Welcome to Starting a Business All-in-One For Dummies, Second Edition!

It’s a good bet that you share the popular dream of starting your own business and being your own boss. Increasingly, this dream is becoming more relevant to the challenges of the economy that has emerged. It’s not just a pie-in-the-sky dream anymore; starting a business is a reality that has created opportunity and satisfaction for many people who decided to take the plunge — just as it can for you.

This book presents and explains a wide variety of information, all aimed at enlightening you on what you need to know and ensuring your success. Whether you need know-how and advice on turning your idea into reality, creating a business plan and business model, finding funding, picking a legal structure, setting up your books, marketing and promoting, or staying in business for the long haul, you’ll find the help you need here. Most of this book is applicable to you whether your business is a local business, a start-up corporation, a franchise, or based out of your home.

The aim of this book is to provide you with the very best ideas, concepts, and tools for starting and successfully operating your business. Using the info here, you should be able to create exactly the kind of business you’ve always dreamed of and find exactly the level of success you’ve always wanted.

About This Book

This book is a generous conglomeration of material from a number of For Dummies business books, carefully selected with an eye toward getting the new business owner/entrepreneur up and running. Your current level of business experience (or lack thereof) doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about not having years of management experience under your belt or about not knowing the difference between a balance sheet and an income statement.

For a fraction of the amount you’d pay to get an MBA, this book provides you with an easily understandable road map to today’s most innovative and effective business techniques and strategies. The information you find here is firmly grounded in the real world. This book isn’t an abstract collection of theoretical mumbo-jumbo that sounds good but doesn’t work when you put it to the test. Instead, you’ll find only the best information, the best strategies, and the best techniques — the same ones that top business schools teach today.

This book is also meant to be at least a little fun — running a business doesn’t have to be a bore! In fact, maintaining a sense of humor can be vital when facing the challenges that all new business owners face from time to time.

Within this book, you may note that some web addresses (URLs) break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just tap the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Foolish Assumptions

This book makes a few assumptions about you. For example, you have at least a passing interest in starting your own business. (Duh.) Maybe you’ve already started a business and are looking for tips to refine the techniques you’re already developing. Or perhaps it’s something you think you may want to try and are looking to read up on it before you make your move. In any case, you’ve come to the right place.

It’s also safe to assume that you can — or believe you can — produce and deliver products or services that people will be willing to pay you for. These products and services can be most anything. You’re limited only by your imagination (and, of course, your bank account, about which you’ll soon be reading quite a bit).

Finally, this book assumes that you’re eager to scoop up and implement new tips and tricks and that you’re willing to acquire some new perspectives on the topic.

Icons Used in This Book

Icons are handy little graphic images that are meant to point out particularly important information about starting your own business. Throughout this book, you find the following icons, conveniently located along the left margins:

Remember the important points of information that follow this icon, and your business will be all the better for it.

This one points out slightly advanced material that you can safely skip if you’re in a hurry. But by all means, read these if you want to stretch yourself a bit.

This icon directs you to tips and shortcuts you can follow to save time and do things the right way the first time.

Danger! Ignore the advice next to this icon at your own risk!

Where to Go from Here

If you’re new to starting a business, you may want to start at the beginning of this book and work your way through to the end. A wealth of information and practical advice awaits you. Simply turn the page and you’re on your way! But you can start anywhere. If you already own and operate a business and are short of time (and who isn’t?), feel free to use the table of contents and the index to zero in on particular topics of interest to you right now.

Regardless of how you find your way around this book, the sincere hope of this endeavor is that you’ll enjoy the journey.

For answers and helpful tips online, go to www.dummies.com and search for “Starting a Business All-in-One For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.