Due Dilligence for Small Business
by Stuart Livesey
Back in the old days - the days before the Web - small business people usually did business with people they knew and they took advice from people they knew too.
These days, thanks to the Web, small business people are inundated with ‘good advice’ from people they don’t know, have never heard of before and basically have no clue about. Yet too many of us take that advice at face value and pin the success or failure of our business on that advice without taking the time to do a little research into the background of the people who are giving that ‘good advice’.
What’s crazy about that is that the one tool that we need to do that research is within easy reach. We don’t have to hire anyone to do the research, we don’t have to run background checks, all we have to do is run the person’s name - or the name of his business - through Google and you will find the information you need.
Recently several writers that I respect were talking about a new advertising system for sites like this one. They thought it was a wonderful idea and would bring in plenty of advertising revenue. I ran the name of the guy who was promoting the system through Google and came to a different conclusion.
Instead of showing that he was steady level-headed businessman it showed that he was basically a flea who jumped from one idea to the next and never stuck at any of them long enough for my liking so I passed and others who did the research passed too.
So next time you find some good advice on the Net spend a little time doing some due diligence with the help of Google … and don’t be afraid to go well beyond the first page in Google’s listing for that person. The information you want to see is often tucked away on pages deeper than the first page.
Spending five minutes in Google now could save you a lot of time and money further down the track.
And don’t forget to Google me - for all you know I could be as much of a flea as the guy I mentioned above. 
