Another long delay between blog posts, but the pandemic notwithstanding, it's been a productive interlude. Some of the time was spent building on my book "Go Glocal" featured in the last post. That involved more speaking engagements (many by Zoom over the past two years) and also led me into developing a curriculum now used to help immigrants and refugees start businesses connected back to their countries of origin.
Apart from being connected to my book on international market development strategy, the I&R course was also a part of a larger project I've been working on for the past 10 years or so -- that being teaching business to non-business people. As our economy has shifted over the past 2 decades, many more people are starting their own businesses, whether as a side hustle or in an attempt to work on something they're passionate about rather than simply working for a paycheck (not that there's anything wrong with that -- I've certainly done both in my career).
The work I have done on teaching business to non-businesspeople, has most recently led me to my newest entrepreneurial venture -- it's called WellB-ing and while I've created a number of resources, including a free eBook and a free YouTube channel, it is centered around an online course, The Aligned Practice Accelerator, teaching business to holistic and alternative wellness practitioners (acupuncturists, massage therapists, and similar practitioners).
An article appearing in Medium discussing why this group of small business owners is so in need of a targeted class on how to run their businesses can be found here: "I set Out to Pursue My Passion and Wound Up Running a Small Business . . . Help!"
At first blush, this doesn't sound like much of an international business, but it is on both ends of the supply chain. The course sits on a platform owned by an Israeli company. My project manager for the course development is in South Africa -- a big reason things like Zoom aren't going anywhere even as the pandemic fades.
As importantly, once a service is online, its available everywhere -- and there are of course massage therapists and acupuncturists and herbal medicine practitioners and yoga teachers and skin care professionals all over the world. Even having spent a career traveling the globe, I was genuinely surprised by the diversity of geographies represented by people looking into the course.
I know of and indeed work with small business owners who find themselves in the same position -- they're focused on delivering a product or service and build an online presence, and while market reach is certainly a driver of the business model, going global is not.
Now here's the kicker -- in my international market entry work, I talk a lot about not being an accidental exporter -- winding up servicing people in markets just because you happened to find yourself there. Intentionally selecting your target markets may be the single most important step in developing a successful international strategy as it allows you to be intentional about everything from cultural issues around branding and value creation to critical regulatory and logistics issues crucial to your success. And yet, having been focusing on the course development aspects and having defined my market by my customers' professions instead of where they live and work, I am an accidental exporter.
So as this new business gears up, I need to step back and take my own advice. Next step is to do some intentional planning around the geographic reach of our branding resonance and customer support logistics. As I say repeatedly to my international clients, focus resources on the markets where you can realize the greatest success.