Starting a Business from Home: Choose a Business; Get Online; Reach Your Market and Make a Profit

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The home is the most popular place for start-ups. With the rate of new business start ups being unaffected by the recession, more than a quarter of a million people in the UK start a business from home each year and four times that number giving it serious consideration. Entrepreneurs need little more than a laptop and a telephone line to start off with, but when the new business starts to expand they face the challenge of staying at home without sacrificing their growth potential.Starting a Business from Home identifies business opportunities, gives advice on preparation and set up, and how you run, control and manage its growth.Now with extra exercises and end of chapter advice, this new edition includes: researching the market, business ownership and title issues, raising the money and managing finances, building and operating a website, bringing a product to market and starting up overseas.With appendices giving home-based business ideas and sources of help, as well as advice on research, getting the business started and an indication of how much money could be made out of each business, Starting a Business from Home is an invaluable practical guide for the aspiring entrepreneur.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. 1)
• 01 Finding the right business opportunity (p. 12)
• Product or service (p. 13)
• Classic ways into business (p. 14)
• Employing other people's ideas (p. 17)
• Buying a business (p. 20)
• 02 Picking the right business for you (p. 25)
• Do you have what it takes? (p. 26)
• Is the business right for you? (p. 30)
• 03 Researching the market (p. 34)
• Understanding customers (p. 35)
• Segmenting markets (p. 40)
• Analysing competitors (p. 41)
• Carrying out DIY research (p. 45)
• 04 Business ownership and title issues (p. 55)
• Deciding on ownership (p. 55)
• Naming your venture (p. 59)
• Intellectual property matters (p. 61)
• 05 Operating from home (p. 67)
• Sizing up your space needs (p. 67)
• Checking out the rules (p. 73)
• Equipping for work (p. 76)
• Finding suppliers (p. 78)
• Insuring essentials (p. 80)
• Planning your daily life (p. 81)
• 06 Keeping the communication lines open (p. 89)
• Telephone systems (p. 89)
• Mailroom matters (p. 95)
• Computers: the vital tool (p. 97)
• Security and back-up systems (p. 99)
• 07 Bringing your product and service to market (p. 106)
• Deciding on your product or service range (p. 107)
• Promotion and advertising (p. 109)
• Pricing (p. 122)
• Distribution and selling (p. 125)
• Marketing legals (p. 132)
• 08 Building and using your website (p. 137)
• Website basics (p. 138)
• Getting seen (p. 143)
• Designing your website (p. 147)
• 09 Doing the numbers (p. 151)
• Keeping the books (p. 152)
• The business accounting reports (p. 159)
• Understanding the numbers (p. 168)
• Computing taxes (p. 177)
• 10 Raising the money (p. 182)
• Estimating financing needs (p. 183)
• Using your own resources (p. 184)
• Borrowing money (p. 187)
• Getting an investor (p. 196)
• Free money (p. 201)
• 11 Preparing a business plan (p. 204)
• Why you need a business plan (p. 205)
• Contents of the plan (p. 206)
• Tips on communicating the plan (p. 209)
• 12 Taking on employees (p. 213)
• Recruitment and selection (p. 213)
• Managing employees (p. 220)
• Legal issues in employing people (p. 224)
• Employment law in other jurisdictions (p. 226)
• 13 Growing profitably (p. 228)
• Optimizing resources (p. 230)
• Improving profit margins (p. 233)
• Bumping up sales (p. 237)
• 14 Starting up overseas (p. 244)
• Choosing a business-friendly country (p. 245)
• Researching international markets (p. 250)
• Money matters (p. 254)
• Appendix 1 Home business help and advice (p. 263)
• Appendix 2 Directory of proven home businesses (p. 270)
• Appendix 3 Home business information resource centre (p. 282)
• Index (p. 291)