Not All Those Who Wander

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Not all those who wander are lost." – J.R.R. Tolkien 

Be Creative and Innovative When You Take Your Business Global

©iStock/hatchakorn Srisook

Many small businesses are still feeling particularly vulnerable coming out of the global pandemic, whether they are in a brick-and-mortar retailer that's temporarily closed their doors or an online business that's experiencing a spike they are not anticipating. The pandemic has completely turned around the global economy and disrupted how people live, work, and communicate.

With every economic crisis comes an opportunity that cannot be put to waste to emerge stronger as markets recover.

One thing that is essential during our recovery:  launching a compelling and impactful digital marketing strategy.

Here are some things to consider for being creative and innovative with your strategy.

How to Streamline and Increase Collaboration For Your Global Small Business

©iStock/scyther5

If you want to learn a project’s status without having to hop on a call or schedule yet another meeting, productivity software may be the answer.

During the pandemic, productivity and collaboration tools became essential for companies transitioning their staff from in-person to remote work. The global market for collaborative software is expected to grow 17% in 2021 and keep trending upward in 2022.

These tools can help global small businesses improve communication and increase productivity.

Relax with a Kitty Cat in a Parisian Cafe (Music Video)

Episode #3: How She Went Global™ Podcast from Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®

©2021 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global® releases Episode #3 of its How She Went Global™(HSWG) podcast featuring Kara Goldin, Founder and CEO, Hint, Inc., Author, Undaunted. Overcoming Doubts & Doubters.  This month's theme:  Turning No and You Can’t, Into Yes and I Will  

©2021 Kara Goldin. All rights reserved

Kara discusses growing her unsweetened flavored water business to more than $150 million in annual sales, the challenges to going global, the advantages to selling a Made In USA product, and what prompted her to write a best-selling book.

HSWG podcast is brought to the world by Bluedog.

About HSWG

Successful women entrepreneurs and business owners share stories about going global, and offer new ways to take on the world, stay inspired and have fun! 

You can find HSWG on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Podomatic. Tune in and subscribe.  

Today in Global Small Business: Sometimes It Pays to Call a News Reporter

©iStock/fizkes

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

• Oshawa, Canada business owner Alex Pilepic runs a motorcycle apparel store and qualified for $40,000 in aid. But he didn’t get a commitment from the government to pay until he called Global News reporter Sean O’Shea.
• SmartyPans, a San Mateo, Calif.-based startup founded in 2015, developed a “smart cooking pan” that communicates the nutritional contents of the pan to an app and tells the user when their food is fully cooked.
• Israel-based Zeekit works with major retailers like Macy's, Adidas, Levi’s to develop virtual fitting rooms.
• Quote of the week:  “Ideas are easy.  Implementation is hard.”  –Guy Kawasaki, Alltop Co-Founder and Entrepreneur
• Remotion is working to create entire virtual office experiences that feel more like the cozy HQ employees were used to.
• Monitor, explain, and analyze your AI in production with Fiddler Labs.

Tulip Fever

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"'Tulip Fever' did change my life.  It did that thing that sometimes happens when a book takes off - it opened doors on to whole other worlds." –  Deborah Moggach

How Global Small Businesses Stepped Up Their International Sales To Survive the Global Pandemic

©iStock/ChrisGorgio

Due to the global pandemic, more small businesses spread their wings to sell around the world, new research from the UK shows.

• Two thirds of SMEs (66%) recorded an increase in online sales from overseas
• Three quarters (73%) said the ability to transact business abroad was a financial lifeline
• Most (68%) expect to continue selling abroad – more than before the pandemic
• But it's still a tough environment for SMEs as overall earnings drop by 43%

A rapid acceleration of digital online sales helped drive this, but the shift online also helped open up conversations that people were now willing to have remotely. 

There is increased optimism in spite of challenges.  Read more here.

Taco Bell Is Globally Rebranding the Quarter Moon, Calling It the Taco Moon

©iStock/nzastrophotography

Taco Bell, the Irvine, Calif., Mexican fast-food chain, is rebranding the quarter moon as part of the company’s first global marketing campaign. The “taco moon,” as the company calls it, appeared in the night sky on May 4, 2021.

According to Taco Bell, the moon may not be made of green cheese but it definitely looks like a taco twice a month.

