Try to Get Better Every Day

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Enjoy the journey and try to get better every day. And don't lose the passion and the love for what you do." – Nadia Comaneci

Take a Moment to Visualize a Successful Global Business (Video)

How She Built It: Aden + Anais's Raegan Moya-Jones (Podcast)

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Raegan Moya-Jones grew up in Australia where cotton muslin baby blankets are commonplace.  But when she started a new life and family in New York City, New York, she couldn't find them anywhere.

So in 2006, she started the baby blanket company Aden + Anais, which now makes more than $100 million in annual revenue. We [How I Built This with Guy Raz, from NPR] first ran this episode in 2017 – but about a year later, Raegan's role as leader and co-founder took a dramatic turn. She fills Guy in on what happened in this special updated episode. 

All businesses can take a turn for the best or the worst.  Listen in ... a fascinating and powerful learning experience for all business owners who aspire to build a great enduring global enterprise.

How to Avoid Complaceny and Maximize Your Chance For Service Export Success

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You should never let your service offering ever become commonplace. Always work at becoming better and better at what you’re doing. And be prepared to take aggressive measures to establish and protect your business presence. The following eight strategies are essential to ensure you never become complacent.

This article was originally posted at Thrive Global and authored by Laurel J. Delaney.

The Great Leveler for Global Business: The Internet

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According to Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, you don’t have to commit to expensive global advertising campaigns to be discovered in this world because you can do your marketing and market testing at the touch of an iPhone.

“While competition may be fiercer, I believe that if you have an idea for a business that solves a problem and makes people’s lives better, as a result, you have a good shot at success,” he [Branson] says.

The Internet serves as the great leveler for all businesses, allowing everyone to move at lightening speed and achieve results faster than ever.

Learn more about how to stand out and maintain global integrity in the marketplace.

Today in Global Small Business: The Small Business Solution to Preserving the Amazon

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

• Are you using Facebook to flourish?
• Quote of the week: “It's fun to peek into other people's worlds and see how they go about doing things." – Norah Jones, American singer, songwriter, and pianist
• China's $1.94 trillion ecommerce is the largest in the world, and more than three times that of the number two US market, according to a newly released eMarketer report. 
• The lawfulness of parallel imports.
• How world entrepreneurship is impacting small business.
• The small business solution to saving the Amazon.

Live Your Life Fearlessly

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Welcome to a New Culture of Shared Prosperity

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Welcome to a new culture of shared prosperity.

It’s a significant sign of our shifting culture that the country’s largest corporations and the organization representing their interests are revising their definition of the purpose of the corporation from profit maximization to leading their companies “for the benefit of all stakeholders—customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders."

How it's done?

Corporations, and the investors who own them, now must go beyond words and take action to upend the self-defeating doctrine of shareholder primacy.

Hooray.  We applaud this at The Global Small Business Blog – companies creating value for workers, customers, suppliers, and communities—not just talk about it.

Exports Matter: Diversify Markets, Strengthen Firms and Grow Jobs

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San Diego, California-based FoxFury Lighting Solutions exports cutting-edge “Xtremium” headlamp products to China, Japan, and other countries around the world, helping fire and rescue officials respond to major global humanitarian disasters from earthquakes in Fukushima and Italy to hurricanes in Puerto Rico and Texas.  Its shift from a domestically-focused company to a global exporter is an evolution that is still relatively uncommon among U.S. firms.

Many of these efforts stem from the Global Cities Initiative, which made the case in the aftermath of the Great Recession that exports mattered because of the opportunity to diversify markets, strengthen firms and regional economies, and grow well-paying jobs.

Learn more about how FoxFury made crucial connections to dealers in Japan and Germany, establishing the firm as a potential partner in a business where leads and trust can often take years to build.

Five U.S. officials Shaping Trump's Trade Battles

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As President Trump's trade fights fuel fears of a global recession and threaten his reelection prospects, five U.S. officials are shaping many of Trump's decision:

1. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
2. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro
3. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer
4. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow
5. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell

The president’s trade battles with China, Europe and the Democratic-controlled House are seen as further restraining an already slowing global economy.

Read more about five key players in Trump's trade battles.

How SMEs Can Develop a Killer Customer Experience

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For small businesses, the internet is something of a double-edged sword. It has leveled the marketing playing field, while simultaneously opening small local markets up to international competition.

Today, however, small businesses have a new option – to exploit their local bona fides with a local digital marketing strategy.

Explore further on forward-looking strategies.

Today in Global Small Business: How to Move Toward Greatness

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

• Best cell phone plans for small businesses.  
• Quote of the week: “When [what you are deeply passionate about, what you can be best in the world at and what drives your economic engine] come together, not only does your work move toward greatness, but so does your life. For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps, then, you might gain that rare tranquility that comes from knowing that you’ve had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time here on this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered.”— Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
• U.S. small business owners feel 'peachy' over the state of the global economy? 
• Are you using social media to empower your small business?
• Global e-commerce trends to launch your business across borders.
• 18 must-have travel apps for traveling abroad.

Life is Better at the Beach

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Happiness is a day at the beach." -- Anonymous

The Global Ecommerce Playbook

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There are huge challenges when embarking on cross-border commerce.  Yet nearly 84% of global ecommerce sales happen outside of Western continents such as North America and Europe, and overall sales are expected to reach $4.8 trillion USD by 2021.

Some of the world’s largest and best-known multi-nationals have failed spectacularly when expanding abroad.  How so?

Find out through a white paper, The Global Ecommerce Playbook (requires registration).

