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Zen Book Resources

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Below you will find an assortment of Web and book resources for entrepreneurs from how to write a business plan to social media and Internet marketing tips, finance and accounting information, to how to sell your product or service, create a website, and more.


Researching Global Issues  I  Researching Careers  I  Researching Companies  I  Job Search  I  Finding a Recruiter  I  Resumes, Cover Letters, and Interviews  I  Training and Financial Aid  I  Networking and Associations  I  Internships  I  Entrepreneurship  I  Freelance and Home-Based Business  I  Starting a Nonprofit  I  How to Start Your Own Life’s Work Support Group  I  Sample “Research Questions List”

Entrepreneurship Web Resources


The Association for Enterprise Opportunity 

Founded in 1991, the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is the only national membership association committed to micro-enterprise development as an effective economic development strategy and a powerful poverty alleviation tool. By providing cutting edge training, knowledge sharing, Federal and State public policy and advocacy, and communications, AEO empowers a community of nearly 500 member organizations to be uniquely effective in serving the needs of micro-entrepreneurs who do not have access to traditional sources of business education or capital. The combined reach of these organizations exceeds 300,000 micro-entrepreneurs and small business owners annually.


America’s Small Business Development Center Network

The Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC) is a partnership program uniting private enterprise, government, higher education and local nonprofit economic development organizations. We are dedicated to the sound development of small business throughout America. Founded in 1979, the ASBDC provides a vehicle for continuous improvement of the Small Business Development Center program, exchange of information among members regarding objectives, methods and results in business management and technical assistance and advocacy of America's small business community.


BPlans.com

Bplans.com contains the largest single collection of free sample business plans on the Internet. In addition, it has helpful tools and know-how for managing your business. Bplans.com includes practical advice on planning, interactive tools and calculators, and a panel of experts to answer your pertinent business questions, as well as a searchable database of the other questions they have answered.


Business.com 

Business.com is a leading business search engine and directory and pay-per-click advertising network serving more than 40 million unique business users and thousands of advertisers every month. Business.com helps business decision makers quickly find what they need to manage and grow their businesses, and enables advertisers to reach these users wherever they are across the business Internet through premier partners, including Entrepreneur, Hoovers, Financial Times and Internet.com.


Entrepreneur Magazine

Entrepreneur Magazine's Web site offers many resources and articles for the self-employed, freelancers, home-based business owners, and others.


Entrepreneurship.org

Sponsored by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, this site offers a wealth of information on small business and entrepreneurship. More than 1,000 articles, audio clips, tools, databases, and event listings.


MIT Enterprise Forum

The MIT Enterprise Forum supports the formation and growth of technology-based companies through educational programs and networking opportunities. This site includes articles on a variety of topics of interest to small business owners. It also includes online links to eighteen local chapters around the country.


MoreBusiness.com  

This online small business consulting office publishes daily business news as well as tips for starting and running your business. It also includes templates and worksheets for business plans, marketing plans, business checklists, press releases, and business agreements. It provides opportunities for interaction through discussion groups, a free email newsletter, a Q & A feature, and links to other business sites.


National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) 

The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) was founded in 1981 when a group of small business owners banded together to form a trade association that could wield the purchasing power of a large corporation. Now the largest association of its kind, NASE is able to provide an impressive list of benefits to its members in addition to advocating legislation favorable to small enterprise. This site includes a business reference area, updates on pending legislation affecting small business, a library of news releases on issues impacting small business, a small-business showcase, an online edition of their magazine, Self-Employed America, and a comprehensive directory of links to small-business web sites. Fee-based membership.


Nolo Small Business Resource Center

Nolo Small Business Resource Center is the nation's oldest and most respected provider of legal information for consumers and small businesses. This section of their website offers a wealth of legal resources for small business owners.


Nolo Press LLC Operating Agreement Form

Nolo Press offers an online, subscription LLC Operating Agreement form which is good for single-member LLCs and multi-member LLCs, also comes with plain-English instructions for signing the agreement. You can create, save, and edit the form before you buy. You can try the form before you buy by setting up a Nolo.com account. If you buy the form, you'll be able to print, send, or download it at any time during your one-year subscription which is $99.00. 


SCORE: The Service Corps of Retired Executives

The Service Corps of Retired Executives is a nonprofit association working in conjunction with the SBA to provide education and resources to promote the formation, growth, and success of small business nationwide. Working and retired executives and business owners donate their time and expertise to provide free counseling and low-cost workshops via local chapters throughout the United States and its territories. This Web site assists you in finding the SCORE chapter nearest you. The SCORE CyberChapter lets you establish a confidential email dialog with a SCORE business counselor anywhere in the country.

