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: Business Builders Are the Heroes of the Global Economy

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

• Forecast:  72 percent of SMEs plan to grow their international customer base by 2017.
• How can small businesses not only expand by selling globally, but also ensure that they have a successful outcome despite economic or political uncertainties?  Here are five strategies.
• Five (5) basic elements of a global social media plan; webinar 2/1 by IBM digital marketing and commerce expert Melisa Hinojosa (the beauty:  no charge).
• Sage CEO warns policy makers in Davos: Do not ignore global small businesses!
• The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in ecommerce (info graphic).
• The women's marches around the world -- a powerful force to be reckoned with.

How to Dive Into International Markets

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Unsure of how to dive into international markets?  Or are you opting to avoid it altogether?  Especially with recent international uncertainties such as Brexit (UK) and the new President-elect Trump (USA), being wary is understandable.

Yet, how can small businesses not only expand by selling globally, but also ensure that they have a successful outcome despite economic or political uncertainties? Here are five strategies.  The first one being diversify your selling to different markets and countries.

Read more here.

What's the Most Crucial Lesson You've Learned About How a Company Builds a Global Competitive Advantage?

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Let's go back in time to more than two decades ago when David R. Whitwam was chairman and CEO of the Whirlpool Corporation. He had his challenges.

According to Whitwam, too many managers are still running their businesses with the same old regional fiefdoms and inadequate ways of satisfying customers. As a result, few would-be global companies have escaped the deadly war of attrition in which cost and quality are the only weapons and ever-declining margins the only prize.

In the following interview, Harvard Business Review associate editor Regina Fazio Maruca asks Whitwam:  What’s the most crucial lesson you’ve learned about how a company builds a global competitive advantage?

Here's Whitwam's response:

The only way to gain lasting competitive advantage is to leverage your capabilities around the world so that the company as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Being an international company—selling globally, having global brands or operations in different countries—isn’t enough.

Read more:  The Right Way to Go Global:  An Interview with Whirlpool CEO David Whitwam (March-April 1994 Issue)

Linda Lightman Sells Globally

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Linda Lightman, CEO of Linda's Stuff, sells globally.  She turned a hobby into a successful business, now employing over sixty workers in multiple departments.

Linda, a former attorney who left her career to build a successful business selling clothing and jewelry on eBay, is now one of eBay’s top fashion sellers.  The venture began as a hobby, selling her son’s video games on eBay over ten years ago, and after learning the ropes, she started selling her own designer clothes. Other people started asking Linda to sell their unwanted garments and jewelry, and the venture developed into an entrepreneurship and a highly successful business.

Somehow Linda knew when it was right to begin selling globally and did her homework so she could handle it without losing her designer shirt.  You can too.

Visit Linda's site here.

Finding Top Salespeople Abroad

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Locating top sales performers abroad is not easy but this brief piece sheds light on how to go about it.

After you line up potentials, take a trip and meet with them. Nothing beats being on the ground and seeing what's happening first hand.