The Pain is Growing for American Small Businesses on Chinese Tariffs

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To grow and succeed, a significant number of small and midsize businesses across America rely on trade with China.

Karen Kerrigan, President and CEO, SBE Council, goes on to say, "the Trump administration’s latest decision to impose 10 percent tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods along with China’s retaliatory tariffs only serve to pile new costs on small businesses and consumers, and squeeze what market access small businesses currently have."

Find out why the United States needs to adopt more effective alternatives to the use of tariffs.

Team USA World Champ Simone Biles Makes History With Her New Triple-Double on Floor (Crown This Woman!)

The Growth Show (Podcast)

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Host Meghan Keaney Anderson, VP of marketing at HubSpot, takes a deep dive into trends, turning points, and success stories in The Growth Show. She interviews CEOs and founders to discover how successful companies thrive. With over 1.5 million downloads, this podcast is perfect for anyone who wants to get inspired and see how to drive sustainable business growth.

It’s never been easier to start a business, but it’s never been harder to succeed. Each episode of The Growth Show explores the inspiring stories behind how people grow a business, an idea, or a movement.

Listen to the Growth Show podcast here.

Today in Global Small Business: The Art of Selling Online Globally

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

• The art of selling online – globally.  
• Quote of the week: “We weren't born to create excuses, we were born to create excellence.”— Janna Cachola
• Hey New Yorkers, Chinese company Alibaba wants to teach you how to use their global B2B tool.
• Learn how to jump into the international market!
• Discover what small businesses think about artificial intelligence.
• How building a community can overcome a global culture of contempt.

The Positive Side of Things

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"No matter what you're going through, there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you'll find the positive side of things." – Demi Lovato

How Do We Ensure That Middle Eastern Family Businesses Survive?

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According to Hassan Jameel, Deputy President and Vice-Chairman, Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ), family businesses play an outsized role, accounting for over three-quarters of the private sector economy’s workforce. Many of the largest businesses in the region remain family run, having grown over the course of several generations from small enterprises into conglomerates spanning sectors and geographies.  Even his own firm, ALJ, established by his grandfather, started off as a small vehicle distributor in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Today, 70 years later, the company has grown to become a significant global distributor and has diversified into multiple sectors including energy, real estate and finance, operating in more than 30 countries around the world.

For many the idea of a family business immediately conjures up an image of a small shop, in which a son is stacking the shelves while his father ponders the proud day he hands over the keys. It is easy to forget that some of the business world’s biggest names, such as Ford, Walmart or Tata, are or once were family enterprises, built on big ideas seized by bold entrepreneurs that have now been passed down through generations.

Learn how some of the biggest family businesses in the region grew from humble beginnings and discover what was behind their success.

Local Businesses in Tampa, Florida Fly High With Exports to Brazil

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Madison Lawson, the international business manager with the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation says, "When you find a new consumer base in a market like that [Brazil], you can grow your company exponentially."

The EDC worked with the economic development leaders in Pinellas and Pasco counties to send 3 Daughters Brewing, American Freedom Distillery and six other businesses to Sao Paolo Monday as part of a program to help small businesses grow into international exports.

It's a chance many business owners didn't have before to meet with distributors, consumers, and end buyers.

Read more about how Bay Area businesses hope to expand their global customer base in Brazil.

China Has 200 Unicorns With Global Aspirations

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About 200 Chinese startups have valuations of $1 billion or more, and many are preparing to go global.  Most of the companies are largely unknown outside China, but that is likely to change over the next decade.

More than 70 percent of the leaders of Chinese unicorn companies say they already have plans or strategies for overseas expansion. This is in part thanks to government encouragement: China’s Belt and Road Initiative emphasizes international “innovation-based open cooperation,” and China has introduced a series of measures to create a favorable environment for innovation. 

When it comes to growth, most of the unicorn leaders say they value independent, long-term development over flipping their companies for immediate gain because they want to create tomorrow's great global enterprises.

Dig deeper.  It's all in the story about China's herd of unicorns.

The Trade Wars and a Slower Global Economy

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The latest economic numbers point to a further slowing of business at many small companies; economists say trade wars are a significant reason for the decline.

The trade wars that began with the Trump administration's tariffs on China early in 2018 and continued with retaliatory duties on U.S. goods are taking a toll on domestic manufacturers, economists say.

Read more about how small business slows as trade wars continue, economists say.

Today in Global Small Business: Why Japan Is Doubling Down on E-Commerce Fashion

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

• Roughly 70% of the 4,505 worldwide small businesses polled in the GoDaddy Global Entrepreneurship Survey said they expected their prospects to grow by at least 25% in the next three to five years.  
• Quote of the week: “The limits of my language means the limits of my world.”— Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Canadian small businesses may benefit by thinking globally.
• Who are the top 25 global e-commerce power players?
• The ever-changing global payments landscape.
• Why Japan is doubling down on e-commerce fashion.

Hard Work Opens Doors

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Hard work opens doors and shows the world that you are serious about being one of those rare - and special - human beings who use the fullness of their talents to do their very best." – Robin S. Sharma

Global E-Commerce is Booming

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According to a newly released eMarketer report, China’s $1.94 trillion e-commerce is the largest in the world, and more than three times that of the number two U.S. market.

The report described a booming global e-commerce market, is expected to grow 20.7% this year to $3.5 trillion in sales. China’s $1.94 trillion in sales will have contributed 54.7% of that figure, according to eMarketer.

Based on the report, discover the areas in e-commerce where China is leading.

It Only Takes One Person to Inspire a World of Kindness