What do you think?
Rate this book
Small Business for Dummies
You’re not alone if the thought of running your own business has crossed your mind. Even if your vision of a small business differs from your neighbor’s, you probably dream of being your own boss and of providing a needed service or creating a cool new product. But your very first small-business decision may be to admit that you’re not ready for this career – at least not yet. If you’re straddling the fence, Small Business For Dummies will uncover whether this career works for you. You’ll also gain insight into getting your personal finances in order before exposing yourself to the risk of a new business, and discover how to draw a roadmap to reach your career destination. This easy-to-understand guide is also for those who want to You’ll also gain understanding of the tactical side of running a small business, from pricing, budgeting, business expansion, and complying with government regulations to operational issues You don’t need to be a genius to run a successful small business, but you do need some help. And that’s exactly what this book is, a guide into the stimulating world of small business ownership and management.
432 pages, Paperback
Published November 22, 2002
199 people are currently reading
1177 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
November 18, 2016
A great starting point for the person thinking about starting a business. It quickly walks you through the pros and cons of being an entrepreneur, then dives into page after page of practical, real-world advice on attaining and maintaining success.
It covers all the bases, including financing, marketing, accounting, sales, management, taxes, and growth. Although it doesn't go into incredible detail about each topic, it definitely points you down the right path, and refers you to more specialized resources as necessary.
Favorite chapters
Ch 1: Is Small Business for You?
- figure out if you have an entrepreneurial spirit
- learn the pros and cons of small business ownership
Ch 3: Finding Your Niche
-inventory your skills, interest, and experience
-pursue "accidental opportunities"
Ch 4: Crafting Your Plan
- create a mission statement
- write a business plan
Ch 11: Marketing: Product, Pricing, Distribution, Promotion, and Sales
- network and use referrals
Ch 12: Keeping Your Customers Loyal
- provide excellent customer service
- learn from defections
Skipped chapters
Part 2 (Ch 6-9): Buying an Existing Business
Ch 15: Finding and Keeping Superstar Employees
Ch 16: Providing Employee Benefits
Notes
You must pay the full cost of Social Security and Medicare, not just half, because you're both employer and employee.
Sell benefits, not features.
Buy liability insurance and workers' compensation insurance.
Use zero-based budgeting to force yourself to manage consumption and review costs.
Maximize profit without losing too many sales.
Measure the results of advertising. Ask customers how they heard about you.
Give talks or teach classes to local groups to promote yourself.
Good customers
1. enable you to make a profit
2. purchase repeatedly
3. refer others
Bend policy for good customers.
Show customers you care
- handwritten note
- thank you call
- handle mistakes
Ask dissatisfied customers how they propose to solve issues.
Cash flow is the movement of money, while profitability is the ability to keep revenue higher than expenses.
For services you seek from others, get quotes up front, and itemized invoices at the end.
To improve profits
- decrease expenses
- increase margins
- increase sales
Join trade associations.
Find a local SBDC (small business development center).
To qualify as an independent contractor, a person must act as a business, not as your employee.
Focus on what you do best, outsource the rest.
80% of profits come from 20% of customers.
80% of success comes from 20% of efforts.
It covers all the bases, including financing, marketing, accounting, sales, management, taxes, and growth. Although it doesn't go into incredible detail about each topic, it definitely points you down the right path, and refers you to more specialized resources as necessary.
Favorite chapters
Ch 1: Is Small Business for You?
- figure out if you have an entrepreneurial spirit
- learn the pros and cons of small business ownership
Ch 3: Finding Your Niche
-inventory your skills, interest, and experience
-pursue "accidental opportunities"
Ch 4: Crafting Your Plan
- create a mission statement
- write a business plan
Ch 11: Marketing: Product, Pricing, Distribution, Promotion, and Sales
- network and use referrals
Ch 12: Keeping Your Customers Loyal
- provide excellent customer service
- learn from defections
Skipped chapters
Part 2 (Ch 6-9): Buying an Existing Business
Ch 15: Finding and Keeping Superstar Employees
Ch 16: Providing Employee Benefits
Notes
You must pay the full cost of Social Security and Medicare, not just half, because you're both employer and employee.
Sell benefits, not features.
Buy liability insurance and workers' compensation insurance.
Use zero-based budgeting to force yourself to manage consumption and review costs.
Maximize profit without losing too many sales.
Measure the results of advertising. Ask customers how they heard about you.
Give talks or teach classes to local groups to promote yourself.
Good customers
1. enable you to make a profit
2. purchase repeatedly
3. refer others
Bend policy for good customers.
Show customers you care
- handwritten note
- thank you call
- handle mistakes
Ask dissatisfied customers how they propose to solve issues.
Cash flow is the movement of money, while profitability is the ability to keep revenue higher than expenses.
For services you seek from others, get quotes up front, and itemized invoices at the end.
To improve profits
- decrease expenses
- increase margins
- increase sales
Join trade associations.
Find a local SBDC (small business development center).
To qualify as an independent contractor, a person must act as a business, not as your employee.
Focus on what you do best, outsource the rest.
80% of profits come from 20% of customers.
