In the digital world, you can find trusted and valuable advice at no cost… beware of the source and the motivation for offering advice at “no cost”. Check the source of no cost information and verify accuracy using other sources. This book is “low cost” - with access to additional information (charts, forms and spreadsheets) at no cost. My personal motivation at age 82 is not profit oriented – I feel like a kindergarten child wanting to see his artwork displayed on the door of the refrigerator. I’m also a firm believer in seeking and using advice from lessons learned and shared by others.Here are five simple ideas from another writer - offered by Paul Bac He writes for Business Aid Centre, a registered Australian independent research company.https://www.clickandinc.com/blog/5-fail-safe-strategies-for-small-businesses/5 Fail-Safe Strategies for Small Businesses1. Start with a good written business plan (and follow your plan)2. Know your customers (clients) more on this word later.3.Think Out of the Box (I call it “lateral thinking”.)4. Be Flexible (See advice #3)5. Delegation (Don’t get overloaded trying to do everything)Now we’ll look at all the other little details you’ll have to face if you are planning to operate a business…INTRODUCTIONThis book will help you create a fail-safe business plan in the digital era. Starting a new business or operating any business in the digital era opens new opportunities to ensure success; and also presents some unique challenges coupled with risk. The global economy is driven by digital information and “computer-controlled automation” affecting our daily lives while also bringing many benefits. Everyone is feeling the impact - large and small businesses, factories, health care, education; the final outcomes will not be known for decades. Early 2020, there were more than 4.3 billion internet users spending an average of more than six hours each day online - bring new meaning to the word “online. The words online and digital offer financial benefits and risk. As a business owner, you must take time to learn how to use the Internet and thousands digital hardware and software tools to promote and manage your business. I first began to understand the mysteries of how to encode and decode the alphabet and words using the binary number system; and use binary coded numbers to represent sound and light waves. Until sixty-years ago the digital world was unknown to me, and to a majority of the world. Today, millions have gained benefits of the Internet - that mysterious invisible global network providing instant access to business and personal data, video and voice contact between people and machines. We often feel “digital” joy and stress as result of the rapid growth (less than three decades) of the digital era. As mere humans we can feel powerless - limited from birth by our analog senses in an analog environment. This book will help you identify some of the risk and benefits of using digital resources to create a secure business - not subject to outsourcing or competition from big-box stores, or from 24/7/365 access to online competition. Digital tools (software/hardware) are now easily available on the Internet -- to you and millions of other entrepreneurs for a low investment. Four decades ago, large businesses started using business automation tools. As recent as twenty-years ago, a small business owner hired a bookkeeper or resorted to keeping record of expenses, sales, deposits in a shoe box - sorting all the stuff later for taxes. QuickBooks and other online tools can be used to “automate” all of your bookkeeping (accounting records) and other administrative tasks to reduce cost and errors and provide quick insight to profit and loss – helping you apply the 20/80 rule.