Be There For One Another

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"Let our New Year's resolution be this:  we will be there for one another [even during a global pandemic] as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word." – Goran Persson

Key Details About the Second Round of PPP Loans for Small Businesses

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More Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans are coming.  President Donald Trump has signed into law a new $900 billion coronavirus relief and stimulus package.  Among its provisions: An extension of last spring’s PPP, allowing another $284 billion or so in forgivable, federally backed loans for ailing small businesses.

Here are some answers to questions business owners might have.

TikTok 101

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The social media or video-sharing social network TikTok app currently has more than 800 million monthly active users. And it has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times. 

Do you know what TikTok is, what it does, and how it is used? Find out more with a little TikTok 101.

Today in Global Small Business: Positivity in 2021 Is Possible

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

• Reflections from 2019 that might be handy for your 2021 outlook.
• 10 positive things to bring into 2021 – and what you should leave behind.
• Quote of the week: “We think too much and feel too little" – Charlie Chaplin
• How to look forward and set intentions for the new year.
• Practicing with a purpose.  Putting your ideas into action in 2021.
• The top trends for leveraging your business in the new year.

Spiritual Reflections

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During this holiday season, have you found yourself attending virtual Christmas Eve services, relaxing on Christmas Day and writing letters, calling friends, getting outside and participating in other fun activities?

According to a survey, the coronavirus apparently cannot dampen the spiritual yearnings of some Americans who expect to boost devotional practices during the holidays.

The Christmas Spirit Brings Joy in People Around the World

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values." – Thomas S. Monson

Merry Christmas to all!

Fireside Christmas Classics From Your Friends at the Global Small Business Blog

Festive Jammies Is the Ultimate Holiday Picture Card This Year

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This year has seen a change in the images people use for their holiday cards, infusing humor into a posed portrait.  Most feature casual wear or even people wearing festive jammies.  Others aren't holding presents but rather wine or beer.  Instead of sayings that say, "Happy Holidays," we see "Good riddance 2020."

And here's the best news:  Dr. Fauci says Santa Claus has 'innate immunity,' won't be spreading COVID-19 to anyone this Christmas.

Now that's worth celebrating.

Fun Holiday Traditions From Around the World

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For many Americans, holiday celebrations involve decorating homes with lights, wreaths snowmen, and reindeers – and putting up Christmas trees, finding meaningful gifts for loved ones, and of course, binge-watching holiday classics like Elf, Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

However, not everyone observes the holiday in the same way. Here are some weird and wonderful Christmas traditions from around the world.

Today in Global Small Business: Container Shipping is Booming Again

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

• The World Trade Organization (WTO)  highlights progress made on developing global trade and e-commerce.
• How President Biden must restore American trade leadership.
• Quote of the week: “Some people are so busy learning the tricks of the trade that they never learn the trade." – Vernon Law
• Cross-border paperless trade has great potential to not only grow trade competitiveness but also to address new challenges associated with e-commerce and the digital economy.  See what the United Nations (UN) and Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) are doing about it.
• Container shipping is booming again.  Will it last?
• The world's most important body of water.

Hello World

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"There is much to learn, but there is that which no one can teach, that which each must discover for themselves." ― Peter Cawdron, Hello World

The Big Divorce: Britain and the EU

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Britain officially left the EU in January and has spent the last 11 months in a transitional phase while the two sides try to negotiate a new free trade agreement to avert major disruptions at borders and more economic damage.  The transition ends at midnight Brussels time on December 31, 2020.

Here are some of the top issues still to be settled.

How Not to Lose Your Way and Fall Behind the Global Competition

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By closely monitoring your business planning (which should include a component to going global), keeping a pulse on the economy and observing short-range and long-term financial and nonfinancial metrics, you will be able to weather economic uncertainty that is out of your control.

If you aren't agile and don’t adapt as the landscape changes [especially during COVID-19 times], you can lose your way and fall behind the competition. 

Find out how to work through uncertainty and manage unpredictable times.

How to Support Bilingual Learning Without a Screen for Kids Aged 1-10

©iStock/Marta Ortiz

How do you easily teach your child a new language without having them be in front of a smartphone screen or tablet app?

Simply turn on the speaker-equipped (adjustable volume) Habbi Habbi wand and tap - anywhere, on any page, in any of the supported books for a translation. Bingo.  Every inch is interactive, tappable - text, image, even white space!   Kids love that there is instant feedback.

And there's more.  Parents don’t need to be native speakers to support bilingual learning. 

The books are available in Spanish and Simplified Chinese and are intended for children between 1 and 10.

To learn more visit:  Habbihabbi.com

Rethinking Export Controls in a New Era

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"Export controls can be a formidable tool to protect technological advantage and to deter illiberal and dangerous use of technologies," says Martijn Rasser.  Used properly for their intended purpose—to affect the military potential of a foreign country, to advance major foreign policy objectives, or to fulfill international obligations—export controls can bolster U.S. national security.(1)

(1.) U.S. House of Representatives, Export Control Reform Act of 2018, H.R. 5040, 115th Congress, https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5040/text. 

Rasser says to revamp export controls for this new era—a global strategic competition with technology at its core—U.S. policymakers should focus on three tenets for implementation.

1. Work with allies.
2. Raise the threshold.
3. Reframe the goal.

Read the entire (and very thorough) commentary:  Rethinking Export Controls:  Unintended Consequences and the New Technological Landscape.

Today in Global Small Business: Working With An International Distributor

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

• Facebook aims to make shopping easier across its ecosystem.
• Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc. has increased its presence in the emerging online grocery industry.
• Quote of the week: “We must create a kind of globalization that works for everyone...and not just for a few." – Nestor Kirchner
• Due to the region’s untapped potential, data has shown that Latin America is a leading region to grow your business.
• What you need to know for working with an international distributor (by Laurel Delaney).
• Even if you work locally, there’s a good chance that some of your employees or customers may speak other languages.

All Roads Lead Home

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"At Christmas, all roads lead home." – Marjorie Holmes

Global Small Businesses Have Struggled to Survive

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Earlier this year, Facebook began conducting monthly surveys of small and midsize businesses that have Facebook pages. The surveys, done in collaboration with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank, asked about business closures, workforce reductions, and government aid, as well as leaders' domestic responsibilities, their overall optimism, and other topics. More than 25,000 business leaders responded each month, totaling more than 150,000 respondents in more than 50 countries. 

The report findings state that these businesses were more likely than their larger peers to have suffered a 50 percent or greater drop in sales compared with 2019, and were more likely to have closed in a given month. Businesses with fewer than 10 employees were also less likely than larger firms to have received bank or government loans.

Read the global survey of small business owners here.  During the pandemic, global small businesses have struggled to survive.

Laurel Delaney's Cheat Sheet to Growing a Global Business

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If I [Laurel Delaney] had a dollar for every time someone asked me what it takes to go global, I’d be one rich woman. It’s not one thing that propels you to success. Rather, it’s a series of things that must be done well that will get you that much closer to improving your overall growth potential and conducting business with customers the world over.

From choosing the right market to having a payment plan in place, this is your cheat sheet from Laurel Delaney to growing a global business.

Fighting the Common Global Enemy, the Coronavirus

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"Today [12/8/20] marks the start of the fightback against our common enemy, the coronavirus," says UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

The reason?  A UK grandmother named Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, has become the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination program.

It was the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be dispensed in the coming weeks.

According to Professor Keita Shibayama, a New Financial Crisis Looms

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Since the 1980s, leading nations have relied on the twin pillars of the promotion of globalization and fiscal consolidation.  However, the coronavirus crisis is bringing about a major change of direction. 

Below Keita Shibayama, a professor at Kyoto University (Japan) and a polemicist who has always spoken out about globalism talks about a post-COVID-19 world.

Quick snippet here:

In the economic crisis now unfolding, it will be difficult to find any escape routes overseas. The impact of the pandemic will go on for quite a while. Greater international friction will further impede trade, cross-border investment, and the movement of people. As uncertainty levels not seen in the past prevail, corporations, investors, and even governments will be pressed hard to rethink their existing approaches.

