Today in Global Small Business: Globalization in a Post-COVID World

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

• Globalization in a post-COVID world.
• Globalization is not in decline.
• Quote of the week:  “We must create a kind of globalization that works for everyone... and not just for a few." – Nestor Kirchner
• Globalization can't go back to the past, nor will it.
• Economic globalization after the global pandemic.
• How globalization and urbanization created the perfect storm

You Are Blessed If You See Beautiful Things in Humble Places

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All right reserved.

“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” – Camille Pissarro

Personal Space Is Something You Dream of in Your Sleep

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Soyeong Kim, PhD is a counseling psychologist in Providence, Rhode Island and a post-doctoral research fellow at Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Her research focuses on understanding stress and trauma within cultural context. She has particular interests in serving historically marginalized populations. She writes:

Growing up in Seoul, South Korea, it felt the city never stopped turning its wheels. Restaurants open 24-hours. Street signs that never went off. Korean karaoke unending through the night. Fifty-one million people – a population larger the combined populations of Texas and Florida – living in a country half the size of New England. So, as you can imagine, personal space is something that you dreamed of in your sleep.

Learn more about how Dr. Kim shuts off the outside world in a good way, better known as mindfulness.

Giving Thanks

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"Thanksgiving Day is a good day to recommit our energies to giving thanks and just giving.” – Amy Grant 

Laurel Delaney Says Gratitude is the Key to Fulfillment

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Forming new relationships and strengthening existing ones have been great gifts to me [Laurel Delaney] in 2020. They have kept me sane, motivated and feeling very much alive, all with a greater sense of purpose. Gratitude is the key to fulfillment. Here is my shortlist of what has kept me going during COVID-19 and what am I most thankful for in 2020.

Global Small Business Owners: Secure Your Future into 2021 and Beyond with a Grant from eBay and Hello Alice

©iStock/Dilok Klaisataporn

Starting November 23, 2020, eBay, in partnership with Hello Alice, is giving back to the global small businesses that power America and is awarding more than $500,000 in grants and education resources to help small businesses stay up and running online and secure their future into 2021 and beyond.  The program is called Up & Running. 

Learn more here.  Program closes December 11, 2020 at midnight ET.

Today in Global Small Business: The Gratitude Edition

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

• Thanksgiving is a great time for families to teach gratitude. 
• Use gratitude to counter stress and uncertainty.
• Quote of the week:  “Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” – Maya Angelou
• The humble person is the grateful person.
• How to plan and even be grateful for a socially distanced Thanksgiving.
• Gather safely this Thanksgiving 2020.
• And we thank all of you for your readership to The Global Small Business Blog – feeling grateful, thankful and blessed.

Don't Stop Believing

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"You can do anything as long as you don't stop believing. When it is meant to be, it will be. You just have to follow your heart." – Keke Palmer

Qingdao, China: Can You Contract Covid-19 From Ship Workers or Contaminated Cargo?

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The New England Journal of Medicine reports out on a rapid response to an outbreak in Qingdao, China.  The outbreak alarm was triggered on October 11, 2020, when three cases of Covid-19 were reported in Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong Province. 

The probable source of this cluster was determined to be two dock workers from the city’s port, who were determined on September 24 to have asymptomatic infection. They had no history of travel or contact with anyone confirmed to have Covid-19, but they may have contracted the virus from ship workers or contaminated cargo. These dock workers tested positive during regular biweekly screening for high-risk groups, which was part of the city’s Covid-19 surveillance. 

Read on to see how this case was handled.

German Composer Richard Wagner At His Best

There are Not Enough Women Investing in Women (Yet)

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Some quick intros.  Kay Koplovitz founded and served as CEO of USA Networks, now part of NBC Universal. She also is cofounder and chairman of Springboard Growth Capital, which invests in women-led, fast-growth companies, and she is cofounder and chairman of Springboard Enterprises, a nonprofit that aims accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial companies led by women through access to resources and a global community of experts. Alli McCartney is a managing director at UBS, and founder, Alignment Partners, a private wealth management group at UBS.

They recently spoke with Fast Company editor-in-chief Stephanie Mehta on how to get more high-net-worth women to invest in female founders.

RCEP: Spurring Recovery From the Global Pandemic?

