Scott L. Girard - Business Finance Basics: Learn What You Need In 2 Hours

What theyre saying about this series and the authors

The West Orange Chamber of Commerce is proud to be connected with Mike OKeefe, Scott Girard and Marc Price of Expert Business Advice. Their dynamic presentations, intellectual wealth, and unique insight into small business have helped numerous Chamber members take their businesses to the next level.

Krista Compton Carter, IOM

West Orange Chamber of Commerce Vice President

Winter Garden, Florida, USA

Ive had the pleasure of working with Michael OKeefe on many projects over the years. His ability to evaluate situations, identify competitive advantage opportunities and implement well thought-out strategic plans is second to none.

Jim Costello

Director of Project Management

Marriott International Design & Construction Management

Marc Price is a business builder! I have seen him start with a blank piece of paper and create a million dollar business for a financial education online application and service. He is a natural network builder and relationship marketer who works hard, is very creative, and who usually surpasses all objectives for sales, service, and market share growth. You want Marc on your team if your goal is to grow your brand and increase top and bottom lines.

Mike Schiano, MA, CRHC, CPFC

Information and Technology Services

CRASH COURSE for ENTREPRENEURS

BUSINESS FINANCE BASICS

BUSINESS FINANCE BASICS

Learn What You Need in Two Hours

Scott L. Girard, Jr., Michael F. OKeefe
and Marc A. Price

Series Editor: Scott L. Girard, Jr.

A Crash Course for EntrepreneursFrom Expert Business Advice

Starting a Business

Sales and Marketing

Managing Your Business

Business Finance Basics

Business Law Basics

Franchising

Value-Driven Business

Time and Efficiency

International Business

Supplemental Income

Social Media

Web-Based Business

Copyright 2014, Scott L. Girard, Jr., Michael F. OKeefe, and Marc A. Price

ISBN: 978-90-77256-40-4

The Expert Business Advice trademark is owned by Expert Business Advice, LLC and is used under license. www.expertbusinessadvice.com

Disclaimer: While every attempt has been made to verify the accuracy of information in this book as it goes to press, the authors and publisher cannot guarantee its future accuracy. Please consult competent expert advice before taking decisions in response to the advice herein.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or use in an information storage or retrieval system, without prior written permission from Nova Vista Publishing. Address .

Distributed by Career Press, Inc., 220 West Parkway, Unit 12, Pompton Plains, NJ 07444, U.S.A., www.careerpress.com

D/2014/9797/1

Printed in the United States of America

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Cover design: Bradford Foltz

Text design: Softwin

For Kathe

You can spot entrepreneurs easily when they talk about their businesses and dreams. Their passion and fascination with their businessand others businessesis remarkable. When I met Scott, Mike and Marc, I knew before they told me about the 17 businesses theyve collectively started that these were talented, insightful, seasoned entrepreneurs. We quickly agreed to develop the Crash Course for Entrepreneurs together.

The aim of this series is to give you high-level overviews of the critical things you need to know and do if you want to start (or youre already running) your own business. In a two-hour read. Of course, theres much more to know about every topic covered, but we believe that what youll read here will give you the framework for learning the rest. A Resources section and a Glossary will ensure you can ground yourself in the essentials. And www.expertbusinessadvice.com, the coauthors website, offers expanded support for entrepreneurs that is updated daily.

Entrepreneurs vary widely in what they want to do. Your dream may be to start a very small, one-person service, perhaps doing home maintenance or day care or accounting from your home. You may have developed or discovered a high-tech breakthrough that will need years of testing and dozens or hundreds of people to bring to market. This book sees the intrinsic value and challenges of both styles of business. It will definitely help you make the most of your opportunity, whatever its scale.

Most of the chapters in this book represent the authors collective experience and point of view, but a few are personal pieces. Youll find the initials of each author at the end of those. Heres a brief word from each of them.

I remember when I fully understood what our series of books should accomplish. Mike, Marc and I had recently decided that we wanted to write a series of books for people only moderately familiar with entrepreneurship and business. Multitudes of books already exist on basic levels of business practices and procedures. We knew that writing another one of those books wouldnt really serve anyone or change anything, no matter how well written it was.

On the morning that I got it, I was drinking coffee and reading the news; the television was on in the background. I glanced up and saw a commercial for a foreign language software program in which, instead of learning by simply repeating vocabulary, the student is culturally immersed in the language, holistically surrounded with concepts of all manner of things applicable to the subject. In short, they dont list facts and terms and call it teachingthey show the student a vast array of information, on a multitude of levels, allowing her to bathe in knowledge.

I knew then that instead of presenting a bunch of facts that we think you should know about business, we should take a more holistic approach and help you immerse yourself in business thinking. Our method is most effective if you read this book cover to cover, skipping nothing. If you reach a section and either think it doesnt address your needs, or you think you know everything there is to know about the subject, read it anyway. Itll only take a minutethats why the sections are not lengthy. It will enlighten and organize your thinking, either way. Youll see important concepts woven through various discussions, as they holistically fit in.

If youre hoping to read a book and immediately become the worlds greatest business person, this book isnt for you. If your goal, however, is to quickly understand and feel familiar with the basics of starting a business, as your first stepping-stone to greatness, we believe that our book has no rival.

I sincerely hope that this book will not only increase your understanding of entrepreneurship and basic business finance, but that it also gives you pleasure and satisfaction as you learn the key principles and language of business.

Scott L. Girard, Jr.

When we sat down and decided to take on the daunting task of writing a series of books for entrepreneurs and small business owners, I cringed. I thought, How can we ever reduce our advice and experiences to writing? And how can we cover it allcan we fit it into a book?

Either way, we decided to get started, so each of us began drafting sections related to our respective specialties and work experience. Only as the initiative continued did I discover a certain passion for sharing my advice in a personal way, trying to convey how it felt to go places, negotiate situations, and experience new things, both good and bad, in the course of starting businesses