Some Like It Hot and So Does wegg® at Its Next wegginar® 11/1/23

©2023 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

We 🧡 Stacy Moritz, the owner of the Secret Aardvark Trading Company because she has a great sense of humor and knows a ton about exporting.  And her products are hot, too (they kick you in the mouth as her company claims)!  

We can't wait to hear her wegginar presentation on Wednesday, November 1, 2023 at 11 AM CT on: "Exporting: Is It Just a Way to Get Free Travel?" – https://bit.ly/45cTavP.

In her wegginar, you will learn whether exporting is just a way to get free travel 😉 and ...

• How to do your research for global exporting
• The importance of running and embracing the numbers – metrics matter!
• How to be agile in an ever-changing market 

Please join us! To learn more, connect with others, and grow your business to the next level via global expansion, register here:  https://bit.ly/45cTavP

See you there!

Powered by: Associated Bank, FedEx, Bluedog Design, 1706 Advisors, and Union Pacific 

Today in Global Small Business: The History of Halloween 2023

©2023 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

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

• The history of Halloween.
• Spooky Halloween traditions around the world.
• Halloween is gathering popularity around the world.
• Quote of the week:  "It's Halloween; everyone's entitled to one good scare." – Brackett, Halloween
• There's so much to talk about regarding Halloween.
• Halloween 2023:  unique traditions from around the world.

Really Takes Center Stage

©2023 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"One element of Madonna's career that really takes center stage is how many times she's reinvented herself. It's easier to stay in one look, one comfort zone, one musical style. It's inspiring to see someone whose only predictable quality is being unpredictable." – Taylor Swift

Defending Globalization

©iStock/wildpixel

The Cato Institute has published three new essays for Cato’s Defending Globalization project:

1. Globalization and Growing Global Equality
2. The Reality of American “Deindustrialization”
3. Globalization Has Propelled India to Prosperity

To access them all, visit here.

The Breakout Year for Generative AI

©iStock/Outflow Designs

On the current state of AI, the latest annual McKinsey Global Survey confirms the explosive growth of generative AI (gen AI) tools. Less than a year after many of these tools debuted, one-third of their survey respondents say their organizations are using gen AI regularly in at least one business function. 

The expected business disruption from gen AI is significant, and respondents predict meaningful changes to their workforces.

The Rise of Global Business Services (GBS)

©iStock/Rawpixel

Why is Global Business Services (GBS) becoming more popular?  While Shared Services has proven its worth in simplifying back-office support functions and maintaining them in-house, GBS takes the concept further and enhances it in several critical ways: 

• Global reach
• Integrated capabilities
• Cost efficiency
• Focus on customer-centricity
• Flexibility and scalability

If you want to achieve greater growth and excellence, GBS is the way forward.

Transformational: 8th Annual Global Small Business Forum 10/20/23

©2023 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

If you missed the 8th Annual Global Small Business Forum 10/20/23, all you can do at this point is check this out, LinkedIn post, and then sign up for next year's:  10/18/24 – scroll down and look for Subscribe for Updates.  The forum is all about learning how to take your business to the next level, global.

Today in Global Small Business: Setting Up Your Ecommerce Strategy

©iStock/gorodenkoff

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

• Setting up your ecommerce strategy.
• Uniting a divided workforce.
• How does AI think?  We are only starting to understand that.
• Quote of the week:  "People tend to think of the web as a way to get information or perhaps as a place to carry out e-commerce. But really, the web is about accessing applications." – Marc Andreessen
• Best money transfer apps.
• US economy is largely unchanged; but other markets are experiencing turmoil.  

Picture Heaven As a Vast Library

©2023 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

“I picture heaven as a vast library, with unlimited volumes to read. And paintings and statues to examine" – Anne Rice, The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned

Think Global to Drive Success: Here's How to Scale

©iStock/metwmorworks

How can companies find the best talent, regardless of where they are located, to meet their business needs while navigating the fundamental economic changes impacting global workforces in the world today?

The digital economy, along with the transition to more remote/hybrid work, has provided opportunities to find the best talent globally. However, companies need expert guidance and technology to enable strategies.

