Starting & Running a Small Business For Canadians All-in-One For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
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Copyright © 2020 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019920283
ISBN 978-1-119-64839-0 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-64840-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-64841-3 (ebk)
Businesspeople have to tackle (or get tackled by) any number of issues and overcome any number of obstacles to get started, keep going, and, with a little luck, grow and thrive.
What you need is a guide to some of the important dimensions of a business that haven’t changed much at all: getting started; protecting your intellectual property; planning and acting strategically; keeping the books; recruiting and managing employees; and marketing the enterprise. Starting & Running a Small Business for Canadians For Dummies All-in-One, 2nd Edition is a mouthful — but it is the point of reference that every businessperson starting or sustaining a business needs.
This book is really six minibooks, each covering a topic related to starting and running a small business. Each minibook provides an overview of the subject and more in-depth coverage of specific areas at the core of the subject matter.
The content of each minibook and each chapter stands alone, so you don’t have to read all the minibooks — or even all the chapters — in order. You can use this book like an entire series of books on the subject of small business. Scan through the table of contents to find a single topic to refresh your memory or to get a few ideas before beginning a task, or you can read an entire chapter or a series of chapters to gain understanding and gather ideas.
This guide even leads you to the more complete For Dummies titles on the issues discussed briefly in this compendium. It can also help you decide where you need more help and more information — so you can find it by doing further research and reading, hiring consultants, or adding expertise in-house by hiring employees with the skills, interests, and experience you lack.
The breadth of topics covered in this book, combined with easy-to-follow tips, make this book perfect for your business, organization, or association. Keep this book on a nearby bookshelf or on your desk so you can reference it often.
One last note: Within this book, you may note that some web addresses (URLs) break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just tap the web address to be taken directly to the web page.
This book is for people who want to go into business for themselves. You have aspirations of being an entrepreneur, but that’s all we know about you. We don’t assume that you know where your business will be located, or even what it will be. We don’t assume that you have any background knowledge about law or income tax or insurance or marketing or anything else for that matter. We do assume that you have a computer with Internet access, although we don’t assume that you’re a techno-nerd. We assume that you are intelligent and self-motivated. And we assume that you’re aware that this book is just the start of a long journey that will entail a lot of work, but will hopefully confer great rewards, too.
Icons are handy little graphic images that are meant to point out particularly important information about starting your own business. Throughout this book, you find the following icons, conveniently located along the left margins.
The Tip icon marks shortcuts that you can use to make your business life easier.
Remember icons mark the information that’s especially important to know. To siphon off the most important information in each chapter, just skim through the paragraphs marked with these icons.
The Warning icon tells you to watch out! It marks important information that may save you headaches.
In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. No matter how hard you work at creating your business, you’ll likely come up with a few questions where you don’t have a clue. For answers and helpful tips, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for Starting & Running a Small Business for Canadians For Dummies All-in-One Cheat Sheet in the Search box.
You don’t have to read this book in order. Each minibook and each chapter are self-contained, so you can pick up some information here and some information there about a topic that’s of particular interest to you.
The For Dummies series also includes dozens of reference books that are pertinent for the small-business owner and that go into many of the topics covered in this All-in-One guide. They can take you into the level of detail you require.
If you’re really thinking of starting a business and you haven’t been in business before, you really should read all the minibooks before you commit to the perilous, but rewarding, journey that running your own business can be.
Book 1