New Kid on the Block in Chicago: OfficeMax in the Streeterville Area!

Photo courtesy:  OfficeMax

Photo courtesy:  OfficeMax

Photo courtesy:  OfficeMax

I had the great pleasure to connect with Kristin Muntean, vice president of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation at OfficeMax to discuss its new OfficeMax location in the heart of downtown Chicago. According to Muntean, the OfficeMax Business Solutions Center advances the third pillar in the OfficeMax “Road to Success” strategic plan—innovative and disruptive moves. As a leading worldwide supplier of workplace products, services and solutions that provides a seamless, multichannel network for delivering those solutions, OfficeMax is establishing a new way to partner with today’s growing businesses. Here’s an excerpt from our interview.

Laurel Delaney: Why did you open a location in the near North side of Chicago – Streeterville -- area?

Kristin Muntean: OfficeMax recognized the positive relationships that exist between the small business community and the city of Chicago. Chicago and OfficeMax both support small business, their growth initiatives and their innovation. With over 19,000 businesses within a one mile radius of the Streeterville location, there is a great opportunity for OfficeMax Business Solutions Centers to provide more focused support and solutions to the local businesses and the entrepreneurs in the area.

Delaney: Why the target on small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs)?

OfficeMax has a successful history of serving business customers of all sizes, which makes us uniquely positioned to introduce a retail format designed for local businesses and entrepreneurs. We understand that entrepreneurs have specific needs and the importance of providing a resource nearby that will work to understand and serve their business. The OfficeMax Business Solutions Center is a unique retail concept designed specifically to address the needs of local entrepreneurs and small businesses through a relationship-based service center focused on the services, products and solutions they need.

Delaney: Please explain your key differentiator at OfficeMax Business Solutions Center.

Muntean: Through this relationship-based retail service center, OfficeMax provides local businesses with a portfolio of specially tailored services and solutions. Key elements of the OfficeMax Business Solutions Center in Streeterville include:

1. Focus on small business customer: We understand the needs of small businesses and have services, products and solutions to help grow their businesses.

2. Services focused: The store has a wide array of services, specifically designed for business, including print and document services, computer repair and maintenance, hard drive recovery, 24/7 IT support, websites and web design, domain names, cloud storage, shipping, office space planning, payroll processing, credit card processing and more. In addition to services, the OfficeMax Business Solutions Center also has a full array of office supplies and technology products including laptops, tablets and printers.

3. Business Solutions Adviser: Our Business Solutions Adviser has an office in the store and partners with business customers to understand their needs and create customized programs and pricing specifically designed for each business.

4. Knowledgeable associates: Associates have received enhanced training to ensure the highest quality service to help connect entrepreneurs to the products and services they need.

5. Collaborative and technology enabled center: Business community space within the store includes free Wi-Fi that lets customers conduct informal meetings or simply bring in their laptop to plug in and work.

Delaney: What’s the biggest benefit to SMEs knowing about your Center?

Muntean: The OfficeMax Business Solutions Center provides local businesses and entrepreneurs with a relationship service center to meet their needs and help them grow. We are a “one-stop shop” that goes beyond office supplies and products and offers a full range of services and solutions to meet the needs of all types of businesses from start-up to those businesses that have years of experience. Every step of the process—from starting up and formalizing their business to setting up an office or website—OfficeMax can be their partner. Your readers can find out more about the service and product offering at the OfficeMax Business Solutions Center here: officemax.com/businesscenter.

So my dear readers, you want to grow your business?  Pay a visit to OfficeMax Business Solutions Center during the holidays!  The address is:  550 N. St. Clair Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60611, U.S.A. 

Note:  This is not a paid endorsement nor is it an advertisement.  This is merely our support to the great things OfficeMax is doing for SMEs in our neighborhood.

Gold Gems for Taking Your Business Global

iStock/Thinkstock

Kunal Sarda, cofounder and COO of VerbalizeIt, a human-powered translation platform for businesses, crafts a good case for Forbes on taking your business global.

What was once a game reserved for multinationals [going global] is now open to anyone. Why haven’t small businesses gotten the memo?

The Secrets to Taking Your Business Global

The Countdown Begins on the Release of "Exporting: The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably"

Photo courtesy:  Apress

We are getting closer to the publication date on Exporting:  The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably.  Meanwhile, here's a clip on an interview my esteemed colleague John Tozzi conducted with me for Bloomberg Businessweek:

What U.S. Entrepreneurs Should Know About Exporting Now

Here's a clip from the interview:

What made you want to write this [book] now?

Not enough entrepreneurs and small businesses really know how to export. The Internet has been a game changer for anyone who wants to do business internationally. How do you reach customers? What do you do as a small business owner to have the world find you? Once you find those customers, how do you get paid? Once you get paid, how do you get the merchandise or the service in the hands of a potential customer? Sign-up to be notified when Exporting is published!

