Live Before You Get Too Old

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"We should all start to live before we get too old." -- Marilyn Monroe

Small and Medium-Sized Practices Are a Part of a Globalization Trend

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Business advisory is emerging as an area of increasing importance to the growth of small and midsize practices.  According to IFAC’s Global SMP Survey, in 2013, advisory ranked third out of the four service areas in terms of the pace of projected growth.  While in 2014, advisory edged out tax (13 percent versus 11 percent) as the area most likely to drive substantial revenue increases in the coming year.

The results also indicated:

Many SMPs [small- and medium-sized practices] are part of the globalization trend, with 44 percent of the total respondents saying at least 5 percent of their clients operate internationally, while 69 percent of the largest SMPs (those with 21 or more partners and staff) said at least 5 percent of their clients are international.

For the complete survey results, click here (might require registration).

Diving Into Cross-Border Trade With SBA and PayPal

SBA and PayPal present a webinar on how to export online.

Taking the Hassles Out of Going Global

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Going global is not a walk in the park and it requires thoughtful planning well in advance. What follows are 12 tips that have worked for my business and my clients’ over the years. I hope these insights will help you progress on the global front with zero headaches.

Read:  Going Global Headache-Free

Go East With Exports Small Businesses!

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According to cu-authors Maria Contreras-Sweet, Karen G. Mills, Steve Preston, Hector Barreto, and Aida Alvarez, in 15 years, the Asian market is projected to be six times larger than the U.S. market. By 2030, for example, more than 2 billion Asian consumers are expected to join the global middle class.  All the more reason why:

Congressional approval of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and completing the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) sought by President Obama would constitute a significant victory for America's small businesses.

Read more:  Small Businesses Must Export East to Maintain US Leadership

About the authors:  Contreras-Sweet is the current Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.  Mills led SBA from 2009 -2013; Preston from 2006-2008, Barreto from 2001-2006; and Alvarez from 1997-2000.

Today in Global Small Business: Is It True That Few Companies Actually Succeed At Going Global?

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

• What are ways to prevent surprises in global e-commerce?
• Is it true that few companies actually succeed at going global?
• Maybe some day you will be a part of the Billion Dollar Startup Club, e.g., lessor known companies from around the globe.
• Have you looked at the global smart watch market size, share, and trend to see how you can play in the space?
• Will Über be a threat to delivery companies?  FedEx CEO says no.
• A new app aims to help small businesses run more efficiently (and profitably) but is it global?

Dreaming of Spring

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant:  if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." -- Ann Bradstreet

Photos courtesy:  ©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Tips On Mastering Digital Transformation, Entering New Markets and Taking Chances

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What can we learn from a team of Irish lads and ones that happen to run America's Domino's Pizza (DP)?  Plenty.  Here’s a little history on DP along with some tips on mastering digital transformation, entering new overseas markets and taking chances.

What We Can Learn from Domino's Pizza on International Expansion?

Do You Want To Reinvent Your Company? Read On.

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Are you interested in importing?  Exporting?  Outsourcing?  Merging with a competitor?  Striking up a new overseas partnership?

According to Debra Williams, the answer depends on if and how you want to reinvent your company.

Read on:  Think your business is too local to go global?  Think again.

Finding Opportunities For American Small Businesses in Trade and Exports

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For the past five years, the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) has contributed to the expansion of the global entrepreneurial ecosystem, connecting experts and entrepreneurs across borders to empower innovation and drive economic growth.

What is GEC?

GEC is an entrepreneurial ecosystem that has started to take shape around the world, connecting people across borders to unleash their ideas and transform innovation into reality—in turn growing economies and expanding human welfare.  

This marks the beginning of a new wave of cooperation among Ministers for small business and entrepreneurship in response to increasing public interest around the world in the role government and small and new businesses play in job creation, firm and capital formation, and innovation.

Learn more:  Administrator of U.S. SBA and Foreign Leaders Exchange Innovation Strategies at Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Italy

Happy St. Patrick's Day: Wishing You All the Joy Your Heart Can Hold

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

My absolute favorite day of the year -- St. Patrick's Day in Chicago -- when the Chicago River is dyed green and local folks put on a fabulous parade.  

As the late Stephen Bailey has said:

... the road from Chicago to Ireland is marked in green. From the Chicago River to the Illinois River, then to the Mississippi, up the Gulf Stream and across the Atlantic you can see the beautiful green enter the Irish Sea, clearly marking the way from Chicago to Ireland.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Wishing you all the joy your heart can hold.  Related posts here.

