Small Business Development

Fraser Doherty's 48-Hour Start-Up is your handy and essential cheat sheet to starting your own business, giving the key steps for developing an idea and getting it to market quickly. Almost everyone dreams of starting their own business, but very few do it. What if it had to be only a decision of a weekend, and it didn't cost a fortune?

A pioneer of content marketing, Joe Pulizzi has cracked the code when it comes to the power of content in a world where marketers still hold fast to traditional models that no longer work. In Content Inc., he breaks down the business-startup process into six steps, making it simple for you to visualize, launch, and monetize your own business.

Cheekys' founder Jessi Roberts reveals how she grew one small store hurdle-by-hurdle into a national clothing and accessories brand with a one-and-a-half-million-strong community. Best of all, she did it by standing tall for her values: Always be kind, lift up the next gal, and treat employees and customers like family. More than a business book, Backroads Boss Lady is about embracing your passion even when others don't see value in it - or you - and about putting food on the table and believing in yourself.

The best entrepreneurs balance brilliant business ideas with a rigorous commitment to serving their customers' needs. If you read (or listen) to nothing else on entrepreneurship and start-ups, listen to these 10 articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you build your company for enduring success.

Discover: How to add dozens of positive changes to your daily routine. Want to improve your life, but don't have enough time? Right now you could easily think of a dozen ways to instantly improve your life. Odds are, these ideas will only take a few minutes apiece to complete. The problem? You might feel like there's not enough time to do all of them. One solution can be found using the power of "habit stacking."

In this entrepreneurial age, it's very tempting to leave your job to start your own business. Before you do, learn all you can from the best. World renowned best-selling author and business consultant Brian Tracy tells you about one of today's most needed skill sets, entrepreneurship, covering these important topics: myths of entrepreneurship, the best business choice for you, financing the business, shifting from employee mindset to entrepreneurial mindset, creating a realistic business plan, hiring the best and managing for success, and fueling your business growth.

Even if your business is well-funded and has no urgent financing needs, it’s still important that you build up good business credit. You never know when you might need it, and it’s always handy to have access to extra funds so you can readily seize opportunities and get ahead of the competition. Even companies as big and profitable as Walmart are taking advantage of business credit – so should you!

This audiobook covers how to assess whether your business is ready for franchising, the benefits of and alternatives to franchising and how to evaluate the financial feasibility of franchising your business. It outlines a franchising road map which will help you to create a franchise action plan and make it happen.

Are you among the thousands of retailers frustrated by market challenges and looking for ways to take control of your business? Are you looking for the advice of an expert consultant, but unable to spend the money? Then The Retail Doctor's Guide to Growing Your Business is for you.

Taking a leap and making the choice to start a business can be hard, but all that comes after - the planning, loans, marketing - can be even harder. Every new business owner needs an easy, clear, and useful guide to follow when embarking on this venture, and Minding My Business will make the process as simple as possible.

Looking for a step-by-step guide to creating business plans that both boost operational focus and raise serious moola? Searching for a no-nonsense crash-course in business-plan writing that’ll have you talking like an MBA grad (even if you never got past 10th-grade geometry)? Then look no further, intrepid entrepreneur! Because in How to Write a Business Plan That Doesn’t Suck, you’ll have a business planner Sherpa walking you through every step of the way.

Volume III of the How to Become an e-Learning Freelancer series, “Managing a Successful e-Learning Project,” covers the ins-and-outs of running projects effectively—from writing a strong project, to creating effective communication plans, all the way through collecting useful feedback afterward. The resources, strategies, and guidance provided in Volume III are essential for both new and veteran e-Learning freelancers!

Most people think of Walt Disney primarily as a visionary, but he was also a highly skilled marketer. In this unique book, maverick marketer Andrew Lock guides you through 17 success secrets from Walt and explains how your business can apply them to follow Walt Disney’s way. You’ll discover valuable lessons in sales, marketing, and customer service, as well as how to create memorable experiences that will cause customers to return to you, over and over again.

This step-by-step process helps business owners like you create a profitable alternative to selling your business via half-retirement, allowing you to shift your focus and find your balance.

Maybe you’re trying to make new friends, get that job promotion, be a charismatic leader, or get lucky in love. Do you want to become more than just another one of the crowd? Effective communication verbally, physically, and online will open these doors for you. Through a series of engaging and practical exercises, you'll learn how to banter and build rapport with anyone you meet. You'll discover the secrets of confident body language, effective listening, and engaging storytelling.

Dirty Little Secrets of Family Business comes clean with much-needed info on nitty-gritty issues such as entitlement; letting employees go when they just aren’t working out; compensation; including your kids in the business; shareholder agreements; selecting the next leader; deciding whether to keep the business or sell it; exit strategies for outgoing leaders; money matters; succession planning; communication; conflict resolution; establishing an effective board; and transitioning to the next generation.

You got into massage because you want to help others. But when it comes to the business side of things…let’s just say maybe “it’s not a strength”. You find the passion fading as the bank account drops…all you want is consistency and to be able to create a long-term career doing what you love. The good news is we have been there before, with over 29 years of combined experience in massage and business. Fully Booked Without Burnout unpacks exactly how to fill your appointment book every week while keeping your energy and passion alive.

You don’t need a massive shop, expensive tools, or a big budget to build a thriving woodworking business. In fact, staying small can be your biggest advantage—with the right strategy. In Garage Shop Income, seasoned woodworking professional Stoane Loudenslager shares the insider strategies he learned from working in multimillion-dollar cabinet and furniture shops and now applies these to his own independent shop, aiming to guide other small, independent woodworking businesses.

No apology is needed for presenting this famous lecture very early in this series for perusal of business students. May we congratulate ourselves and our listeners on the privilege we have of using and studying Mr. Carnegie's words of practical wisdom.

Drawing upon their experience founding more than 30 companies, authors Lars Tvede and Mads Faurholt share their entrepreneurial wisdom and reveal the real-world techniques that lead to success. A simple step-by-step process will help you translate your ideas into effective business plans, raise the capital needed to start and grow your business, build a winning team, and leave the competition behind.