Starting Your Business

Starting Your Own Business
Contents
List of illustrations ix
Preface xi
1 Getting Started 1
What's holding you back? 1
Learning to handle success 3
Overcoming the mental blocks 3
Fighting back 6
Checking your readiness 12
Case studies 13
Action points 15
2 Finding Ideas 16
Looking right in front of you 16
Cashing in on change 17
Carving a niche 18
Acquiring commercial skills 20
Working on your self-esteem 20
Choosing a trading name 21
Checking your readiness 24
Case studies 24
Action points 26
3 Creating a Winning Business Plan 27
Planning ahead 27
Making sure the plan is yours 30
Your blueprint for success 30
Getting help from the public sector 36
Getting help from the banks 36
Checklist 37
Constructing your 'blueprint for success' 38
Case studies 43
Exercises 45

4 Funding Your Enterprise 46
Getting your hands on some seed money 46
Start-up costs 46
Getting outside finance 49
Approaching the public sector 50
Approaching potential funders 54
The plan that will fix your funding 58
Presenting your case 61
Checklist 62
Case studies 63
Action points 65
5 Planning Ahead 66
Choosing a partner 66
Case studies: going into partnership 69
Measuring the competition 71
Competitive analysis 75
Finding the right premises 77
The systems you will need 79
Deciding your business status 80
Understanding the basics of taxation 81
Preparing to survive - and succeed 84
Case studies 85
Action points 87
6 Marketing Your Enterprise 89
Debunking the marketing myth 89
Creating the right personal image 90
Marketing research 95
Above the line promotion 97
Avoiding mistakes in small business marketing 99
Case studies 103
Action points 104
7 Cultivating the Selling Habit 105
How to begin 105
Learning to negotiate 106
Prospecting for customers 107
Making your appointments 108
Clinching a deal face-to-face 113
The ten commandments of selling 116
Ten ways to increase your sales 117
Ten ways to convert prospects into buyers 119... [continues]

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