Synopses & Reviews
If you’re reading this, you’ve got high hopes and big plans. To be your own boss—with no one breathing down your neck, no more deadly meetings, no more nonsense. Just you, your good ideas, and your internal drive determining your destiny.
Does that sound liberating? It is! Does it sound scary? It’s that as well. Making the jump from employee to entrepreneur is an alluring prospect that millions pursue every year, yet the odds of success are daunting. More than half of all new businesses fail within three years—many because of avoidable mistakes.
But now you can get the honest, real-world information you need about what it takes to succeed. Owner and cofounder of the award-winning ItsYourBiz.com (formerly SBTV.com, or Small Business Television), Susan Wilson Solovic has years of experience in the small-business trenches. In It’s Your Biz, she delivers an unflinching account of the skills and attitudes prospective entrepreneurs need to get a business up and running, and a no-surprises game plan for making your venture profitable and sustainable.
From planning and funding to promotion and pricing, you’ll get practical advice that can ensure your success as you leave the safety net of being an employee to enter the high-risk, high-reward environment of business ownership. It includes how to:
• Gauge whether you have the qualities needed to succeed
• Prepare for drastic culture shock
• Build a business plan that works
• Focus on providing market solutions
• Choose partners, advisers, and employees wisely
• Promote your business on a shoestring budget
• Protect your company and yourself
• Make the most of bootstrap financing
• And much more!
Susan Wilson Solovic is owner and cofounder of ItsYourBiz.com, a highly successful video news and information site for entrepreneurs. She is a weekly small-business contributor on ABC’s Money Matters and a featured blogger on The Huffington Post, AllBusiness, Fast Company, Constant Contact, and other sites, as well as a monthly columnist on WSJ.com. The author of several books, including The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business, Solovic has served on the National Women’s Business Council and the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University.
Ellen R. Kadin is Executive Editor at AMACOM Books, specializing in business books, and a part-time writer.
Synopsis
A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller!
Millions of employees parked in cubicles dream about starting their own businesses. And in today’s economy, countless unemployed professionals are becoming entrepreneurs out of necessity. They may have good skills and ideas, but do they really understand what it takes to build a profitable venture?
As owner and co-founder of the award-winning It’sYourBiz.com (formerly SBTV.com, or Small Business Television), Susan Solovic has years of experience in the small business trenches. In It’s Your Biz she shows prospective entrepreneurs how to sidestep the pitfalls that doom more than half of all new businesses while dramatically improving their odds of success.
The book strips away the usual dreamy calls to “pursue your passion,” supplying the kind of candid, real-world advice readers truly need, such as how to:
• Gauge whether you have the qualities required to succeed
• Prepare for drastic culture shock
• Build a business plan that works
• Focus on providing market solutions
• Choose partners, advisers, and employees wisely
• Promote your business on a shoestring budget
• Protect your company and yourself
• Make the most of bootstrap financing.
From planning and funding to promotion and pricing, It’s Your Biz is packed with the practical, honest, expert guidance that budding entrepreneurs need before they set out on their own.
Synopsis
A
New York Times,
Wall Street Journal, and
USA Today bestseller
Millions of employees parked in cubicles dream about starting their own businesses. And in today's economy, countless unemployed professionals are becoming entrepreneurs out of necessity. They may have good skills and ideas, but do they really understand what it takes to build a profitable venture?
As owner and co-founder of the award-winning It'sYourBiz.com (formerly SBTV.com, or Small Business Television), Susan Solovic has years of experience in the small business trenches. In
It's Your Biz she shows prospective entrepreneurs how to sidestep the pitfalls that doom more than half of all new businesses while dramatically improving their odds of success.
The book strips away the usual dreamy calls to "pursue your passion," supplying the kind of candid, real-world advice readers truly need, such as how to:
- Gauge whether you have the qualities required to succeed
- Prepare for drastic culture shock
- Build a business plan that works
- Focus on providing market solutions
- Choose partners, advisers, and employees wisely
- Promote your business on a shoestring budget
- Protect your company and yourself
- Make the most of bootstrap financing.
From planning and funding to promotion and pricing, It's Your Biz is packed with the practical, honest, expert guidance that budding entrepreneurs need before they set out on their own.
Synopsis
Making sound investments is tough enough without having to worry about unscrupulous financial advisers and outright frauds. But recently strengthened laws aren't enough to stop the "professionals" intent on profiting from--or just plain stealing--your money. As an Enforcement Branch Chief at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pat Huddleston witnessed countless people lose their life savings to reckless stockbrokers and fraudulent schemes. Now an SEC-recommended Receiver and CEO of a securities and investment fraud investigation agency, Huddleston has intimate knowledge of how scam artists and bad brokers operate. In The Vigilant Investor, he explains WHY we fall for investment scams, HOW con artists play on our emotions, and WHAT we can do to protect ourselves from predators. With its unique look into the science of financial decision making, the book blows up the popular myths and simplistic "do's and don'ts" of investing while sharing techniques anyone can use to perform due diligence even better than the "experts." With gripping stories of actual cases, Huddleston sheds light on the dark corners of the investment industry and teaches investors and professionals alike how to spot fraud and guard themselves against financial catastrophe.
Synopsis
“I can tell you from experience that building your own successful business is the most exciting, exhilarating, and rewarding job you’ll ever have. But even if you dream of being your own boss, you can’t do it alone. Let Susan Solovic be your first advocate. She’s navigated the highs and lows of this world more than once, and her new book is full of potentially life-saving guidance.” — Lewis Schiff, Chairman and Executive Director, Inc. Business Owners Council
“Brilliant! Susan Solovic knows a thing or two about changing careers and starting your own business. In It’s Your Biz she offers all the insights, information, and inspiration you’ll need to avoid the most common missteps and lay the groundwork for success.”— Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and The One Minute Entrepreneur
About the Author
SUSAN WILSON SOLOVIC is owner and co-founder of It’sYourBiz.com, a highly successful video news and information site for entrepreneurs. She is a weekly small business contributor on ABC’s Money Matters and a featured blogger on the Huffington Post, AllBusiness.com, Fast Company, Constant Contact, and other sites. The author of several books, including The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business, Solovic has served on the National Women’s Business Council and the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Foreword by Edie Weiner
Introduction
PART I: So You Want to Own a Business: The Real Truth Behind What It Takes to Succeed
1 Starting a Business Is Personal
2 Make Smart Choices: Consider Your Options
3 Beat the Odds: Get It Right from the Beginning
4 Build a Powerful Business Strategy
PART II: Open for Business: The Strategic and Tactical Keys to Business Success
5 Purpose, Promise, and Principles: The Cornerstones of Your Business
6 Marketing and Sales Strategy
7 People Matter
8 Protecting Your Business, Your Ideas, and Yourself
9 Where Will You Locate Your Business?
10 From Humble Beginnings to Great Enterprises
11 Pricing and Process
12 Words of Wisdom from the Trenches
Appendix: Resources for Start-Ups and Expanding Businesses
Index
About the Authors