©iStock/lakshmiprasad S

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), considered the world's largest trading bloc, is made up of 15 countries – members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and five regional partners – covering nearly a third of the global economy.  India is not a part of the partnership. Nor is the United States.  The countries involved are as follows:

1. Australia
2. Brunei
3. Japan
4. Malaysia
5. New Zealand
6. Singapore (check out a LinkedIn post)
7. Vietnam
8. China
9. Cambodia
10. Indonesia
11. Lao
12. Myanmar
13. Philippines
14. South Korea
15. Thailand

Why is this important?  Some say the RCEP isn't as comprehensive and doesn't cut tariffs as deeply as the TPP's successor. But many analysts think RCEP's sheer size makes it more significant.  According to Brookings, "Southeast Asia will benefit significantly from RCEP ($19 billion annually by 2030) but less so than Northeast Asia because it already has free trade agreements with RCEP partners."

Read on to learn more about how Asia-Pacific countries have formed a large trading bloc.

Today in Global Small Business: End-to-End Platform for Cross-Border Trade

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

• Check out the end-to-end platform for cross-border trade – 1Export, winner of the SoCal 2020 Global Pitch (congrats Anna Melissa Nava!).
• The ins and outs to export financing.
• Quote of the week:  “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of production and trade...” ― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
• Hong Kong exports are facing an uncertain future after Washington announced this past summer that all Hong Kong imports must be labeled as "Made in China" in response to Beijing's imposition of a national security law in the city.
• Biden and Brexit.
• Any place in the world experiencing over tourism right now?  Surprisingly, yes.

Spring at the Close of a Winter Day

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day." – Elizabeth Bowen

How Do You Know When Your Brand Is Ready to Go Global?

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Expanding your business globally requires plenty of advance marketing and a team that can pivot quickly.  That said, how do you know when your brand is ready to go global?  It boils down to asking yourself 3 questions.

Reminder: Technology Strengthens American Trade

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U.S. economic growth and job creation depend on the ability to sell beyond America’s borders because 95% of consumers live outside the United States.  Moreover, U.S. businesses that export tend to grow faster, create more jobs, and become more resilient in the face of a changing economy.

Read on to learn more about growing small business exports.

Happy Veterans Day 2020

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"Happy Veterans Day to our soldiers, both past and present. We owe you our thanks throughout the year, but more than that, we owe you our freedom."

Great Global Leaders Tell It Like It Is

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As thought leader Ron Ashkenas writes for the Harvard Business Review:

Great leaders tell it like it is. In other words, they focus on reality, no matter how painful or unpleasant it might be, and then figure out what to do about it. In contrast, less effective leaders sometimes avoid hard truths, argue with the data, and delay tough decisions.

Read the entire article:  The Dangers of Denial

Today in Global Small Business: America Fires Trump and Elects Biden as Nation's 46th President

 

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

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

• America fires Trump and elects Biden as nation's 46th president.
• Election highlights:  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
• Quote of the week:  “Now let's give each other a chance." – President elect Joe Biden
• Kamala Harris's history of firsts.
• Biden's trade policy ...
• Will Biden end trade wars?

Biden Wins the USA Presidential Race 2020

We're All In This Together

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"We are all in this together. We will all make it or none of us will make it. If everyone cleans up their act except one big ole country, it isn't going to work." – Ted Danson

Classical Music for Studying and Increasing Global Brainpower

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW): November 16-22, 2020

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Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) will cover a variety of topics on such current and future business challenges as how to pivot, rebuild or reopen during COVID-19. 

Discover tens of thousands of events, activities and competitions that are taking place all over the world.

Fortune Favors the Bold

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Fortune favors the bold and especially those who go after global opportunities to fuel growth.  Ireland is no different.  The country is unquestionably a magnet for investment from some of the largest tech companies in the world.  And like London’s reputation as a global financial center, the draw of Dublin for technology businesses has become self-perpetuating.

Read on to learn more about why Irish tech businesses are going global.

A Pathway Forward to Accessibility for Everyone Outdoors: wegginar® 11/4

©2020 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global.  All rights reserved.

Kelly Twichel, CEO Access Trax, is an occupational therapist and passionate accessibility advocate from San Diego, California.  In wegg's next wegginar® November 4, 2020 at 11AM CT, she'll be chatting about:

• What inspired her to invent her product.
• What have been her challenges and what has been most rewarding for her.
• How she ships her product to more than 10 different countries.
• How she sells her product.
• Where she sees herself in five years.

To learn more and to register for this free-of-charge program (thanks to generous sponsors), visit:  Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®

Today in Global Small Business: How to Develop Your Global Leadership Style

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

• How to develop your [global] leadership style.
• Define the problem to lead out of and solve it.
• Quote of the week:  “None of us is as smart as all of us." ― Peter B. Grazier
• Be a "learn-it-all," not a "know-it-all."
• Where are the best jobs in our world?
• Technological disruptions are shaping our world.