Women- You Too Can Take Advantage of
the
Global Marketplace!
Global Marketplace!
by Juliette Sussman
We keep hearing that we live and work in a global marketplace; that the world of business is completely changing on a worldwide scale. Most of you reading this would think this does not concern you. What you should be asking yourself is, 'how does this really affect me?'
Most women typically believe globalization only concerns huge multi-national corporations like IBM or Wal-Mart wanting to lower their labor and manufacturing costs, and not the small business person.
Large businesses are not the only ones
that can take advantage of the global marketplace! These
massive changes today affect businesses of all sizes,
and if you don't want to get left behind then you must
learn how you can take advantage of this as well.
The bottom line is that no matter how large or small
your business is you cannot afford to ignore that the
world has opened up and that borders have begun to
disappear in a myriad of ways. No matter what size, your
business needs to compete, and it is the savvy business
person that knows it!
If you try and battle that fact you will
just be fighting a losing battle, and most importantly
not staying competitive. The truth is that people will
compete for your business whether they are around the
corner or half way around the world and you need to
learn how to take advantage of these changes before your
competition does.
When talking about competing on a global scale, you need
to think about it in two different ways. First is using
resources from all over the world to help build your
business better, cheaper, and faster. The second is
growing your target audience to not just the people in
your own backyard or country, but selling your product
or service to the whole world!
Believe it or not this is possible in
almost every business out there; you just need to start
thinking differently and start connecting!
Yes there is a new learning curve in figuring out how to work with people located all over the world and how this can help you directly. What people don't like to talk about is that people from every corner of the world will compete for your business, and will work just as hard if not harder and for a fraction of the cost because their living costs allow them to do so. Some people want to ignore this because its 'hurting' jobs at home. But if you ignore these changes then it will be you who loses out.
For workers in our own backyard, it's
their job and all our jobs to become educated on where
our world is headed. We all need to learn what jobs can
and can't be outsourced. There are great discussions and
books on this subject that all people should read (see
below for book recommendations). If you are not educated
on this you will be the one that may be in trouble
because you will still be in the 'old world' way of
doing things. People that are succeeding are learning
how to work in this new world, and how these changes can
directly help them instead of getting surprised by it in
the future and playing catch up.
Running your company the new way:
The whole idea of globalization is truly remarkable because it allows you to do things in your business you would have never been able to before. Within the last 6-8 years since the Internet revolution, areas of the world that you could not connect to before have become wired, which has opened up millions and millions of workers to get online and offer their services.
It has truly never been easier to take
advantage of starting or running your company at
considerably lower costs than you thought! For example,
you can have products made for you in China, your
accounting done in India, and your design for your
website done in Estonia. This is possible because the
Internet can connect the world in a way we have never
seen before. This is truly amazing, because with a quick
e-mail you can easily be talking to someone halfway
around the world about your project needs. You can use
Skype to call people for free (if they have Skype as
well or it's a small charge) and you can use Paypal to
easily pay for services rendered.
To start figuring out how you can benefit, begin to take
a look at resources online in ways you may not have
though of before. Dissect your current business model or
new business idea and ask yourself, 'What are ways I can
do this differently, and take advantage of the open
world.' Start searching for ways to outsource areas that
fit your business model. You will be shocked at what you
find online with people and companies catering to your
every need.
With resources that you can find online,
you can locate just about anyone to help you with what
you are doing at much lower costs because you are
looking in a much larger pool than ever before.
Globalization is a remarkable change to the way we do
business and not something we can ignore because it's
happening and happening faster than you think. Companies
large and small are looking all over the world at ways
they can do things better and cheaper, and faster and so
can you!
Get online and start connecting to people
all over the world on ways you can make your company
better.
Book Recommendations: (available at amazon.com
bookstore)
A Whole New Mind
By Daniel H. Pink
The World Is Flat
By Thomas L. Friedman
About the Author:
Juliette Sussman is
an energetic entrepreneur having launched multiple
companies and products on a global scale. In her free
time she enjoys writing and helping other women realize
their dreams in starting and running their own
companies. To contact Juliette or learn more about how
she can help you go to
www.wetalknow.com.
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