Only 628 of the company’s locations are outside the U.S.—which runs counter to sister chains KFC and Pizza Hut, both of which have an enormous presence in international markets.

Read more about how Taco Bell is hoping global marketing in the chain’s famous irreverent style can help move the global growth process along.

Directed Opportunism: That's How Wal-Mart Went Global

©iStock/SeanWang

How did Wall-Mart go global? By using a strategy of "directed opportunism." And knowing how to clone its corporate DNA.

Becoming global is never exclusively the result of a grand design, though certainly it cannot be the result of incremental, ad hoc, opportunistic and random moves. The wisest approach would be one of "directed opportunism" - an approach that maintains opportunism and flexibility within a broad direction set by a systematic framework.

Wal-Mart stores is one of the best examples of the power of an explicit and systematic process to analyze the complex set of factors involved in becoming a global player.

Expand Your Global Business Outside Your Core Industry

©iStock/ThitareeSarmkasat

Don’t assume you already know all the pain points that your customers face.  When's the last time you checked in with them and had a conversation?  That's a start.

Mastered your market, whether local or global?  Companies over the past five years have either pursued at least one activity in a new category, have considered it, or plan to do so in the next five years according to a McKinsey Global Survey.  So we know it’s happening, but how does one execute it successfully? 

The article – ways to expand your business outside of your core industry – published by Small Business Trends will help by listing ways to expand your business outside of your core industry.

Today in Global Small Business: Happy Belated Mother's Day to All Moms Worldwide

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

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

• Wishing all moms a belated Happy Mother's Day.  There is no role in life that is more essential than motherhood.
• In case the world missed it, Elon Musk takes his turn on Saturday Night Live (SNL) 5/8/21.
• Apart from the reach, hyperlocal marketing provides an incredible return on investment.  It's paving the way for global marketing success.
• Quote of the week:  "When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor." – Elon Musk
• Brush up on your reading:  Top 10 business magazines in USA.
• How the busiest people get 'deep work' done.

The Customer is Always Right

©2022 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Right or wrong, the customer is always right." – Marshall Field

Kick Back for 10.16 Hours and Listen to Great Soft Rock Songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s

What's a K Shaped Economy?

©iStock/Pavio Stavnichuk

Small businesses are a powerful and influential piece of the economy.  In fact, 99.9% of all businesses in the U.S. qualify as small businesses, collectively employing almost half (47.3%) of the nation’s private workforce.

Unfortunately, they’ve also been one of the hardest-hit sectors of the economy amid the pandemic.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) talks about the K-shaped recovery, where some industries see more improvement compared to others that stagnate in the aftermath of a recession.

Read on to learn more.  The good news?  Despite the continued hardships, the global entrepreneurial spirit endures.

WEF says:  "Even in the face of a global pandemic, the perseverance of such metrics prove that the innovative American spirit is unwavering, and spells better days to come for small business recovery."

You might also take a look at the visual, "Mapped:  The State of Small Business Recovery in America."

The Wider the Reach, the Bigger the Market Share

©iStock/jokerpro

More than just publishing a website in another language, global marketing also has to do with building a customer engagement strategy and then zeroing in on which channels and types of content will effectively reach those customers.

To know if your business is ready for global (online) expansion, discover which five questions you need to ask. 

What's the True Cost of An eCommerce Shipment (Landed Cost) Once It Reaches a Customer's Doorstep?

©2021 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

Are you running a global business?  Have questions about the global supply chain?  Run an e-commerce business and wonder how duties and taxes affect you or your customers?  

Find the answers to these questions plus more along with what the true cost of an e-commerce shipment is (landed cost) once it reaches a customer's doorstep.  

Join our wegginar® on Wednesday, May 5th at 11AM CT to hear Kat Sun, Head of Operations at Passport Shipping and Kaitlin Mogentale, Founder of Pulp Pantry talk about "What to Expect When You're Expecting (To Go International).

All business owners operating in the B2B and B2C space who run an e-commerce business should attend.

To learn more and to register (no charge thanks to our generous sponsors), visit:  Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.

