Success Advice

Why 2020 Should Be The Year You Go Global

Published

4 years ago

Feb 5, 2020

Image Credit: Unsplash

According to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc., growth was the top priority for CEOs in 2019, and it will continue to be in 2020. Along with growth, cost and risk management will be the areas that industry-leading executives will focus most of their energy on.

But, next year, with “clouds gathering in the horizon”, as distinguished analyst Mark Raskino said, we shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket. Regardless of the size of our business, we should be planning for growth. Especially, for the sort of growth that diversifies our risk.

Expanding abroad is one of the most potentially rewarding paths we could take to grow our business. It diversifies our risk, mitigates the effects of negative changes in our home market, and breathes new life into our products and into our company.

When the market you’re in is starting to feel way too small, it might be the right time to look for opportunities away from home. Expansion might also be a great move if your products are seasonal, or if you’ve found a clear market gap in a neighboring and/or thriving economy.

Of course, be careful. The importance of research and ongoing analysis can’t be overstated. Several experts fear of a global recession, so you’ll need to plan for the unexpected.

Is Your Company Ready?

Whether international expansion is the key to growth for your particular business will depend upon several factors. Some have to do with your industry. Other factors are fully internal, and determine your success in particular. For instance, your business’ current financial conditions and your management style.

First and foremost, carry out extensive research. Find a country that’s culturally, politically, or regulatorily similar to yours — or just one that has a clear market gap that your products could fit right into. Conduct deep market research, take a sober look at country risk, and look for foreign partners who can advise and support you through this process. Remember that success is always driven by amazing human resources.

“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” – Napoleon Hill

Your Competitors Are Your Greatest Teachers

Take a close look at what your competition is doing, both locally and in your target market. Learn from their mistakes and reaffirm (or reconsider) your competitive advantages. Nowadays, and especially in the coming year, expanding your business won’t necessarily be about expanding its physical presence. You can expand from the comfort of your home country.

Digital Expansion vs. Traditional Expansion

As coach Kev Martin recently wrote, we should invest in our people, not only our stakeholders. But the tools we use and the platforms we take part in are as important as the talent we employ. We need good tools to operate and grow, and we need a proper setting where we could make the most out of them.

When you’re planning to take the exponentially regarding leap of expanding your business to a foreign market, you can rely on a booming B2B sector, to support you. Hunt for innovative, tech-driven solutions to facilitate and optimize all aspects of expansion: From logistics to proper customer service, localized digital marketing, interpreting services, and website localization.

Expanding a business in the digital age is not about expanding your physical presence. This lowers the cost and risk of expansion, but it doesn’t erase cultural or regulatory differences between your home and target countries.

Even if your expansion will be purely digital, think of it as if you were opening a new physical store. For instance, let’s say your brand is based in New York, and you’re opening a Parisian location. Your storefront should be recognizable as one of your brand — but you wouldn’t make a detailed reproduction of your American storefront. You need to find the common ground between your brand and the preferences of your new customers.

When you enter the store, the distribution and presentation of the products might be the same, but you’d expect the employees to communicate with customers in their own language — Right? Well, it’s exactly the same for your new online presence. It should be clearly yours, well-branded and consistent with the visual identity of your brand, but it should be localized for your new target audience.

The internet has reshaped all aspects of our life, especially through social media and the Internet of Things. Businesses now have an ever-growing kit of amazing tools to drive growth. Meanwhile, globalization and dynamic cultural exchange might lead us to believe that expanding digitally will require no major adaptation or learning process. But, globalization doesn’t fully erase cultural differences. And, there are some timeless principles to enticing customers that globalization hasn’t changed: People like to feel that brands understand them, and talk to them in their own terms.

“100% of customers are people. 100% of employees are people. If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business.” – Simon Sinek

Engaging International Customers

Now, we can access precise, real information about our target demographic, know what they’re interested in, what they like about our product, and what aspects we should improve. We know where our customers hang out, we know what they’re talking about, and we know how to make them feel closer to our product. And, we have the tools to act accordingly, in real-time.

We can also learn how customers behave on our website, test conversion strategies, and adopt a multichannel approach to marketing and selling without breaking the bank. Gathering this information, learning from it, and using it to constantly improve our processes is key to establishing a robust international business.

Thanks to the increased dominance of e-commerce, and the overpowering and refinement of a data-driven approach, the costs, and risks associated with international expansion are lowering, becoming easier to control and easier to calculate. Analytic tools have also made it possible to get to know our customers before ever interacting with them.

Growing your business in the digital age is a multifaceted creative endeavor. And, in 2020, the most technologically advanced, effective resources to grow, operate and scale an international business will be available to businesses of almost all budgets. So, expanding abroad in 2020 isn’t only highly convenient, it’s also highly comfortable. Today you can operate an international company, without ever setting foot on an airport. Make the most out of it, and good luck!

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Sean Patrick Hopwood

Sean Patrick Hopwood is the President of Day Translations, a translation and interpretation company that has offices worldwide. You can also check his personal blog here.

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There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

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3 weeks ago

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Jamelle Sanders

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In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.