John Wiley Spiers
How Small Business Trades Worldwide
John Wiley Spiers -
At some point in most careers one considers the idea of starting a business. Some people want to pursue a dream, some figure they can beat the boss at his own game, and for some people unemployment forces the issue.
Surely there is no safer investment for your time and money than self-employment. Surprisingly, for many who start their own businesses, making money is not always the prime motivator. Nonetheless, recent books such as The Millionaire Next Door provide some remarkable information about self-employment: 80% of the millionaires in the USA are "first generation"-meaning they became so in their own career-and some two-thirds of the working millionaires are self-employed (20% of US millionaires are retired); the self-employed are four times more likely to be millionaires than those who work for others-it seems the most common career move in becoming rich is to become self-employed.
Your Guide To Starting or Expanding
A Small Business International Trade Company
John Wiley Spiers
This book is written to show you how to build an Import and Export business, takes you through the steps so you will know you can do it, and is structured so you may take positive steps after each chapter toward building your business. Surely you will finish the book before your business gets started, but by the time you finish the book, not only should you feel "ready to go," but actually be on your way.
World trade is different from the domestic variety, and small is different from large business. Small business international trade has some specific challenges which this book illumines and solves....
Table of Content
Chapter One: The Field of International Trade
- Overview
- The Role and Value of the Importer
- The Basis of Competition
- Sourcing Products
- Marketing
- Some Concerns on The Diagram
- Summary
Chapter Two: Organizing for World Trade
- Business Incubators
- Communications
- Licensing
- Protecting Yourself
- Summary
Chapter Three: Finding the Best Products to Sell
- How Those Importers Thriving Developed Product
- The Process
- A Milestone
- Working with Designers
- Contracting Designers for Patentable or Copyrightable Products
Chapter Four: The Best Place in the World to Have Your Product Made
- The National Trade Data Bank(NTDB)
- Notes on analyzing NTDB data
- Closing in on the Best Supplier
- Minimum Research Steps
- Corresponding By Fax and E-mail
- Exclusives
- Choosing The Supplier
Chapter Five: Costing & Pricing
- Pricing Strategies
- What if Your Price is Just Too High
- A Real Life Lesson in Costings
- An Actual Costing
- Summary
Chapter Six: Selling Your Imported Products
- The Retail Market
- The Mass Markets
- The Regular Retail Markets
- Will the Retailer Go Around Me?
- How To Find the Best Independent Sales Representative for Your Products
- The Contract With An Independent Sales Representative
- A Foot In The Door
- The Independent Sales Representatives as Research and Development
- How To Build a Nationwide Sales Representative Network
- Terms and Conditions
- Terms & Conditions of Sale
- How to Gain Orders: The Battle Plan
- The Time Line and Strategy
- Reorders
- Two Concerns
Chapter Seven: Financing When Banks Will Not; Pay and Get Paid
- The Mechanics of the Letter of Credit
- Currencies
- Checking Customer Creditworthiness
- Dealing With Problem Accounts
- How Not To Collect Money
- How To Collect Accounts Receivable
- Realistic Finance Sources
- Cash Against Documents
- Lockbox
- Hope For The Best
- Summary
Chapter Eight: As A Self-Employed Agent
- Problems to Avoid
- Casual Exporting
- The Opportunity
- What Product to Export?
- Finding the Best Customers
- Finding the Best Suppliers
- A Summary Graph
- Structuring the Deal
Chapter Nine: Managing the Company
- Drafting the Business Plan
- Sales Projections
- A Shift in Thinking
- The Benefit of Your Insignificance
- Pet Rock vs Ty, Fads vs Manias
- Nordstrom
- Bambergers
- A Store that Shall Remain Nameless
- Spiegel
- General Foods
- Liquidators
- Processing Orders
- Make News, Enbance the Image, Grow the Business
- Summary
About the Author
John Wiley Spiers has been developing trade worldwide since 1974. Self-employed since 1984, john shares his how-to in seminars highly rated by participants for content, experience, pace and humor. He shares over 25 years experience in international trade buying/selling, operations and computerization, market penetration, sourcing products, structuring finance and distribution plans - How Small Business Trades Worldwide by John Wiley Spiers
