Be There For One Another

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"Let our New Year's resolution be this:  we will be there for one another [even during a global pandemic] as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word." – Goran Persson

Key Details About the Second Round of PPP Loans for Small Businesses

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More Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans are coming.  President Donald Trump has signed into law a new $900 billion coronavirus relief and stimulus package.  Among its provisions: An extension of last spring’s PPP, allowing another $284 billion or so in forgivable, federally backed loans for ailing small businesses.

Here are some answers to questions business owners might have.

TikTok 101

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The social media or video-sharing social network TikTok app currently has more than 800 million monthly active users. And it has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times. 

Do you know what TikTok is, what it does, and how it is used? Find out more with a little TikTok 101.

Today in Global Small Business: Positivity in 2021 Is Possible

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

• Reflections from 2019 that might be handy for your 2021 outlook.
• 10 positive things to bring into 2021 – and what you should leave behind.
• Quote of the week: “We think too much and feel too little" – Charlie Chaplin
• How to look forward and set intentions for the new year.
• Practicing with a purpose.  Putting your ideas into action in 2021.
• The top trends for leveraging your business in the new year.

Spiritual Reflections

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During this holiday season, have you found yourself attending virtual Christmas Eve services, relaxing on Christmas Day and writing letters, calling friends, getting outside and participating in other fun activities?

According to a survey, the coronavirus apparently cannot dampen the spiritual yearnings of some Americans who expect to boost devotional practices during the holidays.

The Christmas Spirit Brings Joy in People Around the World

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values." – Thomas S. Monson

Merry Christmas to all!

Fireside Christmas Classics From Your Friends at the Global Small Business Blog

Festive Jammies Is the Ultimate Holiday Picture Card This Year

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This year has seen a change in the images people use for their holiday cards, infusing humor into a posed portrait.  Most feature casual wear or even people wearing festive jammies.  Others aren't holding presents but rather wine or beer.  Instead of sayings that say, "Happy Holidays," we see "Good riddance 2020."

And here's the best news:  Dr. Fauci says Santa Claus has 'innate immunity,' won't be spreading COVID-19 to anyone this Christmas.

Now that's worth celebrating.

Fun Holiday Traditions From Around the World

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For many Americans, holiday celebrations involve decorating homes with lights, wreaths snowmen, and reindeers – and putting up Christmas trees, finding meaningful gifts for loved ones, and of course, binge-watching holiday classics like Elf, Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

However, not everyone observes the holiday in the same way. Here are some weird and wonderful Christmas traditions from around the world.

Today in Global Small Business: Container Shipping is Booming Again

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

• The World Trade Organization (WTO)  highlights progress made on developing global trade and e-commerce.
• How President Biden must restore American trade leadership.
• Quote of the week: “Some people are so busy learning the tricks of the trade that they never learn the trade." – Vernon Law
• Cross-border paperless trade has great potential to not only grow trade competitiveness but also to address new challenges associated with e-commerce and the digital economy.  See what the United Nations (UN) and Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) are doing about it.
• Container shipping is booming again.  Will it last?
• The world's most important body of water.

Hello World

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"There is much to learn, but there is that which no one can teach, that which each must discover for themselves." ― Peter Cawdron, Hello World

The Big Divorce: Britain and the EU

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Britain officially left the EU in January and has spent the last 11 months in a transitional phase while the two sides try to negotiate a new free trade agreement to avert major disruptions at borders and more economic damage.  The transition ends at midnight Brussels time on December 31, 2020.

Here are some of the top issues still to be settled.

How Not to Lose Your Way and Fall Behind the Global Competition

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By closely monitoring your business planning (which should include a component to going global), keeping a pulse on the economy and observing short-range and long-term financial and nonfinancial metrics, you will be able to weather economic uncertainty that is out of your control.

If you aren't agile and don’t adapt as the landscape changes [especially during COVID-19 times], you can lose your way and fall behind the competition. 

Find out how to work through uncertainty and manage unpredictable times.

How to Support Bilingual Learning Without a Screen for Kids Aged 1-10

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How do you easily teach your child a new language without having them be in front of a smartphone screen or tablet app?

Simply turn on the speaker-equipped (adjustable volume) Habbi Habbi wand and tap - anywhere, on any page, in any of the supported books for a translation. Bingo.  Every inch is interactive, tappable - text, image, even white space!   Kids love that there is instant feedback.

And there's more.  Parents don’t need to be native speakers to support bilingual learning. 

The books are available in Spanish and Simplified Chinese and are intended for children between 1 and 10.

To learn more visit:  Habbihabbi.com

Rethinking Export Controls in a New Era

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"Export controls can be a formidable tool to protect technological advantage and to deter illiberal and dangerous use of technologies," says Martijn Rasser.  Used properly for their intended purpose—to affect the military potential of a foreign country, to advance major foreign policy objectives, or to fulfill international obligations—export controls can bolster U.S. national security.(1)

(1.) U.S. House of Representatives, Export Control Reform Act of 2018, H.R. 5040, 115th Congress, https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5040/text. 

Rasser says to revamp export controls for this new era—a global strategic competition with technology at its core—U.S. policymakers should focus on three tenets for implementation.

1. Work with allies.
2. Raise the threshold.
3. Reframe the goal.

Read the entire (and very thorough) commentary:  Rethinking Export Controls:  Unintended Consequences and the New Technological Landscape.

Today in Global Small Business: Working With An International Distributor

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

• Facebook aims to make shopping easier across its ecosystem.
• Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc. has increased its presence in the emerging online grocery industry.
• Quote of the week: “We must create a kind of globalization that works for everyone...and not just for a few." – Nestor Kirchner
• Due to the region’s untapped potential, data has shown that Latin America is a leading region to grow your business.
• What you need to know for working with an international distributor (by Laurel Delaney).
• Even if you work locally, there’s a good chance that some of your employees or customers may speak other languages.

All Roads Lead Home

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"At Christmas, all roads lead home." – Marjorie Holmes

Global Small Businesses Have Struggled to Survive

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Earlier this year, Facebook began conducting monthly surveys of small and midsize businesses that have Facebook pages. The surveys, done in collaboration with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank, asked about business closures, workforce reductions, and government aid, as well as leaders' domestic responsibilities, their overall optimism, and other topics. More than 25,000 business leaders responded each month, totaling more than 150,000 respondents in more than 50 countries. 

The report findings state that these businesses were more likely than their larger peers to have suffered a 50 percent or greater drop in sales compared with 2019, and were more likely to have closed in a given month. Businesses with fewer than 10 employees were also less likely than larger firms to have received bank or government loans.

Read the global survey of small business owners here.  During the pandemic, global small businesses have struggled to survive.

Laurel Delaney's Cheat Sheet to Growing a Global Business

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If I [Laurel Delaney] had a dollar for every time someone asked me what it takes to go global, I’d be one rich woman. It’s not one thing that propels you to success. Rather, it’s a series of things that must be done well that will get you that much closer to improving your overall growth potential and conducting business with customers the world over.

From choosing the right market to having a payment plan in place, this is your cheat sheet from Laurel Delaney to growing a global business.

Fighting the Common Global Enemy, the Coronavirus

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"Today [12/8/20] marks the start of the fightback against our common enemy, the coronavirus," says UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

The reason?  A UK grandmother named Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, has become the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination program.

It was the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be dispensed in the coming weeks.