2022 Will Bring Us More Passion, Confidence and Courage to Create the Life We Desire Most

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Discover major 2022 astrology predictions for the US and the world.  Spoiler alert:

2022 will bring you a surge of entrepreneurship and a greater focus on leadership

[The planet] Jupiter will be especially busy in 2022, as he will dance into Aries from May 10, 2022 until Oct. 28, 2022. In Aries, Jupiter will bring us more passion, confidence and courage to create the life we desire most. Whatever it is that you wish for — whether it’s personal or professional or a dearly held dream — you can more easily see it manifest when you step into your power, take the lead and initiate action.

It appears the universe will reward us for our perseverance.

All Bets Are On For Going Global in 2022

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Love this because I feel it applies to everyone who is reading this blog!  Yes, all bets are on for going global in 2022 and for the Irish-bred filly, Going Global, to keep winning in 2022!

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Is Your Brand Leading the Way to a Zero-Carbon Future?

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What on earth are you waiting for?

For decades, we've known about the threats of climate change. Now we're seeing the effects first-hand.  Faced with the greatest environmental crisis ever, we're not doing enough.

Learn more by visiting:  Climate Neutral

Build Your Global Small Business On Social Media Platforms

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“I built my business on social media; it’s where my fans go first to look for what’s next from Kylie Cosmetics,” say Kylie Jenner.

For college students who want to try their hand at launching a business, they have a ready-made customer base and marketing platform at their fingertips.

Social media platforms – Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok – recognize that potential and have been rolling out commerce tools.

Learn how these popular platforms are giving global small businesses the opportunity to reach millions — and in some cases billions — of users. This has been a game-changer for start-ups.

Today in Global Small Business: Orlinski's World

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

• Turning you on to Richard Orlinski's magnificent work (France).
• How to build brand love.  
• How corporations organize global production is becoming increasingly unsustainable.
• Quote of the week: "Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in." – Amy Lowell
• 10 potential New Year resolutions for global small businesses.
• Here are some ways to ensure your global small business grows in 2022, and how to keep and build your client base.

Merry Christmas!

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Wishing you a joyous Christmas! – Laurel J. Delaney, creator of The Global Small Business Blog

How to Get In the Christmas Spirit! (Music With a Fireplace Video)

Does Amazon Want to Eat Your Global Small Business For Lunch?

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Amazon claims "they are making things cheaper and easier so consumers should be content."  But while Amazon’s prices are cheap, the way it siphons and uses information from its sellers is not.

The article below purports:

“If you sell on Amazon, you’ll be handing over the fate of your business, your livelihood, to your biggest most aggressive enemy — an enemy that has every intention of eating your lunch.”

Join the debate:  Is Amazon good for global small business?

Love These Books for Altering Your State of Mind in 2022

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Love, love, love these books.  I hope you take the time to read them during your holiday break.

1. How to Change – find out what's standing between you and success.
2. Chatter – how to harness the hidden power of our inner voice to combat anxiety and deepen our relationships with others.
3. Think Again (my fav) – build the intellectual and emotional muscle to unlearn and relearn, which requires choosing courage over comfort.

The Challenges of Global Growth are Varied and Difficult But Through Perseverance, Rewards Are Worth the Struggle

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Phil Hall is Chief Growth Officer at LXT, an emerging leader in global AI training data with executives on three continents.  He's helped grow one particular global business from a startup to a worldwide success with more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

The challenges to global growth are varied and difficult, but for the companies that persevere and reach that level, the rewards are very much worth the struggle, both in the ability to serve a highly discerning customer base with limited options at that scale, as well as in the experience it brings to the entire workforce along the way.

Learn more from Phil on a few of his key insights.  For example, how flexibility is key where high growth meets global business.

Today in Global Small Business: Get Beyond Collaboration Overload

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

• McKinsey Global Publishing’s Tom Fleming talks with Rob Cross, the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College and the cofounder and director of the Connected Commons consortium. In the book Beyond Collaboration Overload: How to Work Smarter, Get Ahead, and Restore Your Well-Being (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021), Cross reveals how high performers collaborate in ways that enable them to be 18 to 24 percent more efficient than their peers while simultaneously improving their well-being. 
• Making global business work in 2021.  
• Global merchandise trade exceeds pre-COVID-19 level, but services recovery falls short.
• Quote of the week: "Life is not a solo act. It's a huge collaboration, and we all need to assemble around us the people who care about us and support us in times of strife." – Tim Gunn
• Global expansion isn’t easy, but if done correctly, a brand can reap great rewards.  Here are 4 ways to overcome your global expansion hesitations.

The Sunbeam of the Heart

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"The wild-flower wreath of feeling, the sunbeam of the heart." – Fitz-Greene Halleck

Global Small Business Owners Wear Many Hats

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Patsy Ramirez-Arroyo, owner and founder of Homera, located in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico says:

A business owner of a small company has to wear many hats and needs to be able to adjust on the fly. Many do not have an HR, IT, or accounting department, so our time focusing on the core aspects of the business can be limited compared to a large corporation. It is also extremely challenging working with other companies and people who do not hold to the same professional standards.

See what else she has to say about starting, running and growing an entrepreneurial journey in consulting.

