It’s a commonly quoted statistic: 80% of all small businesses 
will fail within the first five years of running. In fact, in 
Internet marketing, this figure can be as high as 95%.  Yes, 
it’s a commonly quoted statistic but for some reason, people are 
not very good at saying exactly why this happens. And it happens 
to what seems like nearly all newborn businesses.

It may be simply due to the usual factors i.e. inadequate time 
and energy investment in advertising, poor dedication, lack of 
perseverance, no focus, ambitiously low goal setting and so on. 

But the sadder news is that even with full and enthusiastic 
application of none of the above, many entrepreneurs may be 
headed slowly and steadily towards what can only be described 
as business suicide.

The number one reason why several businesses fail is lack of 
good quality, regular, astounding and highly relevant advice. 
It’s that simple. 

Running a business successfully is all about making decisions 
on a daily basis. The decisions that we make depend on a number 
of things including: 

   1. Past experiences and 
   2. Factual knowledge.

A new business owner may have relatively little or no experience. 
No one individual can know all the facts. 

The solution then becomes this: Create a skilled team. Put a 
skilled team together and not only would you have a combined 
increase in experience, but also your level of factual knowledge 
as an individual becomes somewhat less relevant.

To identify who should be in your team, you need to break-down 
decision making into specific areas. Try doing it like this:

 - If it is a legal problem, don’t try to solve it yourself. 
   Seek advice from your lawyer/solicitor first.
 - If it is a complex tax issue, speak to your local tax office. 
   Contact the IRS or Inland Revenue as appropriate.
 - If you’re getting severe accounting headaches, don’t cut 
   corners. Contact your accountant.
 - If you are having problems with finance, don’t make the 
   decision to borrow form lender X. Seek advice first. Would 
   your bank manager have any good ideas or suggestions? 


When faced with challenges, what you want is NOT to make 
decisions straightaway. What you want is advice. Good advice 
and lots of it. Then and only then can you decide before 
committing yourself to a specific plan of action. 

Next, and probably the most overlooked, is this: Do you know 
someone who is experienced in the same or similar line of 
business as you? Are they active? Are they successful? If you 
can answer yes to all of these questions about this person, then 
make them your best friend immediately. Put them somewhere near 
the top of your Christmas card list (If you send such cards). 

Try not to think of them as a business rival or competitor but 
think of them more as a mentor. Of course, it helps if they 
are approachable and keen to share their knowledge, tips and 
experience with keen and enthusiastic fellow business people.

In summary, remember this fact: No one ever became extremely 
successful all on his or her own. They got help and advice from 
lots of other people. Usually from people who are experts in 
their own respective fields. 

By Ugo Okonkwo
http://www.businessomatic.com/

Ugo works and trains as an Orthopaedic Surgeon. He also set 
up and runs several successful Internet Businesses including 
http://www.businessomatic.com/, for Internet, office and home 
based business opportunity ideas, tips and secrets a resource 
and guide for any aspiring Entrepreneur. Copyright Ugo Okonkwo 
http://www.businessomatic.com/. Please reprint or reproduce 
exactly as is together with resource box.