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It's one thing to come up with a good business idea, and quite another to marshal the people, money, and other resources entrepreneurs need to make the dream a successful reality. That's why most businesses fail within the first two years. The Entrepreneur's Guide to Successful Leadership helps budding moguls make it out of the toddler phase of entrepreneurship and into adolescence and adulthood with confidence. A concise and practical guide to leading smaller enterprises, the book is based on a proven, nine-step model of effective leadership developed by Dan Goldberg-the founder of the For Eyes optical chain-and entrepreneur and educator Don Martin. Step by step, readers learn what real leadership looks like and how to lead and grow the successful enterprise.Creating a vibrant business starts with understanding who you are, say the authors, and then coming up with a vision, mission, and strategy. That's the easy part. The hard part is to execute the strategy in line with your dreams, while using effective, ethical tactics to establish the business and prosper. Seasoned hands, the authors make that job easier, while helping entrepreneurs understand what makes employees tick and helping them become their productive best. The hard work not only gets easier, say the authors-it pays off as entrepreneurs watch their fledgling businesses take graceful flight. This book is a treasure chest that provides key insights and methods in the form of real-life stories, humor, strategies, techniques, exercises, checklists, templates, and other resources. Each illustrates in a unique way how good leaders achieve powerful results. Many books on leadership are gimmicky. The Entrepreneur's Guide to Successful Leadership focuses-in clear, simple, and direct terms-on the essential fundamentals, the blocking and tackling, required for business success.

Ask any established business owner to identify his or her toughest challenge when just starting out, and you'll likely get this answer: raising capital. Most aspiring entrepreneurs know far too little about the sources of money that can help start a business or fuel its growth. Where do you get capital? What are investors looking for? How do you ask for money in a way that gets results? This book answers these and many other critical questions. Even more important, entrepreneur and consultant David Nour shows how to develop long-term relationships with financial partner-the people who can help keep a business humming throughout its life.The Entrepreneur's Guide to Raising Capital, designed to help entrepreneurs navigate the money-raising maze, shows how to attract financing to fund the start-up and growth phases any business moves through. It answers the most common-and the most perplexing-questions entrepreneurs have about financing a business: How do I put together a credible request for funds? How do I choose wisely from among the plethora of financial and strategic investors, consultants, investment bankers, and other intermediaries? How do I identify and avoid the risks associated with various sources of capital? How do I plan for the right kind, amount, and source of smart capital as the business evolves? How do I get the highest return on invested capital? How do I avoid the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when raising capital?This book provides real-life, pragmatic advice from entrepreneurs who have raised money from friends, family, angel investors, and banks, as well as institutional investors such as venture capitalists and private equity firms. It details the process from start to finish while spotlighting the danger spots and ways to avoid them. It will be especially useful to those who are uncomfortable making important financial decisions, and to those who are confused by all the conflicting opinions offered by advisors-both well meaning and otherwise. By showing readers the financing ropes, Nour removes a major source of stress for budding entrepreneurs and moves them closer to their dream come true: a successful business.

Unlike most sales books, which address a piece or "e;moment"e; of the sales process (like negotiating or presenting), The Entrepreneur's Guide to Selling addresses selling as a holistic process. As award-winning sales pro Jonathan London demonstrates, each stage of the sales process positively or negatively affects the next. Following his selling principles will improve sales for any product or service, no matter how small or large the company.In this unique and practical book, London shows readers how to do the things that matter. Get a jump on the competition by starting out in the right place. Make people feel comfortable so they are more receptive to you. Explain benefits from technical, business/financial, and individual/company perspectives. Create solutions for customers that help differentiate the offer. Prospect using the Internet, Web 2.0, and other technologies. Deal with stress and rejection. Eliminate or soften objections to accelerate sales cycles and facilitate negotiations. Handle the most common negotiation issues or tactics.

Geared to the fast-changing media world of the 21st century, The Entrepreneur's Guide to Advertising was written to offer both basic advertising concepts and advanced, state-of-the-art information about the new advertising environment. In its pages, two expert authors walk the entrepreneur through each and every stage necessary to create an integrated and synergistic advertising and marketing communications program.This guide covers all of the many facets of advertising, as well as the variables that make up the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) mix. Most notably, the book provides a framework entrepreneurs can use to develop a marketing communication (MARCOM) plan of their own. Readers will come away from The Entrepreneur's Guide to Advertising with an enhanced ability to make research-based judgments about their market and a new savvy about their approach to communications.

Focusing on the internal blocks, obstacles, and struggles all entrepreneurs face sooner or later, The Entrepreneur's Guide to Mastering the Inner World of Business shows how these unrecognized self-imposed barriers make it difficult to work at peak levels of performance. This guide will help readers explore perceptions of themselves, utilize leadership competencies, and identify weaknesses, frustration, and fears, managing each of these factors to enhance business growth and profitability, work performance, and a more satisfying life.Each chapter of the book concentrates on a difficult, universal problem entrepreneurs may face, such as managing doubt, worry and indecision, remaining innovative even during stressful times, coping with loneliness, confronting overwhelming "e;busy-ness,"e; discovering the meaning of success and managing it, climbing up from failure and despair, and knowing oneself. "e;Ask Yourself"e; questions help the reader identify the particular issue within him/herself. "e;Practices"e; suggest proven solutions for those issues based on those the author has taught to thousands of business leaders.

The Entrepreneur's Guide to Market Research is a must-have for anyone who wants to start or expand a business. This fact-filled, actionable book offers a step-by-step guide to researching and documenting the market potential of any product or service, something that is an essential-and too-often overlooked-part of constructing a workable business plan.Author Anne M. Wenzel, herself a principal in a market research firm, takes entrepreneurs through the process of assessing such things as market size and growth, market trends and needs, emerging technologies, competition, and distribution patterns. She discusses types of market research and makes it clear what market research can and can't do to improve the chances of success. Finally, the book shows entrepreneurs how to document findings as part of a well-written business plan that will be invaluable for their own decision-making and can also be shared with potential partners, lenders, and investors.

Like a detailed trail map through the jungle of finance, this book guides readers past small-business financial pitfalls, showing readers how to fine-tune operations and enhance profitability.