IT’S YOUR MONEY
SMALL BUSINESS
Grow Your Business —
Go International
by Candace Shiver
O
ne of the hallmarks of a success-
ful small business is consistent,
steady growth. Competition can
be fierce, so sustained growth,
month over month, year over year helps to
promote a good night’s sleep for the entre-
preneur.
In a perfect world, every entrepreneur
with a good business plan could lie down to
sweet dreams each night.
The reality is building and sustaining
steady growth remains elusive to millions
of small business owners. One of the chal-
lenges is how to grow revenue from your
existing customers or branch out into new
markets. The truth is most small business
owners cater to a core group of customers in
hopes of gaining a loyal following.
Customer loyalty, once the bedrock of
reputable businesses isn’t as easy to main-
tain as it once was because of changing
customer demands, spurred in large part by
technology, and changing demographics.
Yet, every adversity brings opportunity.
28 HimPower April 2017
Technology has forced even Mom & Pop
businesses to develop an online presence
and the advantage it gives them is expansion
to markets outside their geographic comfort
zone.
And if you’ve ever considered
exporting, selling your goods or services
across the globe, you’re in good company!
Today, with so many advances in tech-
nology, access to the international market
is within reach; and this is so, regardless
of your size. In fact, small and medi-
um-sized companies in the United States are
exporting now more than ever before.
As a start, if you have a web presence,
you already have a global marketing and
order-taking platform. For just a few more
dollars, for example, you can process credit
card payments for buyers in Portugal or
translate key pages into Spanish and other
languages to further your reach. Yes, with
proper planning and resources, not only can
you build and sustain steady growth, you
can be a Global Entrepreneur!