Small Business Kit For Dummies

by Richard D. Harroch

Overview

Get your small business up and running — and keep it running for years to come.

Millions of Americans own their own businesses, and millions more dream of doing the same. But starting your own business is a pretty complicated matter, especially with all the legal issues and paperwork. This updated edition of the top-selling small business resource is chock-full of information, resources, and helpful hints on making the transition from a great idea to a great business.

If you’ve got a great idea for your own business, you need the kind of straightforward advice you’ll find here — the kind of advice you’d normally only get from business schools and MBA courses. Small Business Kit For Dummies, Second Edition covers all the basics on:

• Recent tax law changes
• Balancing your finances
• Hiring and keeping employees
• Effective management strategies
• Accounting fundamentals

In addition to the basics of business, you’ll also find top-class advice on more advanced business basics, like business plans, the ins and outs of contracts, and using the Internet to expand your business. For entrepreneurs large and small, this comprehensive resource offers authoritative guidance on all your biggest business concerns, and offers unbeatable advice on such topics as:

• Choosing your business structure — from LLCs to S corps
• How to develop and write a standard business proposal
• Going public, issuing stock, and keeping a stock ledger
• Raising capital and understanding securities laws
• Bookkeeping standard practices
• Tax basics for small businesses
• Handling the paperwork for new hires
• Designing employee compensation plans
• Working with independent contractors and consultants
• Patent and copyright protections
• Dealing with the Press

In addition, the book includes a CD-ROM full of helpful resources — forms, contracts, and even sample versions of the most popular software for small businesses. With Small Business Kit For Dummies you’ll find all the tools you need to get your small business up and running — and keep it running for years and years to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780764559846
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	07/02/2004
Series:	For Dummies Books
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	521,633
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

Richard D. Harroch is an attorney with over 20 years of experience in representing start-up and emerging companies, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists. He is listed in Who’s Who in American Law and is a corporate partner in a major law firm in San Francisco. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of U.C. Berkeley and graduated from UCLA Law School, where he was managing editor of the Law Review. He has edited or co-authored a number of legal/business books, including Start-Up and Emerging Companies: Planning, Financing and Operating the Successful Business and Partnership and Joint Venture Agreements.
Richard was the chairman and co-founder of AllBusiness.com, one of the premier Web sites for small businesses. He was also the founder, CEO, and chairman of LawCommerce, Inc., an Internet company dedicated to providing products and sources to the legal profession.
He has lectured extensively before various legal and business organizations, including the American Electronics Association, the Venture Capital Institute, the California Continuing Education of the Bar, Law Journal Seminars-Press, the California State Bar Business Section, the Corporate Counsel Institute, the San Francisco Bar, and the Practicing Law Institute (PLI).
Richard has served as the chairman of the California State Bar Committee on Partnerships, the co-chairman of the Corporations Committee of the San Francisco Bar (Barristers), a member of the Executive Committee of the Business Law Section of the California State Bar, and co-chair of the Law Journal seminar in New York on “Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances.”
Richard has experience in the following areas: start-up and emerging companies, corporate financings, joint ventures, strategic alliances, venture capital financings, employment agreements, IPOs, leases, loans, online and Internet matters, license agreements, partnerships, preferred stock, confidentiality agreements, stock options, sales contracts, securities laws, and mergers and acquisitions.

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Table of Contents

Foreword.

Introduction.

Part I: Starting Up Your Business.

Chapter 1: Choosing Your Business Entity.

Chapter 2: Business Plans.

Chapter 3: Organizing a Corporation.

Part II: Money Matters.

Chapter 4: Raising Capital for Your Business.

Chapter 5: Bookkeeping and Accounting Basics.

Chapter 6: Small Business Tax Basics.

Part III: Employee and Consultant Issues.

Chapter 7: Employee Hiring Tools.

Chapter 8: Motivating and Retaining Employees.

Chapter 9: Avoiding Employee Problems.

Chapter 10: Independent Contractor and Consultant Agreements.

Part IV: Bulletproofing Your Business.

Chapter 11: Key Contracts.

Chapter 12: Legal Issues.

Chapter 13: Protecting Your Ideas and Inventions.

Chapter 14: Avoiding Customer Problems.

Chapter 15: Real Estate Leases for Your Business.

Part V: Spreading the Word.

Chapter 16: Web Sites, Your Business, and You.

Chapter 17: Press Releases and Dealing with the Press.

Part VI: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 18: Ten Ideas to Make Your Business More Successful.

Chapter 19: Ten Great Web Sites for Small Businesses.

Chapter 20: (Almost) Ten Great Publications for Small Businesses.

Appendix: What’s on the CD-ROM.

Index.

End-User License Agreement.