Small Business Resource Center

QuickBooks Online For Dummies, 2025 Edition is a comprehensive guide to mastering QuickBooks Online, one of the most popular cloud accounting platforms. It covers essential tasks such as selecting the right subscription for your business, creating invoices and credit memos, managing sales receipts and bills, setting up inventory, tracking finances (including business checkbooks and credit cards), processing payroll, preparing taxes, building budgets, and balancing accounts. The book is designed for beginners, offering step-by-step instructions for handling everything from data backup to accessing your account on any device.

Your one-stop guide to starting a small business... Want to start a business? Don't know where to begin? The Small Business Start-Up Kit shows you how to set up a small business in your state and deal with state and local forms, fees, and regulations. The 13th edition is updated with the latest legal and tax rules affecting small businesses, plus social media and e-commerce trends.

The profound disruptions of recent years have sparked a collective reckoning. We reprioritized our lives, and reordered how we envisioned the future. Businesses were forced to pivot, while leaders scrambled to rethink their roles. There has been an unprecedented global reset. But in truth, almost everyone goes through this kind of reappraisal at least once in their life--and probably more often than that. Whatever the catalyst, it prompts in us the urgent need to pivot, to ask the question: What's next--and how do I get there? In Next!, bestselling author and journalist Joanne Lipman distills hundreds of personal interviews along with the latest scientific research to answer just this question. At its heart, Next! offers a thrilling argument: by harnessing the science and understanding the process, we can better understand how to reinvent that new career, change the direction of our lives, or inspire innovation in our organizations. This book provides a toolkit that shows how to make meaningful transitions--large or small--and to figure out for ourselves what's Next!

From side-hustlers to start-ups, freelancers to small business owners, Americans have a special affinity for people who make it on their own. But the dream has a dark side. "One day I'll work for myself." Perhaps you've heard some version of that phrase from friends, colleagues, family members—perhaps you've said it yourself. If so, you're not alone. The spirit of entrepreneurship runs deep in American culture and history, in the films we watch and the books we read, in our political rhetoric, and in the music piping through our speakers. What makes the dream of self-employment so alluring, so pervasive in today's world? Benjamin C. Waterhouse offers a provocative argument: the modern cult of the hustle is a direct consequence of economic failures—bad jobs, stagnant wages, and inequality—since the 1970s. With original research, Waterhouse traces a new narrative history of business in America, populated with vivid characters—from the activists, academics, and work-from-home gurus who hailed business ownership as our economic salvation to the upstarts who took the plunge. We meet, among others, a consultant who quits his job and launches a wildly popular beer company, a department store saleswoman who founds a plus-size bra business on the Internet, and an Indian immigrant in Texas who flees the corporate world to open a motel. Some flourish; some squeak by. Some fail. As Waterhouse shows, the go-it-alone movement that began in the 1970s laid the political and cultural groundwork for today's gig economy and its ethos: everyone should be their own boss. While some people find success in that world, countless others are left bouncing from gig to gig—exploited, underpaid, or conned by get-rich-quick scams. And our politics doesn't know how to respond. Accessible, fast-paced, and eye-opening, One Day I'll Work for Myself offers a fresh, insightful cultural history of the U.S. economy from the perspective of the people within it, asking urgent questions about why we're clinging to old strategies for progress—and at what cost.

This must-have guide to the leading small business accounting software goes over the key features of QuickBooks and shows you, step-by-step, how to plan your perfect budget, simplify tax returns, manage inventory, and many other financial tasks.

Negotiation is hard. It's especially tough when you feel like the underdog--whether you face a 'Godzilla' counterpart, face threats of budget cuts during a downturn, or know that you need a deal more than the other side does. Seth Freeman can help. Freeman is an award-winning professor who has taught negotiation to thousands of leaders and students. His clients range from Fortune 500 executives to kindergarteners, from top corporate lawyers to grad students just beginning their careers, from UN diplomats negotiating global problems to small business owners negotiating terms with suppliers. In 15 Tools to Turn the Tide, he shares field-tested techniques that can turn anyone into a much better negotiator.

This indispensable guide for those looking to start their own business provides all the essential information for overcoming any obstacle thrown in their way during the process.

