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Veechi Curtis. Small Business for Dummies
Small Business For Dummies® To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Small Business For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box. Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Illustrations
Guide
Pages
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Getting Started
Is Small Business for You?
Working for Yourself — A Dream Come True?
Doing what you love to do
Earning pots of money (here’s hoping)
Being your own boss
Staying home
GRAB SOME INSPIRATION
Working for Yourself — Reality Strikes
Teetering on the edge
Working night and day for little pay
Weathering feast and famine
Getting the Timing Right
Timing it right for your idea
Timing it right for you
Timing it right for the economy
GO BACK TO SCHOOL
Staying Safe or Inventing the Wheel?
Playing it safe
Finding your own niche
Going out on a limb
Assessing your chances of survival
A QUICK QUIZ FOR SUCCESS
STICK TO THE KNITTING
Getting the Government to Help You
Setting Yourself Up for Success
Figuring Out What’s So Special about You (And Your Business)
Understanding Strategic Advantage
Identifying your secret weapon
Focusing on real-life examples
Justifying Why You Can Succeed
Uncovering your inner mojo
Asking three key questions
Growing your advantages over time
Making sure a demand really exists
Understanding How Risk Relates to Gain
Figuring Out Who Your Competitors Really Are
Understanding why you need to do this
Grouping competitors
Profiling your competitors
Thinking about future competitors
WHY YOU CAN SOMETIMES BEAT THE BIG GUYS
Choosing Your Competitive Strategy
Pick one, and only one, competitive strategy
DON’T BE AFRAID TO PIKE OUT
Connecting your competitive strategy to your strategic advantage
SO WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT YOU?
Starting from Scratch, Buying a Business, or Joining a Franchise
Weighing Up the Good and the Bad of Buying a Business
Buying an existing business — the upside
Buying an existing business — the downside
WHY DO THEY WANT OUT?
Asking the Right Questions
Finding out who owns the intellectual property
Analysing sales trends, profit and break-even
Clarifying what the purchase price includes
GST ON THE PURCHASE PRICE
Calculating the ‘True’ Earnings of a Business
Valuing an Existing Business
The times earnings method
The capitalised earnings method
The strategic advantage method
Dotting Your I’s, Crossing Your T’s
Buying a Franchise
Considering the positives
Weighing up the negatives
Exercising Due Diligence
Wising up
Putting a franchise through the griller
IS THE BRAND STRONG ENOUGH?
Doing your sums
Finding Your Entrepreneurial Spirit
Separating Yourself from Your Business
Deciding What Path You Want to Take
Doing the thing you love to do
Getting help and delegating what you can
Building a business that’s separate from you
Creating a way of doing business
Wearing Different Hats
Building a Business with a Life of its Own
Defining your difference
Documenting and building systems
Setting goals for you and your business
Planning for a graceful exit
Appreciating the Limitations of Your Business
KEEP HOLD OF THOSE REINS
Staying One Step Ahead
Taking an Eagle-Eye View
Looking at what’s happening in your industry
HA, HA. YOU CAN’T CATCH ME!
Being realistic about industry decline
Riding the wave of opportunity
Rating Your Capabilities
Putting yourself through the griller
Prioritising where you need to do better
Identifying Opportunities and Threats
IT’S COOL TO BE GREEN
Doing a SWOT Analysis
Putting theory into practice
Translating your SWOT analysis into action
Creating a Plan for Change
Creating a Business Plan
Getting Started with Your Plan
GETTING HELP ONLINE
Charting a True Course
Setting off on your mission
Saying what you’re about
Matching goals to your mission
Assessing the Environment
Analysing outside influences
Checking out the competition
Justifying market demand
Declaring Your Battle Plan
Building your SWOT analysis
Choosing a strategy
Expressing your competitive advantage
Outlining Your Marketing Plan
Developing your marketing plan
Defining your customers
Articulating your online business strategy
Describing Your Dream Team
Presenting Financials
Balancing dreams against reality
Building on history to create a picture of the future
Staying real with benchmarks
Getting the Legals Right
Picking a Business Structure
Independent and single
Tea for two
We’ve got company
Matching the Name to the Game
Using your own name
Thinking about how others will find you
Making sure you’re not on someone else’s patch
Checking for trademarks
Registering your business name
Avoiding trouble
Protecting Your Brand
Registering trademarks
UGH! AMERICAN BOOTS MADE IN CHINA
Protecting other kinds of intellectual property
Registering with the Powers That Be
Getting that baby’s number
Signing up for taxes (unavoidable, I’m afraid)
Checking out what else you need
Working with Contracts
Understanding when you’re legally bound
Dealing with standard form contracts
Knowing what to look for in a contract
Signing on the dotted line
Negotiating Lease Contracts
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
Planning for Profit
Figuring Out Prices and Predicting Sales
Choosing a Pricing Strategy
Setting prices based on costs
Setting prices based on competitors
Setting prices based on perceived value
Building a Hybrid-Pricing Plan
Offering a premium product or service
PRICING GOODS THAT YOU MANUFACTURE YOURSELF
Cutting back the frills
Getting creative with packages
FIXED RATE OR BY THE HOUR?