 

Small Business Development Center National Information Clearinghouse 

This office provides research support to the Small Business Administration's network of Small Business Development Centers throughout the United States and its territories. By contacting the Small Business Development Center in your community, you can utilize this formidable information clearinghouse to find the answers to your most difficult, complicated, or obscure questions relating to small business—for free.

 

Startup Nation

StartupNation is a free service founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. On this site you’ll find easy-to-follow, practical information, to help you start and grow your own successful business including helpful articles, peer-to-peer forums, blogs, on demand seminars, podcasts, success stories, and more.

 

Tax Tips 4 U from the American Bar Association's Section of Taxation

TaxTips4U.org is designed to provide helpful, up-to-date information to consumers seeking a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities as taxpayers. This Web site is provided as a public service of the American Bar Association's Section of Taxation.

 

USA.gov Small Business

USA.gov Small Business helps small businesses understand their legal requirements, and provides access to services and resources for small businesses. Business.gov is an official site of the U.S. Government.

 

U.S. Small Business Administration

At this Web site you can tap into the vast and varied resources of the U.S. Small Business Administration, a government agency created by Congress in 1953 to promote the success of America's entrepreneurs and small business enterprises. This site offers general information on starting and running a business, as well as detailed information on an array of programs offered by the SBA. You can locate regional offices throughout the U.S. and its territories or even fill out a loan application online. This site also links to special sub-offices within the SBA.



Creating a Website Using Website Builders


Popular website builders have replaced the need to hire a web developer, know coding skills, or spend a lot of time and money creating a website with a user end program. Today, the growth of the website-building industry has translated into more choices for you. So whether you’re a small business owner, artist or musician, writer or coach, there's a website builder out there for you. Below are the most popular and widely used website building options available. 


Godaddy

GoDaddy offers a "Websites + Marketing" web builder option that makes it easy to get your site designed and up in as little as a few hours. There are 22 templates to select from at this writing. They add new ones all the time. The $9.99 monthly plan is basic; $14.99 adds an SEO tool; $19.99 a month includes extended support for appointments and the $24.99 a month E-commerce option is for those creating an online store. This option will provide you some impressive product listing and shipping options for your e-commerce store. 


Shopify

Shopify is the best website builder for creating an e-commerce store. Its platform is user-friendly, and will make getting your store up and running seamless. Shopify supports business owners throughout the process with e-commerce tools and if you have questions along the way, they offer 24-7 phone and chat support as well as an active online community forum.


The "Basic Shopify" plan is $29 a month and covers most of what is needed to run an online store. The $79 a month plan offers gift cards and more staff accounts. For a larger operation, Shopify offers a $299 per month plan that includes more options.


Squarespace

Squarespace starts off with a $12-a-month Personal plan, which includes unlimited storage, bandwidth and a domain, and offers an $18 Business website plan that includes unlimited contributors, a Gmail pro account, and e-commerce store builder capabilities. If you go for an "Online Store" plan, you can choose between $26 and $40 a month, the latter of which includes a few final touches like abandoned shopping cart recovery and gift cards. It's important to note that the $26 online store plan, while maybe slightly above the market rate for an e-commerce site, comes with no transaction fees. So depending on your sales volume on a given month, those savings for our online store could really add up.


Weebly

Weebly is a good option for those who may be more limited in terms of their time investment and its commerce options outshine competitors like Wix and Squarespace. For those who are wary of committing to a website builder knowing that you won't be able to pick up and leave later on, Weebly also offers the ability to download site files so you can move to another host, a rarity in the site builder landscape.

 

Weebly's prices are in the same as most others, but its free plan is the best free option around. From that you can pay as little as $5 a month for a site with your own domain name (but it will still show Weebly ads). Weebly’s $12 a month option will give you an ad-free site with analytics and commerce capabilities. Its $25 a month plan gets you more tools for your ecommerce needs, like tax and shipping calculators, inventory management and discounts.


Wix

Wix offers a free website builder plan that lets you create a starter site with ads. Pricing starts at about $13.00 per month for an ad-free website. That level covers most of what you will need for a personal website. If you need an e-commerce, Wix offers a $49-per-month "Business VIP" e-commerce website plan for your online store. Those prices do not include a domain, so you'll need to account for that separately. And if you're interested in stats and analytics, you'll either need to get a Google Analytics paid plan or another third-party tool, as Wix doesn't have its own.






Business Plan Books


  1. Anatomy of a Business Plan: The Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Business and Securing Your Company's Future. Linda Pinson.
  2. How to Write a Business Plan. Mike P. McKeever.
  3. How to Write a Winning Business Plan. Walter Grant. 
  4. The One Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur. Jim Horan.
  5. The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan: A Pro Shares A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Plan That Gets Results. Hal Shelton.