Stuck on Business Growth? Look Outside Your Own Borders!

iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Tom McGee, deputy chief executive officer at Deloitte LLP, writes a thoughtful article on why companies should consider going global and what questions you should ask beforehand.

One interesting quote from Mr. McGee:

With 95% of the world’s consumers residing outside the U.S., going global can be a pretty attractive option for many mid-sized companies. In fact, a recent Deloitte survey found that almost three-quarters of mid-market executives say global expansion is important to their business.

 Read the entire article:  Five Questions to Ask Before Going Global

Global Mobile: Put It First in 2014

iStock/Thinkstock

Want to go global?  According to Nic Newman's article for CNN.com, you should put mobile first.

Gartner, the market research firm, has predicted that by 2015, tablet sales will be higher than those of PCs and laptops combined. There are now more connected mobile devices on earth than there are people.

 Read the entire article here.

Note:  I devote an entire chapter to mobile business - the greatest challenge and greatest opportunity facing businesses today - in my new book:  Exporting:  The Definitive Guide To Selling Abroad Profitably (coming out this month!).

Seven Trends Supporting Global Small Businesses

Wavebreak Media/Thinkstock

The benefits to going global are unlimited.  With it, though, come some challenges such as how to go mobile, reach out to the world via social media and outsource to online vendors and contractors?  Fortunately, I address all of these issues and many more in my new book, Exporting:  The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably coming out by Apress December 18, 2013!  Meanwhile, read:

7 Tech Trends Supporting Small Business Globalization in 2014

Sweet Home Chicago For the Holidays

©2013 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

The historic Chicago Water Tower with a pretty holiday tree in front - one of the few buildings in downtown Chicago that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1781.

All Printers On Earth Apply Here

iStock/Thinkstock

FESPA, the only independent global awards in the print industry recognizing the best print in the world and the people behind them, has overhauled its awards program, opening the event to every single printer in the world and toning down emphasis on technology.

“We wanted to open the event to every printer in the world so they can show off their talents and skills,” he [Duncan MacOwan, head of events] said. “We also wanted to make it annual to give greater exposure to winners, short-listed and highly commended entries and give added momentum and relevance.”

The ten application categories are as follows (make yours fit!):

1. Instore
2. Outdoor
3. Interior
4. Functional decoration
5. Garment
6. Integrated
7. Sustainable
8. Special effect
9. Fine art
10. Vehicle decoration

The independent judging panel includes end-users such as ad agencies, print buyers, printers and other experts.  The judges come from NikeID, McCann Erickson Istanbul and Philips BG Consumer Luminaires, to name just a few of the representative companies.

Are you a printer?  Then apply today -- visit http://www.fespa.com/awards -- to get the worldwide attention you deserve.  You have until February 28, 2014 to submit your application.  Good luck!

Original source:  Fespa awards go global and "technology agnostic"

Thank You for Your Readership; It Means the World to Me!

iStock/Thinkstock

Examining Product Names in Multiple Languages

iStock/Thinkstock

Making sure a company or product name does not offend anyone, sound strange or translate into something other than its original intent in countries all over the world is no easy feat.  For Choice Translating, based in Charlotte, its their profitable niche examining product names in multiple tongues.

"It's expensive to create a brand identity," says Vernon Menard, who co-owns [For Choice Translating] with his wife, Michelle. "We're cheap insurance." 

Read the entire article:  Found in translation:  Avoiding multilingual gaffes

Related article(s):

• How not to sell abroad
• Adventures in Mistranslations From Around the World
• Funny Mistranslations From Around the World

Look Abroad for Growth

iStock/Thinkstock

According to "Expanding Internationally:  How to Improve Your Odds Abroad" published by the Daily Business Buzz:

• China's economy grew by over 10 per cent annually from 2000 to 2010
• India expanded by seven per cent yearly
• Brazil has grown by nearly four per cent per year
• The economies of Canada, the U.S. and the European Union each grew by less than two per cent annually

“The emerging markets are where you have constant GDP growth. Going to those countries should be no longer a question of why, but rather a question of how,” says Frank Pho, vice president, Global Expansion, at the Business Development Bank of Canada

Looking abroad for growth offers increased revenues, additional profitability and much needed diversification for small businesses.

Read the entire article:  Expanding Internationally:  How to Improve Your Odds Abroad 

The Game Goes Global, Baseball That Is

iStock/Thinkstock

Major league baseball is about to take baseball around the world. 

“I’m really looking forward to growing the sport around the world, to teaching some kids to play the game that has given me and my family so much,” LaTroy Hawkins* said.

Read the entire article:  Major League Baseball going global with offseason outreach efforts

* Hawkins is 40 years old and a veteran of 19 major league seasons.