Start Your Own Business: The Only Book You'll Ever Need

I bought this book for a class I was taking, and was absolutely impressed by how comprehensive and easy to read the book was. I’ve read lots of other books on starting your own business, this one by far has been the best. No book will have all the answers or be perfectly specific on your business; however, this book hits all the major points and provides actionable information to help you move the process along to success. Definitely a worthy book to read and reference as you set up, start, or manage your own business.

I chose the 5 star rating because the book was well written, realistic and easy to follow and understand. This book covers every step from making the decision to become an entrepreneur to understanding sales & marketing and profitability. It addresses areas that are imperative to the success of someone new to being an entrepreneur, and it also serves as a reminder for existing entrepreneurs who want to be better entrepreneurs. I appreciated the step-by-step format used, as well as the clear and concise manner in which it was written. Reading this book gave me the courage and helped me to decide to become an entrepreneur without apprehension or fear. I strongly recommend Start Your Own Business for anyone interested in starting a small business, as well as for someone who wants to improve their existing business.

I read every business book I get my hands on, and this is by far the best source I have come across. It covered all of my initial questions and concerns. I now own 5 successful businesses and I STILL revert back to this book from time to time. Easy to read, to the point, and covers just enough of EVERYTHING! Yes, you may want to pick up some other books when thinking about how to advertise or deal with employee issues, or whatever; but this will get you up on your feet and running. I highly recommend!

This inclusive book is very useful for entrepreneurs because it basically covers every aspect of starting a business to running one and even selling one. Surprisingly, every aspect is covered with some detail despite the fact that there are books that have been and will continue to be written on each one. Those aspects are as follows: pre-buiness; the idea and reason to start your own business, the plan you take to ensure that your idea becomes a reality, the funding for the business, preparing your systems, buying the appropriate items for the business, marketing your business and engaging through different channels, and how to run the business. Of course, this level of inclusiveness can work against the book in many ways as well. For example if somebody is stuck at the idea stage (whereas you either have an idea and want to start a business on it or you just want to start a business in general), they would find the first part useful but at the same time it would render the information of the rest of the book relatively futile. In this case, it's best use might actually be as a reference though it reads like a book. Good content, good book.

Very comprehensive and written by professionals. I highly recommend reading it and then using it as a reference guide as needed. Also, take all of the SBA courses online that are free and they pair extremely well. This book is a little old-school so you could just use one of the new websites that do everything for you, but have this book with you so you have some control and understanding of what you're doing. Very sound fundamentals and examples.

I read this book fast (easy read for 800+ pages), very helpful and directly to the point. Makes you realize that you can be good at what you do (I'm starting a service business), but you need to realize that you are running a business first. Gave a lot of other resources to check out. I would recommend to anyone I know, personally, to read this book because it is a good foundation for going out on your own after you have been someone else's employee. There was quite a bit of information about inventory and such which I skipped over since it is not applicable to me. Even in this economy, it can be done.

Overall, a great collection of related essays on starting and running a small business. While there are some gaps in presentation and continuity and a few missing topics, the book is a wealth of information. You may have to read relevant chapters more than once to get the maximum benefit from the book. This book replaced an older one that had not been updated in some time for a class I teach. Of the many out there that I reviewed, this was the best overall resource for my class.

Pretty large book, with loads of information. I am still in the beginning stages of coming up with my business plan so I read about half of the chapters, and will come back and finish the rest as the other chapters relevance comes into play. If you're serious about starting a business and want to know all your options for each aspect, this is like an encyclopedia for running a business.