What No One Ever Tells You About Starting Your Own Business

by Jan Norman

This book is a lot of fun to read and will be difficult to put down if you own a business. Jan Norman uses more than 100 interviews with seasoned business owners to guide you through every area of building a new business from planning and financing to marketing. Jan repeats eye-opening lessons learned from successful business owners who have had to learn the “hard way.” The easiest and cheapest way to learn is through the mistakes of others. She also provides an expanded resources section that includes recommended reading materials, associations, and websites to answer any other questions you may have. This book may lack some specific “how-to” details, but makes up for it with interesting and memorable narratives.

240 pages, Kaplan Business, 2004, $18.95

The Small Business Owner’s Manual: Everything You Need to Know to Start Up and Run Your Business

By Joe Kennedy

This book should be required reading for every person who is even thinking about starting their own business. This book is not filled with fluff and amusing tales; this book is filled with the practical information that’s required to start and run a small business. The Small Business Owner’s Manual makes it easy to understand complicated topics like financing, legal advice, website development, insurance, taxes, employee issues, and product distribution. Mr. Kennedy is an expert in his field, and even a seasoned business owner can benefit from this book. The book is well organized, and it is very easy to find information as each chapter covers a different topic and starts with a general overview before covering the fine details.

311 pages, Career Press, 2005, $19.99

The Small Business Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed in Your Small Business

By Steven D. Strauss

This book is an easy-to-read, comprehensive, A-to-Z library of everything you might need to know about how to run a small business. The book covers almost every topic one could imagine from owning and operating to financing and building a business. It also delivers a variety of marketing strategies that could prove priceless if you are just getting started in your business. Some of the information is very basic, so this book is best suited for new entrepreneurs since many veteran business owners may find some of the topics “obvious” and might find themselves scanning or skipping chapters that may not apply to their current situation.

448 pages, Wiley, 2004, $19.95