80% of success comes from 20% of efforts.
September 10, 2014
That I found this book overwhelming & confusing. Okay fine. Roll your eyes & laugh all you want. I guess I'm dummer than a dummy. This year I took the leap into the small business world. I run an Organic farm with my husband. We don't have employees, we have livestock & crops. We are a general farm.
My problem with the book is that even though it is for small business, it was too big business for me. So many situations didn't apply & had me sweating bullets. I started to over think everything & bury myself in endless amounts of paperwork, getting little else accomplished in the day. I tried talking to other local farmers for business advice but didn't get much out of them. I talked to an out of state friend & when they understood all the crazy I had going on, they started to help by explaining a few things to me. Now I am on a somewhat smoother path.
Despite my lack of understanding, I didn't feel it was fair to rate the book any less than 4 stars. When I have a better grasp on some things, sections of the book are more clear to me. Also, some of the IRS speak is much more clear thanks to reading the Dummies book.
I hope that as time goes on things will work more seamlessly. I intend on holding on to this book to reference to. I imagine it will become more helpful to me the more all this business stuff takes root in my brain & isn't in one ear & out the other.
After calling my local help center for small business's I was very glad to have read this book. The woman I spoke to mentioned many of the things the book mentioned & thankfully I understood what she referred to & didn't feel stupid. How about that! It took me a few months to read the entire book while setting up my small business - which still isn't finished but getting there. It is amazing how many little things there are to do. I look forward to the day when having our organic farm as a business comes to me as naturally as just plain ol' farming!
My problem with the book is that even though it is for small business, it was too big business for me. So many situations didn't apply & had me sweating bullets. I started to over think everything & bury myself in endless amounts of paperwork, getting little else accomplished in the day. I tried talking to other local farmers for business advice but didn't get much out of them. I talked to an out of state friend & when they understood all the crazy I had going on, they started to help by explaining a few things to me. Now I am on a somewhat smoother path.
Despite my lack of understanding, I didn't feel it was fair to rate the book any less than 4 stars. When I have a better grasp on some things, sections of the book are more clear to me. Also, some of the IRS speak is much more clear thanks to reading the Dummies book.
I hope that as time goes on things will work more seamlessly. I intend on holding on to this book to reference to. I imagine it will become more helpful to me the more all this business stuff takes root in my brain & isn't in one ear & out the other.
After calling my local help center for small business's I was very glad to have read this book. The woman I spoke to mentioned many of the things the book mentioned & thankfully I understood what she referred to & didn't feel stupid. How about that! It took me a few months to read the entire book while setting up my small business - which still isn't finished but getting there. It is amazing how many little things there are to do. I look forward to the day when having our organic farm as a business comes to me as naturally as just plain ol' farming!
October 28, 2008
I've read this book a few times, in parts. Overall I think the information that is provided in this book is very useful. But it is very basic. I am currently pursuing a business degree and I am finding there is so much more to the concepts and ideas that are presented in this book.
October 10, 2024
If you buy the audiobook version, make sure it isn't the truncated "abridged" version, which is only the first 2.5 chapters, sold at full price. Those first chapters were useless, except for the bits they paraphrased from Tim Ferriss. I feel robbed of both time and money.
February 7, 2024
What I didn’t know is that once the digital audiobook age arrived, there was no longer a need for this three-hour abridged version of ‘Small Business for Dummies.’ I wasted three hours listening to this rambling cut about recording when I could’ve gotten the 17-hour version elsewhere. Three hours isn’t enough time to cover the essential aspects of starting and running a small business. The narrator spent too much time focusing on the wrong areas for me, which was frustrating, but I listened to all three hours in hopes that I would glean helpful tidbits here or there. I did take down a decent note or two in my business journal, but I look forward to reading or listening to the extended version of the book soon. Additionally, there were too many personal stories from the authors for my taste.
July 14, 2019
Well that's quite a lot of "business" jargon, maybe I was just expecting "How to build a successful small business for dummies". The material is mostly designed for US residents, not a bad thing but all countries have pretty much the same legal structure for businesses and similar institutions.
February 4, 2020
As the title suggests, this book is for dummies only. If you have absolutely no idea of how small business works, this book is a good starter. If you are already running a small business, you should look for other book dealing withe the subject in depth.
March 4, 2021
Listened to edition published in 2019 on Hoopla.
A good overview for those considering small business, and it would also be useful for persons entering the workforce to understand interviewing, insurance benefits, corporate financial metrics, and more.
A good overview for those considering small business, and it would also be useful for persons entering the workforce to understand interviewing, insurance benefits, corporate financial metrics, and more.
April 21, 2025
An excellent place to begin for understanding terms and conditions to starting a small business.
This book doesn’t assume that you are already familiar with various aspects of operating a small business, and even explains much of it in the context of a lemonade stand. But don’t let that discourage you from reading this if you are not planning on running a lemonade stand- the illustrations go beyond that because they are universal in nature.
I also appreciated that it doesn’t assume everyone can or should run a small business. Too many times people that are good at something push for everyone else to also do it, not understanding that everyone is different and you could be encouraging them into a massive failure.