Today in Global Small Business: Start Local and Think Global

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

• How a lousy photo can become a lost opportunity.
• Why small businesses are engaging sustainability.
• Key reasons data driven small businesses are embracing big data.
• How U.S. trade policies fail to account for small businesses.
• A new partnership between Ohio State University and the state government offers export help.
• When creating an online marketplace, start local and think global.

Spring Seems Light Years Away

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"March is a month of considerable frustration - it is so near spring and yet across a great deal of the country the weather is still so violent and changeable that outdoor activity in our yards seems light years away." -- Thalassa Cruso

How Can a Big City Develop a Global Identity?

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How can a big city develop a global identity?  Partner with think tank Brookings Institute (BI).  According to Brookings, San Diego, for example, has the 17th largest economy in the country, but ranks 61st when it comes to export intensity and 49th in the percentage of jobs at foreign-owned firms.

The think tank said that more than 85 percent of global growth through 2019 is projected to occur outside the U.S., so global engagement is essential if cities want to stimulate their economies and workforce. -- Source:  "Time to Tell the World," Mayor Says in "Go Global" Business Effort

San Diego is not the only city to get the big push by BI.  For instance, my home town Chicago has a metro export plan in place too.  BI has a Global Cities Initiative.

How does a city deliver a successful metropolitan export plan?  Easy.

Related posts.

Wal-Mart Canada Plans to Roll Out 29 New Supercentres

©iStock.com/Ronnie Chua

Wal-Mart Canada is scheduled to open another 29 new supercentres. This is in addition to 11 centers opened earlier this year.  The expansion will bring Wal-Mart Canada’s store count to 396 by the end of January, 2016, consisting of 309 supercentres and 87 discount stores.

The retailer says the expansion is expected to generate about 3,700 construction jobs, 1,000 store jobs and 300 distribution centre jobs across Canada.

Read More:  Wal-Mart Canada to open 29 new supercentres

Splunk Goes After Global Small Businesses

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Enterprise software company Splunk aims to go after global small businesses with its new, cheaper version of its analytics software.  Their belief is -- in order to get big (scale) -- they better go [after]
 small.  Call it a little land-grabbing, if you will.

Here's more news about market potential:

That market could amount to $5 billion to $7 billion in cumulative revenue over the next three years, says Daniel Ives, an analyst for FBR Capital Markets.

Read:  Splunk Targets Small Businesses to Boost Revenue

When It Comes to Advancing Women and Girls, We're Not There Yet

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This year marks the 20th anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995) where important people from all over the world gathered together fully committed to ensure that women and girls have the opportunity to participate fully in all aspects of their life.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the No Ceilings initiative of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation have joined forces to gather 850,000 data points and analyze the gains made for women and girls over the last two decades, as well as the gaps that remain.

Take a good look at the findings but we're not there yet:  No Ceilings:  The Full Participation Project

Today in Global Small Business: Stanford University Takes It Global

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

• The Weekly Roundup over at About.com Import and Export site offers tips you might never find on your own.
• Women Entrepreneurs GROW Global (WEGG) powers up for new growth to help women led-owned business owners and entrepreneurs go global.
• Stanford University takes it global to showcase its research, teaching and learning on campus and abroad - finally.
• Arcadia, Wisconsin based Ashley Furniture ($4 billion in sales 2014) tries to go global.
• Visa adds Global M-Payments as a partners to roll out its new set of mobile payment services for Android phones.
• What makes globalizing companies interesting is that they are also America’s elite SMEs -- find out why.

Snow Provokes Responses, Especially in Chicago

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood."  Andy Goldsworthy

The Global Small Car Launch

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According to IHS, around 88.6 million cars will be sold globally this year, up 2.4 percent from 2014, weighed by an expected contraction in Russia's market.  In this instance, India will be the first market to receive French automobile maker Renault's global small car (priced below 4s4 lakh) this year.

Sumit Sawhney, country CEO and managing director Renault India says:

Renault customises its products for Indian conditions and cited the 37 changes it made in Duster before launching the car in India.

For a product to succeed in India, it must be at the right price, the right product adaptation and the right timing.

Read:  It's India first for Renault's global small car launch

Why Expanding Overseas Is Inevitable

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As co-authors Dennis May and Michael Evans state, "Expanding your business overseas is not for the fainthearted, but for most businesses it will be inevitable as global markets offer greater opportunities for growth. By paying attention to details and outsourcing administrative functions, the difficult job of “going global” can produce great results."

Read their article at Forbes, 10 Key Steps to Expanding Your Business Globally, where they discuss preparing a gap analysis, developing a tactical project plan with commit dates, determining your sales methodology and more.

