Business Plans Kit For Dummies

Steven Peterson and Peter Jaret wrote the first edition of Business Plans Kit For Dummies, which was released in 2001. Steven Peterson is founder and CEO of Strategic Play, a management training company specializing in software tools designed to enhance business strategy, business planning, and general management skills. He's the creator of the Protean Strategist, a business simulation that reproduces a dynamic business environment where participant teams run companies and compete against each other in a fast-changing marketplace. He holds advanced degrees in mathematics and physics and received his doctorate from Cornell University. For more information, visit www.StrategicPlay.com. Peter Jaret has written for Newsweek, National Geographic, Health, Men's Journal, Reader's Digest, and dozens of other magazines. He's the author of In Self-Defense: The Human Immune System and Active Living Every Day. He has developed brochures, white papers, and annual reports for the Electric Power Research Institute, Lucas Arts, The California Endowment, WebMD, BabyCenter, Stanford University, Collabria, Home Planet Technologies, and others. In 1992, he received the American Medical Association's first-place award for medical reporting. In 1997, he won the James Beard Award for food and nutrition writing. He holds degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Virginia. Barbara Findlay Schenck built upon the great work of Peterson and Jaret as she wrote this second edition of Business Plans Kit For Dummies, which is updated throughout to include current business planning advice and all-new emphasis on the topics of greatest concern to today's entrepreneurs, business owners, CEOs, and investors. She's a successful business owner, marketing consultant, author of Small Business Marketing For Dummies, and co-writer of the Edgar Award-nominated memoir Portraits of Guilt. She has worked internationally in community development, served as a college admissions director and writing instructor in Hawaii, founded an advertising agency in Oregon, and has helped organizations large and small to plan and manage successful marketing and management programs. You can contact her at BFSchenck@aol.com.

Introduction. Part I: Laying the Foundation for Your Plan. Chapter 1: Starting Your Planning Engine. Chapter 2: Generating a Great Business Idea. Chapter 3: Defining Your Business Purpose. Part II: Developing Your Plan's Components. Chapter 4: Understanding Your Business Environment. Chapter 5: Charting Your Strategic Direction. Chapter 6: Describing Your Business and Its Capabilities. Chapter 7: Crafting Your Marketing Plan. Chapter 8: Deciphering and Presenting Your Financial Situation. Part III: Tailoring a Business Plan to Fit Your Needs. Chapter 9: Planning for a One-Person Business. Chapter 10: Planning for a Small Business. Chapter 11: Planning for an Established Business. Chapter 12: Planning for a Nonprofit Organization. Chapter 13: Planning for an E-Business. Part IV: Making the Most of Your Plan. Chapter 14: Putting Your Plan Together. Chapter 15: Putting Your Plan to Work. Part V: The Part of Tens. Chapter 16: Ten Signs That Your Plan Might Need an Overhaul. Chapter 17: Ten Ways to Evaluate a New Business Idea. Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Fund Your Business Plan. Chapter 19: Ten Things to Know about Venture Capital. Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Use Your Business Plan. Appendix: About the CD. Index.