Small Firms with a Website Face a World of Opportunity: 8 Tips to Get Started - 4/11/2005
by Laurel Delaney, Global TradeSource, Ltd.

Listen up small businesses. If you are serious about going global, then you better put up a website. I was able to get my website, GlobeTrade.com, up and running for less than one-thousand U.S. dollars, not including the time I spent creating it. It took me three weeks to go live, and I'm not a technology expert. You can do it too and have the world become your market.

The Idea

I've spent 21 years in the international trade arena and have conducted business in well over thirty countries. I first worked for a small Chicago-based manufacturing company that had a single person –me –as its export department. This six-person operation generated annual sales of just over U.S. $2.5 million. Foreign sales in more than 23 countries accounted for 30 percent of total company earnings. I learned the basics of exporting there.

I began to think of ways a website could support my consulting activities and vice versa. A December 2001 study by Forrester Research predicts that global online trade will swell to U.S. $12.8 trillion by 2006. But many small business people continue to think that going global is too complicated. They assume I've been lucky to sell products worldwide, especially during turbulent times. Luck has had little to do with it. Doing business across the planet takes perseverance, diplomacy, listening, learning, and common sense. I knew I needed to start an online site to show others how to sell internationally.

Getting Going

I had no clue as to how to create a website. What I knew was how to go global. I decided to ask one of the world's largest technology firms if it would be interested in partnering with me to develop the site's infrastructure, while I created the content.

In my proposal, I said, "A website linkup between XYZ Co. and Laurel Delaney will help demystify the going-global process for entrepreneurs and small businesses alike by providing them with the skills and motivation they need to survive and thrive in our global e-marketplace."

After four months of consultations, I was turned down with this memorable remark from a senior executive: "Our market research does not indicate that globalization is an area where our small business customers are focusing their time and attention."

Discouraged, I contacted Ray Smilor, Ph.D., author of Daring Visionaries and president of the Foundation for Enterprise Development. "Every successful entrepreneur has heard 'no' from somebody, and then made them wish that they had said 'yes,'" Dr. Smilor told me. "So build a company that makes them wish that they had said 'yes.'"

I decided to go ahead on my own. The main obstacle I faced was my lack of technology expertise. To overcome it, I worked with Bigstep in San Francisco and set out to put information and graphics into their suggested template. Since then, many companies offer affordable packages for building a website, including Yahoo Small Business and Network Solutions.

For three weeks I worked from 7:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. at my computer, posting information I knew would be useful to companies interested in transcending boundaries with their businesses. I listed tips to help companies get started. I researched and listed currency converters, time-zone information, global weather sites, country links, and other helpful resources. I set up a board of advisors to offer suggestions on ways I can grow this community. The site does more than provide information on global business resources. It keeps visitors engaged through a monthly e-newsletter, fun features, and a "freebie" offering that helps visitors enhance their businesses without spending a cent.

We now have between 75,000 and 100,000 visitors monthly.

Securing Sponsors

My toughest hurdle has been securing more sponsors. Every day, I network with contacts about what I'm doing, try to interest the media in stories, or solicit companies to become sponsors. We enable sponsors to reinforce their corporate image, generate business-building opportunities, provide value to customers, and attract new audiences, while showcasing them as companies helping small businesses globalize. My goal is to sign up five additional sponsors for GlobeTrade.com this year.

I love and believe in what I'm doing and feel the money will come soon enough – a philosophy many small business folks surely share with me. Although I do fantasize of easier days ahead, entrepreneurs never take the simple route, especially when they want to take on the world.

Eight Tips to Help You Get Started

As with any new business, starting an online company can be thankless. It requires an endless donation of time and energy without immediate payback. If you're thinking of starting a web business, these eight tips might make your experience easier.

1. Don't waste time initially courting large companies. Once you have a vision, you can create your site and retain total control. If you do things right, big companies will be impressed.
2. Constantly market yourself and your business. Did Richard Branson make Virgin or did Virgin make Richard Branson? To succeed, you must have faith in yourself and use good marketing skills to get noticed.
3. Have money in the bank. You don't know how long it's going to take to begin making money with your site, so have a financial cushion to see you through rough spots.
4. Develop a business-value proposition early. What is unique about the site? My feeling was that plenty of big companies would like to reach small businesses interested in going global. If I could capture this audience, large companies might pay for advertisements, sponsorships, and other promotions on the site to gain exposure.
5. Maintain good health. Starting a business can be draining emotionally and physically. I run four to six miles weekly to keep me energized.
6. Get help from friends, family, and business colleagues. I set up an advisory board to gain ideas for improvements. Seek out people you respect and feel comfortable with, and who know and understand your industry. Sometimes, the team you assemble becomes more important than the initial business idea.
7. Execute on ideas. I promise subscribers that my e-newsletter will be published on the fifth of every month and I see that it always is. I also deliver on promises to companies and contacts. Remember, the best idea is worthless if it stays in your mind or on a shelf.
8. Tolerate avoidance and rejection. I send about 100 emails daily and consider my week productive if I hear back from 10 percent. I don't take it personally. Everyone is busy and has different agendas.

To learn more about web site development, visit these resources:

www.bigstep.com

www.networksolutions.com

smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting/

Copyright © Laurel Delaney, 2004. All rights reserved.

About the Author: Laurel Delaney runs GlobeTrade.com (www.globetrade.com), a Chicago-based global marketing and consulting company, and is the creator of "Borderbuster," (www.globetrade.com/generic21.html) an e-newsletter that is highly regarded for its focus on global marketing. Delaney is the Chicago chapter facilitator for Women Presidents' Organization (www.womenpresidentsorg.com) and can be reached at ldelaney@globetrade.com.

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