The book also goes beyond some simple supply and demand by bringing to the readers attention resources and requirements like an Aptitude test, Taxes, HR and other aspects for varying sizes of large and small business.
⚠️ Parental Warnings ⚠️
None
This book doesn’t assume that you are already familiar with various aspects of operating a small business, and even explains much of it in the context of a lemonade stand. But don’t let that discourage you from reading this if you are not planning on running a lemonade stand- the illustrations go beyond that because they are universal in nature.
I also appreciated that it doesn’t assume everyone can or should run a small business. Too many times people that are good at something push for everyone else to also do it, not understanding that everyone is different and you could be encouraging them into a massive failure.
The book also goes beyond some simple supply and demand by bringing to the readers attention resources and requirements like an Aptitude test, Taxes, HR and other aspects for varying sizes of large and small business.
⚠️ Parental Warnings ⚠️
None
June 10, 2025
This book gives a good overview of the points that you should be aware of and follow when opening a small business. This time I left quite a few pages unread, because unfortunately this book is overbuilt according to the American system. Many things do not fit the Estonian context. Also, this book is already old by now and does not take into account many new possibilities in the era of modern technology. For these reasons, the book gets 3 stars.
January 3, 2024
A solid overview. It was easy enough to skip the sections that weren't applicable to my situation. My main issue with the book is the number of times I wanted a paragraph or more of detail added to a section. They obviously had a lot to cover, but, often, there is one token paragraph mentioning an important subject and then... Next!
August 19, 2024
It's always nice to either start a topic or do a refresher on a topic via the dummies books. This one really was super basic, but it had elements that everyone needs to know as they embark on starting a small business. I recommend this only to people with little to no experience while jumping into small business ownership.
Read
March 16, 2025I found the book to have helpful information related to someone wanting to start a business. Before I started my business m2ktransportllc.wixsite.com/m2ktransp.... I also read the starting a business all in one for dummies. I would recommend anyone seeking to go into business for them selves to do research, and both these books have great content to help you on your journey.
February 21, 2024
Very educational, a lot of good topics. A little dry at points but it’s a long how to book about small business. Very long. Would continue to reference needed sections in the future. Worth the read for small business owners.
June 14, 2024
While I did not read this book in its entirety, I did reference many aspects and still do. It helped me through a period of time when I transitioned from working in Corproate America to a privately owned consulting business.
July 12, 2024
Listened to the audiobook narrated by Mike Chamberlain. An excellent resources that goes through pretty much anything you can think of in regards to being a small business owner.
October 1, 2024
Great resource
December 10, 2025
Dated & basic. Definitely for "dummies".
December 16, 2017
I'm not starting a small business, but having a church plant, I thought it would be interesting to compare ministry priorities to business advice. It was also interesting to reflect upon a couple of small-business ventures in my past. Overall, I'd say Tyson provides a good, general overview of starting and running a small business. I wouldn't say anything in here was overly surprising, and it wasn't a surprise that much simply wasn't applicable to my situation. Even so, it was good to see a simple overview of the process, and a good reminder to have a clear vision and goals in mind.
February 14, 2008
The "for Dummies" collection of books are sincerely helpful to the readers and profitable to the authors despite the occasional spelling errors. To me, it's like an encyclopedia of sorts to have for reference. Each book, however, can be overwhelming to digest and sometimes depth is substituted by a list. This one, though, I liked because there was enough solid material in an adequately organized fashion.
November 16, 2013
The edition I had was outdated and referred to the internet as the "new kid on the block" and spent some time explaining how computers can help your small business. I can hardly fault the book just because I had an outdated version though. The truth is, many of the principles covered and advice doled out have not changed. It's a dry read, but it is a nice breadth of information for entrepreneurs. On any one topic, you'll need to fibd a more in-depth resource.
February 2, 2022
Good basic introduction to those thinking about beginning a small business. Nothing super advanced is in here - just the sort of challenges and problems to expect when going into business. Some tips and tricks here and there as well that are somewhat helpful. Good book to reference for those that have no idea about what goes into a small business.
January 5, 2016
Fun stuff! Running a small business seems fun. I also liked the relationship advice that said don't let your business affect your home life. Consider it done!
Also, I found the suggestion of getting a modem to be pretty sweet too.
Also, I found the suggestion of getting a modem to be pretty sweet too.
Read
June 17, 2014Definitely more for someone who is doing an inventory based business or something that involves renting a space. Not something I would suggest for someone who is just looking to start something out of their homes.
March 1, 2023
I read the 2018 edition of this book. It reads like a textbook. It gives you a broad overview. I feel like there were some areas where I wish the authors had gone deeper. But overall, the book is full of good foundational knowledge.
Want to read
August 5, 2007Hoping to learn about the book-keeping part :(
August 18, 2007
I read through it once a few years ago, and I'm not sure I've opened it since.
Read
September 8, 2015well, i was just started. after finally found my passion on doing my very own small business.
June 1, 2011
This is what you'd expect - an easy to read book with introductory info on how to start a business. I would recommend it.
May 2, 2015
Nice quick guide and definitely recommended as an introduction.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews