Life is Full of Beauty. Notice It

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, [look forward to the snow] and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams." – Ashley Smith

Global Brand Peppers Eyeware Wants Pittsburghers to Shop Local on Saturday

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Global brand Peppers Eyeware wants to take the Small Business Saturday opportunity to celebrate their Pittsburgh roots. This SBS, they offer a sale which is exclusive to their 412 Store and therefore only accessible to local Pittsburghers.

In case you don't know, Peppers Eyeware is a global lifestyle brand which designs, manufactures and markets affordable polarized sunglasses to consumers.  And don't confuse Peppers with Peepers.  Wow, reminds us of the rhyme:

"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
But...
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
How many pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked?"

Anyway, read more about Peppers celebrating Small Business Saturday.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Global Small Business Blog!

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Gratitude is a Universally Good and Global Thing

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How wonderful that countries worldwide have national days of Thanksgiving.  It’s an acknowledgment that gratitude is a universally good and global thing to feel and practice. This holds true for everyone, no matter where we live.

But what if there seems little to be grateful for, or our efforts to be grateful feel hollow and empty?

Read on for the answer.

Blogging Can Boost Productivity and Help a Business Become Global

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If you want to be a professional in your industry and get noticed, blogging is the way to go since it is a simple, inexpensive and convenient marketing strategy.  Plus, it's a great way to drive traffic to your business.  Let's face it, all businesses should have a robust online presence, which is interactive and communicates extensively with clients and customers.

Small businesses need consistent online exposure for growth and to attract and retain prospective customers with engaging posts.

Read more about how blogging is hip and of value to businesses. We know this is true because at the Global Small Business Blog we have more than 40,000 readers each month!

Today in Global Small Business: It Can Take 5 Minutes to Ruin Your Reputation

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

• Google has announced an upgrade to CallJoy, the automated, cloud-based telephone customer service agent first debuted back in May.
• In international business, recognize that roles must evolve.
• Quote of the week: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett
• Roku is firmly established in the U.S. and it is also available in seven countries in the Americas, but its international expansion is just beginning – and that's where the company's biggest opportunity lies.
• The 2019 holiday e-commerce outlook for small businesses.
• One day, $38 billion in sales.  Who did that?

Good Ole' Chicago-based Heinemann Bakery

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Heinemann's first opened in 1929 as a small retail bakery on the north side of Chicago and gained a strong reputation for quality fresh baked goods made from the finest ingredients with no preservatives.

By 1935, the company had grown to three stores and was sold by the Heinemann family to Anton Dorner and Charles Meyering. Over the next seven years, this successful business team added nine more stores to satisfy Chicago's growing appetite for Heinemann's products.

The rest is history yet you can still find their products here and there.

Scaling for Global Growth by Laurel J. Delaney

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Laurel Delaney interviews UPS's Marketing Director for small businesses, Jeremy Melis.  Here's a snippet of one question:

LD: There’s a lot of talk lately about scaling a business. Can you define what that means? Some people think of it as hiring the right people, whereas others might perceive it as finding customers.

JM: Scaling means something different to every business. Scaling can refer to more employees, new geography, more equipment or facilities, increasing the online presence or any combination of those things. The real question is, ‘Why are you in business in the first place?’ If scaling helps you achieve that, then you’re on the right path.

Read more here.

Selling and Buying Things Online Creates New Customers

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Buying and selling things online creates new customers. What's more interesting is how the ubiquity of ecommerce has fed into the other technologies and trends, including the call for better trust mechanisms, global demand, eco-friendliness and the construction of an Industrial Internet of Things for freight carriers.

Digitization is an ongoing process that's proving consequential in nearly every industry. This is certainly true of freight shipping, where digitization, along with online shopping, global marketplaces and new productivity technologies, have had a lasting impact.

Logistics, cargo handling, last-mile fulfillment, customs and compliance and many other aspects of this business are responding to these and other influences.

Here's why.  Read more about the ways in which digitization and e-commerce changed freight.

Favorite Off-the-Clock Worldly Accommodations

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Donna Bulseco, for the WSJ, asked three global hoteliers, notoriously picky guests (and also considered hotel know-it-alls), to share their favorite off-the-clock accommodations.  Some are surprisingly modest.

1.  Frank Marrenbach, CEO of the Oetker Collection, which includes the French Riviera's Hotel du cap-Eden-Roc, based in Baden Baden, Germany – Beyond [by Geisel] hotel, in the Marienplatz, the heart of Munich.

2.  John Stirratt, Wilco bassist and partner in Tourists, a renovated roadside motel in North Adams, Massachusetts – Both the old Miyako [now Hotel Kabuki] in San Francisco, and the Hotel San Jose in Austin, Texas.

3.  Cornelia Samara, general manager, the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences at the Surf Club in Surfside, Florida – Rosewood Mayakoba in the coast of Riviera Maya. The arrival experience is so graceful. Another hotel with a unique arrival:  La Posada del Dragon, in the center of Madrid, which dates back to the 1800s.

What's your favorite place to stay in the world?

Global Entrepreneurship Week Kickoff 2019

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Headlines from around the world celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week, which removes unnecessary barriers to entrepreneurs in creating and growing new ventures.

• NERv Technology from Canada takes top prize at EWC global finals
• Crown Plaza Partner to invigorate startup ecosystems around the world
• Photo Exhibition at Palais des Nations shows entrepreneurial migrants and refugees
• Mind the Gap: New Index of Dynamic Entrepreneurship (IDE) encourages countries to strive for systemic balance
• Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global® weggchat® from USA conducted via Twitter brought women entrepreneurs the world over together to learn what it takes to go global

Today in Global Small Business: Superstars Run Away with Globalization

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

• Superstar firms are running away with globalization.
• Increasingly, the best strategies have the best metrics.
• Quote of the week: "I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through--then follow through." – Edward Rickenbacker
• Shoppers are ready to spend during the 2019 holiday season but retailers need to personalize.
• How agile is your company?
• 2019 cyber threatscape report.

How Beautiful the Leaves Grow Old

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"How beautiful the leaves grow old.  How full of light and color are their last days." – John Burroughs

Doing Business in India with Nixon Peabody's Help

©iStock/Sanjog Mhatre

Join Nixon Peabody LLP, SFAsia, and Singhania & Partners on November 22 from 10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at the Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA as they explore opportunities in India for local companies and investors and the strategies to succeed for doing business in this vibrant economy.

India is the world’s sixth largest economy, and still growing quickly. A relatively young country (median age of 28) with a burgeoning middle class. Plus, India is rapidly digitalizing. The bonds between the Bay Area and India are strong—creating opportunities for both investment and trade. A recent Bay Area Council Economic Institute Report concluded, “Sustained economic growth and national strategies that push digitization across a range of sectors and services are creating unique synergies with the Bay Area that open the door to new opportunities, as Bay Area companies expand their global footprint and diversify their market presence in Asia.”

For more information and to register, visit:  Innovative India: Cross-Border Trade and Investment Opportunities

Like to Be Alone? These 12 Special Personality Traits Apply to You (Video)

Challenges and Opportunities to Selling Internationally

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With global growth comes new challenges that small businesses have to learn how to navigate. The uncertainty around trade agreements worldwide and escalating tariffs between the U.S. and China are hindering the growth American entrepreneurs are seeing in these markets.

That said, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sat down with four small business owners to better understand the opportunities and challenges to selling internationally. Here are some of the key takeaways from the discussion – from what's hot in export markets, to long-term trade agreements, to IP protection – it's all here.

Light Up Your World with Andrea Sreshta of LuminAID at weggchat® November 13th

©2019 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global™.  All rights reserved.

To celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Network week, join wegg® at their weggchat® on 11/13/19 with Andrea Sreshta, co-founder of LuminAID. Conducted via Twitter, Andrea will be talking about how she took her business global at 11AM CT.  Andrea is winner of the Shark Tank award and recent recipient of the Women in Tech Award.

The program is made possible due to:  Bank of America, GlobalCare Clinical Trials, FedEx, Greensfelder, Associated Bank, APCO Worldwide and Union Pacific Foundation.

