Bite the Bullet and Go Global

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Dr. Jana Matthews says, "Exporting is a business risk – but then so is starting a company."

The problem is, all too often, fear. Behavioural economists tell us that the fear of loss is twice as strong as the joy of gain. It's no wonder that entrepreneurs fear expanding into a foreign country where people speak a different language, operate under a different set of rules, and where there's no certainty they'll get paid – even if they can find customers who want their products.

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The Young Entrepreneur Council Talks About Going Global

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Before deciding to enter a new market, organizations have to identify what that market is, based on the services they provide and their target audience. That’s why 13 members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weighed in to address the following question.

“How can you best identify where you should be specifically expanding internationally based on your business model?"

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Bringing Global Women Business Leaders Together

Dubai Discounts Freight Rates for SMEs

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The agency of Dubai Economy mandated to develop the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, Dubai SME, has signed an agreement with DHL to launch the ‘Global Expansion Initiative for Small and Medium Enterprises’ program.

As per the new initiative, DHL will offer discounted freight charges and also provide access to workshops and training programmes on international expansion to Dubai SME members and companies rated under the SME RATE Framework.

This initiative instrumental to achieving the goals of the UAE Vision 2021 goal to building a diversified and sustainable economy, and aligns with the Dubai Plan 2021 goal of increasing the share of SMEs in the emirate’s GDP.

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Today in Global Small Business: Turning Waste Bananas Into a Global Venture

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Learn how Beddys grew its bed business globally and increased sales 700% from year one to year two (WEGGinar™ free of charge but you must register to attend; I'll be fielding the questions).
• What do Martha Stewart and CEO and Chairman of UPS David Abney have in common?  Global, of course.
• Turning waste bananas into flour, skincare and cosmetics -- and into a global venture.
• Global Payments versus Square; and the winner is ...
• India supports women-owned businesses.
• Importing products?  Make sure its profitable.

The Real You

©2017 Laurel J. Delaney.   All rights reserved.

"Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind.  The real you is loving, joyful, and free.  The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun." -- Don Miguel Ruiz

25 Ways to Get Noticed with your Small Business

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Gabrielle Pickard-White writes a good article for Small Business Trends on 25 types of marketing strategies for small businesses -- from creating a website, to writing a blog, to hosting a webinar -- and most of these can be taken global.  Read more ...

U.S. Puts the Brakes on Entrepreneurship From Other Countries

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Shameful.  The Trump administration has put the brakes on a program to encourage entrepreneurs from other countries to start and grow businesses here. It's now on hold and the delay could be damaging and possibly permanent.

The discouraging signal  to entrepreneurs may well crush their interest in America and send them to India, Ireland and other countries eager to reach the innovation big leagues.

If we care about creating jobs, we must let foreign-born founders work their magic in America.  Immigrants such as Elon Musk, of Tesla and SpaceX fame; Sergey Brin of Google, Aart De Geus of Synopsys, Jerry Yang of Yahoo, Lyndon Rive of SolarCity, Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai of Marvell and Patrick Lo of NetGear, all have created great enduring enterprises.

Here's a perfect ending to the article below:

A global economy has built America’s success over the past 50 years. If “America first” translates to isolationism — discouraging even legal immigration of the best and brightest — it will not make us “great” again.

Read more here.

The Online Shopping Experience Just Got Easier for SMEs

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The Atlanta, Georgia-based Elavon has teamed up with a leading shopping cart software provider 3dcart to offer an online storefront to businesses that seek to reinvent or create an online shopping experience.

“We [Elavon] partnered with leading shopping cart software provider, 3dcart, to deliver a cost-effective way to help SMBs get a dynamic, customer-friendly website up and running quickly so that they capture more online revenue,” head of Global Product and Innovation at Elavon Wally Mlynarski told the Small Business Trends. 

Learn more here.

How to Make Sales in Foreign Markets

Today in Global Small Business: The Great Borderbuster Newsletter

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• See how first daughter Ivanka Trump moved up to the front row of global diplomacy recently.
• How to be knowledgeable and creative when financing export sales (WEGGinar™on 7/12 - no charge).
• How do you ensure that your business doesn’t fall victim to WannaCry?
• How Bitcoin can help expand your business globally.
• How to sell a product you import at a profit.
• Join the Borderbuster monthly newsletter and receive stimulating and original ideas on how to go global (free of charge).

Some Sort of Character

©2017 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Now, personally, I like a car with some sort of character." -- Richard Hammond