Today in Global Small Business: Finding Answers To Your Questions About International Travel

©iStock/Akabel

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

• Finding answers to your questions about international travel.
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention:  Find your destination to determine whether you can travel there or not.
• Canada will require using a vaccine passport for entry.
• Quote of the week:  "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." – T. S. Eliot
• Seven (7) countries are planning for international travel. 
• Where can you fly right now?

What God Can Do

©Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world." – Virgil A. Kraft 

Shoppable Pins Brought to You By Pinterest on a Worldwide Basis

©iStock/pressureUA

Shopify’s Pinterest app, which launched last year in the US and Canada, is now available in 27 additional countries.  The Pinterest app for Shopify stores lets merchants upload their product catalogues and convert their products into pins.  Users can then buy products featured in a merchant’s pins without ever having to leave Pinterest.

This gives 1.7 million merchants the ability to turn products from their e-commerce store into shoppable pins.

What Are You Best in the World At? Have You Found Your Personal Hedgehog?

Everyone Needs to Go At Ventilator Speed

©iStock/TAO EDGE

A Time Magazine article says that every company is a tech company now.  The disruption is just beginning.  For example, "March 2020, as businesses across the world sent non-essential workers home to slow the spread of the coronavirus, a 2.6 million-sq.-ft. General Motors plant in Kokomo, Ind., sat idle. At the same time, ventilators—the breathing machines essential to keeping critically ill COVID-19 patients alive—were in frighteningly short supply. And so within a week of pausing the plant’s operations, GM CEO Mary Barra launched it back into action, quickly transforming a dormant engineering building into an assembly line that delivered 30,000 ventilators in five months."

Barra says that approach, incubated in the crisis of the pandemic, is now a permanent cultural shift that has already led to faster timetables for GM’s bet-the-company push to sell only electric vehicles by 2035. “Now as we approach different projects, we say, ‘You know, we’ve got to go at ventilator speed because we know we have the capability to do that,’” Barra says.

Read the entire article here.  We are in the midst of a reset.

The Backbone of Our Economy: Global Small Businesses

©iStock/ronniechua

Global small businesses are vital to the USA recovery from the global pandemic yet micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can power an even stronger recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, due to their innovative and opportunity-seeking nature, but they need more support.

Such support should be aligned with the priorities of the post-COVID-19 social and economic recovery, said the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Acting Secretary-General Isabelle Durant.

Read on to find out how supporting small businesses is critical for COVID-19 recovery.

Today in Global Small Business: Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) or All Things Crypto

©iStock/Marina Funt

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

• Fungible (adj.) — able to replace or be replaced by another identical item; mutually interchangeable.
• Speculative crypto art market takes off.  Why?  "Our digital lives are surrounded by countless digital objects. NFTs are a way to imbue such objects with financial value. When that happens they take on a new level of significance and importance."
• Lindsay Lohan sold a photo of herself for $17K – and then tweeted about it.
• Quote of the week:  "Billionaire Mark Cuban is selling a motivational quote as a NFT for $1,700. " – Markets Insider, March 13, 2021
• Shark Tank celebrity and owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban sold a tokenized version of one of his tweets for $952.  The sale was made via the Valuables platform. 
• A clip of LeBron James blocking a shot sold for $100K last month.

Coca Cola Is One

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney (all photos).  All rights reserved.

"There are good examples of companies – Coca-Cola is one – that invested before there was a huge market in countries, and I think that ended up playing out to their benefit for decades to come." – Mark Zuckerberg

Embracing the Love-Hate Relationship of Remote Work

©iStock/asiandelight

A May survey from Intermedia showed that 57% of surveyed owners of small and midsized businessessaid they likely would keep increased remote working options long term for their workers.

Embracing remote work has been a love-hate relationship for many global small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners. Yet, even before the pandemic hit, Global Workplace Analytics had estimated that by 2025, 70% of workers will work remotely at least five days per month. 

What are the lessons for lenders?  Find out here.

Trustbusters: Taking Aim at the Tech Industry

©iStock/metamorworks

While nations and tech firms have jockeyed for primacy for years, the latest actions by China, the European Commission and the United States have pushed the industry to a tipping point that could reshape how the global internet works and change the flows of digital data.

University of Michigan law professor and antitrust expert Daniel Crane says "it is unprecedented to see this kind of parallel struggle globally."

Read more about how a global tipping point for reining in tech has arrived.

