Today in Global Small Business: Stick To Your New Year Plans and Change Your Life

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

• Discover what matters in global trade in 2019.  Listen in on Laurel Delaney's annual wegginar® regarding Global Trade Trends Report 2019.  FREE. Register here.
• How India is navigating global trade agreement trends.
• Ten new year's resolutions for your career.
• Quote of the week:  "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
• How to stick to your new year plans and change your life.
• Why do we bother making new year's resolutions?

Cats Rule the World

©2018 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Cats rule the world [especially during the holidays]." -- Jim Davis

SMEs Expect Thai Economy to Expand in 2019

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An academic survey found that SMEs expect the Thai economy to expand by 3.79 per cent next year.  About 84.2 per cent of respondents said they were not ready to undertake digital transformation.

In addition, the survey found that the three most important factors affecting businesses were the:

1. Post-election political environment
2. Domestic economy
3. World economy

However, such factors as a lack of qualified personnel as well as intense competition were also noted as important.

Read more about how SMEs expect the Thai economy to grow 3.79 per cent in 2019.

Pushing Digitization Across the Asia-Pacific Region

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Fast Track Trade (FTT) is the first Singapore-headquartered operator to provide a blockchain-based digital trade platform to the local SME community.  They are working with Get Go Global (Go) to promote one another's platforms in an effort to push digitization across the Asia-Pacific region.

“It [the platform] allows SMEs to seek business partners and distributors, buy and sell goods, and track shipments. Additionally, it can receive and make payments, access financing and buy insurance via an eco-system of service providers on the FTT platform.”

Learn more here.

Christmas in Chicago

Merry Christmas Around the World!

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"May your Christmas be filled with good cheer, family, love and good health!" -- Hugs from your friends at the Global Small Business Blog

Today in Global Small Business: Holiday Blessings and New Year Resolutions

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

• Five new year resolutions for startups and small business owners.
• Entrepreneurs get their 2019 resolutions in shape.
• Quote of the week:  "During the holiday season, it's easy to forget that sometimes the best gift of all is simply the gift of time. I can't think of anything a writer would appreciate more than being given time and space to work." -- Kate Klise
• Twelve tax related resolutions your company should consider at annual board meetings.
• How to beat the blues in January with a fresh look at the new year.
• Listen in on Laurel Delaney's annual wegginar® regarding Global Trade Trends Report 2019.  FREE. Register here.

Happy Holidays From Your Friends at the Global Small Business Blog

©2018 Laurel J. Delaney.  All right reserved.

It's Time for the Good Times, Forget About the Bad Times

Madonna, queen of global pop.

"Holiday, celebrate
Holiday, celebrate

If we took a holiday yeah
Took some time to celebrate
Just one day out of life
It would be
It would be so nice
Everybody spread the word
We're gonna have a celebration
All across the world
In every nation
It's time for the good times 
Forget about the bad times 
One day to come together
To release the pressure
We need a holiday

Holiday, celebrate
Holiday, celebrate

You can turn this world around
And bring back all of those happy days
Put your trouble down
It's time to celebrate
Let love shine
And we will find
A way to come together
And make things better
We need a holiday

Holiday, celebrate
Holiday, celebrate"

Why An International Profile and Connectivity is Essential for Business Growth

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As the world shrinks and ease of access into other markets increases for entrepreneurs, small and mid-cap companies and leaders, an international profile and connectivity is essential and can mean the difference between business growth and stagnation.

Here's why.

Do the Hard Yards to Go Global

©2018 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global.
All rights reserved.

What do three (3) trailblazing Australian female entrepreneurs have in common?  They each have built global businesses from the ground up and here's what they have discovered:

We just have to refuse to buy into the stories we tell ourselves about why we can’t, roll up our sleeves and do the hard yards [to go global]!

Find out who the female entrepreneurs are and how they achieved success in the blog post at wegg® on "roll up your sleeves and do the hard yards to go global."

China's Global Economic Plan that Took 40 Years To Create

Millions of Chinese left the countryside and set up businesses in cities or went to work in factories that propelled China to become the world’s second-largest economy.

But the changes also sowed the seeds of many of the problems China faces today.

Read more about how China built a global economy in forty years but now has a new plan.

Today in Global Small Business: Character, Compassion and Concern for Others

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

• Bangkok is promoting SMEs to expand overseas through e-commerce.
• How to enter new markets around the world.
• Quote of the week:  "Awareness is all about restoring your freedom to choose what you want instead of what your past imposes on you." -- Deepak Chopra
• Important lessons (philosophies) worth a look:  character, compassion and concern for others ...
• Will Jeff Bezos fuel the next Bitcoin bull run?
• Next wegg® wegginar® is 1/9/19 with Laurel Delaney.  It's her annual Global Trade Trends Report 2019.  FREE. Register here.

