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The world has certainly become more of a global village, and fearless and outgoing entrepreneurs have been a big part of encouraging a global mindset. If you are an entrepreneur and you want to be a part of this elite team of global expansionists, you need to know a few things that will help you wade your way through the complexities of international trade and the peculiarities of doing business in different countries.
The qualities and things that you should know include the following;
- Be a risk taker and be innovative
If you are averse to risk, then the global arena is no place for you. Being risk tolerant, on the other hand, does not mean being careless about making decisions that could affect your business in a big way. It means that you are able to consider all your options objectively and able to make a decision without fear that it may not succeed.
Doing business overseas requires that one is innovative enough to sift practical things from impractical things and use whatever assets that one has in order to achieve the objectives at hand.
- Have a global mindset, but a local way of operating
If you are thinking about doing international business, you should be able to balance between having a global mindset and putting yourself in the shoes of the locals. Doing so will enable you to anticipate what the locals actually need that you can supply. At the same time, you have to know when to change hats and be a diplomat, a leader, an entrepreneur and even a hero at times.
- Have the energy and patience for international business
When dealing with diverse personalities and cultures, you will need to know when to be aggressive and when to have the patience to let some things be as they are. By being patient and sometimes even compromising when negotiating, you will be able to build value and trust for your product and your business.
- Persistence and commitment
Being persistent and committed to your agenda once you have decided that you are ready for international business is important. Just because things don’t work as you had initially planned simply means that your planning was not good enough, not that your business can’t work. In which case, you should come up with a better plan for success.
- Have a spirit of adventure and be comfortable in foreign lands
If you haven’t already, you need to be adventurous enough to go to foreign lands and get a feel of what an international lifestyle is all about. Being a jet setter will help you experience different cultures and therefore expand your mind to different ways of doing things.
If you have a mentality of not being judgmental and accepting that there may be more than one way of doing things, this will help you better assimilate as a global citizen. Even if you don’t accept a certain method or way of thinking, you should be patient, tolerant and diplomatic enough to steer yourself from an abrasive way of doing things.
- Value the relationship more than the deal
When engaging in international business, it is more important than ever that you gain the trust of the people that you will be transacting with. You have to remember that there may be some innate mistrust by default and you will need to overcome this mistrust by showing that you are a trustworthy person.
One of the ways that you can do this is to always operate with the mindset that the people you are serving are more important than the business that you are offering. Once you can make your customers and associates feel that way, then your business will better stand the test of time because your business will be accepted as a part of the new culture.
- Have the ability to adapt
Since you will be operating in an international arena where things change fast, you will need to be able to think fast and adapt to changing circumstances, and make decisions for the benefit of your business. Being able to see opportunities and being able to anticipate challenges before they happen is a good skill to have as well.
Besides, the simple fact that you will now have dealings with more people than before, and because you have no control over them, you will have to be able to know how you can better deal with such matters.
- Be able to operate on a macro as well as on a micro level
You should be able to shift gears quickly and seamlessly if you are to engage in a profitable international business. This means that you should always be aware of the different players, beneficiaries or stakeholders in international business and be able to operate at their level.
For example, you should be able to shift gears from dealing with government officials, diplomats, local authorities, local employees or other business entrepreneurs in different countries. At the same time, you should be able to get a sense of their needs and intentions so that you are able to anticipate their way of thinking and their actions.
Being able to have this skill is quite a challenge, but if you are able to do so, you will be at the cutting edge of international business.
- Be an inspiring team builder and a team leader
The fact that you are growing your business beyond your borders has to make you realize, if you hadn’t before, that you will spread yourself too thin if you don’t have the right people to help you. This means that being able to build a team and to inspire them to achieve the great things that you have in mind for your business is vital.
Being able to manage the different teams in your organization so that they are effective is probably the only way that you will be successful in international trade and commerce.
Lalit Sharma is an SEO consultant who runs a SEO house called Ranking By SEO. He is specialized in link building and other SEO related activities. You can also find him on Twitter, Google+ and his personal site.
