Micro Entrepreneurs Need to Go Global
Micro Entrepreneurs Need to Go Global
If that’s how you're thinking, you’re missing a golden opportunity and an emerging trend. Although you may not be set up to export large quantities of products, you can export knowledge. No matter what business you’re in, you undoubtedly have some level of expertise that’s of interest to others. And the internet is the tool you can use to sell that expertise to a global market.
When I started my small business growth consulting and business coaching practice, the internet was just catching on as a business tool. Now of course, it’s indispensable. Although my practice is still largely focused on the Triangle, I have clients and subscribers from all over the US and the world, especially the UK, New Zealand and Australia. Technology has allowed me to go global.
Yet so many small business owners or solo entrepreneurs I work with hadn’t even begun to utilize this untapped market. We wear so many different hats and get so bogged down sometimes with daily operations, that we fail to “see the forest for the trees”. Tactical concerns eclipse strategy and what I call “multiple streams of income planning” never gets off the ground.
I could write a book on all the ways you can take your small business global through your website and the internet, but let’s start with just a few suggestions for what you could market globally:
* Tele-seminars (low international rates and VoIP make this affordable for customers)
* Online video workshops or “webinars”
* E-books or downloadable knowledge products
* Detailed reports and survey results
* For profit internet radio shows and podcasts
* Multi-media E-courses (including downloadable audio and video)
* Books and CD’s (can be easily shipped or sold through a source like Amazon)
* Any easily shipped products that can be purchased online
* Affiliate sales—here you have two choices:
1) You sign up as an affiliate for another company’s product or service that would interest your target market. Each one you sell pays you a generous commission without the hassle of dealing with payment of delivery
2 You create a knowledge product and create and market your own affiliate program. When others sign up to sell as your affiliates they essentially become your virtual sales team
* E-bay auctions or online stores
* Joint ventures with other complimentary businesses who have a large database of
hungry customers who would love your product or service. Pay a great per sale commission,
do all the legwork and benefit from your JV partner’s huge database. I’ve done several
of these and they can be a great profit generator. Plus, many of your JV partner’s
customers who buy your product, will end up on your mailing list as well.
You don’t have to be a savvy internet marketer or webmaster to learn how to create a global market for your business. Much of the set-up can be outsourced. Even if you sell a service that relies on a local clientele, like for example, interior design, personal training, real estate, or staffing, there’s a way to add a global component and a new income stream to your business.
Make it a priority this year to aggressively pursue globalization and you’ll be very happy with the bottom line results for your small business.
Micro Entrepreneurs Need to Go Global - To learn more about this author, visit Janis Pettit's Website.
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When we hear or read about globalization, we often think of medium to large companies that have the right products and financial resources to either export, set up factories in foreign countries, or hire salespeople or outsourced workers overseas. As “micro entrepreneurs” who own small businesses with 0 to 10 employees, we may not think globalization has much to offer us. We don't equate the power of our websites and internet marketing with going global.
If that’s how you're thinking, you’re missing a golden opportunity and an emerging trend. Although you may not be set up to export large quantities of products, you can export knowledge. No matter what business you’re in, you undoubtedly have some level of expertise that’s of interest to others. And the internet is the tool you can use to sell that expertise to a global market.
When I started my small business growth consulting and business coaching practice, the internet was just catching on as a business tool. Now of course, it’s indispensable. Although my practice is still largely focused on the Triangle, I have clients and subscribers from all over the US and the world, especially the UK, New Zealand and Australia. Technology has allowed me to go global.
Yet so many small business owners or solo entrepreneurs I work with hadn’t even begun to utilize this untapped market. We wear so many different hats and get so bogged down sometimes with daily operations, that we fail to “see the forest for the trees”. Tactical concerns eclipse strategy and what I call “multiple streams of income planning” never gets off the ground.
I could write a book on all the ways you can take your small business global through your website and the internet, but let’s start with just a few suggestions for what you could market globally:
* Tele-seminars (low international rates and VoIP make this affordable for customers)
* Online video workshops or “webinars”
* E-books or downloadable knowledge products
* Detailed reports and survey results
* For profit internet radio shows and podcasts
* Multi-media E-courses (including downloadable audio and video)
* Books and CD’s (can be easily shipped or sold through a source like Amazon)
* Any easily shipped products that can be purchased online
* Affiliate sales—here you have two choices:
1) You sign up as an affiliate for another company’s product or service that would interest your target market. Each one you sell pays you a generous commission without the hassle of dealing with payment of delivery
2 You create a knowledge product and create and market your own affiliate program. When others sign up to sell as your affiliates they essentially become your virtual sales team
* E-bay auctions or online stores
* Joint ventures with other complimentary businesses who have a large database of
hungry customers who would love your product or service. Pay a great per sale commission,
do all the legwork and benefit from your JV partner’s huge database. I’ve done several
of these and they can be a great profit generator. Plus, many of your JV partner’s
customers who buy your product, will end up on your mailing list as well.
You don’t have to be a savvy internet marketer or webmaster to learn how to create a global market for your business. Much of the set-up can be outsourced. Even if you sell a service that relies on a local clientele, like for example, interior design, personal training, real estate, or staffing, there’s a way to add a global component and a new income stream to your business.
Make it a priority this year to aggressively pursue globalization and you’ll be very happy with the bottom line results for your small business.
Micro Entrepreneurs Need to Go Global - To learn more about this author, visit Janis Pettit's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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