Starting a Successful Business

Your Guide to Setting Up Your Dream Start-up, Controlling its Finances and Managing its Operations

Michael J Morris

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780749480868
• eBook ISBN: 9780749480875
• Edition: 8
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

The first 18 months of your business is crucial. This is when the majority of new businesses fail and where a lack of proper preparation and forward planning can be your downfall. This eighth edition of Starting a Successful Business is your definitive guide to setting up a business that will thrive. Starting a Successful Business contains the crucial, practical information needed to turn your exciting new idea into a stable and profitable business. It covers each important step in the start-up process in a clear and accessible way. The major problems facing any new business are discussed, potential pitfalls are highlighted and practical advice is offered on key topics such as: ideas for new start-ups, business planning, marketing, franchising, selling and advertising, finances and financial control, taxation, business law and employing staff.Case studies from around the world provide inspiration and real-world guidance to support you as an entrepreneur. Brand new content on cloud computing, digital developments and making your business environmentally sustainable makes this Starting a Successful Business a cutting-edge and modern resource to show you how to make your business a success.

APPENDIX 1

Cash-flow forecasting illustration

A simple example may help to explain the principles. John runs a very straightforward business selling apples from a market stall. On his first day in business he does the following:

• borrows £200 from his granny, interest-free, on the promise of repaying her as fast as possible;
• buys a market stall for £100 cash;
• pays the council £10 for a day’s pitch on the market square;
• buys apples for £90 cash;
• sells half the apples for £80, all in cash.

At the end of that Monday his profit-and-loss account looks like Table A1.1.

Table A1.1 John’s profit-and-loss account for Monday

	£
Sales	80
Cost of goods sold	45
Value added	35
Overheads
Rent for pitch	10
Profit	25

But where are the £45-worth of apples he still has, and the stall worth £100? And for that matter, where is the £80 we know he has in his pocket? The answer is that the profit-and-loss account records only the sales, and the expenses relating to those sales. It could not show where stock, cash or equipment is. The ‘missing’ items will appear on the balance sheet, an entirely separate document. The balance sheet pretends that you stop all the buying and selling for a split second and record where money is tied up at that moment. It also shows where the money in the business has come from. At the end of Monday, John’s balance sheet looks like Table A1.2.

Table A1.2 John’s balan...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• 01. First thoughts and foundations
• 02. Getting orders, making profits
• 03. Controlling the money
• 04. Raising the money
• 05. Your business name and legal status
• 06. Business and the law
• 07. Premises
• 08. Managing operations
• 09. Financial housekeeping, VAT and tax
• 10. Employing people
• 11. Risk management and insurance
• 12. Sources of help
• 13. After a successful launch. . . developing your firm
• 14. The PLG Programme for Growth
• Appendix 1: Cash-flow forecasting illustration
• Appendix 2: Draft terms and conditions of sale
• Appendix 3: Small business contacts list
• Appendix 4: Help for small businesses
• Appendix 5: Taking up a franchise
• Appendix 6: Starting a green business
• Index
• Backcover