Can Global Travel Make You a Better Leader?

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Do any of these scenarios sound like you?  You push yourself to visit a customer in Thailand because you know the business will be good.  You must examine a manufacturing facility in China to ensure product quality is maintained.  You have to see first-hand how natives of Japan store ice cream, if at all, in their homes because your next market entry move is Japan and it's to export your latest ice cream flavor, green tea.

What all these scenarios have in common is this:  Once you are on the ground in unknown territory, you are forced to adapt and become a better person in order to get along with folks.  What you bring back home is a new YOU who has transformed into a more effective leader.

Lisa Evans for Fast Company talks straight with us and is spot on:  How Travel Can Make You a Better Leader | Fast Company

Operating Across Borders

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Find out what happened when an Italian retail company wanted to send an employee to the U.S. to oversee the rollout of new locations in the New Jersey region.  Think it was hassle-free?

Read:  Going Global:  International clients create a growing niche

Today in Global Small Business: Capital for Globalizing Firms

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

• Ten years from now, 75 percent of Americans will have Internet access as fast as ...
• How to profit from China's super consumers.
• How to steer a global buyer to a payment site from a tweet.
• Why West Coast ports are no longer the Gateway to America.
• Do your homework if you want to succeed overseas.
• Start up loans for companies and capital for globalizing firms.

Snowwoman in Chicago

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Don't ask me how I know it's a snowwoman as opposed to a snowman. She just is.  I took this photograph at Delaware and Michigan Avenue, Chicago.  Somebody was in a creative mood.  Thank goodness!

Watch for Disruption in the Global Accounting Software Space

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Who hasn't heard of American software company Intuit?  They've been around since 1983 doing a great job providing easy and convenient accounting solutions to businesses of all sizes.  Now comes the disruptive part and enough that Intuit better not ignore.  It's clear that Intuit CEO Brad Smith is already on it with his recent article "Intuit's CEO on Building a Design-Driven Company," in the January/February 2015 - Harvard Business Review.

Now there's New Zealand-based software company Xero that develops 'beautiful' cloud-based accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses. The company has offices in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

And there's accounting software company The Sage Group who just recently announced a global agreement with Salesforce.com that goes like this:

Sage has agreed to start using the Salesforce Customer Success Platform. Implementing the cloud based CRM system shows that Sage want to get close to Salesforce and get some kind of symbiotic partnership with the cloud giant. - Source:  The Sage Group Plc announces global agreement with Salesforce

Watch all these companies for future global competitive activity.  Bring it on as they say for each wants to play in every country!

Take Your Business Global With a Good Trade Finance Strategy (Video)

The Intuit Quickbook Interview: Why Small Businesses Are Poised To Expand Big Time Overseas

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Below I discuss seven questions with Suzanne Kearns for Intuit Quickbooks:

1. How much in U.S. goods gets exported each year, and has that figure increased in recent years?
2. Are there indicators that show when a small business is ready for global trade?
3. How should business owners determine which markets to expand in?
4. What are some things business owners can do to attract foreign buyers to their website?
5. How should business owners handle foreign currency transactions?
6. What should small business owners know about shipping products overseas?
7. Where can business owners learn about customs duties and foreign taxes?

Read the interview: Can Your Small Business Expand to a Global Market?

What Challenges Do Importers Face?

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What is the one thing that will throw everything off on an import? Mistakes!  In this article, I talk about seven other critical issues affecting importers today and what you can do to avoid them.

Read:  8 Big Import Compliance Challenges

Today in Global Small Business: And the Award Goes To ...

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

• How to thank people at your business as if they are winning an Academy Award.
• What is the real impact of great power and influence in our world?
• How the CEO of Entertainment One Ltd. built a global entertainment giant.
• Read the list of 50+ global issues that makers can solve.
• How to prevent surprises through your ecommerce site.
• How to bring your business into the digital age.

Chicago Modern Skyscraper: The Aon Center

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

The Aon Center is a modern skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois (third tallest building in IL) and designed by architect firms Edward Durell Stone and The Perkins and Will partnership.  It was completed in 1974 as the Standard Oil Building.  There's talk about new owners ...

How to Eliminate the Surprise Factor Via Global Ecommerce

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If you design your ecommerce site in such a way that your customer comes first, business should flow through nicely no matter what part of the world your customer resides.  But the way to really build a seamless and enjoyable online buying experience is to pay attention to a couple of other important details.  Here they are.

