What This Book Can Do for You
This book covers everything about starting your own business, from life planning and personal finance, to marketing and business plans, to financial management, launching your business, and handling customer complaints.
It is designed to help you set your personal long-term goals, clar- ify your personal and business financial picture, understand your personal strengths and weaknesses, develop timelines for your tran- sition, focus your activities to achieve your transition, set business goals and measures, and anticipate as well as manage obstacles that you will likely come across in your business.
The Power of Planning
This twelve-month planning process is your personal GPS to starting a business and realizing your new life. We’ve all heard the saying, “You can never be too rich or too thin.” In business, “you can never be too organized.” Goals are dreams put to a timeline. Good ideas need well-executed business strategy and a backup plans. Before you write a business plan, you must develop a life plan. This book will help aspiring entrepreneurs understand and draft a solid personal plan and from that derive a strong business plan.
Plan Your Transition
People do not leave a job, they leave people. If you’re sick of your boss and want to work for yourself, you may be tempted to hand in your resignation tomorrow.
Instead of quitting a job in haste, which will significantly impact your household, slow down! Count to ten and start planning your escape from corporate America. Take the time to get your personal house in order so that you can quit your job with a blueprint that will minimize the financial hardship for yourself and your family. As an aspiring entrepreneur this book will help you financially reposition yourself.
Framework of Fortitude
“Don’t even think about going into business without reading this book. A step-by-step roadmap for success, Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months by Melinda Emerson presents time-tested wisdom, thought- ful development, and strategic marketing know-how to convert any dreamer into doer. The antidote to our current impulse-driven, needed-it-yesterday, get-rich-overnight epidemic, Melinda provides practical entrepreneurial Rx for anyone who has ever dreamed of working for themselves. A must for every entrepreneur’s business reference shelf.”
Author, Get Known Before the Book Deal and Writer Mama |
Do you have the courage, persistence, confidence, skills, work ethic, and focus needed to succeed as an entrepreneur? On top of that, do you have the ability to do all the jobs entrepreneurs must do? As your own boss, you’ll be chief salesperson, secretary, payroll clerk, IT technician, and HR manager. Once you make a sale, then you must service the customer, too. This book explains the skills you need to have or learn make your dream a business reality.
Turn Your “Notion” into Knowledge
Most people dream about owning and running a business. You may have had a “notion” for years that someday you would be presi- dent of a company, successful beyond your wildest dreams. Turning that dream into reality is an evolutionary process. It involves not only having a solid business idea but also knowing the “business of running a business.” You will need to get your arms around stuff like accounting principles, legal issues, operation requirements, banking relationships and processes, and the needed human, branding, and financial management skills. This book will reduce your learning curve about starting and running your small business.
Identify Your Niche Market
Too many small business owners make the mistake of trying to sell from too big a basket of goods and services. Make sure your bas- ket is just big enough so that you can cater to your customers’ needs while realizing a profit.
Sometimes you’ll have to turn down business if it doesn’t fit in with your core business. Given limited time and resources, a niche focus is the best and most efficient strategy for a small business. Focus- ing on a specific customer/industry allows you to make the most of your marketing dollars. This book will help you develop a targeted marketing plan that will increase your probability of success.
Focus on Finance
If you are not thinking about your enterprise making money everyday, then you have an expensive hobby. Too many small busi- nesses operate at a net loss and do not realize this until it’s too late. A large number of small firms fail because they do not operate pro- fessionally or employ strict fiscal discipline. There are many money- draining traps that can snare small business owners. Like it or not, the money you make is your report card and there is no room for an “F.” This book will tell you about pricing strategy and managing cash flow in and out of your business.
Solutions for Success
Business success is rarely a straight line to the top. It is not enough to have a plan “A”; you must be flexible. You need a plan “B” and even a plan “C” to sidestep obstacles in your business. Problems are inevitable. Anything can happen—from needing alternative sup- pliers, changing your product mix, or adjusting your prices to new competition or reinventing your value proposition. “Solution” think- ing is the only remedy. When you are a start-up business, two things can quickly take down your business: lack of planning and lack of experience. This book will make you aware of the common mistakes that can snare a start-up entrepreneur.
The timeline I lay out in this book is ideal; it is not meant to be restrictive. If you have strong financial reserves you might fly through this book and start your business in six months. Or it could take you eighteen months to follow the steps. It doesn’t matter as long as you have a plan.
To achieve success as a small business owner you need to be flex- ible, pay close attention to your market and figure out what you do not know about running a business. To start, you need a plan—one for yourself and one for your new enterprise.
***
About the Author: 
Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as Twitter's “@smallbizlady,” is a seasoned entrepreneur who has spent the last ten years of her career as a professional speaker and small business coach. Her areas of expertise include small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. She is also the founder and CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, an award-winning strategic communications and digital media company. Her clients have included Johnson & Johnson, Verizon, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Comcast. Emerson was named one of the Top 50 Women in Business in Pennsylvania, one of Top 30 Leaders of the Future by Ebony magazine and the National Association of Women Business Owners gave her the Woman of Distinction Award. She lives in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.
Contact: Melinda F. Emerson,
610-352-0680 o 610-256-8719 c
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
MELINDA IS A FRIEND AND IS A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR THAT PRACTICES WHAT SHE PREACHES.THIS IS A GOOD HOW TO AND A GOOD READ.............RICH BENDIS
