When talking about international business, people tend to envision large multinational companies like Google, Microsoft, or Facebook. Just over a decade ago, that image would have been absolutely correct. But today, small businesses want in on the fun that is global business.
In his book Entrepreneur Revolution: How to Develop your Entrepreneurial Mindset and Start a Business that Works, entrepreneur Daniel Priestley describes his vision for global small businesses, a genre entirely different from both traditional small businesses and big multinational corporations.
Don’t be thrown by the apparent paradox in this expression. A business can be 100% international and 100% small at the same time. How?
Back in the olden days (like the late 2000s), business growth used to cause a surge in the number of employees as well. Today that’s not the case anymore.
You can continue to operate with a core team which takes care of tasks that define your business and make you unique. For example, if you’re selling a smartphone app, you need a strong and capable team of developers on your payroll.
As your business grows, you may feel tempted to hire people to take care of other tasks, like customer service, accounting, etc. If you want to go down the traditional road, by all means, you should go ahead and hire people.
But if you want something different, you can consider outsourcing these tasks. Outsourcing to global professionals can help you save money, and allows your business to stay small, agile, and flexible.
Outsourcing to global professionals can help you save money, and allows your business to stay small, agile, and flexible.
Due to the advance of technology, you don’t have to restrict yourself to your own vicinity when looking for contractors or even full time staff. You can look for workers globally, in countries that have lower wage levels or a particularly high expertise in a certain field.
Apps like Slack, Zoom, Trello and many more help your team stay connected to each other, no matter where they are. International team members can share documents, spreadsheets, and much more via software like Google Docs.
And best of all, you can keep an eye on all business processes from wherever you happen to be at the moment.
The future of small business is shaped by technology and globalization, which allows you to widen your target market to a much larger territory.
This doesn’t mean you need to appeal to every single consumer in the world. In fact, widening your reach can contribute to narrowing your scope and finding that niche market your business can truly excel in. How?
In fact, widening your reach can contribute to narrowing your scope and finding that niche market your business can truly excel in.
Instead of catering to all gardeners in your business’ vicinity, you can concentrate on a micro-niche like “gardening manga-fans”. Or “gardeners who love the color yellow”.
There must be many of them around the world, all waiting for the perfect gardening tools that go with their other hobbies. Discover exciting niches and customers who share your passion in every regard.
Although international trade doesn’t come without difficulties (like different taxes, logistical issues, and unfamiliar customs), global small businesses have all the help they need.
There’s one thing though you can’t ignore. Smooth processes are essential for the successful operation of an international small business. You can’t let slow and outdated procedures, like traditional bank wires clog your pipeline and hinder your success.
Veem allows you to send and request global payments with just a click. It’s faster and safer than wire transfers sent through your bank. You can track all your transactions online and save money, since Veem charges no wire fees.
Sign up for a free Veem account and enjoy personalized payments of the future.
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