Charging different prices for the same thing
Forming Your Final Plan of Attack
Monitoring and Changing Your Price
DISCOUNT DRAMAS
Building Your Sales Forecast
Calculating hours in a working week
Increasing sales with extra labour
Predicting sales for a new business
Predicting sales for an established business
Creating Your Month-by-Month Forecast
ARE YOU DREAMING?
Building Profit Projections
Understanding the Cost of Your Sales
Costing your service
Costing items that you buy and sell
THE DANGERS OF CUSTOM MANUFACTURE
Costing items that you make
CALCULATING GROSS PROFIT
Forecasting Expenses
Forecasting monthly expenses
Forecasting expenses for the year ahead
Allowing for loan repayments and interest
Allowing for personal and company tax
A BUDGET, PROJECTION OR CASHFLOW?
Building Profit Projections
Step one: Starting with sales
Step two: Adding variable costs
If you have a service business with no employees and no variable costs
If you have a service business and you use employee or subcontract labour
If you buy and sell products
Step three: Showing gross profit
Step four: Adding expenses and revealing the bottom line
Understanding the Whole Deal
Factoring Personal Expenses into the Equation
Calculating Your Break-Even Point
Identifying Your Tipping Point
Understanding the concept of break-even
Factoring personal expenses into the equation
Putting theory into practice
ALLOWING FOR PERSONAL AND COMPANY TAX
Changing Your Break-Even Point
WHAT DOES SOMETHING REALLY COST?
Looking at Things from a Cash Perspective
Creating Your Marketing Plan
Laying Down the Elements of Your Plan
Going to the heart of the matter
Expressing your difference
Defining Who Your Customers Are
Analysing your customers
Understanding what it is your customers really want
Thinking creatively about channels
Researching the market
BLINKERED VISIONS
Analysing Your Competitors
Setting Sales Targets
Expressing sales targets in dollars and cents
Expressing sales targets in other ways
Building Sales Strategies
Growing a brand that people want
Pricing things right
MARKETING A SEASONAL BUSINESS
Defining your social media strategy
Engaging customers and building trust
USING DIRECT EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
Expanding Your Reach Offline
Networking (yes, actually in person)
Investing in public relations
FOUR CONTACTS A DAY KEEP YOUR WOES AWAY
Creating marketing alliances
Keeping Yourself Honest
Comparing targets against actuals
BEING BRAVE WHEN CUSTOMERS LAPSE
Measuring conversion rates
People Power
Making Service Your Business
Creating a customer service culture
Asking for feedback at every touchpoint
Being prepared to listen
Cultivating a positive workplace
KEEPING WITHIN THE LAW
Going the Extra Mile
Delivering on your promises, and more
PLAYING TRUTH OR DARE
THE PHYSICAL THING
Understanding how to build trust
Brainstorming how you can do better
Appreciating the need for speed
Continuing service after the sale is made
Evaluating Your Performance
Designing surveys
Measuring your speed
Reflecting on other service benchmarks
Customer satisfaction (CSAT)
Net promoter score (NPS)
Customer retention
Showing That You Care
‘I appreciate how you feel’
‘I’ve done that sometimes!’
‘Let me confirm what you just said’
Can I help you with anything else?
FUN AND GAMES
Dealing with Complaints
Why complaints are serious
How to respond to complaints
Becoming an Employer
Becoming an Employer: The First Steps
Getting employees to fulfil their part of the deal
Covering employees for accidents
Ensuring your software is up to speed
Subscribing to super
Meeting Minimum Pay and Conditions
Understanding what laws apply
WHAT ABOUT WORKPLACE AGREEMENTS?
Choosing between part-time, full-time or casual
CASH ECONOMY — BEAUTY OR BEAST?
