New Jersey Awarded $1.5M in Funding to Expand Small Business Exporting

©iStock/Ultima_Gaina

Are you a business owner located in New Jersey who aspires to take your business global?  The timing could not be better.

The New Jersey Business Action Center (NJBAC), received $1.5M in funding for the New Jersey STEP (NJSTEP) program to provide financial awards on a first come, first served competitive basis to New Jersey eligible small businesses that are new to export, as well as those businesses who currently sell their goods and services to other countries. The program is funded in part through a grant with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Learn more here and go for global!

Together, We Can Fix Climate Change (Video)

A Hackathon to Develop Solutions That Can Help SMBs

©iStock/Bohdan Skrypnyk

The Good Ideas Exchange, which will take place in October, will bring owners of SMBs together with leaders from companies including American Express, Facebook, Indeed, UPS and Vimeo to take part in a hackathon to develop solutions that can help SMBs respond to the challenges they are facing, and those that are green-lit will be revealed early next year. 

Read more.

The United States to Lift Pandemic Travel Restrictions in November

©iStock/Phoenix0013

USA President Biden kept the restrictions on travelers from the European Union, Britain, India and other places, despite pleas from business leaders in need of profits from tourism, foreign workers who traveled overseas to renew visas to work in the United States only to be left stranded, and citizens left separated from their partners abroad.  That will soon change.

The Biden administration will lift travel restrictions starting in November for foreigners who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, reopening the country to thousands of people, including those who have been separated from family in the United States during the pandemic, and easing a major source of tension with Europe.

This could help rejuvenate a U.S. tourism industry that has been crippled by the pandemic.

Today in Global Small Business: Unique Outdoor Stays to Find Yourself

©iStock/Alexlukin

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

• A comprehensive resource for unique outdoor stays (timely during a pandemic) – Hipcamp.
• Speaking of traveling, how about fly now and pay later?
• What do people think of globalization and trade? 
• Quote of the week:  “Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world." – Gustave Flaubert
• A five-step plan for businesses to scale globally, which includes remembering to speak the language.
• What's it like to launch a big global marketing campaign?

Never Stop Trying

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Never stop trying.  Never stop believing.  Never give up.  Your day will come." – Mandy Hale

Life Is Not Easy. Doing What You Love, That's What Makes Life

©iStock/gorodenkoff

“Life is not easy,” says Mexican pastries and bread business, Clementina’s Sweets founder Esmeralda Jimenez. “Doing what you love, that’s what makes life.”

The pandemic has disproportionately affected women, with significant numbers laid off, leaving their jobs or reducing work hours to care for children being schooled at home or other family members.

So if you are dreaming of becoming your own boss, these women made it happen during COVID-19.

Paris is a Moveable Feast; So is Tianducheng

©iStock/DashaMuller

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast," sys Ernest Hemingway posthumously in his published memoirs A Moveable Feast (1964).

It appears one town in China has taken the Nobel laureate's words to heart, quite literally. 

Located in eastern China, Tianducheng would be like any other unassuming suburban sprawl in the country were it not for its uncanny resemblance to the French capital. 

Discover more because you won't believe how much this Chinese City looks like Paris – from the Eiffel Tower to minute details such as street lamps and urban furniture.

Why Millions of People Started a Business During the Pandemic

©iStock/scyther5

One new small-business owner said, "When you're not sure what's going on, you make the best of it that you can."  That about sums things up.

During the pandemic, entrepreneurs opened their own businesses at more than twice the rate seen in pre-pandemic times, thanks to government support programs and improved remote technology that weren't available during other economic downturns such as the Great Recession.

Read on to discover how entrepreneurship becomes a power booster during economic uncertainty.

Michigan Receives $2,000,000 State Trade Expansion Program STEP Grant

©iStock/PapaBear

Michigan received $2 million in federal grant funds to help Michigan small businesses grow in the state through increased access to global markets. The amount is the maximum awarded by the SBA and a $650,000 increase from 2021.  

Managed by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s International Trade program, the Michigan STEP grant initiative (MI-STEP) aims to promote job creation by empowering Michigan small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to export their products, supplying financial assistance awards for eligible export development-related expenses.

The funds are expected to assist more than 350 Michigan companies in increasing international sales.

Read on to learn more.

Today in Global Small Business: The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

©iStock/BenGoode

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

• The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
• Additive manufacturing can make a huge impact.  Take a look at America's first 3-D printed homes for sale. 
• Wonder Brands to build a portfolio of e-commerce brands that operate in the Mercado Libre and Amazon ecosystems. 
• Quote of the week:  “It's not a faith in technology.  It's faith in people.” – Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple
• Coderhouse is a digital training platform with offices in San Francisco and Buenos Aires.
• Cloud platform WalkMe made headlines earlier this year adding a transgender executive to its board.

Cause a Little Bit of Summer

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Cause a little bit of summer is what the whole year is about." – John Mayer