5 Ways to Prevent Surprises in Global Ecommerce

Michele Ferrero, The Man Who Brought Nutella to the World, Dies

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Tic Tac mints.  Ferrero Rocher chocolates.  Nutella spread.  All these delicious confectionery products are produced by Ferrero SpA, a $30 billion company, and brought to life by Michele Ferrero, who died at the age of 89.

He was a family man and had a great, global vision for his firm (well ahead of his time):

It was Michele Ferrero’s vision to expand internationally. In the 1950s, he opened production plants and offices in Europe. He expanded to the rest of the world starting in the 1970s. All the while the company shunned acquisitions, breaking into foreign markets by introducing products catering to local tastes.

Ferrero is the world’s fourth-biggest chocolate confectionery company, with 8% of the global chocolate market. No. 3 Nestlé has 12%, according to consumer research group Euromonitor’s data from 2013.

Read the obituary:  Italian Chocolatier Found Success with Nutella

And what a sweet ending ... he passed away on Valentine's Day.

Borders Are Blurring and the World Is Getting Smaller

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With the world getting smaller and borders blurring, this presents new opportunities for retailers to reach potential customers.

How is the future of global e-commerce going to develop?

Are You Running Your Business in the Dark or Digital Age?

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In the dark age, you scramble to find customers.  In the digital age, customers from around the world should find you.  Which are you operating in?  There's only one way to find out.

How to Bring Your Business Into the Digital Age

Today in Global Small Business: Small Businesses Have a Voice on International Trade Agreements

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

• Go global, hire local is part of a job-creation engine designed and operated using a global ecosystem approach.
• Why you should make the world your business playground.
• How do you make your multilingual presence not cumbersome nor half-finished, but invisible?
• Small businesses operating in a global marketplace (video).
• Why small businesses are being included in the ongoing discussions on international trade agreements.
• The importance of building a global company in good times and bad.

Wishing You a Heartfelt Day

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Make the World Your Business

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I've always felt you should make the world your business but in this case, Shawn Hessinger, Executive Editor for Small Business Trends, offers a different twist, "Making the World Your Business Playground." He talks about companies that are small in size but operate globally, how communicating via email alone doesn't cut it, how working cross-culturally poses a new set of challenges and how going global brings on challenges that are not so obvious.

A special thanks to Shawn for quoting us and for including our advisory board member Kati Suominen.

Technology Is Changing the Meaning of Employable Skills Worldwide

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The Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2014 Report "Growing Talent Today and Tomorrow" was released at it's global launch on Tuesday, January 20, 2015 in Davos, Switzerland.   The report focuses on the role of talent growth in enhancing countries' competitiveness, with Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg leading in the rankings.

The GTCI study reveals six key factors affecting talent competitiveness across countries of different GDP per capita and development levels, with one being:

  - Technology is changing the meaning of 'employable skills':  technological changes will affect new segments of the labor market, impacting the 250 million 'knowledge workers' globally today.

Access the report:  The Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2014

Recession in Russia. Slowdown in China. What's It Mean?

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The International Monetary Fund has cut its growth forecasts for the global economy due to the slowdown in China, looming recession in Russia and continuing weakness in the eurozone.  The US is the only major economy where the IMF has raised growth forecasts for the next two years.  The rest of the world has global headwinds ahead.

Learn more about what this means:  IMF Cuts Global Economic Growth Forecasts

Target New Countries For Growth

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Are you trying to grow your revenue and profitability?  Have you looked outside your own borders for new opportunities?  Why not target new countries where you don't already sell?

That's what UK SME online retailers are doing:

“There is a marked increase in the percentage of UK SME online retailers aiming to grow international sales in 2015, compared with 2014," says Nick Landon, managing director of Royal Mail Parcels.

Read the entire article:  UK's SME online retailers more confident on international trade

Note:  We cannot track Royal Mail's study that is referenced in the article.

Today in Global Small Business: What's Not Going Global?

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

• What's not going global?  Google's 'Right to Be Forgotten' (transparency outweighs additional privacy in this case).
• A few tips when taking your business global.
• Netflix goes to Japan in the fall of 2015 (Netflix wa 2015-nen no aki ni Nihon de hanbai kaishi).
• 10 tips for a killer global market entry strategy.
• The difficulties in expanding globally with a contingent workforce management program.
• 3 questions you should ask before going global.

Chicago: The Most Beautiful Great City Left in the World

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world." - Frank Lloyd Wright

What Happens When Dimensional Weight of a Box is Greater Than the Actual Weight?