Here's how to prepare for the global shift to global growth.  It starts with thinking global to drive success.

Geoeconomic Fragmentation

©iStock/metamorworks

Advanced economies are expected to slow from 2.6 percent in 2022 to 1.5 percent in 2023 and 1.4 percent in 2024 as policy tightening starts to bite. 

The baseline forecast is for global growth to slow from 3.5 percent in 2022 to 3.0 percent in 2023 and 2.9 percent in 2024, well below the historical (2000–19) average of 3.8 percent.

Given increasing concerns about geoeconomic fragmentation, part of the report assesses how disruptions to global trade in commodities can affect commodity prices, economic activity, and the green energy transition.  The report does not factor in the recent Israel-Hamas war – the latest Gaza conflict.

LAST CHANCE to Register: 8th Annual Global Small Business Forum (Hybrid) 10/20/23

©2023 Global TradeSource, Ltd.  All rights reserved.

LAST CHANCE to attend the 8th Annual Global Small Business Forum: Navigate Turbulence in the Global Marketplace (hybrid) on Friday, October 20, 2023.  To sign up, visit here. 

New York Enables Small Businesses to Expand Their Global Reach through STEP

©iStock/upthebanner

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provided Empire State Development (ESD) nearly $1 million in funding in the latest round of the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP).

STEP connects businesses in New York state to exporting opportunities abroad through grants for qualifying small and medium-sized businesses.

Learn more about how STEP enables small businesses to expand their global reach and competitiveness.

For information on STEP and to apply for funding if you are a business based in New York, click here.

Today in Global Small Business: The Conflict Between Israel and Hamas Puts Pressure on the Global Economy

©iStock/Oleksandr Baranov

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

• The conflict between Israel and Hamas risks embroiling other Middle East nations and has the potential of fueling another bout of inflationary pressures and even tipping the global economy into a recession.
• Global outlook during turbulent times.
• Some say troubles are coming to the world economy.
• Quote of the week: “The speed of light does not merely transform the world. It becomes the world. Globalization is the speed of light." – Paul Virilio
• China's economic headwinds.
• Confronting inflation and low growth – global economy. 

Jump On My Scooter

©2023 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

My perfect day is to get up at 5:30 A.M., jump on my scooter and go to the beach." – Goldie

Global Free Zones of 2023

©iStock/MAGNIFIER

The iteration of fDi Intelligence’s flagship Global Free Zones of the 2023 awards recognize the best free zones across geographies and specializations among the 69 that participated in the awards this year. 

The 'Best zones for SMEs' category crowns the world's best zones, as well as the best ones in each single region for their strategy to attract small and medium enterprises (SMEs) tenant.

Find out more here. 

U.S. SBA Awards Washington State a $1 Million STEP Grant to Fuel Exports

©iStock/aiisha5

The Washington State Department of Commerce again tops the list of states awarded funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to help state small businesses grow through exporting. Washington’s $1 million State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) grant is the largest awarded from a total $20 million to 49 states in this 11th year of the program.

Read on to learn more.

Meet Divine Jazz Singer Melody Gardot

Three Common Obstacles to Scaling Innovations and Ways to Overcome Them

©iStock/z_wei

According to authors for the HBR, innovations — including new products, new HR policies, and new production processes —developed in one part of a business stay there. Other groups that could benefit from them don’t know they exist. 

This leads to lost revenues and higher costs, since teams around the world often end up duplicating (or triplicating, or quadruplicating) investments in solving common problems. 

This article identifies three common obstacles to scaling innovations and describes a way to overcome them. 

Today in Global Small Business: Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day?

©iStock/Vanesa Ayala

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

• Depending on where in the United States you live and whom you work for, Columbus Day, 10/9/23, may be a day off with pay, another holiday entirely, or no different from any other Monday.
• McCarthy weighs in on Trump's involvement in House speaker race.
• More than 250 bodies found at site of Israeli Supernova festival - rescuers say.
• Quote of the week: “It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it." – Robert E. Lee
• Israel is battling Hamas militants for a second day after a surprise attack.
• Americans may be among the dead and those taken hostage in Israel-Hamas war, Blinken says.