Go Global. Emma Jones

      investment group to cater for the firm’s multinational clients moving to the UK.

      Five years later and buoyed by the excitement of the dot-com boom, Emma left the firm to launch Techlocate.com, the UK’s first online inward investment advisor. Within two years, Techlocate was successfully sold, and Emma launched Enterprise Nation, a company focused on helping people start and grow a small business.

      And so she has come full circle. With a background of helping large businesses invest in the UK, this book is all about helping small businesses export out of the UK.

      Certain things have changed – from big business to small business, from inward investment to outbound – but what hasn’t changed is Emma’s belief that the web makes international trade available to all who seek to take advantage of it.

      Who This Book is For

      Written after months of research and interviews conducted in all corners of the globe, this book is intended for:

      You may be a sole trader, a freelancer or a limited company of one and think international trade is beyond your means and resources. Read on and think again!

      Introduction

      The decision to write this book was made on Monday 14 September 2009. It was a bright day and the start of a nationwide business road trip; first stop – Glasgow. There I met with Emma Henderson and our conversation went a little like this:

      Emma H: “I import fair trade bags from India, apply unique screen print designs, and sell the finished product via my Etsy store to customers in America.”

      Emma J: “So you’re telling me you operate a global business from your spare room in a Glasgow apartment?”

      Emma H: “I’ve never thought of it like that but yes, I guess I do.”

      Emma’s company could rightly be called a mini multinational, and I realised that day what potential there was for thousands more businesses to join her in this; to embrace the web and trade with the world, to leapfrog a potentially slow-growing domestic market and go straight to a global audience, no matter the size of the enterprise.

      There were no barriers in sight and Emma was a case in point. Having just graduated from college, she was applying skills in screen printing to build a business. Before that business was even registered she had learnt about export documentation from the UPS delivery man, used her dad’s Airmiles to get to trade shows, and made sales to customers in Asia and America. Who would not welcome this exciting new world of trade opportunity, I wondered?

      Yet the more I researched the topic, the more I discovered that company owners wanted to expand overseas but were being held back by perceived difficulties.

      So that’s why this book exists. It has been written to dispel the perceptions surrounding international trade. It has been written to tell Emma Henderson’s story, along with those of other successful exporters. And it has been written to offer a route map that shows you how to go global, grow your business, and broaden your horizons.

      Use it as your guide. It will get you started on the road to international trade and point you in the direction of those who can help along the way.

      There’s no time like the present to Go Global and take your business to the world.

       Emma Jones

       [email protected]

       twitter.com/emmaljones

      With thanks

      This book would not have been possible without time and support given by professional experts, successful international traders and private sector providers. My thanks to:

      Experts and contributors