The Pros and Cons for Accepting Bitcoin for Global Small Business Payments

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Whether you think Bitcoin is going to keep going up or is due for a correction, you should consider these pros and cons  – benefits and risks – before accepting Bitcoin as a payment method in your global small business. 

And it is important to know that PayPal is getting into cryptocurrency for its customers, too.

COVID-19 and Its Impact on Global Small Business

©iStock/Feodora Chiosea

The SME Competitiveness Outlook 2020 analyses the impact of the global pandemic on small firms, international supply chains and trade. It provides projections and a 15-point action plan for businesses, policymakers and business support organizations to weather the crisis – and gear up for a ‘new normal’ that needs to be resilient, digital, inclusive and sustainable.

The report, "COVID-19:  The Great Lockdown and Its Impact on Small Businesses," combines analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on firms based on a large-scale global survey, with case studies and a thought leader viewpoint. The projected drop in supply chain trade is evaluated by region, and in 85 country profiles.

Two things to keep in mind as you go through this very thorough report:  It's dated June, 2020 (a lot has changed since then) and the analysis is 147 pages long (excluding Endnotes).  

Today in Global Small Business: Will Artificial Intelligence (AI) Dominate 2021?

©iStock/Andy

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

• Globally Local, one of the world’s first vegan fast-food chains, announced it will begin publicly trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol GBLY on April 16, 2021.  Interesting name‎!
• Pandemic shipping delays and product scarcity could last through summer 2021.
• Cryptocurrency (bitcoin) is increasingly being used for transactions and is beginning to go mainstream – and global – as an investment.
• Quote of the week:  "Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history.  Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks." – Stephen Hawking
• Will artificial intelligence dominate 2021?
• The future of the workforce – robotics and manufacturing.

Tulips Jostle to the Front of the Stage in April

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Daffodils, blossom and tulips jostle to the front of the stage in April.  I love these early perennials:  they may be more modest but they nearly all have that one special quality that a plant needs to transform your affections from admiration to affection – charm." – Monty Don

Global Small Businesses: The Heart and Soul of Our Economy

©iStock/DKosig

When Fiverr looked at services that have seen a significant increase in search over the past six months, five major global themes emerged. It is evident that these are areas where global small businesses and entrepreneurs are focusing their efforts in order to rebuild, to pivot and for some, to even start fresh.

Check it out.  Review the Small Business Need Index to find out what is important, what is trending, and what is next for global small businesses.

Be Like a Bird and Stay Calm (Video)

Global Expansion and International Tax Challenges

©iStock/pookplik

Small and mid-size companies, as well as large corporations, share similar challenges, either when planning or in the process of expanding overseas. With global expansion, businesses face multiple obstacles surrounding tax compliance and local laws, which is a significant time and financial commitment and can distract the focus from growing the company. 

When a company decides to expand globally, it needs to determine how it will create its products or offer its services in each specific market. For instance, will it leverage third parties to perform its functions or develop its own workforce within those countries? 

Learn more to appreciate global expansion and the international tax challenges businesses face.

High-Performing Global Businesses Are Led By Mission Driven Leaders

©iStock/IvelinRadkov

Eva Ados, COO and Chief Investment Strategist, ERShares, says, "High-performing organizations are led by mission driven leaders. This helps in strategic alignment over business strategy leading to purposeful innovation."

Leadership matters in the world of business. ETF (exchange traded fund) investors can explore portfolio strategies that capitalize on this proprietary “Entrepreneur Factor.”

Read more to learn how strong leadership helps ETFs focus on innovation. 

Today in Global Small Business: Global Recovery Will Be Divergent

©iStock/INueng

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

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised this year’s growth forecast upward for the Middle East and North Africa region and says recovery will be 'divergent.'
• Speaking of the latest developments in the global economy, the IMF has upgraded the world growth forecast!
• Millions of small shops in India have now become the next big target of tech firms to integrate technology into local shopping experiences.
• Global and local technology and financial services giants have embarked on a range of projects aimed at enhancing skills and diversity among small businesses in South Africa.
• Quote of the week:  “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” – Albert Einstein
• Managing divergent economies (by the IMF).  We are on firmer ground but there is a high degree of uncertainty.

