Are You Ready to Go International?

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You may never feel entirely ready to go international, but there are some important benchmarks you should reach before you start considering interest from overseas.  Here are six.

1. Have a profitable business model in your home country, with systems and procedures that have been proven across multiple locations.
2. Have adequate experience and maturity to interact meaningfully with foreign partners. 
3. Be the primary point of contact for your international partners, both during agreement negotiations and after the deal is signed.
4. Add someone to your team to focus specifically on identifying target markets and searching for partners
5. Have patience.
6. Be prepared to invest significant time and money before your international efforts pay off.

Read the entire article to be sure you are ready for international expansion.

Grow Aggressively Both Domestically and Internationally

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Gerry David, CEO and President of Celsius Holdings, Inc., the makers of the Celsius healthy energy drink, says:  "Aim for balance in all of your business endeavors to maintain a strong brand image at home as you begin to establish yourself globally."

He goes on to say that before you start the process of internationalizing your business, make sure that your business is ready to go global and that you have all of your resources in place.

He provides seven pointers on how to go about it.  It boils down to growing your business aggressively both domestically and internationally.

Read:  Small Businesses Go International

Startups Going Global

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Michael Fertik is an Internet entrepreneur and CEO with experience in technology and law. He founded Reputation.com in 2006. You can follow him on Twitter at @michaelfertik and meanwhile, he knows how to write a great article on going global right out of the starting gate.

Read:  Go International, Young Startup

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