Entrepreneurship Books


  1. The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top. John Warrillow.
  2. The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything. Kawasaki, Guy.
  3. Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game. Walker Deibel.
  4. The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment. John Lee Dumas. 
  5. Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business. Paul Jarvis.
  6. Craft, Inc. Revised Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Turning Your Creative Hobby into a Successful Business. Mateo Ilasco, Meg.
  7. Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup. Bill Aulet.
  8. Disclosing New Worlds: Entrepreneurship, Democratic Action, and the Cultivation of Solidarity. Spinosa, Charles, Fernando Flores, and Hubert L. Dreyfus.
  9. The Educated Franchisee: Find the Right Franchise for You. Rick Bisio.
  10. Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture. Steven K. Gold.
  11. From Cubicle to Cloud: How to Start and Scale a Virtual Professional Service Business. Jennifer Brazer.
  12. Get Over Your Damn Self: The No-BS Blueprint to Building a Life-Changing Business. Romi Neustadt.
  13. Growing a Business. Hawken, Paul.
  14. How to Start Your Own Business: The Facts Visually Explained. DK.
  15. Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Drucker, Peter F.
  16. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Seth Godin.
  17. Making a Living without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work that You Love. Winter, Barbara J. 
  18. Mind Your Business: A Workbook to Grow Your Creative Passion Into a Full-time Gig. Ilana Griffo. 
  19. No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs. Kennedy, Dan.
  20. Order Up!: The Ins and Outs of Getting Your Food Truck Business on the Road. DiAnn Seibert.
  21. Outliers: The Story of Success. Malcolm Gladwell.
  22. Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine. Mike Michalowicz.
  23. Secrets of Self-Employment: Surviving and Thriving on the Ups and Downs of Being Your Own Boss. Edwards, Paul, and Sarah Edwards.
  24. Selling The Intangible : Turn Your Knowledge into Income. Generate Predictable Profits. Build a Wildly Successful Digital Product Business. Meera Kothand.
  25. Start Your Own Business: The Only Startup Book You'll Ever Need. Lesonsky, Rieva.
  26. Starting a Business QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner’s Guide to Launching a Successful Small Business, Turning Your Vision into Reality, and Achieving Your Entrepreneurial Dream. Ken Colwell, PhD.
  27. Visionary Business. Allen, Marc.



Legal Books


  1. Business Buyout Agreements. Anthony Mancuso and Bethany K. Laurence.
  2. Form a Partnership: The Legal Guide for Business Owners. Denis Clifford and Ralph Warner. 
  3. Incorporate Your Business: A Step-by-Step Guide to Forming a Corporation in Any State. Anthony Mancuso Attorney.
  4. Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business: 65 Essential Agreements, Contracts, Leases & Letters. Fred S. Steingold.
  5. Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business. Fred S. Steingold.
  6. Nolo's Quick LLC: All You Need to Know About Limited Liability Companies. Anthony Mancuso Attorney.
  7. Small Business Start-Up Kit, The: A Step-by-Step Legal Guide. Peri Pakroo, JD.



Management Books


  1. The Disruption Mindset: Why Some Organizations Transform While Others Fail. Charlene Li.
  2. Enlightened Leadership. Oakley, Ed, and Doug Krug. 
  3. The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management. Drucker, Peter F. 
  4. The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last. Tom Peters.
  5. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Senge, Peter M.
  6. How to Be an Inclusive Leader: Your Role in Creating Cultures of Belonging Where Everyone Can Thrive. Jennifer Brown.
  7. In Search of Excellence. Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.
  8. Invaluable: Master the 10 Skills You Need to Skyrocket Your Career. Maya Grossman.
  9. Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge. Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus.
  10. Leading Without Authority: How the New Power of Co-Elevation Can Break Down Silos, Transform Teams, and Reinvent Collaboration. Keith Ferrazzi and Noel Weyrich.
  11. The New One Minute Manager. Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson.
  12. Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society. Peter M. Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers.
  13. Primal Leadership, With a New Preface by the Authors: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence. Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Anie McKee.
  14. Primary Greatness: The 12 Levers of Success. Stephen R. Covey. 
  15. Principle Centered Leadership. Covey, Stephen R.
  16. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. David J. Epstein.
  17. The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company. Robert Iger.
  18. Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership. Joseph Jawarski and Peter Senge.



