Entrepreneurs often thrive on daily inspiration to improve every aspect of their businesses and stay ahead of the competition. And inspiration can come from virtually anywhere—focused entrepreneurs glean as much as they can from communities of peers, customers, suppliers, partners and competitors. However, an often-overlooked source for inspiration and new creative ideas can be found further afield—overseas.
It might seem counterintuitive to look abroad to help your business at home, but even if you are locally focused, there are compelling reasons to do so. By seeking out and building networks through international conferences, personal travel and even reaching out to foreign language and bilingual bloggers, I've found new funding sources, top notch content providers, unique PR opportunities for my business, a guest blogging stint and incredible personal connections. Here's how you can create your own global entrepreneur network.
1. Find a Pen Pal
A network comprised of individuals with vastly different cultural and economic perspectives can be stimulating and challenging as you plot your company's path forward. Remember pen pals? Elementary schools once connected students with counterparts of the same age or grade around the globe to discuss life via the written word. As someone who made friends in Finland long before I ever acquired a passport, the experience instantly broadened my horizons. The same holds true for entrepreneurship. Finding peers with whom you can share strategies, explore different tactical executions, discover unique marketing approaches and more all provide incredible inspiration.
Social media makes this exceptionally easy to do from home. Research Facebook and LinkedIn groups, relevant Twitter chats and active Pinterest or Instagram posters. Identify interesting businesses that are relevant to yours. Join groups and be active in conversations. Offer help to others. Post questions. Many website and blog commenting platforms and Twitter chats are conducted in English—bonus points if you're fluent in another language, or use Google translate.
Search for businesses that are not competitive but perhaps serve the same customers. For example, if you run an online clothing site, look for lifestyle, design and architecture sites overseas for inspiration or new trends to share with your customers that they wouldn't find anywhere else. Innovation occurring at different speeds and in different fields may enable you to spot opportunities to transfer your idea into a fresh, previously unidentified market, or inspire similar concepts that can be applied to your home market. For example, the way a bakery in Paris displays its pastries may influence merchandising your clothing boutique in a unique way.
If your strategy involves international expansion, developing an overseas network can serve your near-term business needs by helping you identify competent partners and better understand the opportunities and pitfalls of the geography in question. Whether you've started an online store that could reach customers anywhere or a stand-alone location that becomes a global destination, relationships are a competitive advantage.
2. Open the Right Doors at Events
Conferences are a great way to jump start your global network. Combine business and pleasure by booking a trip to an industry-leading or topically insightful conference. Travelers create faster bonds from a shared experience. This can make for strong lasting business contacts.
Sandrine Murcia, digital entrepreneur and chair of the board of Paris Pionnières, a French entrepreneurship network and incubator for women-led high-growth ventures, agrees. “We support our startups' growth by tying partnerships with international incubators or entrepreneurs' networks. When they need to spend two to three days in New York or Sao Paulo—to meet with potential customers or attend a key industry conference—they have a place to run their business and they are immediately immersed in the local ecosystems."
Startup Weekend, a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs, hosts events year round in cities around the globe for people to come together, share skill sets and launch innovative startups. Co-working spaces offer access to dozens of businesses. Find and attend a local MeetUp related to your industry or find international trade associations in your area that offer unique networking events. You can meet some incredible resources that open the right doors at the right time.
3. Volunteer Abroad (Or From Your Sofa)
Consider volunteering your time through a business exchange. BPeace, a network of volunteers to small and mid-sized businesses in conflict-affected countries, offers such opportunities through travel or virtual mentoring. BPeace is more than a business exchange, it's a cultural and personal exchange. The organization boasts dozens of success stories where new business opportunities are realized through mentorship. El Lechón, an El Salvadorian specialty pork processor, wanted to find an eco-friendly way to dispose of cuts and parts not sold to butchers and restaurants. Eco-friendly leather manufacturer Santa Croce was experiencing a shortage of hides. A BPeace volunteer mentor put the two companies together to solve each other's problems: Santa Croce discovered a source of pig hides from El Lechón, who now has a new revenue source from a previously wasted item. Good for business, good for the planet. Elizabeth Crowell, the CEO of BPeace, says that the organization's success results from this transformational duality: “I like to say it's a two way street: Both parties profit from it."
As the Internet, social media and advances in telecommunications make it easier every day to connect with others on the opposite side of the globe, find your next business breakthrough by getting on a plane or experiencing it virtually from the comfort of home.
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