The founder and CEO of AppSumo.com, Noah Kagan, knows how to launch a seven-figure business in a single weekend-and he's done it seven times. Million Dollar Weekend will show you how. But, if the barriers to starting a business are getting lower and lower, why is it SO HARD TO DO for SO MANY PEOPLE? Why are there so many wantrepreneurs playing at business on social media and so few entrepreneurs actually running them? Ask yourself: Do you want to work for yourself, or start a side-hustle, but it all feels too risky and unpredictable? Have you spent time or money on things like websites and logos, but still have no customers? Are you brainstorming endlessly and waiting for the perfect idea to strike? All those Frequent Excuses are solvable. The plan is simple-so simple it can be completed in a single weekend, but so powerful that Kagan has used to build seven businesses now worth more than $1 million: Find your Creator's Courage to overcome your fear and have fun! Learn to Just Ask so that customers get EXCITED to give you money. Automate your business so it can grow while you sleep. By Monday, you'll have a market-tested, scalable business idea and you'll be a entrepreneur on the path to seven figures. Million Dollar Weekend is the path to creating your dream life and attaining financial freedom.

Getting an MBA takes time and money, making it inaccessible to many people who want to take charge in the business world. Now "The 12-Week MBA" offers an alternative way to learn business essentials, focusing on the skills and knowledge required to succeed as a manager and business leader. "The 12-Week MBA"'s unique premise is that there is a core set of business skills that entrepreneurs and future leaders of organizations can learn and will need regardless of their industry, function, or level. Those core skills-value creation, people skills, and decision-making-can be learned in less time and at lower cost than in a traditional two-year MBA, where the typical content becomes obsolete by the time students have graduated. Authors Bjorn Billhardt and Nathan Kracklauer, leaders of Abilitie, a leadership development provider, have customized and honed their virtual 12-week MBA course over the last 20 years. Now they bring you the key lessons from this curriculum in an accessible, engaging guide.

Ten timely financial steps to build the life you really want. The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to rethink everything. Now, when it comes to envisioning a post-pandemic future, financial expert Jill Schlesinger hears one question over and over: IS THIS REALLY HOW I WANT TO LIVE? The Great Money Reset is your guide to getting real and building your best life. A bible for navigating our present era of seismic change, Schlesinger's book shows us how to take advantage of this situation to pull off personal transitions. Whether it's time to get that raise, refinance your mortgage, or start a new business, The Great Money Reset provides a framework to strategize your next financial move. In ten simple steps, you will be empowered to fundamentally break through your unsatisfying pre-pandemic reality and thrive through whatever awful surprises come next. And there will be some.

One of the first books in McGraw Hill's NEW Business Essentials Series providing savvy strategies and specific action steps to improve business communication skills for today's new world of work.

Does it feel like everyone you know is thinking about starting a business? That's because they are. In the last few years new businesses have been launched in record numbers, with more of us than ever deciding to go it alone or become entrepreneurs.

Fuelled by new technologies like artificial intelligence and automation, this trend is only just beginning, with traditional firms due to be automated in the same way that farms and factories were in the last few decades.

Start-Up Century explains why this shift is happening, and what it will mean to live in a world where most of us are self-employed, or work in small entrepreneurial endeavours. It details the entrepreneurial frontiers ahead of us, the opportunities to be seized and products to be built in fields as diverse as robotics to healthcare, energy and construction. And it covers the many challenges that this new way of working presents, setting out ideas and policies to help us close the digital divide, make education relevant again, make our public services more innovative and inspire a new generation to build the solutions the world needs.

"An indispensable guide to building a startup and breaking down the barriers for diverse entrepreneurs from the visionary venture capitalist and pioneering entrepreneur Kathryn Finney. Build the Damn Thing is a hard-won, battle-tested guide for every entrepreneur who the establishment has left out. Finney, an investor and startup champion, explains how to build a business from the ground up, from developing a business plan to finding investors, growing a team, and refining a product. Finney empowers entrepreneurs to take advantage of their unique networks and resources; arms readers with responses to investors who say, "great pitch but I just don't do Black women"; and inspires them to overcome naysayers while remaining "100% That B*tch." Don't wait for the system to let you in-break down the door and build your damn thing. For all the Builders striving to build their businesses in a world that has overlooked and underestimated them: this is the essential guide to knowing, breaking, remaking and building your own rules of entrepreneurship in a startup and investing world designed for and by the "Entitleds."

