) Free Money 143

Researching and Obtaining Grants 145

Applying for Awards 148

Raising Money from the Crowd 154

Comparing Accelerators and Incubators 157

Chapter 3: Keeping Track of Finances 161

Understanding Your Accounts 162

Balancing the Books 167

Analysing Performance 171

Accounting for Pricing 174

Chapter 4: Budgeting for Beginners 181

Constructing a Budget 182

Exploring Budgeting Alternatives 185

Capital Budgeting 188

Book 3: Finding and Managing Staff 193

Chapter 1: Staying on the Right Side of the Law 195

Cutting Through the Red Tape 196

Working Out What the Law Expects from You 197

Going the Extra Distance 198

Deciding Who Has Rights 199

Deciding What to Put in the Contract 204

Drawing Up Other Employment Policies 204

Managing Without an HR Department 205

Getting Help and Advice 206

Chapter 2: Finding Person Friday – Advertising and Interviewing 207

Filling the Gap 208

Getting It Right from the Start 209

Considering Diversity 215

Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff – CVs and Application Forms 216

Handling the Practicalities of Interviews 218

Planning the Interviews 220

Checking Up on Your Chosen One 222

Offering a Job to Your Dream Candidate 226

Chapter 3: Employing People Successfully 229

Motivating and Rewarding Employees 229

Managing the Admin 237

Chapter 4: Disciplining and Dismissing Staff 245

Resolving Disputes 246

Dismissing Staff – the Right Way 248

Dismissing Staff – the Wrong Way 253

Tying Up the Loose Ends 255

Facing Tribunals – Something to Be Avoided 258

Chapter 5: Inspiring Employees to Better Performance 259

Introducing the Greatest Management Principle in the World 260

Discovering What Employees Want 263

Deciding What to Reward 268

Starting with the Positive 269

Making a Big Deal about the Little Things 271

Considering Money and Motivation 272

Chapter 6: Coaching and Development 277

Playing a Coach’s Role 278

Coaching: A Rough Guide 280

Coaching Metaphors for Success in Business 281

Tapping into the Coach’s Expertise 282

Developing and Mentoring Employees 284

Explaining How Employee Development Helps 284

Personal Development Plans 286

Helping Employees to Develop 287

Chapter 7: Being an Expert at Performance Appraisal and Management 291

Taking the First Steps 292

Developing a System for Providing Immediate Performance Feedback 294

Reducing Shrinkage 297

Reading the Results 298

Appraising Performance: Why It Matters 299

Spelling Out the Performance Appraisal Process 301

Preparing for the No-Surprises Appraisal 304

Book 4: Keeping On Top of the Books 307

Chapter 1: Recording the Financial Facts 309

Keeping the Books 310

Keeping the Right Paperwork 314

Filing Your Accounts 317

Managing Your Accountant 318

Protecting Your Business Against Internal Fraud 319

Insuring Your Cash through Fidelity Bonds 323

Chapter 2: Managing Your Tax Position 325

Tackling Taxes for Different Types of Businesses 326

Paying Taxes 329

Handling Employment Taxes 334

Surviving a Tax Investigation 335

Chapter 3: How Investors Read a Financial Report 337

Analysing Financial Reports with Ratios 338

Finding Financial Facts 347

Introducing the Audit Report 349

Digging Deeper into the Audit Report 351

Frolicking through the Footnotes 353

Book 5: Marketing and Advertising Your Wares 355

Chapter 1: Taking a Closer Look at Customers 357

Checking Out Who Your Customers Are 358

Discovering Why Your Customers Buy 361

Finding Out How Your Customers Make Choices 364

Remembering the Big Picture 366

Dealing with Business Customers 367

Chapter 2: Considering Your Business Mission, Vision and Objectives 371

Developing Your Concept 372

Composing Your Mission Statement 372

Seeing the Vision Thing 374

Setting Objectives and Goals 374

Chapter 3: Marketing and Selling Your Wares 377

Making Up the Marketing Mix 378

Defining Your Product or Service Parameters 379

Using Advertising to Tell Your Story 379

Getting into the News 388

Using Blogs and Social Networks 390

Selling for Business Success 390

Settling on a Price 394

Pondering Place and Distribution 396

Considering the Newer 3Ps 399

Looking at Legal Issues in Marketing 402

Naming your business 403

Looking at logos 403

Protecting patents 403

Registering a trademark 404

Detailing your design 404

Controlling a copyright 405

Abiding by fair business rules 405

Setting terms of trade 406

Describing your goods 407

Dealing with payment problems 40

Chapter 4: Creating and Placing Ads 409

Deciding on Your Budget 410

Writing and Designing Your Ads 411

Making Sense of Print Media Rates 418

Placing Newspaper and Magazine Ads 420

Considering Yellow Pages, Directories and Their Digital Alternatives 426

Broadcasting Your Message on Radio, TV and Online 428

Snail-Mailing and Emailing Your Customers Directly 431

Using Billboards and Other Out-of-Home Ads 436

Chapter 5: Public Relations and Publicity 439

The Relationship between Public Relations and Publicity 440

Becoming a News Source 442

Spreading Your News 446

Crisis Communications: Dealing with Bad News 454

Chapter 6: Doing Business Online 457

Appreciating the Power of the Internet 458

Reviewing What You Can Do Online 461

Establishing an Internet Presence with a Website 463

Selling Goods and Services 469

Gaining and Monitoring Visibility 472

Practising Safe Online Business 477

Chapter 7: Social Media Engagement 483

Explaining the Why, Who and How of Social Media Engagement 484

Using Words and Pictures 495

Leveraging Audio and Video for Engagement 501

Considering Other Social Media Engagement Tools 506

Book 6: Growing and Improving Your Business 511

Chapter 1: Thinking Strategically 513

Making Strategy Make a Difference 514

Applying Off-the-Shelf Strategies 516

Checking Out Strategic Alternatives 528

Coming Up with Your Own Strategy 532

Chapter 2: Managing More than One Product 533

Facing the Product/Service Life Cycle 534

Finding Ways to Grow 539

Managing Your Product Portfolio 549

Extending Your E-Penetration 555

Buying Out Competitors 556

Chapter 3: Improving Performance 563

Checking Your Internal Systems 563

Retaining Customers 564

Improving Productivity 571

Chapter 4: Franchising for Growth 575

Defining a Franchise 575

Considering Your Franchise Options 577

Weighing the Advantages and Disadvantages 578

Doing the Pilot 579

Finding Franchisees 580

Rolling Out the Franchise 581

Chapter 5: Funding Expansion 583

Dealing with Financiers Post-Investment 584

Investing in Future Rounds 588

Considering a Public Listing 590

Recognising the Rise of Alternative Funding and Online Platform Funders 593

Looking at Differences in Digital Funding 604

Chapter 6: Becoming a Great Manager 607

Building a Team 608

Coaching and Training 610

Appraising Performance 613

Developing a Leadership Style 614

Measuring Morale 621

Index 625