Authored for Nippon.com, Shibayama goes on to say that a new financial crisis looms.

Today in Global Small Business: Do You Think It Is Important to Track Localized Marketing ROI?

 

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

• Discover how the designer Dior learned to localize in China and was rewarded for it.
• COVID-19 and localization.
• Quote of the week: “Diversification and globalization are the keys to the future." – Fujio Mitarai
• Technology can be an incredibly valuable tool for web localization, and when partnered with real people, it can reach dizzying heights in the global marketplace.
• See how best practices for localized marketing strategy helps restaurants win.
• Do you think it is essential to track localized marketing ROI?

Mental Health Needs Attention

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Mental health needs a great deal of attention. It's the final taboo and it needs to be faced and dealt with." – Adam Ant

According to the Swedes, Conversation Should Be Used for Exchanging Real, Meaningful Information

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For Swedes, the purpose of talking is to exchange meaningful information, and engaging in purposeless chit-chat simply isn’t valued.  To Swedes:

... small talk is seen as futile, and is referred to as kallprat (“cold talk”) or dödprat (“dead talk”). To avoid ending up in these situations, many Swedes have made an art of avoiding eye contact with strangers and acquaintances they might come across in the street by looking at their phones or staring at shopping windows instead. 

Learn more on why Swedes don't to speak to strangers.

Is There a Connection Between Death, Disease and Burning Fossil Fuels?

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A recent comprehensive analysis published by the medical research journal The Lancet focuses on public health data from 2019, and finds that heat waves, air pollution and extreme weather increasingly damage human health. The annual report is routinely cited by climate policymakers. The authors include dozens of physicians and public health experts from around the world.

The question becomes:  Is there a connection between death, disease and burning fossil fuels?

Learn more on why doctors call for climate action and get access to the report here. 

APCO Founder and Chairman Shares How She Built a Global Consultancy From Zero to More than $130 Million As a Working Mother: Lessons Learned

©2020 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

Join Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global® today, 12/2/20, at 11AM CT for an educational wegginar with APCO Worldwide founder and Chairman, Margery Kraus, when she talks about "Starting and Running a Global Company as a Working Mother:  Lessons Learned."  To learn more and to register, visit:  https://womenentrepreneursgrowglobal.org/2020/11/04/starting-and-running-a-global-company-as-a-working-mother/.

The educational program is free of charge thanks to supportive sponsors:  Associated Bank, Greensfelder, Union Pacific, FedEx, GlobalCare Clinical Trials, and APCO Worldwide.

USA Holiday Shoppers Are Drawn by Store Discounts But Can They Afford It?

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Yesterday's Cyber Monday promised to become the largest online sales day in history. During the peak hour of 8 pm to 9 pm Pacific, shoppers could have spent $13 million per minute, according to Adobe Digital Insights, which tracks online spending.

U.S. shoppers are on track to spend more than $755 billion during the holiday shopping season in what's expected to be a new sales record despite the coronavirus recession.  But can they afford it?

Today in Global Small Business: Globalization in a Post-COVID World

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

• Globalization in a post-COVID world.
• Globalization is not in decline.
• Quote of the week:  “We must create a kind of globalization that works for everyone... and not just for a few." – Nestor Kirchner
• Globalization can't go back to the past, nor will it.
• Economic globalization after the global pandemic.
• How globalization and urbanization created the perfect storm

You Are Blessed If You See Beautiful Things in Humble Places

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All right reserved.

“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” – Camille Pissarro

Personal Space Is Something You Dream of in Your Sleep

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Soyeong Kim, PhD is a counseling psychologist in Providence, Rhode Island and a post-doctoral research fellow at Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Her research focuses on understanding stress and trauma within cultural context. She has particular interests in serving historically marginalized populations. She writes:

Growing up in Seoul, South Korea, it felt the city never stopped turning its wheels. Restaurants open 24-hours. Street signs that never went off. Korean karaoke unending through the night. Fifty-one million people – a population larger the combined populations of Texas and Florida – living in a country half the size of New England. So, as you can imagine, personal space is something that you dreamed of in your sleep.