Know What You Want: Dive In

©2018 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Selling to Japan: What Works

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Sheer determination and superhuman patience will get you to the Japanese border, but it will take a unique product and smart marketing to get you in.  Japanese consumers are always ready to sample imported goods, but my [Laurel Delaney's] experience has shown that there are eight common denominators of successful products.

Here they are.

How Do You Keep Things In Balance?

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Internationally recognized executive coach, educator and author John Baldoni says, "While confidence is an attribute that every leader must manifest, taken in too large of a dose can cause the ego to inflate. That can lead to a sense of misplaced invincibility, that you can do it all. The challenge is to find balance. Know that you must continue to earn your keep, as well as maintain the sense of accomplishment that you belong."

How do you keep things in balance?  How do you keep it real?

Mystery solved and Paul McCartney is involved.

Do Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners Support Trump?

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Are the Trump administration and Congress doing more for large corporations than they are for small business owners?  According to a new national survey of 1,225 entrepreneurs from the Kauffman Foundation, conducted by Global Strategy Group and Public Opinion Strategies, it seems so.

Considering that Trump lost the popular vote in 2016, he will need every scrap of support he can get to win in 2020, and judging from this new survey data, he may not be able to rely on entrepreneurs and small business owners to get there.

Read the entire article here to find out whether small business owners support Trump.

Walmart CEO: When Making Change, Move with Speed

Today in Global Small Business: Best Small Business Apps

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

• The Dolce and Gabbana China crisis is worsening.
• How to go global in three (3) clicks.
• Quote of the week:  "Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." -- Hamilton Wright Mabie
• Best small business apps.
• Fifteen (15) examples of augmented reality to inspire small business owners. 
• Don't be stingy or else you risk losing good employees.

Pulse of America

©2018 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"I adore Chicago.  It is the pulse of America." -- Sarah Bernhardt 

What Global Marketing Strategies Are and How Companies Can Best Achieve Success With Them

Climate Change to Have Consequences Worldwide

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Climate change is expected to have consequences worldwide, especially in Africa. Harvests will be affected, threatening agricultural outputs. This is said to hurt farmers and lead to greater food insecurity.

But there hasn’t been much discussion about what effects climate change will have in other areas – like in the continent’s small and medium business sector. This is a worrying oversight.

Research, conducted in Zambia and Botswana, revealed that businesses activities faced major disruptions during the 2015/2016 El Niño event.

Learn more about how small businesses in Africa will be on the frontline of climate change.

Know the Hows of Corporate Etiquette and the Values Behind Different Traditions

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When doing business around the world, learning and honoring the way people in other countries greet one another, or give gifts, or even gesture, drink, and speak is just the tip of a cultural iceberg.

Martin J. Smith adds:

But understanding the values that lie beneath those behaviors—the attitudes, beliefs, ideologies, and philosophical or spiritual perspectives—can enable you to negotiate the iceberg rather than plow into it.

He goes on to say "We see things above the surface that look like business etiquette, but which underneath are really driven by some centuries-old cultural ethos."

Read the entire article on cultural advice you need before taking your business global.

Start Small With a Passion and Determination and Then Go Big

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Whether it was in someone’s garage, a local café, or a car traveling to their first customers, many multinational companies started small with the passion, vision, and determination of a few individuals.

Ask any Founder/CEO and they will likely tell you something similar to this: the road from entrepreneurship to executive can be daunting and will take time. While this is true, there are ways to make this road a straighter path.

Here are a few things to know about to make your journey easier.

Today in Global Small Business: 4 Ways to Transform the SME Global Market

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

• Top 10 December events in Slovakia.
• Do you feel comfortable delivering bad news? Do you look forward to speaking in public? Do you enjoy networking? Is it easy for you to speak your mind and be assertive with friends and colleagues? If you answered no to any of these questions, this [free] wegginar can help you on 12/5. Register here and get ready to start the new year with powerful growth.
• Execution is everything:  here's the number one reason why.
• Quote of the week:  "For more than a decade, I led an organization that put on an elaborate Christmas program each December. It was a big production, with over 250 people participating in more than 20 performances. By the end of the season, everyone who participated was exhausted." -- John Maxwell
• Being an American brand, and why it matters in a global marketplace. 
• Crossing the digital border:  4 ways to transform the SME global market (PDF).

Christmas in Chicago: Crazy Good Cheer

Photos courtesy:  @2018 Laurel J. Delaney