Your handy, authoritative guide to small business HR Packed with practical tips and advice on how to handle tricky people situations in the workplace, this friendly guide shows anyone without a ton of HR experience how to correctly—and legally—utilise HR practises within a small business. From hiring to firing, managing performance to leading change—and everything in between—HR For Small Business For Dummies ensures you and your organisation are prepared for whatever may come knocking on your human resource department's door. Written by a team of authors that runs PlusHR—an organisation that provides outsourced HR services to small- and medium-sized companies—HR For Small Business For Dummies offers a thorough and accessible understanding of what HR is, how it works and what key UK legislation you need to know to resolve issue-led HR problems. Throughout the book, the emphasis is on communication and how you may need to tweak your strategy as your business grows, while special attention is given to how an owner's personal style of leadership and management impacts everyone within a company. Build a recruitment strategy and establish successful HR practises Understand your legal and financial responsibilities as an employer Minimise your growing or shrinking pains—for you and your people Avoid the pitfalls of discrimination, bullying and unfair dismissal If you're an SME owner, director or practitioner who needs to know more about HR issues and how to best resolve them, HR For Small Business For Dummies cuts through the clutter and offers practical, day-to-day guidance on running an effective HR department.

Want to start the small business of your dreams? Want to breathe new life into the one you already have? Small Business For Dummies, 3rd Edition provides authoritative guidance on every aspect of starting and growing your business, from financing and budgeting to marketing, management and beyond. This completely practical, no-nonsense guide gives you expert advice on everything from generating ideas and locating start-up money to hiring the right people, balancing the books, and planning for growth. You’ll get plenty of help in ramping up your management skills, developing a marketing strategy, keeping your customers loyal, and much more. You’ll also find out to use the latest technology to improve your business’s performance at every level. Discover how to: Make sure that small-business ownership is for you Find your niche and time your start-up Turn your ideas into plans Determine your start-up costs Obtain financing with the best possible terms Decide whether or not to incorporate Make sense of financial statements Navigate legal and tax issues Buy an existing business Set up a home-based business Publicize your business and market your wares Keep your customers coming back for more Track cash flow, costs and profits Keep your business in business and growing You have the energy, drive, passion, and smarts to make your small business a huge success. Small Business For Dummies, 3rd Edition, provides the rest.

Having your own business isn’t the same as having customers, and one is useless without the other. Whether your business is a resale store or a high-tech consulting firm, a law office or a home cleaning service, in today’s competitive environment, strategic marketing is essential. Small Business Marketing For Dummies, Second Edition is updated from the original version that won rave reviews and inspired thousands of small businesses on their way to becoming big businesses. Updates include more information on online marketing, a whole new section on getting and keeping customers, new cost-effective, fast-acting ideas for instant impact, and more. The book covers: Marketing basics that prepare you to rev up your business and jumpstart your marketing program Information to help you define your business position and brand Advice on bringing in professionals A quick-reference guide to mass media and a glossary of advertising jargon How-tos for creating print and broadcast ads that work Ideas for getting the word out without advertising, including information on direct mail, brochures, publicity, promotions, and more Ten steps to follow to build your own easy-to-assemble marketing plan With pages of ideas for low-cost, high-impact marketing from author Barbara Findlay Schenck, a marketing consultant with more than 20 years experience with clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, Small Business Marketing For Dummies, Second Edition helps you reach and keep new customers. Whether you’re running a home office, a small firm, a family business, a nonprofit organization, or a retail operation, you’ll discover how to: Custom design your own marketing program Create effective marketing messages Produce marketing communications that work No matter what field you’re in, Small Business Marketing For Dummies, 2nd Edition will help you make your dreams come true. If you buy it, read it, and implement some of the marketing strategies discussed, customers will come.

Align HR practices with your objectives and keep your company competitive A company's ability to grow and stay on top of customer demand has always depended heavily on the quality of its people. Now, more than ever, businesses recognize that finding (and keeping) a highly skilled and motivated workforce is pivotal to success. Maybe you're a business owner and your company is growing, or you're an employee at a small- to midsize-company and management has asked you to take on some—or all—of their HR functions. Either way, knowing how to set up and implement successful HR practices (not to mention navigating the legal minefields in today's increasingly regulated environment) can be tricky. Human Resources Kit For Dummies is your one-stop resource for learning the nuts and bolts of HR. It gives you forms and templates that you can put to immediate and productive use. New information on anti-discrimination legislation; measuring performance; hiring, firing, and retaining employees; and training and development plans The latest info on online and social media policies Updated forms and contracts, from job application forms and sample employee policies to performance appraisals and benefit plan worksheets If you're currently working in Human Resources or are responsible for employees in your business, the tools presented here help you maximize the effectiveness of your own HR program.

Your own in-house legal advisor—at a fraction of thecost Written in plain-English for business people without any legaltraining, Law For Small Business For Dummies coverseverything you need to be aware of regarding the law when you'restarting and running your own business. Cutting through the jargonthat can make even the pros scratch their heads, this book quicklygets you up-to-speed on the key areas of business law, includingcontracts, websites, intellectual property, data protection andpartnership agreements. Plus, you'll find out how small businesslaw applies to advertising and marketing, confidentialityagreements, the sale and supply of goods (including e-commerce),negligence and product liability. There were 526,000 new businesses registered in the UK in2013—and, at some point, all of them will be faced with legalrisks that could make the difference between success and failure.One claim could wipe out a fledgling business' profits, and hiteven big businesses harder than they could ever imagine. If you'rethe owner of a new business and need to get a handle on the ins andouts of small business law—and don't have the budget toemploy an in-house legal advisor—this trusted, approachableguide is your answer. Covers the laws surrounding the most common risks smallbusinesses face Addresses how to deal with legal issues before a potentiallycostly dispute arises Provides access to handy sample contract templates onDummies.com Serves as your own in-house legal advisor—at a fractionof the cost If you're an existing business owner or an aspiring entrepreneurthinking about starting your own business, Law For SmallBusiness For Dummies gives you answers to questions you didn'teven know to ask!

Keeping track of the finances is fundamental to the success of every business, but tackling the task yourself can be intimidating. Help is at hand, however, with this complete guide to small business money management. Packed with expert advice on all aspects of business finance, including basic bookkeeping and accounting, monitoring profit and performance, managing payroll, tackling tax, and forecasting for growth, Small Business Finance All-in-One For Dummies helps you to take control of your finances, stay on top of the paperwork, and keep the cash flowing.

Capitalise on big data to add value to your small business Written by bestselling author and big data expert Bernard Marr, Big Data For Small Business For Dummies helps you understand what big data actually is—and how you can analyse and use it to improve your business. Free of confusing jargon and complemented with lots of step-by-step guidance and helpful advice, it quickly and painlessly helps you get the most from using big data in a small business. Business data has been around for a long time. Unfortunately, it was trapped away in overcrowded filing cabinets and on archaic floppy disks. Now, thanks to technology and new tools that display complex databases in a much simpler manner, small businesses can benefit from the big data that's been hiding right under their noses. With the help of this friendly guide, you'll discover how to get your hands on big data to develop new offerings, products and services; understand technological change; create an infrastructure; develop strategies; and make smarter business decisions. Shows you how to use big data to make sense of user activity on social networks and customer transactions Demonstrates how to capture, store, search, share, analyse and visualise analytics Helps you turn your data into actionable insights Explains how to use big data to your advantage in order to transform your small business If you're a small business owner or employee, Big Data For Small Business For Dummies helps you harness the hottest commodity on the market today in order to take your company to new heights.