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
Other versions by this Author
