Product Description

Getting a business off the ground is only part of the challenge. What every entrepreneur needs is a handbook to guide them through every stage of actually running their business, from finance to marketing, from sales to hiring and managing people. The Small Business Handbook is THE essential reference for anybody who is starting a business. It provides vital advice and guidance on all the day-to-day aspects of running your enterprise and also helps you plan your growth and exit strategy, so that whatever happens you'll be ready to tackle it, informed and prepared.

The accompanying CD contains a whole range of useful templates and essential documents for use in running your business, and also features audio clips of successful entrepreneurs offering their tips and techniques for making your business really successful.

Unlike many small business guides, Steve Parks is an entrepreneur with his own small but fast growning business. It's clear from every page of the handbook that he knows exactly what it's like to be in the reader's position, and he shares everything he wishes he had had during his early years of running his own business.

The book is endorsed by the Institute of Entrepreneurs, and by a wide range of entrepreneurs who have been there and done it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #148427 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 197 pages

Review

Featured in 5 of the best - Quality World, October 2006

From the Back Cover

Small Business Handbook

The Complete Guide to Running and Growing Your Business

When running your own company, you need to be an expert in every area of business: sales, finance, recruitment, people management, the law – and more. Chances are there are some areas where you’ll feel less than confident, and other areas where a reminder of the important principles, processes, rules and regulations would be reassuring.

The Small Business Handbook is designed exactly with you, the small business owner, in mind. This handy reference book guides you quickly yet thoroughly through all the key areas, giving clear explanations of the rules and regulations, as well as explaining how successful entrepreneurs put these into action in the real world.

This authoritative guide ensures you’ve covered everything, yet also adds plenty of business inspiration and interest along the way.

Inside you'll find:

·        How to stay on the right side of the law when hiring and managing

people

·        How to recruit the best people within your budget

·        How to make sure you don't run out of money

·        How to use email to promote your business

·        How to invoice your customers – and make sure they pay you

·        And much, much more.

The Small Business Handbook is written by an entrepreneur for

entrepreneurs. It's not full of theory – just real-life practical advice

that works.

About the Author
Steve began his career as a journalist and presenter for BBC Radio in 1994. 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 into the UK’s leading publisher of business audio.

Customer Reviews

A handbook for growth as well as quick reference
This book is a bit like a multimedia pack – the book itself does what it says on the tin, and guides you through all aspects of running your business. If you are a bit rubbish though, like myself, at getting spreadsheets and templates working properly and looking good, there is a cd enclosed that contains ready formatted documents to pop your own details into (I did find this very useful). There are also some interviews on it, where you can learn from the experiences other entrepreneurs like Liz Jackson and Sahar Hashemi.

Right, back to the book. I have read Steve Parks other book “Start Your Business Week by Week” before, and found that a truly great guide to getting a business up and running. However once the business is there, you need to keep honing it so that it stays profitable. This handbook takes you through all the major aspects of your business: sales & customers, employing staff, staying on top of the cash and the money, and the day to day running of the business.

The Small Business Handbook is very much geared toward growing your business, as well as just running it. It does set you up with the right frame of mind, and the tools, to go on to becoming something major in your industry. It makes you think that bit extra to ensure you go about sales (for instance) in a clever way that suits your business, so that you put yourself ahead of the competition and stay there. There are ideas and exercises throughout that you can either work through straight away, or dip into as and when.

It is very much written for a busy entrepreneur that needs a reference, or someone to ask, and it does contain all the bits about taxation and regulations that you would expect from a handbook. Here and there you get the insider’s view where Steve gives his own opinion on the subject, based on his experiences from running his own businesses, and those of entrepreneurs that he has interviewed over the years.

I think one of the main ways for entrepreneurs to learn is from other entrepreneurs, and the way experiences are drawn in from several successful big names to illustrate points in this book does acheive just that. I also like the flyingstartups website community that Steve has set up for the readers of his books. It is a fantastic resource, and being able to chat to other entrepreneurs that are going through the same as you, makes his books come even more alive.

Invaluable reading, chalk full of guidance
After having read the first book, I couldn't wait to get my hands on The Small Business Handbook. Although the first book helped me get Gee How Quaint started, I didn't know what to do with it once my website became live. I have only had the handbook for a couple of days and my margins are already marked up with even more ideas for moving forward and steps to take next. The sections on writing press releases and taxation have been especially useful to me. I highly recommend this book to anyone on the road to starting a business, or even if you are just thinking about starting a business. The book is not only informative, but it delivers much needed guidance in an easy to follow, light hearted manner.