Learn more about how Dr. Kim shuts off the outside world in a good way, better known as mindfulness.

Giving Thanks

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"Thanksgiving Day is a good day to recommit our energies to giving thanks and just giving.” – Amy Grant 

Laurel Delaney Says Gratitude is the Key to Fulfillment

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Forming new relationships and strengthening existing ones have been great gifts to me [Laurel Delaney] in 2020. They have kept me sane, motivated and feeling very much alive, all with a greater sense of purpose. Gratitude is the key to fulfillment. Here is my shortlist of what has kept me going during COVID-19 and what am I most thankful for in 2020.

Global Small Business Owners: Secure Your Future into 2021 and Beyond with a Grant from eBay and Hello Alice

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Starting November 23, 2020, eBay, in partnership with Hello Alice, is giving back to the global small businesses that power America and is awarding more than $500,000 in grants and education resources to help small businesses stay up and running online and secure their future into 2021 and beyond.  The program is called Up & Running. 

Learn more here.  Program closes December 11, 2020 at midnight ET.

Today in Global Small Business: The Gratitude Edition

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

• Thanksgiving is a great time for families to teach gratitude. 
• Use gratitude to counter stress and uncertainty.
• Quote of the week:  “Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” – Maya Angelou
• The humble person is the grateful person.
• How to plan and even be grateful for a socially distanced Thanksgiving.
• Gather safely this Thanksgiving 2020.
• And we thank all of you for your readership to The Global Small Business Blog – feeling grateful, thankful and blessed.

Don't Stop Believing

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"You can do anything as long as you don't stop believing. When it is meant to be, it will be. You just have to follow your heart." – Keke Palmer

Qingdao, China: Can You Contract Covid-19 From Ship Workers or Contaminated Cargo?

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The New England Journal of Medicine reports out on a rapid response to an outbreak in Qingdao, China.  The outbreak alarm was triggered on October 11, 2020, when three cases of Covid-19 were reported in Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong Province. 

The probable source of this cluster was determined to be two dock workers from the city’s port, who were determined on September 24 to have asymptomatic infection. They had no history of travel or contact with anyone confirmed to have Covid-19, but they may have contracted the virus from ship workers or contaminated cargo. These dock workers tested positive during regular biweekly screening for high-risk groups, which was part of the city’s Covid-19 surveillance. 

Read on to see how this case was handled.

German Composer Richard Wagner At His Best

There are Not Enough Women Investing in Women (Yet)

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Some quick intros.  Kay Koplovitz founded and served as CEO of USA Networks, now part of NBC Universal. She also is cofounder and chairman of Springboard Growth Capital, which invests in women-led, fast-growth companies, and she is cofounder and chairman of Springboard Enterprises, a nonprofit that aims accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial companies led by women through access to resources and a global community of experts. Alli McCartney is a managing director at UBS, and founder, Alignment Partners, a private wealth management group at UBS.

They recently spoke with Fast Company editor-in-chief Stephanie Mehta on how to get more high-net-worth women to invest in female founders.

RCEP: Spurring Recovery From the Global Pandemic?

©iStock/lakshmiprasad S

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), considered the world's largest trading bloc, is made up of 15 countries – members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and five regional partners – covering nearly a third of the global economy.  India is not a part of the partnership. Nor is the United States.  The countries involved are as follows:

1. Australia
2. Brunei
3. Japan
4. Malaysia
5. New Zealand
6. Singapore (check out a LinkedIn post)
7. Vietnam
8. China
9. Cambodia
10. Indonesia
11. Lao
12. Myanmar
13. Philippines
14. South Korea
15. Thailand

Why is this important?  Some say the RCEP isn't as comprehensive and doesn't cut tariffs as deeply as the TPP's successor. But many analysts think RCEP's sheer size makes it more significant.  According to Brookings, "Southeast Asia will benefit significantly from RCEP ($19 billion annually by 2030) but less so than Northeast Asia because it already has free trade agreements with RCEP partners."

Read on to learn more about how Asia-Pacific countries have formed a large trading bloc.

