"The section on testing your new business concept is unlike anything in any other book on start-ups. How much is it worth to know that your new business is something your customers will want--before you invest in it?" --Pat Cunningham, Wall Street Journal Advertising Advisor and former Vice Chairman, N. W. Ayer Global Advertising Agency "Start-Up Smarts is an explosive work of ten powerful, practical steps that lay out reality." --Dr. Jeffrey Magee, Publisher, Performance Magazine To make sure your start-up succeeds in the most profitable way, you need to plan and prepare your way to prosperity. This means learning the secrets of successful entrepreneurs--from knowing whom to trust to adapting in a changing marketplace. Start-up specialists and thriving business owners Barry H. Cohen and Michael Rybarski reveal the critical keys to getting your new business up and running a profit, in-cluding how to: Create a Flexible Business Plan Find Out What Your Customers Really Want Capitalize on the Right Trends Hire the Best People Choose the Most Lucrative Partners Complete with real-life success stories from first-time entrepreneurs and the best businesses to start right now, Start-Up Smarts guarantees your new business will prosper in any market!

Presents a framework for starting and building new businesses based on the authors' insight that "most startups fail because they didn't develop their market". Based on Steve Blank's 2005 book 'The four steps to the Epiphany', this non-fiction novella aims to help readers to develop customer development.

Written by a practicing business attorney with startup experience in the environmental and technology sectors, this comprehensive handbook assists entrepreneurs in tackling the wide variety of opportunities to go green. A one-stop resource for entrepreneurs, it helps readers incorporate clean technology, environmental practices, and green business approaches into the work environment. The book discusses how to sell to utilities, explores fundraising outlets for green businesses, covers government incentives, presents key startup tools aimed at green businesses, and addresses challenges of many new businesses, such as raising money and making sales. Additional resources are available on the book's website.

At a time of unprecedented change in the way we work, the editors of Monocle are here to help us envision, create, and make a success of a new business or reboot an existing one. As we face a world that is undergoing unparalleled change, no area is more dynamic than business. To help us understand, navigate, and succeed in this new world, the team at Monocle brings together its unique knowledge of culture, politics, economics, and business. Featuring stories of people running enterprises on every scale, the inspirational tales in this book provide readers with insights into the challenges and joys of creativity and entrepreneurship. These unmatched case studies reveal, among many success stories, how leaders choose branding, hire teams, and design workspaces for today’s needs. Whether you are planning to make a life change, start a new business, or reinvigorate an existing one, The Monocle Book of Entrepreneurs is a resource for anyone who wants to make a difference in their work and life.

Trying to start a business in this economy? Struggling with little or no cash? Have no experience, no baseline to judge your progress against? Whether you’re just starting out or have been at it for years, the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur's "get real", actionable approach to business is a much-needed swift kick in the pants.

Business Model Generation is a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models and design tomorrow's enterprises. If your organization needs to adapt to harsh new realities, but you don't yet have a strategy that will get you out in front of your competitors, you need Business Model Generation. Co-created by 470 "Business Model Canvas" practitioners from 45 countries, the book features a beautiful, highly visual, 4-color design that takes powerful strategic ideas and tools, and makes them easy to implement in your organization. It explains the most common Business Model patterns, based on concepts from leading business thinkers, and helps you reinterpret them for your own context. You will learn how to systematically understand, design, and implement a game-changing business model--or analyze and renovate an old one. Along the way, you'll understand at a much deeper level your customers, distribution channels, partners, revenue streams, costs, and your core value proposition. Business Model Generation features practical innovation techniques used today by leading consultants and companies worldwide, including 3M, Ericsson, Capgemini, Deloitte, and others. Designed for doers, it is for those ready to abandon outmoded thinking and embrace new models of value creation: for executives, consultants, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all organizations. If you're ready to change the rules, you belong to "the business model generation!"

Geared toward the unique challenges faced by self-employed businesswomen—and updated for the social media-driven, post-financial crisis world—The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business offers solutions and advice for handling a range of issues, including how to write a business plan, how to secure funding, and how to hire (and fire) employees. Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio share practical information drawn from their own extensive experience in the public relations, marketing, and consulting fields. Their concise and engaging advice is explained through entertaining tips, lists, and quizzes that speak directly to women who are dreaming of starting, or have already started, their own businesses.

In her new book, The Rules of woo, internationally recognized speaker, consultant and executive coach Cindy Solomon cuts through the clutter to the essence of what today's customers really want and need from your business.Interwoven with tales of Cindy's own adventures in the world of customer service, this guide provides poignant and often hilarious examples of what to do (and what not to do) in the race to win the loyalty of your company's ideal customers. if demanding customer requests, ruthless competitors, and challenging employees are hindering your ability to create the success you want, this book is for you!

Weaving together vivid narrative with economic analysis, "American Entrepreneur" vividly illustrates the history of business in the United States from the point of view of the enterprising men and women who made it happen.