Over half the small businesses that open their doors today, will close their doors in less than a year. That’s a 50% failure rate and that’s scary. But if business owners set their mindset before opening their businesses, the failure rate could drop.

Every entrepreneur faces a plethora of mindset challenges. We’re going to look at three of the common challenges that plague small business owners in a series of three articles.

Article 1 – Business Pitfall #1: Money Paradigm
Article 2 – Business Pitfall #2: No Plan
Article 3 – Business Pitfall #3: Information Overload

Business Pitfall #2: No Plan

Let’s start with a well-known saying “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Without a plan you have no idea where you are going or how to get there. You do not need a 50-page thesis outlining every detail of your business. All you need is a very simple action plan.

A plan will also help you set benchmarks and allows you to celebrate your successes as you progress.

Setting up a simple business plan can be as easy as defining your:

1. Objectives
2. Strategies
3. Tactics
4. Daily To Do List

Objectives
Starting at the top, your objectives are your broad overview. They define what you want to accomplish. For example, ABC Business will gross $100,000 in sales in 2009…

Strategies
Your strategies answer your objectives. They describe how you are going to accomplish the objective you’ve set. For example, …by selling affiliate products on the internet…

Tactics
Your tactics explain how you plan to accomplish your strategies. They explain what you’re going to do in more detail. For example, …by setting up 10 websites that promote 5-10 products each and then promoting them…

Daily To Do List
And the final piece of your business plan is your daily to do list. This is where the rubber hits the road and where you take a definite action or actions, every single day. For example, …by writing one article per week, contacting ten new joint venture partners each week, and placing pay per click advertising on Google and Yahoo.

When you piece them all together you have a specific objective that will be met daily by your To Do list actions. For each business objective, you’ll have a complete path to a daily To Do list.

Here’s what your plan for the first objective looks like:

ABC Business will gross $100,000 in sales in 2009… by selling affiliate products on the internet… by setting up 10 websites that promote 5-10 products each and then promoting them… by writing one article per week, contacting ten new joint venture partners each week, and placing pay per click advertising on Google and Yahoo.

Now you have a very specific business plan with a daily To Do list. It makes it very easy to measure your progress by measuring what you accomplish each day and the results from each action you take.

Your business plan doesn’t have to be a book, it simply has to be a plan that you can follow to achieve your goals. And the smaller, more easy to follow your plan is, the more likely you are to follow it to success.

Terry Telford

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Terry Telford is a co-founder of iClick University, a step-by-step program for building your internet business. For a full course outline, visit http://www.iClickUniversity.com
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Watch for a series of iClick University stories. This is Fred’s Story:

Talk again soon.

Enjoy your day!

Terry Telford

Trenton, Ontario – April 1, 2009 – iClick University just released it’s new business development program, the Dynamic Internet Business Program. The three-semester course can be completed in less than a month and turns the average person into an Internet business owner. The self-directed program offers a step-by-step approach to setting up an online business and is easy enough for even a beginning internet user to follow.

The co-founders of iClick University, Terry Telford and Richard Butler, have 17 years of combined e-commerce experience, and a total of 31 years business experience. Both have successful consulting businesses and started iClick University to help the average person pull themselves out of their current economic situation.

Telford said, “Recent statistics show the average person is spending 114% of their income. Thanks to credit card debt, most people are effectively bankrupt. Getting out of that kind of debt is extremely difficult without an additional income. The internet provides people with the additional income they need.”

But starting a small business on the internet is not as easy as it first appears. As Butler said, “Type “Make money” into Google and you’ll find 232,000,000 results. That’s a potential 232,000,000 different ways to start a business. The average person needs one. One simple, step-by-step training program that shows them exactly what to do to set up and market a business on the internet. That’s what the iClick University Dynamic Internet Business Program does.”

The average person with little or no business experience can follow the course and have a fully functional website that makes sales within 30 days. The entire course takes about 70 hours and is fully self-directed. If the student wants to work at it full time, they can complete it in a week or two. If they want to work at it part time, they can take two or three months if they want. It’s completely up to the student.

For a course outline and further details on the program, visit http://www.iClickUniversity.com

About Terry Telford Communications Inc. and Ebits.ie

iClick University is a co-operative program designed by Terry Telford Communications Inc., based in Trenton, Ontario, Canada, and Ebits.ie, based in Dublin, Ireland. Terry Telford Communications Inc. specializes in consulting for small and medium businesses. Ebits specializes in personal and business coaching. Together, the owners of both companies worked on the core of iClick University for three years, prior to its release on April 1, 2009.

Contact Info:

Terry Telford

Terry Telford
Terry Telford Communications Inc.
PO Box 22111, Trenton Centre RPO
Trenton, Ontario
K8V 6S3
Canada
Skype: terry_telford
Web: http://www.iClickUniversity.com

Over half the small businesses that open their doors today, will close their doors in less than a year. That’s a 50% failure rate and that’s scary. But if business owners set their mindset before opening their businesses, the failure rate could drop.

Every entrepreneur faces a plethora of mindset challenges. We’re going to look at three of the common challenges that plague small business owners in a series of three articles.

Article 1 – Business Pitfall #1: Money Paradigm
Article 2 – Business Pitfall #2: No Plan
Article 3 – Business Pitfall #3: Information Overload

Business Pitfall #1: Money Paradigm

A paradigm is a commonly held belief, or way of thinking. Sometimes it may be true, but quite often it is not. For example, in ancient times, a common paradigm was, “the world is flat.” Science proved that paradigm to be false.

Today, a common paradigm is, money is in limited supply. The truth is, there is no limit to the amount of money you can amass. The only real commodity in limited supply is time. However, you must remember that time is your friend, not your enemy! Every person has the same amount of time in a day. But people use their time differently. The activities of a multimillionaire are much different than those of a struggling factory worker.

Today, most people’s outlook on money is defined by their paycheck. If they make $3,000 a month, they try to squeeze their lifestyle into a $3,000 box. They live in a house they can almost afford, they drive a vehicle they don’t like and they travel only as much as their credit card allows. They think money is limited.

In the industrial age, that was somewhat true. People could get a second job to supplement their income, but they rarely got further ahead, because they were still limited by the amount of time they could work. Thank goodness we’re not in the industrial age. At the turn of the century we entered the information age.

Today, you can sit in front of your computer for an hour or two and make tens, even hundreds of times more money than you could make in the industrial age. Your income is no longer limited to the number of hours you can work. It’s only limited by your imagination, your knowledge and your action.

People all over the world are turning to the internet to start a small business venture. The advantages of a virtual business include, no commuting, very low start up costs, minimal maintenance fees, flexible work hours, no set location – work wherever there’s an internet connection, and no boss hanging over your shoulder.

The internet opens a whole new world of possibilities for ordinary people who are willing to push through the money paradigm.

Terry Telford

Terry Telford is a co-founder of iClick University, a step-by-step program for building your internet business. For a full course outline, visit http://www.iClickUniversity.com