Starting a Business All-in-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition is a treasure trove of useful information for new and would-be business owners. With content compiled from over ten best-selling For Dummies books, this guide will help with every part of starting your own business—from legal considerations to business plans, bookkeeping, and beyond. Whether you want to open a franchise, turn your crafting hobby into a money-maker, or kick off the next megahit startup, everything you need can be found inside this easy-to-use guide. This book covers the foundations of accounting, marketing, hiring, and achieving success.

Shows how statistical ideas, techniques, formulas, and calculations apply to the world of global business and economics. You'll get an introduction on sampling and graphs, and discover how statistics are used in daily life.

Stacey Abrams and Lara Hodgson draw on firsthand experience starting and scaling multiple companies over nearly two decades to crystallize their advice in Level Up, a how-to guide for small business owners. They share stories of building their own businesses, as well as actionable principles for founders looking to propel their ventures forward. They cover such topics as hiring, identifying a revenue strategy, recognizing when growth is a trap, and managing cash flow, and share the experiences of other successful founders including Jules Pieri of The Grommet, Alisa Clark of Glory Professional Services, and Sheila Jordan of Knowledge Architects.

From popular startup support company Square comes practical, proven advice to help you launch, manage, and grow your small business Leaders of large businesses rely on boards and their managers for guidance, but entrepreneurs like you have few, if any, experienced advisors to count on. Now, Self-Made Boss provides the community of advisors you need to help make the right decisions every time. Drawn from real-life stories directly from Square's Seller's Community, which is composed of millions of small businesses, the book shows you exactly what works and what doesn't. Told through the eyes of small business owners, Self-Made Boss is filled with rich, colorful examples, and valuable lessons. These are the lessons you learn only when you're an entrepreneur. They include a second-generation ice cream shop owner on how to manage price increases; a NYC restaurant owner on how to hire and manage employees; a Black female roofer on how to break through in a male dominated industry; a dentist who is transitioning out of his business; and stylist who quit her corporate job to pursue her passion. These entrepreneurs share all the things you learn on the job and wish you knew before you started your business. The book provides answers to important questions on a wide variety of topics, including: turning a personal passion or side hustle into a career, setting up your business for success, getting the word out and building loyalty, building the right team, how to transition out of your business and much more. With Self-Made Boss you have everything you need to make life and business decisions with knowledge, insight, and confidence.

In one engaging, outcome-oriented book, The FT Essential Guide to Writing a Business Plan gives you:

• The essential knowledge you need to write a winning business plan – quickly and without fuss
• Guidance on how to focus throughout on the plan’s purpose – to win backing
• Samples of what a good plan looks like, so you can benchmark your own as you write it
• Checklists, tips, examples and milestones to ensure you’re on target
• Prompts to reflect on, evaluate and learn from your experience

With advice that’s instantly applicable, whether your business is a start-up or a more established company looking to grow, this is the one guide you need to create a credible and persuasive plan.

Corporate wealth creation stands at the center of our national economic prosperity. Most of us work for businesses. And it turns out that the richest among us did more than simply control spending, avoid debt, and accumulate investment assets. The very wealthiest Americans either made their money by owning a business or by inheriting money from family members that did. The investment assets they accumulated were centered in their own business endeavors. This book is designed to walk the reader through the simple financial drivers behind business wealth creation using an award-winning formula Chris Volk devised in 1999 and which he has applied to many articles he has written since. It is his hope that this book serves to inspire readers to harness the wealth creation potential of business as they contribute to, create, and run businesses that benefit us all.

Douglas Raggio has been there: both as a food founder and as a consultant to other successful startups, and he's come to learn that every choice a food founder makes has a fairly predictable outcome. In So You Wanna: Start a Food Biz, he'll help you think through the many decisions you'll make along the road from an idea to a successful company-whether you see yourself building a following at your farmer's market, partnering with a local restaurant, or launching the next Pepsi.