This month, 250 eager entrepreneurs gathered at the Water's Edge in Westbrook, CT, for the Success 2000: Turn Your Vision into a Reality seminar. The guest panel featured billionaire businessmen Bruce Lev of Microwarehouse, Leon Hirsch of US Surgical, and Brett Brewer of CD Universe who shared their experiences of taking a good idea to the apex of commercial success.

The real highlight of the seminar were the small workshops focused on the various aspects of internet selling: Ecommerce, venture capital, writing a business report, power speaking and conferencing, buying and selling businesses, entrepreneurial skills, succession planning, business from start to success, and power writing.

Advice For Your Business
The first few cyber steps taken may seem easy, perhaps nothing more than typing in a few auctions on the family computer. But success soon breeds growth and preparing for the future makes those growing pains easier to bear.

1) Create a Business Plan
The upshot of Success 2000 was the simple truth that Internet businesses benefit from the same tried and true aids that bolster the brick and mortar variety. A good business plan is the backbone of any growth. Laying out how you intend to conduct your enterprise and plan for the future is important, whether it's explaining to your family why the den has been converted to a warehouse or asking a venture capitalist for millions of dollars. A plan forces you to think about the steps for growth: buying a better computer, setting up an efficient postage system, deciding the best equipment buys that will allow you to sell more in less time, accounting for your expenditures and, hopefully, profits. And then there's the possibility of employees to consider!

2) Work Hard (we knew that!)
Success on the Internet is nothing more than old-fashioned hard work. Among the three billionaire tycoons that opened the festivities, the common thread was the long, hard hours it took to reach the top. Working the equivalent of two full time jobs and learning about finance was the norm - and what it took to acquire a personal helicopter.

3) Weather the Storm
But a plan and a dream aren't a skip to the bank. You can lay out the best map possible but you better be resilient enough to weather the pitfalls along the way. Leon Hirsch's came twice. The first hurdle he had to overcome was convincing physicians that a guy who never went to college and tinkered in his basement really did have a better way to close patients after surgery. Imagine the look on the first doctor's face as Hirsh describes staples as the way to go. The second was an attempt on his life from an animal rights activist who thought it was a good idea to plant a pipe bomb in his car.

Brett Brewer's test by fire began when a cyber-terrorist faxed him a simple message: deposit $100,00 in my bank account or I'll post your clients' credit card numbers on the world wide web.

Bruce Lev's trial proved personal and involved a trusted financial officer who was caught embezzling large sums; an act that pulled the plug on Microwarehouse's stock prices.

Summary
The message of Success 2000 was clear. Use your head and common sense when it comes to doing business on the Internet. Do lots of homework. Plan and then plan some more. And finally, be courageous in the face of adversity.

Another Success 2000 seminar is planned for October 24 in Cromwell, CT. Call 1-800-356-6868 or register online at http://www.ctsuccess.com.

If you're nowhere near the southern New England area and would like to learn more about Internet business, the Small Business Administration is ready and willing to be of service (http://www.sba.gov).