Today in Global Small Business: End-to-End Platform for Cross-Border Trade

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

• Check out the end-to-end platform for cross-border trade – 1Export, winner of the SoCal 2020 Global Pitch (congrats Anna Melissa Nava!).
• The ins and outs to export financing.
• Quote of the week:  “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of production and trade...” ― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
• Hong Kong exports are facing an uncertain future after Washington announced this past summer that all Hong Kong imports must be labeled as "Made in China" in response to Beijing's imposition of a national security law in the city.
• Biden and Brexit.
• Any place in the world experiencing over tourism right now?  Surprisingly, yes.

Spring at the Close of a Winter Day

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day." – Elizabeth Bowen

How Do You Know When Your Brand Is Ready to Go Global?

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Expanding your business globally requires plenty of advance marketing and a team that can pivot quickly.  That said, how do you know when your brand is ready to go global?  It boils down to asking yourself 3 questions.

Reminder: Technology Strengthens American Trade

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U.S. economic growth and job creation depend on the ability to sell beyond America’s borders because 95% of consumers live outside the United States.  Moreover, U.S. businesses that export tend to grow faster, create more jobs, and become more resilient in the face of a changing economy.

Read on to learn more about growing small business exports.

Happy Veterans Day 2020

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"Happy Veterans Day to our soldiers, both past and present. We owe you our thanks throughout the year, but more than that, we owe you our freedom."

Great Global Leaders Tell It Like It Is

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As thought leader Ron Ashkenas writes for the Harvard Business Review:

Great leaders tell it like it is. In other words, they focus on reality, no matter how painful or unpleasant it might be, and then figure out what to do about it. In contrast, less effective leaders sometimes avoid hard truths, argue with the data, and delay tough decisions.

Read the entire article:  The Dangers of Denial

Today in Global Small Business: America Fires Trump and Elects Biden as Nation's 46th President

 

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

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

• America fires Trump and elects Biden as nation's 46th president.
• Election highlights:  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
• Quote of the week:  “Now let's give each other a chance." – President elect Joe Biden
• Kamala Harris's history of firsts.
• Biden's trade policy ...
• Will Biden end trade wars?

Biden Wins the USA Presidential Race 2020

We're All In This Together

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"We are all in this together. We will all make it or none of us will make it. If everyone cleans up their act except one big ole country, it isn't going to work." – Ted Danson

Classical Music for Studying and Increasing Global Brainpower

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW): November 16-22, 2020

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Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) will cover a variety of topics on such current and future business challenges as how to pivot, rebuild or reopen during COVID-19. 

Discover tens of thousands of events, activities and competitions that are taking place all over the world.

Fortune Favors the Bold

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Fortune favors the bold and especially those who go after global opportunities to fuel growth.  Ireland is no different.  The country is unquestionably a magnet for investment from some of the largest tech companies in the world.  And like London’s reputation as a global financial center, the draw of Dublin for technology businesses has become self-perpetuating.

Read on to learn more about why Irish tech businesses are going global.

A Pathway Forward to Accessibility for Everyone Outdoors: wegginar® 11/4

©2020 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global.  All rights reserved.

Kelly Twichel, CEO Access Trax, is an occupational therapist and passionate accessibility advocate from San Diego, California.  In wegg's next wegginar® November 4, 2020 at 11AM CT, she'll be chatting about:

• What inspired her to invent her product.
• What have been her challenges and what has been most rewarding for her.
• How she ships her product to more than 10 different countries.
• How she sells her product.
• Where she sees herself in five years.

To learn more and to register for this free-of-charge program (thanks to generous sponsors), visit:  Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®

Today in Global Small Business: How to Develop Your Global Leadership Style

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

• How to develop your [global] leadership style.
• Define the problem to lead out of and solve it.
• Quote of the week:  “None of us is as smart as all of us." ― Peter B. Grazier
• Be a "learn-it-all," not a "know-it-all."
• Where are the best jobs in our world?
• Technological disruptions are shaping our world.

20 Reasons for the World to Love Halloween

©2020 All photos Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

“I love Halloween, and I love that feeling:  the cold air, the spooky dangers lurking around the corner."— Evan Peters