To learn more about lighting up your world and participating in the weggchat (no charge thanks to sponsors), visit: https://womenentrepreneursgrowglobal.org/2019/10/01/weggchatwith-andrea-sreshta-november-13-at-11cst/

Today in Global Small Business: Small Businesses Create One-half of the World’s GDP and Employ Two-thirds of the World’s Global Workforce

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

• Small business creates one-half of the world’s GDP and employs two-thirds of the world’s global workforce.  That's a big reason why Cisco is going after it.
• Gene Marks says, "No matter how many studies you read about small business optimism, keep in mind we’re never as secure as we seem."  Find out why.
• Quote of the week: “One idea alone is a tactic, but if it can be executed a number of different ways, it becomes a great strategy.” ― Marc Benioff, Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change
• Want Amazon to promote your products during the holidays? Be prepared to fork up millions.  Ouch.
• Working capital is the lifeblood of small business and payments firms have been actively responding to this growing need.
• Apps that have impacted our lives in the last 10 years.

What a Room Without Books is Like

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"A room without books is like a body without a soul." – Marcus Tullius Cicero

November is Global Entrepreneurship Month

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November is officially Global Entrepreneurship Month according to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee because entrepreneurship is seriously important to a state's economy.

“More than 90 percent of our state’s businesses are small businesses,” stated Lisa Brown, Department of Commerce director. “They are the lifeblood of local economies, creating jobs that strengthen communities. Global Entrepreneurship Month is a unique opportunity for everyone to explore the idea of starting a business and being their own boss.”

This month-long series of events is part of an international celebration of entrepreneurship that dates back to 2008. More than 170 countries participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week in November, which is supported by the Kauffman Foundation.

More than 250 events statewide (check out one here) are expected to be hosted all month long.  Learn more here.

Two Great Illinois Export-Related Events 11/14/19

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Depending on your exporting needs and where you are based, don't miss these upcoming morning programs:

International Trade Workshop, November 14, 2019 in Grayslake, Illinois (8:30-10:00 a.m. CT)

Learn the fundamentals of trade finance so you can turn your export opportunities into actual sales and receive payment on time for them.  You will gain knowledge in export financing, the basic concepts of foreign exchange and billing customers in U.S. dollars versus local currency. You will also learn how to design a foreign invoice in the buyer’s currency.

Manufacturing Export Forum, November 14, 2019 in Schaumburg, Illinois (7:30-9:30 a.m. CT)

The Manufacturing Export Forum will provide an overview on the financing tools, risk mitigation strategies, and accounting considerations that manufacturers face when exporting.

Rotorcorp Achieves Steady Growth in US Exports

©iStock/Benjamin Schaefer

Global small business Atlanta’s Rotorcorp LLC has seen steady growth in its export profile, with about 60 percent of revenues now coming from international sales.

President Sean Casey has been tapped for a slot on the Industry Trade Advisory Committee for aerospace equipment, a joint group convened by the Commerce Department and the Office of the United States Trade Representative to gain firsthand insight from companies on issues of U.S. competitiveness.

As a steady user of services of the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Small Business Administration, Mr. Casey has seen the way that advocacy and resources can be skewed toward large companies, sometimes at the expense of the smaller, fragmented players that nonetheless make up the bulk of U.S. employment.

Rotorcorp’s growth markets are almost exclusively abroad, in places like the Philippines and Panama. Retaliatory tariffs haven’t hit the company’s “high-quality, sought after, U.S.-made products.”

Read more about how an Atlanta helicopter parts exporter is bringing a voice of small business to a U.S. trade appointment.

CEOs Are Most Concerned with the Uncontrollable Threats in the Global Marketplace (Video)

Today in Global Small Business: Sayonara to Steve Easterbrook as CEO of McDonald's

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

• Endeavor Global Marketing reportedly paid about $200 million to acquire 160over90 and now will adopt that name after it pulled the plug on an IPO. 
• There are challenges to international e-commerce but they can be overcome.
• Quote of the week: “Embrace what you don't know, especially in the beginning, because what you don't know can become your greatest asset." – Spanx founder Sara Blakely
• Customer service can get better even if loyalty doesn't.
• As China and US attempt to sign a trade deal, thousands of companies are asking for tariff exclusions.
• You're fired!  McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook is out as of 11/3/19.

Things in American Culture That Want to Wipe the Class Distinction

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"There are things in American culture that want to wipe the class distinction. Blue jeans. Ready-made clothes. Coca-Cola." – Leslie Fiedler

Global Stress Relief