International Business – Not Just For The Big Guys

When you hear the words “international business”, it would be normal to think of the companies with billion-dollar turnovers who have offices and possibly production plants in many countries. This is indeed what many people think when they hear those words because, after all, that is largely what it used to mean. Any company which had the money to carry out such a level of International trading would be one of the big ones. However, this has changed, as so much has in the business world, due in no small part to the Internet. As a budding entrepreneur, one of your first thoughts should be “How do I give this an International angle?”. By doing that you can seriously increase your profit margins.

Whatever your business is, there is sure to be some way that you can dress it up for an International market. Indeed, there is a case to be made for the argument that smaller businesses can cater for a wider range of people (if not a larger number) because of the freedom that their independence brings. If you can make your service so personalized that it allows you to offer the same refined items to people from Abu Dhabi to Zurich, it will allow you to take advantage of the massive reach of the world wide web. Although not everybody has the Internet, there are few parts of the world where there is not some level of Internet service. Its importance in terms of transferring information has seen most governments pump lots of money into making Internet capability widespread.

Having an Internet business presence is really one of the simplest things on the world. On the most basic level all you really need is an eBay account. If you have a stock of items to sell, or you make things to order, then all you really need to do is list them on the site and set prices, either for auction or using the “Buy It Now” option. If you set up a PayPal account alongside this, then you can receive payment in any currency, allowing you to have a balance in dollars, pounds, euros, dirhams, pesos or any other currency you could name. You can transfer it into your national currency or leave it as it is – but costly money transferring charges can now be a thing of the past.

You do not need to be a faceless conglomerate to make your business viable on an International level. The more trading you do with people in other countries, the more you will understand what plays well in different markets. People are learning every day, and the world is genuinely becoming a smaller place in a figurative sense. Getting an international, online element sorted out could take your business from respectability to fully verifiable success – all you need to do is play it the right way. A little bit of research is all that you require. Then sit back and watch the money roll in, in whatever form it comes.

First Published: June 22, 2009 EntrepreneurJourney.com