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There's a new dimensional weight factor that affects pricing on shipping boxes in the USA.  Whether you elect to ship feathers in a small or big box, just remember to multiply the box length by its height and width, and then divide that by 166 to reach its dimensional weight. Oh, and don’t forget to weigh the box, too. Make sure your measurements and weights are accurate. The new pricing method will apply to any package if the dimensional weight is greater than the actual weight.

Read:  The New Wrinkle Affecting Your Shipping Costs

SBA International Trade Finance Webinar

Learn about export loans available through the U.S. Small Business Administration and other global business solutions from our Federal Government. In addition, you will get tips from a small business exporter who has used these programs successfully to enter new markets and increase export sales.  Lastly, you will hear directly from an SBA lender on how to prepare in advance to get the financing you need to grow your export business.  Video can be found here or you can click on it above.

The Key to Accessing Global Markets

Photo courtesy:  Apress

What if all small businesses could access global markets?  What if the challenges and uncertainties to conducting business internationally could vanish before your very eyes?  What if we could break down barriers to America's growth by working together to boost exports?

Yes we can all counts!

Expanding global access for small biz.  Solution:  Exporting:  The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably (99.9 percent of the battle to exporting lies in learning the mechanics of how to do it so this book spells it out in a way that is both empowering and useful).

Take Your Small Business Phone System Anywhere with a Mobile VoIP Solution

Photo courtesy:  Telzio

(This post is sponsored by:  Telzio)

VoIP phone service can take care of your global and mobility needs as your business expands to new locations and employees expect BYOD benefits. You can get phone numbers from all over the world and use them in any location on your computer, desk phone or mobile device. It’s easy to manage all your numbers and users in one online account, no matter how many locations you have.

Here are 3 ways a VoIP phone system can assist in your quest for global expansion:

1. International Presence

You can get a local or toll free number in almost any country, making it easier for international customers to reach you. Some countries like Denmark require that you have a physical address in the country in order to get a phone number there, but for most countries it’s as easy as a few clicks.

You can browse phone numbers from over 50 countries here.

2. Virtualization

VoIP phone systems are managed completely on the web. There’s no software to be updated, no hardware to be stored in closets and everything is managed through your web browser.

You can have multiple offices and phone numbers around the world and still manage them all under one account. As long as you can connect to the Internet, you can access your phone system.

VoIP service is location agnostic. You can move your IP phones to another country and they would work just the same, using the same phone number it was calling with before.

3. Mobility

Softphones enable you to make and receive calls from a mobile device or computer. You can travel anywhere and manage business calls on your mobile device separately from your personal line.

Telzio recently launched a mobile softphone app that integrates with a fully hosted VoIP system. Starting from $1 per month, the app and a full set of professional features come included.

What to Watch Out for When Choosing a VoIP Provider

When comparing small business VoIP providers, you should ask yourself how many users you will need and who will be in charge of implementing your new phone system.

Users -- Users are the extensions and phones you need connected to your phone system. You will find that most VoIP providers charge user fees from $15 to $70 per month per user, but you have other options.

Plans from Telzio cater to small businesses and offer free users with all phone numbers. Instead of paying per user, you pay per phone number and add as many users as you need to each number.

Usability -- Whether it is you or the IT person who will be setting up and managing the system, you want to cut down the number of hours it will take.

Telzio has an easy-to-use admin panel and intuitive interface where you can be up and running in minutes. Built on the premise that anyone without IT experience could manage everything from start to finish, Telzio is the easiest way to get started with a VoIP phone system. You can see how the visual setup works at Telzio.com/demo.

Plans -- In this world we live in, hidden language and fees are everywhere. Make sure you find the fine print and know what you’re getting yourself into, especially if the VoIP provider requires contracts. If something is described as “unlimited”, it usually has a “fair use” cap written somewhere else. Getting people to pay for more than they use is how those big phone companies make more money after all.

About the Author

Diana Chu is the Chief Executive Officer of Telzio and has over 10 years of experience working with small businesses. Diana graduated from the University of Southern California where she studied Business and Entrepreneurship. Frustrated with deceptive telecommunication companies and horrible customer service, Diana is focused on supporting small business owners through enhanced, efficient and transparent phone services. 
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“©2015 Telzio.  All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.”

Today in Global Small Business: Why SBA's Administrator Wants All Small Businesses to Partake in the Global Economy.

©iStock/Robert Thyrons

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

• Why Maria Contreras-Sweet wants all small businesses to partake in the global economy.
• How to find an ideal distributor.
• Five must-have tools for e-commerce success in 2015.
• Why setting aside thinking time improves ecommerce business.
• Is our inter-connected world shrinking back toward its national borders?  
• Is our global economy tied to energy (and the price of oil)?