Playing Safe and Playing Fair
Being practical, not pedantic
Blonde jokes are over
The Art of Management
Drawing Up a Position Description
Playing the Recruitment Game
Reaching the best applicants
Selling the position
Picking the Best
Asking the right questions
Avoiding the wrong questions
Matching people and positions
Offering Someone a Job
Sending an offer of employment
Setting a probationary period
TWO EARS, ONE MOUTH — USE THEM IN THAT RATIO
Learning to Lead
Daring to delegate
Building a positive workplace
Communicating every way you can
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
Rewarding with more than money
Reviewing performance regularly
Managing change
Managing Difficult Employees
Figuring out whether the problem is actually you
Knowing when to draw the line
Giving an employee a warning
Terminating an employee
High Finance
Financing Your Business
Budgeting Enough for Start-Up
Creating a start-up budget
A CAPITAL AFFAIR
Adding enough to live on
Assessing how much you really need
Separating Start-up Expenses from Operating Expenses
Dealing with initial start-up expenses
Putting theory into practice
Sizing Up Your Finance Options
GROWING PAINS
Taking out a business loan
MIXING HOME AND BUSINESS
Finding a new lease of life
CROWD AROUND
Getting hitched with chattel mortgage or hire purchase
Canoodling with credit cards
Seeking equity partners
Choosing Your Lender
Compare interest rates and loan fees
Consider other interest(ing) factors
Watch out for honeymoon periods and interest-free credit
THE HIDDEN PRICE OF (SOME) FAMILY LOANS
Cooking the Books
Figuring How Often to Do the Deed
Doing your books just once in a while
Doing your books regularly
USE THE RHYTHM METHOD
Choosing Software that Fits
WHY CAN’T I USE A SPREADSHEET INSTEAD?
Creating Recordkeeping Systems
Keeping track of income
Tracking expenses
Storing your business records
Doing the bare basics
KEEPING BUSINESS SEPARATE FROM PERSONAL
Keeping Track of How Much You’re Owed
Asking nicely
Getting drastic
Meeting Bookkeeping Deadlines
Understanding Financial Statements
Discovering What Reports You Need (and When)
Telling a Story with Your Profit & Loss Report
Understanding how it all works
Looking at sales
Counting the costs
Weighing up your expenses
Taking a Snapshot with Your Balance Sheet
Understanding the fine print
Building documentation to support each figure
Appreciating your net worth (someone has to, after all)
Why Profit Doesn’t Always Mean Cash
Gazing into the deep, black hole
Looking through rose-coloured spectacles
Doing the sums for sustainable growth
STAY AWAY FROM CASH GOBBLERS
Budgeting As If You Mean It
Creating your first budget
Recognising relationships
A BUDGET OR A PROJECTION?
Understanding the psychology of budgets
Developing your budget in tune with your business plan
Looking at Cashflow
GET OVER-SENSITIVE
Taming the Tax Tyrant
Getting a Grip on GST
Deciding whether to register or not
Choosing your cashflow destiny
Reporting for duty — how often?
Coughing up
Staying out of trouble
Growing Some Recordkeeping Smarts
Treating receipts with respect
Cultivating your obsessive-compulsive streak
Riding that (t)rusty chariot
Declaring home office expenses
Planning Ahead
Getting an instant deduction
Managing stock valuations
Salting funds away into super
Staying Out of Trouble
Don’t claim what you can’t
Be able to back up your story
Avoid Personal Services rulings, if you can
Monitor shareholder or director loans closely
Don’t kid yourself about the cash economy
Budgeting for Tax
Planning for that difficult second year
Putting funds aside
Budgeting for GST and PAYG
Fessing up if you’re short on cash
KEEP THE TAX BILL DOWN
The Part of Tens
Ten Things to Do If You Hit Hard Times
Work Out How Bad Things Really Are
Get Breathing Space
Innovate!
Slash Those Expenses
Pull Back Personal Spending
Get Rid of Dead Weight
Chase Up Overdue Accounts
Run Special Offers
Re-Jig Your Margins
Don’t Be a Shag on a Rock
Ten Tips for Selling Your Business
Start with a Game Plan
Prepare Well in Advance
Give Your Financials a Make-Over
Get a Professional Valuation
Go for the Max
Plan for a Few Bills
Woo the Buyer
Do Due Diligence in Advance
Be Straight Up with Employees
Spread the Word
Index. A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
About the Author
Author’s Acknowledgements
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
