It's Your Biz: The Complete Guide to Becoming Your Own Boss

By Susan Solovic

Millions of employees parked in cubicles dream about starting their own businesses. And in today’s economy, countless unemployed professionals are becoming entrepreneurs out of necessity. They may have good skills and ideas, but do they really understand what it takes to build a profitable venture? As owner and co-founder of the award-winning It’sYourBiz.com (formerly SBTV.com, or Small Business Television), Susan Solovic has years of experience in the small business trenches. In It’s Your Biz she shows prospective entrepreneurs how to sidestep the pitfalls that doom more than half of all new businesses while dramatically improving their odds of success. The book strips away the usual dreamy calls to “pursue your passion,” supplying the kind of candid, real-world advice readers truly need, such as how to: • Gauge whether you have the qualities required to succeed • Prepare for drastic culture shock • Build a business plan that works • Focus on providing market solutions • Choose partners, advisers, and employees wisely • Promote your business on a shoestring budget • Protect your company and yourself • Make the most of bootstrap financing. From planning and funding to promotion and pricing, It’s Your Biz is packed with the practical, honest, expert guidance that budding entrepreneurs need before they set out on their own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AMACOM
• Release date: Oct 22, 2011
• ISBN: 9780814416723

Susan Solovic

SUSAN SOLOVIC is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, popular keynote speaker, internet pioneer, and attorney. A former small business contributor on ABC News, she regularly appears on Fox Business, Fox News,Wall Street Journal's "Lunch Break," Newsmax, and other stations. She is also a featured blogger on Constant Contact, Entrepreneur, FoxBusiness.com, ATT Business Circle, MasterCard, and numerous other sites. The author of The New York Times bestselling It's Your Biz, she consistently ranks among the top ten small business experts to follow on Twitter. RAY MANLEY is a freelance writer and content marketing expert.

Reviews for It's Your Biz

[kristibernard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Starting a small business for yourself may sound fun and challenging. You will want to ponder a few things before you begin. Do you know if you have the right stuff? Are you driven, do you have a positive attitude, are your communication skills polished and most importantly do you have the technical knowledge to get your business idea off the ground? Solovic is an entrepreneur and has started businesses of her own at a very young age and is very familiar with what it takes to pursue a dream of being your own boss. Solovic not only gives readers the in's and out's of starting a business, but forces readers to really think about the challenges that lie ahead. The first section of this book will help readers identify the financial realities of starting a business. Solovic asks pertinent questions like, how much money can you afford to lose? How long can you go without an income from your business? How will you recover it the business fails? Solovic, gives specific information to help readers answer these very important questions. Solovic suggests that you have six to twelve months worth of income stashed before launching a new business. Take your age into consideration in order to have a feel for how long it would take you to recover if your business failed. You may be asking if whether or not you should jump into a new business feet first or just go at it part-time. Solovic offers suggestions such as, not starting a business that would conflict or compete with your current employer. Also, don't allow the business, if you decide to go at it part-time, interfere with your current employer. Don't forget to give your customer your full attention, and manage your business like a business. Solovic gives personal, as well as, other success stories as examples of how others have achieved their goal of becoming a successful business owner.If you thinking of buying an existing business, Solovic covers the pros and cons of this too. She offers suggestion of where to look and how to do the homework to study whether or not it would be the right venture for you. Learn how to familiarize yourself and become passionate about the business journey. Solovice states that if you can find a problem, you will be able to find a business opportunity. Learn how to search the market, create a business plan, hire smart and where to locate your business are just a few of the resources that can be found. Everything you need to know about starting a business is here. Solovic gives solid answers and specific true story accounts and examples of why a business will succeed or fail. The back of the book contains resources for start-ups and expanding businesses.Susan Wilson Solovic is the owner and co-founder of ItsYourBiz.com., a highly successful video news and information site for entreprenuers. She is a weekly small-business contributor on ABC's Money Matters and a featured blogger on The Hugginton Post, AllBusiness, Fast Company, Constant Contact, and other sites, as well as a monthly columnist on WSJ.com.