Show and Tell

Folks,

Almost everyone who attends my classes comes with the expectation that int'l
trade is about finding something cool overseas, bringing it in, and making an
easy profit.

Now I could easily feed all that back to you, tell you what you expect, give
you some lists of sources of "trade leads" and you'd feel confident I did my
part, since I met your expectations. And then, when it did not work out,
you'd think there was something wrong with you.

As you know from taking my classes, I suffer grievously as I take you thru
the reality of the business, which is of course far easier, far more fun, far
more lucrative, far more likely than the fantasy you come to me with
originally. The resistance to the truth is heavy, but I persevere, and not
just because of the cool things people send me that they are importing and
exporting.

Today I received the following, which is an excerpt:

***By the way, we got our first shipment in about 5 weeks ago and have sold a
few

lamps from Thailand. Got a few more to go but things are looking okay so far.

We are definitely going to take your advice about designing here and then

finding the best place to get it made. ***

I get these quite often. In essence, the theme is "with our experience we
now see what you taught is right." Sometimes I think all I really do is save
people time and money, which can be valuable in itself. I do this by getting
people straight to the point.

Carpenters say "measure twice, cut once." In small biz int'l trade it is the
same thing.. measure a few times first, then make your move decisively once.
The formula is:

The customer is the first and most important thing.

The easier the product (or service) the harder the customer.

The harder the product, the easier the customer.

No doubt about it, the hard part is the product. But of course, you already
know that, and are working on that. Right?

John

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