The biggest mistake new e-businesses make is not initially putting enough money into venture. Just because it's Internet majority of new businesses do not put kind of resources behind it that they would any other endeavor. Many try free hosting, hiring a nephew to do design, using free shopping cart scripts, etc. The hard truth is while Net is great for reaching a global audience it also makes for global competition. If your selling books you're no longer competing with other book store in town or on same street - you are now competing with Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

The flip side is that if you plan well enough (or contract a reputable firm) you can minimize long term cost of running a successful enterprise. By choosing right infrastructure you can minimize time it takes for design and information updates, inventory management and pricing changes, and all other aspects of managing entire operation. One solution is to set up a data base solution in conjunction with a series of programs to handle everything from displaying your sites pages to handling ordering process. And while this does take more time to set up, you can get a data base that will handle all but largest businesses for free called MySQL - trick is to know when to use a free solution and when to pay piper. This is where learning from others mistakes comes in.

The other day one of our overseas clients called in a state of near panic, to ask a question. At issue was whether they had unwittingly violated U.S. law by transferring technical information to a joint venture partner in a European country. After hearing a two minute description, I was able to answer a resounding "Yes"! Such are dangers of operating in a global environment. The worst part is that my client had been lead into their misdeed by following well intentioned advice of a Fortune 100 U.S. corporation. One that certainly should have known better, but obviously does not. The potential penalties for such errors are daunting and ignorance of law is not a defense. For a mere administrative ("civil") infraction, penalty is up to $100,000 per occurrence. For intentional misdeeds, which are accorded criminal penalties, well, let's not even go there.

Few business executives realize that these laws apply to a far wider range of products and technical information than obvious military armaments. Computer software, including off-the-shelf commercial office programs for instance, are in many cases subject to export controls, as are many other seemingly commercial items having a potential dual use.

In addition to legal dangers, are those surrounding loss of proprietary advantage through sharp practice of intelligence gathering by competitors and even industrial espionage. Interestingly, a recent report out of U.K. placed France on equal standing with Russia as an intelligence threat, not for military secrets, but rather industrial espionage. Unfortunately, most companies believe that these threats only apply to military, space or ultra-high technology markets. Not so! Today, businesses in many run of mill industries are clearly at risk. Worse yet, many still do not realize it even after they have been stung. Business plans, customer lists, technology and other strategic assets can be lost or severely compromised without even knowing it until long afterward, if ever. Companies frequently wonder how their foreign competitors suddenly "got so smart" or why they "seem to know every move we make."