Going Global Is Worth It

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Dialpad Founder and CEO Craig Walker talks about his first step toward going global.  "Back in February 2016, I flew across the Pacific Ocean to open my company's first international office. It was in the heart of Tokyo. At the end of our street was the Imperial Palace, home to the emperor of Japan. A couple of blocks to the south, high-speed bullet trains blasted out of Tokyo Station, headed for Kyoto.  To this day, our Tokyo office remains a huge part of our identity, culture and success."

Discover the valuable lessons Craig learned and what he recommends to keep in mind if you're thinking of expanding your business internationally as well.

Spoiler alert:  Going global may not be easy but it is worth it.

Support Black-Owned Businesses and Black Entrepreneurs

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COVID-19 cases are on the rise again — with new concerns surrounding the Omicron variant as well as the Delta variant, which remains the dominant strain — and continued use of PPE is more important than ever.

Here are 9 Black-owned businesses and Black entrepreneurs that you can support to keep yourself safe — and fashionable. 

Creative Ways to Stay Afloat As a Global Small Business

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A recent survey from Adobe of 3,500 small business owners in five global markets found that an overwhelming 87% had to get creative with their business to survive the pandemic, and 63% plan to keep the changes they made moving forward.

Here are five ways global small business owners can reignite their creative spark to boost their business in 2022. 

Today in Global Small Business: A Learning Ecosystem For Global Citizens

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

• The NEOM culture is about learning by doing, combining knowledge, creativity, and critical thinking with the latest technology and a digital mindset; to solve the problems of tomorrow. At NEOM, we live and breath this culture by developing a bespoke learning ecosystem for all of its citizens.
• Detecting anything that has a smell.  Japan-based Aroma Bit has it covered.  
• The aspects that make entrepreneurs most creative may also be their biggest risk.
• Quote of the week: "I'd like to help repair the earth's ecosystems, and to fully live until I'm fully dead." – Martha Beck
• NYC-based GoCoach helps companies educate and upskill employees with its coaching platform.
• The future of white-glove delivery.  Onward.

Real Spirit of Christmas

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas." – Calvin Coolidge

December Tips for Peppy Content Marketing

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Content marketing for December 2021 should be useful, informative, or entertaining, and it should help a business attract, engage, and retain an audience of customers and prospects.

Here are a couple of ideas – from industry forecasts, holiday how-to articles, to New Year’s resolutions.

Why Aren't More Women Exporting?

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As I [Laurel Delaney] wrote for Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®, women hold up half the sky and according to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Women’s Entrepreneurship report, they also are involved in a whole heck of a lot of startups – to the tune of more than 274 million women worldwide.  Yet according to the GEM report:

Women entrepreneurs are much less likely than men to report exports to over 25% of their customers in every country in this region, with the exception of Indonesia, where women are 2.7 times more likely than men to report high levels of export activity.

Learn more here.

The New Yorker: Looking Back on 2021 Through Images

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From a daytime-talk-show legend, to a remarkably expressive cat, to the lawless rage that would come to define January 6th, here's a look at The Year in New Yorker Photography 2021.  

Global Small Businesses Are Feeling the Squeeze With the Global Supply Chain Crisis

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The timing couldn’t be worse. With the winter holiday in full swing, late shipments and bare shelves could be disastrous for the busiest sales season of the year for global small businesses.

The outcome could be even more grim for companies that were counting on this period to help them rebound from COVID-19 closures and even stave off bankruptcy.

Read on to learn how small businesses are feeling the squeeze left by the global supply chain crisis.

Today in Global Small Business: What You Need to Know About Social Commerce

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

• Happy Holidays!  Comcast RISE grants returns!
• Why ecommerce is so important to Indonesia's small businesses.
• What you need to know about social commerce.
• Quote of the week: "Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius." – Pietro Aretino
• The 10 best podcasts in 2021, according to The New York Times.  Add one more:  How She Went Global®.
• How to practice self-care and manage the holiday blues.

Details

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"God is in the details." – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Gentleman Givenchy from House of Givenchy

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Gentleman Givenchy is a the newest creation by Nathalie Lorson and Olivier Cresp from House of Givenchy; the eau de toilette is encompassed in woody floral aromatic notes, with bergamot, basil, and cardamom used to open up the fragrance. 

Scratch here to smell (wish we could make that happen!).  For now, click here to read more.

Why Did Sweden Need a New Prime Minister?

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Within a week, Sweden's parliament has voted Magdalena Andersson in as its first woman prime minister, watched her resign seven hours later amidst political turmoil and waved her back into the job after a second vote.

Why it all unfolded, and what could happen next, has highlighted the complexities of eight-party coalition politics in a divided nation.

Read:  How Magdalena Andersson became Sweden's first female PM twice

Buckle Up

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Economists around the world are closely watching a resurgence of coronavirus cases across Europe for signs of what may be to come this winter.

The global recovery from the pandemic remains intact. Consumer spending is still elevated as shoppers tap pent-up savings.

But more than 20 months into the pandemic, reading the direction of the economy remains a difficult task, making it essential to keep close watch on fresh numbers.

Read more to learn how the global economy buckles up for another uncertain winter.