Welcome to the Citibank Small Business information guide series on entrepreneurship. Men and women from all walks of life, all ages, and all countries have created innovative, successful businesses. This series of guides on entrepreneurship has been developed just for you, a person who is thinking about starting a small business or who has made the commitment to start one. It is targeted to people who are considering starting a small business as well as small business owners who want to learn more about successful strategies and skills. Citibank worked with a team of small business owners like you to develop, write, and produce this series.
 
These guides contain a wealth of information on starting and running your business and also include activities, worksheets, self-assessments, glossaries, and valuable additional resources for you to consult along the way. Entrepreneurship is the process of organizing, managing, and assuming the risks and rewards of a business or enterprise. Most people see entrepreneurship as the opportunity to pursue the dream of working for themselves. For many, it's not always about the money, but rather, about the passion and the challenge. Are you ready?
 
Starting your own business presents many challenges as well as the potential for many rewards, and all of us know how important it is to have clear, concise information to make smart business decisions. Our goal is to share experiences about the dynamic, exciting small business community. Our economy depends on entrepreneurs like you and is counting on you to help expand the growing tradition of small business opportunities. Use these guides to help you as you navigate the world of entrepreneurship and grow your small business. Thanks for choosing the Citibank Small Business information guide series as your resource.

This first guide in the series provides an overview of the field of entrepreneurship and how you potentially fit into this field. You will quickly find that becoming an entrepreneur is all about decisions. As you look at yourself in the business mirror, have you carefully considered the practical realities and responsibilities of having your own business? This guide will help you through many questions and many ways to assess whether or not entrepreneurship is right for you. You will be encouraged to weigh your motives, your talents, and your skills. Where do you fit into this picture?
 
Click here to download a PDF version of Guide 1.

New business opportunities are everywhere. Just ask the approximate 25 million owners of small businesses in the U.S. today. Every one of these entrepreneurs saw a niche, thought up a new idea, and took a chance to build a business where there was none. You can too. This guide helps you with the basic skills and resources you need to begin to be alert to new business opportunities, identify your personal skills and creativity related to small business, and analyze the commercial potential of a business opportunity.
 
Click here to download a PDF version of Guide 2.

Building a business model is one of the most critical steps an entrepreneur can take toward being a successful entrepreneur. A business model will help you get a handle on all those details and help you turn your ideas and dreams into a solid step-by-step plan. You will learn how business experts organize their thoughts, decisions, and strategies to get the best results. When you finish the guide, you will have in hand an accurate map to guide you on the road to successful entrepreneurship.
 
Click here to download a PDF version of Guide 3.

The purpose of financial management is to allow you to make wise financial decisions for your business. Depending on how you record, sort, organize, and analyze the data, you can get many different pictures of your company's financial strength, market position, and potential. This guide will give you the information and perspective you need to make business decisions and help you to expand your finance and business management skills to make smart financial decisions for your company.
 
Click here to download a PDF version of Guide 4.

Good businesses don't just happen. They are planned to be successful, and marketing plays a major role. If you want to grow your business successfully, you will need to market it successfully. Why do you need to market your business? With many possible competing businesses and many potential customers to win over, marketing is important in order to get your name out in the business community as well as to differentiate your product or service.
 
Click here to download a PDF version of Guide 5.

When deciding to establish a business venture, the first decision you need to make relates to the legal structure of the business - in other words, what kind of business are you going to legally establish? What regulations and guidelines must you follow to run your business legally and successfully? This guide provides information and many of the tools for you to make the operational decisions - decisions about the daily activities of a business - toward establishing a successful business formula.
 
Click here to download a PDF version of Guide 6.

How do you recruit and retain good employees? What skill sets do you need your employees to have to run your business successfully? The process of finding, hiring, and keeping the right employees can be one of the more challenging aspects of operating a small business and involves many aspects, including the day-to-day management of the employees who contribute to producing the goods and services that your business provides. And as a small business owner, you may be the Human Resources department.
 
Click here to download a PDF version of Guide 7.

A solid business plan is the blueprint for your new business and is crucial to its success. It will help you get a clear picture of each segment of your business, as well as allow you to see opportunities and take advantage of them - and perhaps more importantly, to spot possible pitfalls and avoid them. This guide will help you to understand the importance of a business plan, pull together the information you have developed or collected about your new business, create an integrated plan, and utilize your plan to secure funding, employees, and customers.
 
Click here to download a PDF version of Guide 8.

Funding for your new venture can be a big challenge, but it is essential. How do you apply for and secure funding? How do you plan for unexpected funding needs for your business? Is it important to establish a banking relationship and develop a strong working partnership with your banking representative? This guide will help you with these questions as well as help you to learn about the various types of funding available for new businesses, to understand the difference between personal and business expenses, and how your personal credit rating is important as a business resource.
 
Click here to download a PDF version of Guide 9.

Your small business, like every business, will have its own life cycle. What will this experience have in store for you? How do you know what the next logical step for your business should be - close, merge, acquire, or sell? This guide will take you through the different phases of a business and will help you to identify the business opportunities and challenges of each stage of the business life cycle. It will also help you to establish milestones to evaluate progress on business goals. It's an exciting journey.
 
Click here to download a PDF version of Guide 10.

Click here to download a PDF version of the Executive Summary.