An Act of Happiness

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"An act of goodness is of itself an act of happiness.  No reward coming after the event can compare with the sweet reward that went with it." – Maurice Maeterlinck

Digital Transformation Is a Driving Force for Global Small Business

©iStock/metamorworks

Global small businesses are now attempting to make a name for themselves in the web-based market, yet few realize the advantages a digital platform truly provides.

How does digital transformation (DT) help global small businesses?  Going digital is rapidly moving away from being a luxury to a necessity.  

Read on to learn the benefits to digital transformation.  Spoiler alert:  DT gives you access to a global market.

Bold Global Entrepreneurialism at Edelman

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Global PR firm Edelman, founded in Chicago in 1952, named Lisa Osborne Ross as CEO of its U.S. operations.  Lisa is the first Black woman to lead a sizable business in the public relations field.  She will oversee Edelman’s largest region, covering 2,360 employees in 13 offices.

The firm said the new leadership will help it innovate and expand into what its global CEO, Richard Edelman, called “bold entrepreneurialism.” It has been researching ways to help clients build trust in their brands and operations.

We are also super excited to see our friend and colleague, Dan Webber, newly appointed to President of Edelman's D.C. office.

Congrats to Lisa and Dan.  We can't wait to see what great strides they make on behalf of Edelman.

CoCreate: Global Small Business

©iStock/Evgeny555

CoCreate: Small Business is a collaboration between [global] small business owners and the Adobe creative community. Funded by Adobe, it’s an initiative that helps provide creative services to select small businesses while also generating paid opportunities for creatives around the world.

Adobe is hiring carefully vetted creatives with skills that will help small businesses make a big impact — from branding and product photography, to social media templates, and more.

All creators and U.S. small businesses (1-50 employees) are invited to apply. The deadline for applications is April 20, 2021.

To learn more and to apply, creative cloud.adobe.com

How to Avoid PR Nightmares in Your Global Business (wegginar®)

©2021 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

Have you contemplated any of these issues or concerns?

• How to avoid onboarding a corrupt team or business vendor.
• People are always the weakest link in business yet regular background checks provide less than 1% of what you need to know.
• How to avoid fraud, bribery and corruption issues in international business ventures.
• Due diligence investigations identify “bad actors” and help you mitigate risks. 

We've got you covered.  Candice Tal, founder and CEO of Infortal Worldwide will be showing us the way forward on April 7th at 11AM CT.  She will help us all reduce corporate liability exposure by minimizing business risks and improving risk management options.

The wegginar® is free of charge thanks to wegg®'s generous sponsors:  APCO Worldwide, Associated Bank, FedEx, GlobalCare Clinical Trials, Multilingual Connections, Passport Shipping and Union Pacific.  These companies support the growth of women business owners, especially globally.  

To learn more and to register, visit:  https://womenentrepreneursgrowglobal.org/2021/03/03/avoiding-pr-nightmares-in-your-global-business-with-candice-tal/

Today in Global Small Business: How Successful SMEs Are Reinventing Global Business

©iStock/phototechno

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

• How successful SMEs are reinventing global business.
• Avoiding PR nightmares in your global business (wegginar® 4/7)
• Quote of the week:  “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Factors to consider on the Suez Canal problem – disruptions and backlogs to name a few.
• The global payment industry is just beginning.
• How to find your first overseas customers (by Laurel J. Delaney)

Sit Still

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

“There are times when we stop, we sit still. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.” – James Carroll

The Digital Sales Tax War

©iStock/dubassy

The Biden administration has warned it could slap 25% tariffs on British exports to the US after the UK levied a digital services tax on major technology companies.

Brought in last April, the digital services tax levies a 2% charge on the revenues of search engines, social media services and online marketplaces.

Complicated.  Read more here.

What's Your Side Hustle?

©iStock/ottoblotto

From copywriting and consulting to social media management or private-labeling, side hustles give people a leg up in an economy that has had very little growth for the middle class in the last 40 years.  

What's the growth now?  As of January, 2021, 34 percent of Americans have side hustles.  

Starting a side hustle is extremely easy if you know what you want to do. But if you're not sure where to start, The 2021 Complete Amazon Dropshipping & Private Label Master Class Bundle is something to consider provided you have some extra change to put toward it.