Product Description

"Start Your Business Week by Week is written in such a clear and friendly way that you can't help being drawn into the excitement of becoming an entrepreneur. Breaking down the process into weekly steps makes it suddenly seem more achievable, and I'm sure many more people will be encouraged to turn their ideas into their own businesses as a result."

                                                                           Prime Minister Tony Blair

"I wish I'd had this when I started the gadget shop."

                                                        Jonathan Elvidge, founder of The Gadget Shop

Setting up a new business is a daunting task, 400,000 in the UK do it every year , yet millions more are put off before they ever begin to trade. Once you've done it, it seems actually quite straightforward. But knowing where to start and what to do is impossible, there is a mountain to climb and you are lost at the bottom.

Not any more. Each week for six months this book will tell you what you should be doing. Split into weekly sections that include explanations of the weeks' requirements, a checklist, useful contact information, a glossary, a case study of an entrepreneur, and suggestions for further reading material. This book will take you through the whole process from brainstorming and refining your business ideas, registering your company, opening a bank account to finding your first customer and keeping records.

This book will ensure you know what you should be doing and when, it’s like having a super-efficient project manager by your side as you tackle one of the biggest projects of your life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12570 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 207 pages

Review
"recommended reading" - Edge, November 2006

From the Back Cover

Starting a business is one of the most rewarding and satisfying career moves you could possibly make and it’s not as difficult as you might think – if you have the right advice.

Start Your Business Week by Week will help you overcome the challenges and turn your idea into reality.  In 26 weekly steps it walks you though everything you need to do to get up and running, in the order you need to do it.

Each step contains a to-do list, an explanation of what needs to be done, useful hints and shortcuts, and the contact information you need.  Plus, each week you’ll share the experiences of early stage entrepreneurs like you, as well as advice from established, successful entrepreneurs.

It shows you how to:

• Develop, text and refine your idea
• Find the right bank and accountant
• Decide who you need to help you run the business
• Budget and forecast (without pain)
• Find and secure funding
• Plan cash flow
• Decide on suppliers
• Find customers
• Register your company
• Avoid the common problems faced by start-ups
• And much more

This book is written by an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs.  Everything inside is tried and tested reality, not academic theory.

This is your moment.  And this is the book to show you how.

“Steve Parks is probably the best person I know to advise you on starting your own business.  He has interviewed most of the best entrepreneurs alive today and also set up his own successful business.  This is a practical real-life guide that can be your ‘virtual’ mentor as you start up your business.”

John Barnes, serial entrepreneur behind Harry Ramsden’s Fish and Chips, La Tasca tapas restaurants, and many other businesses

About the Author
Steve Parks began his career as a journalist and presenter for BBC Radio. His work has been broadcast on Radio 4, Radio 5-Live, Radio 1, Radio 2, BBC TV and the ‘Today’ programme. He left the BBC to form his own company, initially to continue producing programmes for BBC Network Radio, but the company then evolved and grew intoRed Audio, the UK’s leading publisher of business audio.

Customer Reviews

If you buy 1 book on starting up your own business buy this
Thought other readers might like to know that we agree with every comment left by my fellow reviewers. This is a book which assumes you know nothing (we didn't) but by the time of finishing you are left with a very clear idea and (hopefully) plan on how to turn your idea into a reality.

It holds your hand and walks you through a 20+ week plan to turn your initial "shall we / shan't we" thoughts of starting up your own business into a reality.

It's written in simple and easy to understand language - it never baffles and has some great tips. It doesn't presume to have all the answers and offers alternative sources of information at the end of each chapter, as appropriate to the activities for that week.

Well done Steve for writing a great book. I never thought that we could actually run our own business but after reading your book we really believe we can - and a succesful business at that.

very good book
This book has been a great help.
It's a pleasure to use as it's written in a style that is very easy to read. It really does make starting a business seem achievable and guides you step by step on how to achieve that.
If you have ever wonder what it would take to start your own business and if you are serious about it buy this book. Along with this one I also bought Stop Working by rohan hall, which is also very good for entrepreneur! With those 2 books you will be good to go !

Really well done - practical, thoughtful and focused
The statistics are dire - something like 900% of businesses fail in the first 90 seconds...Ok, so maybe not quite that bad,but you are more likely to find a lesser spotted bandicoot in your back garden than a thriving business after five or ten years trading (pretty sure I just made that animal up - don't go looking for one).

I sort of run a business on the side of my "real job" and have often thought about making it more of my daily routine. I spotted this book in a book shop and, over a delightful cappuchino, devoured this book in one reading.

Having read a few books on the subject of entrepreneurship (not one on spelling, obviously), I was delighted as to how practical, focused and thought provoking this offering is.

Firstly this is no "Own Business in 90 minutes" book. It is laid out over 20 week period, taking you from "Ugh, I wanna do something different" to "yes, I would like to hire my 20th employee". I love the way it assumes nothing - you can start from a blank mind (a good place in my experience) and follow it through.

The second thing that I like about it is that it covers all of the bases well and at a decent level. Most business fail for complicated reasons like having no cash and no customers. This book asks sufficiently detailed questions to prevent the obvious from causing you a lot of pain. I feel that this will be of massive help for the person out there who has the "idea for the perfect mousetrap" but has never bothered to ask the opinion of one of those funny customer or bank manager people, but has become very excited about their own genius idea (I for one plead guilty to this).

You will never get rich working for someone else (unless you run a privatised utility company) - so if you want to take the plunge into the world of business on your lonesome than I highly recommend this book - it may well save your company.