One of my 2007 goals was to jump start my import-export business. In 2007, the US will export over $18 trillion worth of goods, so there are plenty of income opportunities, even for the little guys. To get your business on track, you have to be well connected with international dealers and merchants. An easy way to make connections is to join an international business network.
Join an International Business Network
WBE.net is the first international network that comes to mind. WBE is certified by the US department of commerce, and makes international trading easy for the average businessman. Check out their demo on how to negotiate a business deal. It’s interactive, and easy to follow.
Save up for the Initial Investment
After joining a reputable network, the next step is to make your initial investment. Lately, I’ve been curbing my spending, so my initial investment is solely discretionary funds. I would never invest money for retirement or school expenses in a secondary business venture. Finding ways to spend less and save more money is much easier than dipping into your reserved funds. In fact, I plan to contribute my first Google Adsense check to my import-export business. This is an example of money that’s earned on the side. Even if the business fails, my short-term losses are fairly minor.
Find Domestic Products in High Demand
This is the easy part of the process. eBay.com is the world’s largest marketplace, so I do a lot of my research on their site. The key is to find product that aren’t easily attainable in foreign countries. Electronics have an enormous demand across the world. A lot of countries have limited access to the sought after products that we use every day. For example, a friend of mine who resides in Jamaica already offered to buy Apple iPods for resale. It turns out that few Jamacian merchants sell Apple MP3 Players in their shops. Of course, I plan to export more than just electronics, but this is just an example of how sough after products are in high demand in various foreign countries.
Where to Buy the Products
Your international business network should provide suppliers, but you can seek out additional marketplaces as well. I joined the Worldwide Brands network a few years ago because I was impressed with their extensive merchant directory. You can conduct searches on thousands of products, contact the dealers directly, and commence your business relationship. So far, Worldwide is the only wholesaler/drop-ship network that I can honestly trust. There are tons of crooks online, but Worldwide Brands requires all merchants to have business names, proper business identification, and extensive contact information. If you cannot contact the merchant, move on to the next dealer. If things look fraudulent, there probably are.
So far, I’m still a rookie in the whole import-export business world. As I learn more information on how the business works, I’ll gladly pass it along to you.
Wouldn’t you want a piece of that $18 trillion dollar pie?
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Hey Guys,
I gotta say TJP is correct. Import/Export is the place to be right now. Other than the global consulting firms, import/export is always an ever expanding sector.
This’s definitely an interesting idea, but I am not sure how much risk is will be involved in this business as if only with small amount of money, the return will be much smaller compared to the risk. Unlike investing, the market value of a large investment maybe decline in short term and in this case we can just leave the money where they are for very long time and hope for a rebound in the future. But if you invest a big money into import/export, then you probably can’t keep the goods if you misidentify the market and what’s hot now may go cold in a matter of months.
I have been casually working on an Import/Export business plan for about 8 months now. Import/Export has huge potential for profits. I was focusing on Importing products into the United States. Although, I would prefer to export, as it would be much easier logistically. This was a great post with good relavent links.
Keep us updated as your plans unfold.
Sun - To hedge risk on my own investment, I’m hoping to eventually team up with 3 partners once the ball gets rolling. We’ll be able to invest 4x the amount, yet the risk is spread out evenly between our initial investments. This is only a part of my current investment portfolio, and since I’m putting up my blog earnings, I’m willing to take a big risk.
Scapitalist - I wanted to focus on exports at first because that’s where the big money lies. But in order to maximize my profit taking, I may be interested in imports after a year or so of successful business. What kind of goods do you plan to import?