Turning a Goal Into a Reality: Increase SMB Exports

John Tozzi, small business reporter for BusinessWeek and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke brainstorm about how the U.S. government plans to boost small business exports. They address three key issues:

1. What stops most small businesses from exporting?

2. How will the Obama Administration double exports in five years?

3. Some people argue that growing exports depends more on the value of the dollar, and there's not much from a policy point of view that the U.S. can do to boost exports.

Read the entire Q&A here.

Be Fearless: Get Out There and Export!

Another great (expanded for print version) article on exporting by John Tozzi for BusinessWeek:

Entrepreneurs' Fears May Jinx Obama's Export Push

Here's an interesting issue posed by a small business owner:

Payment isn't the only challenge. Betsy Shields, founder of Breakaway Technologies based in Park City, Ill., sells used computer equipment abroad. Exports made up about 30% of her total sales of $2.4 million last year. Brisk business in Hong Kong and Singapore, though, dried up in 2007, when computer hardware manufacturers "dumped a lot of brand new product over there at pretty low prices," she says. A recent prospect in Tanzania looked promising, but tariffs made Shields' goods too costly.

We are honored to be included in this story. A hat tip and thank you to John for always reaching out to us whenever a feature has to do with global small business.

Up, Up, and Away on Exports!

Biggest hiccup for SMBs on exporting? It used to be finding customers. Now, it's getting paid.

Read John Tozzi's excellent article over at BusinessWeek:

Other business owners might sour on exporting after what happened to David Old. His company (Old Wood LLC), a 15-employee wood flooring producer (pictured) in Las Vegas, N.M., had completed a $130,000 order for a new theater floor for a customer in Seoul, South Korea, in 2008. The buyer paid a deposit up front, passed a credit check, and made the first two payments on time. But the final payment of $40,000, due after the financial crisis began that fall, never arrived.

The Biggest Roadblock to Upping Exports

Photo credit: Douglas Fir floors

Posted by: Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog