Colleen DeBaise is a contributing editor at Inc. and podcast host at The Story Exchange, a media nonprofit devoted to women business owners. She is the founder of Hampton Bee, a media site that provides news and tips for consumers who support small businesses on Long Island’s East End. In 2005, she was the winner of the Newswomen’s Club of New York’s Front Page award for specialized writing. Her book ‘Start a Successful Business: Expert Advice to Take Your Startup from Idea to Empire’ gives expert advice for helping potential entrepreneurs get their business off the ground.

From the editors at Inc. Magazine, ‘Start a Successful Business’ simplifies the business process and includes startup stories made to inspire and spark entrepreneurs into action. Its purpose is to walk readers through the seven crucial stages that it takes to build a successful business from idea to empire. Each chapter makes up one of these steps: Chapter 1: Come Up with a Brilliant Business Idea, Chapter 2: Select the Best Strategy and Structure for Your Startup, Chapter 3: Figure Out Funding, Chapter 4: Get the Word Out – and Get Customers, Chapter 5: Dig Deep to Discover Customer’s Wants and Needs, Chapter 6: Become an Exceptional Leader and Chapter 7: Prepare to Go Global.

All include various case studies and last words that summarized the chapter. Chapter 2 includes important basics everyone should know such as how to write a business plan that includes plan templates, components of a business plan, permits and paperwork while Chapter 3 has the all-important subject of business funding and provides funding sources such as credit cards, retirement savings, crowdfunding and professional investors. It also includes ways to calculating startup costs with bootstrapping tips like sharing office services and equipment, lease instead of purchase and negotiate fees and terms with all service providers and suppliers.

‘Start a Successful Business’ gives readers clear and concise information on starting a business from idea to successful business and includes interviews with success stories meant to inspire the everyday person to strive out on his or her own. It is meant to inform and motivate people who want to start a new business but do not know where to start and gives them easy step by step advice. The stand out chapter is Chapter 4 because it has much needed advice on how to get the word out about a new product or service. These ideas include networking, referrals and reviews, affinity groups, cold calling and advertising. Specially geared towards modern advertising is the ‘Social Media 101’ section that has the different social media networks, how they work and which one to use depending on a person’s needs: YouTube for tutorials, Instagram for visual based ideas and Snapchat if target audience is young, as with millennials. The tone is relaxed and easy to understand and follow. It is recommended for those with little to no business knowledge and is full of useful advice, ideas and success stories to motivate anyone who has ever dreamt of being a business owner.

*A copy of this book was given for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are solely the author’s.