Marketing Books

  

  1. The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd. Allan Dib.
  2. 500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advice, Hints and Strategy for Business: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, and More! Andrew Macarthy.
  3. The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users. Guy Kawasaki.
  4. Blog to Win Business: How to Enchant Readers and Woo Customers. Henneke Duistermaat.
  5. Change. Adapt. Rock.: A Rock-Solid Guide So You Can WIN at Marketing. WildRock Public Relations and Marketing.
  6. Click Millionaires: Work Less, Live More with an Internet Business You Love. Scott Fox.
  7. Five Figure Funnels: How To Sell Marketing Funnel Services To Your Customers For Five Figures In Any Market, No Matter Your Experience. Michael Killen. 
  8. Get Clients Now!: A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants, and Coaches. Hayden, C. J. 
  9. Groundswell, Expanded and Revised Edition: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff.
  10. Hook Point: How to Stand Out in a 3-Second World. Brendan Kane.
  11. How to Create Irresistible Offers: The Easiest Way on Earth to make Your Marketing Generate More Leads, Orders, and Sales. Robert W. Bly.
  12. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. Ries, Al, and Jack Trout.
  13. ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett. 
  14. Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition. Guy Kawasaki.
  15. Social Media Commerce For Dummies. Marsha Collier.
  16. Social Media Marketing Guide: Gain Customers Through Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter. Daniel Russell.
  17. The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Content Marketing, Podcasting, Social Media, AI, Live Video, and Newsjacking to Reach Buyers Directly. David Scott Meerman.
  18. This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See. Seth Godin.
  19. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Gladwell, Malcolm.
  20. Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing. Eisenberg, Bryan, Jeffrey Eisenberg, and Lisa T. Davis.
  21. Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking.
    Andy Sernovitz, Seth Godin (Foreword), Guy Kawasaki (Afterword).
  22. The YouTube Formula: How Anyone Can Unlock the Algorithm to Drive Views, Build an Audience, and Grow Revenue. Derral Eves.
  23. YouTube Secrets: The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Following and Making Money as a Video Influencer. Sean Cannell and Benji Travis. 



Sales Books

  

  1. The Big Book of Words That Sell: 1200 Words and Phrases That Every Salesperson and Marketer Should Know and Use. Robert W. Bly.
  2. Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling. Michael Port.
  3. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cold Calling: Expert Advice for Overcoming Fear, Building Confidence, and Finding Your Sales Voice.Rosen, Keith.
  4. The Greatest Salesman in the World. Mandino, Og.
  5. How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling.Bettger, Frank.
  6. How to Master the Art of Selling. Hopkins, Tom.
  7. Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship. Mahan Khalsa, Randy Illig, and Stephen Covey. 
  8. The Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness. Gitomer, Jeffrey. 
  9. The New Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World's Best Companies. Miller, Robert B., Stephen E. Heiman, Tad Tuleja, and J. W. Marriott.
  10. People Buy You: The Real Secret to What Matters Most in Business. Jeb Blount.
  11. Secrets of Closing the Sale, Revised and Updated. Ziglar, Zig.
  12. Selling 101: What Every Successful Sales Professional Needs to Know. Ziglar, Zig. 
  13. Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing.Beckwith, Harry.
  14. Words that Sell, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Thesaurus to Help You Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideas.Bayan, Richard.
  15. Zero Resistance Selling. Maltz, Maxwell.



Books on Finance, Accounting, and Taxes

  

  1. Bookkeeping For Dummies. Lita Epstein.
  2. The Complete Guide to Buying a Business. Fred S. Steingold.
  3. EASY SBA #1 Step-by-step guide to apply for a Small Business Loan. Claire Wood.
  4. Get Your Business Funded: Creative Methods for Getting the Money You Need. Steven D. Strauss.
  5. Negotiate the Best Lease for Your Business. Fred S. Steingold and Janet Portman.
  6. Small Business Taxes Made Easy: How to Increase Your Deductions, Reduce What You Owe, and Boost Your Profits. Eva Rosenberg. 
  7. Small Time Operator: How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble. Kamoroff, Bernard.
  8. Starting on a Shoestring: Building a Business without a Bank Roll.Goldstein, Arnold S.
  9. Tax Savvy for Small Business: A Complete Tax Strategy Guide. Frederick W. Daily. 

                  


Books on How to Create a Website


  1. 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People. Susan Weinschenk.
  2. The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better.Seth Godin.
  3. Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Steve Krug. 
  4. Information Architecture: For the Web and Beyond. Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville and Jorge Arango.
  5. Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics. Jennifer Robbins.
  6. The One Hour Content Plan: The Solopreneur's Guide to a Year's Worth of Blog Post Ideas in 60 Minutes and Creating Content That Hooks and Sells. Meera Kothand.
  7. Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems. Steve Krug. 
  8. SEO 2021: Learn Search Engine Optimization With Smart Internet Marketing Strategies. Adam Clarke.
  9. WordPress for Beginners: A Visual Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering WordPress. Dr. Andy Williams. (Annual).

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