Import Export Business Do's And Don'ts

I have to post this while my thoughts are still fresh on the subject - the do's and don'ts of this post apply not only to the Import Export Business, but ANY business.

1. LISTEN TO YOURSELF ON A VOICEMAIL MESSAGE - DO IT TODAY!

Now I readily admit I have a hearing problem that has taken about 90% of my hearing from my left ear so I often have to play voice messages back 2 or 3 times to get all the information someone is relating, however, when I have my wife stand there and listen 2 or 3 times and she too (who has no hearing loss!) cannot understand what the person is asking or especially what their telephone number is, then the caller is clearly at fault of not speaking clearly and concisely.

Most voice message systems allow you to speak 2-3 minutes, so right NOW, go leave yourself a message of up to one minute and do so in the small tone of voice, rhythm like you normally do, don't think about it, just do it. Then have someone that you normally do not speak with listen to your message.

If that person cannot understand what you are asking, stating or the phone number you have recorded, you need to begin practicing speaking more clearly, concisely and making your point as to why you are calling or you will not do well in ANY business!

If you are at work and you do not want everyone to know what your business is, go outside during your break or lunch and make your calls or wait until you get home. Trying to talk low so no one else hears you simply does not allow you to leave a coherent and understandable message.

I practiced for several hours the first time I was going to record an outgoing voice message on a voicemail system I set up back in the late 1980's. I wrote down exactly what I wanted to say and had to record over it several times before I got it right and then I asked others to listen to it and provide me with feedback. NEVER ASSUME you are understood by anyone other than your circle or friends and family who have adapted to your voice, rhythm, tone etc..

2. DO NOT LEAVE VAGUE MESSAGES

If you want someone to take time out of their schedule to call you back, TELL THEM WHO YOU ARE, WHAT OR WHY YOU ARE CALLING and BE VERY SPECIFIC.

There are countless fraudsters out there who leave vague messages trying to get the mark to call them back for their nefarious reasons, there are also telephone numbers that the fraudsters can ask you to call that will rack up $29.00 or more a minute charges by you simply calling them.

More importantly, if you leave a poorly worded message that is difficult to understand without any specifics, why should the person receiving that message call you back?

Some people would say everyone deserves a response -SORRY, not in today's Internet world where people can be calling from anywhere in the world and when you have your product or service information posted clearly on your website and if they cannot understand what you have posted there or are too lazy to read it, then quite frankly, they are not worth my nickle or dime calling back because they aren't going to understand an explanation from me either!

3. STOP HIDING BEHIND A BLOCKED OR UNKNOWN PHONE NUMBER

I use caller ID quite a bit due to my hearing problems. If someone does not speak clearly enough for either my wife or I to understand the phone number they have left but their message "sounds" like it might be important enough to return, I then go to my caller ID to get their number.

If you hide who you are behind caller id blocking or however they make it show up unknown, then you simply are not worth another second of someone's time in trying to get back with you.

As my last post stated GET REAL, you are either in business or you are playing games by hiding your identity.

Most of the time UNKNOWNS or BLOCKED ID's are calls from sales people and the volume of these calls has reached such a high level that I now DO NOT pick up when a call comes in from an Unknown or blocked id caller, I wait to see if they begin to leave a message and "if" they do and "if" it is a legitimate caller, I will pick up, otherwise I simply let the answering machine deal with them which in 90% of the cases they never leave a message.

4. SEND AN EMAIL OR FORM SUBMISSION INSTEAD

If you are calling a business that has a website with their telephone number posted, that is OK, BUT, if you cannot communicate your message clearly on their voice message system, they probably will not call you back.

So, use their email or form submission system on their site and send them a detailed message - THAT IS WHAT IT IS THERE FOR.

If you cannot send a coherent, understandable message then you seriously need to improve your written communications as well.

EMAIL or a website's Form submission IS FREE to use so why not use it. Many people will check their email far more often then their voice messages and if your message is CLEAR, CONCISE and UNDERSTANDABLE AND is something the business receiving it can help you with, THEY WILL CALL OR EMAIL YOU BACK.

EMAIL allows for FAR fewer mistakes since it provides and ongoing WRITTEN record of what each party is asking and the other answering.

I am a strong advocate for CALLING a supplier or potential buyer to establish communications but when I do, I leave a clear, concise message if they do not answer and repeat my phone number at least two times speaking slowly and also tell them what times are the best to call me back so we do not play phone tag.

GET REAL about your business by GETTING REAL about your COMMUNICATIONS, whether they are voice messages or emails (sorry, I don't text so I won't even begin to address that one - simply doesn't make sense to me to text someone what I could talk to them about over the phone in much less time than it takes to type all those little letters and symbols into your tiny phone keyboard).

I hope you find the posts on this blog helpful in your business endeavors.

Ron Coble
International Business Services

Get Real About Your Import Export Business

Getting real about your Import Export business in todays Internet
age involves some expenses, any real business does, fortunately,
with all the competition out there, the expenses are very small in
comparison to starting most other types of businesses.

Getting Real about your business means first and foremost, taking
action once you have made the decision to get off of your ass and
get started. YES, it takes your action, not some "mentor" or
high-priced personal guide - YOU are the key to YOUR success and
YOUR action is necessary to succeed once you have studied and
understand the processes.

But you have heard or read that before if you have been on this
blog for any length of time.

So let's talk about a super, small, baby step action you can take,
if you are serious about GETTING REAL about your business.

In the past 10 years, we have received well over ONE MILLION
dollars in fraudulent orders. Some were easy to spot, others have
become more difficult, but in that time we have not lost one
cent to fraudsters and have learned some very valuable lessons
on what to look for, one of which I will now pass along to you.

In almost 90% of the fraudulent orders received, the fraudster
used a free email address such as Yahoo or Hotmail.

So, literally, any order that we now receive from anyone with a
Yahoo or Hotmail account IMMEDIATELY gets the FULL scam screening
procedures, most of which are outlined on our company page at
ImportExportHelp.com under the "due diligence" resources.

In the past 10 years, I have spoken with and corresponded with
thousands of other business people around the world and Yahoo
and Hotmail email addresses have grown into an instant delete
or filtered to spam due to the high incidence of them being used
by spammers, scammers and the business wannabees who are NOT
really serious about success and are nothing but a waste of TIME
for these business people (remember TIME IS MONEY).

Email is a terrible way to try and make initial contact with
any business person to begin with...marketing organizations that
track this kind of thing state upwards of 70% or more of all
emails NEVER reach the intended party and those that do are
often deleted without viewing if they have FREE email addresses.

Yahoo and Hotmail email addresses are an immediate flag to most
businesses that the sender is not a serious contender and will
many time, if not more often than not, be ignored and deleted.

Yes, I have and still do recommend the use of Gmail.com email
addresses up to a point. I believe that they too will ultimately
reach the level of filtering that yahoo and hotmail addresses
receive in the not too distant future. Unfortunately, I am
seeing an incredible level of spam and scam emails in my
numerous gmail accounts, even those I have never made public.

Another BIG reason for recommending you get away from Yahoo and
Hotmail is the filtering issues. They control the level of what gets
through to your inbox and what gets filtered, gmail is not near as
restrictive as Yahoo and Hotmail, but again, I expect that to change
in the not to distant future.

So what are you to do?

You can either set up an entire website that normally provides you
with a huge amount of email addresses that you create or in some
cases Unlimited numbers.

The building of a website does not need to be the very first thing
you need to do but when you are ready, the service I recommend to
beginning website builders that has MORE help and assistance than
any other I have found yet may be reviewed at:

Web Hosting - DIY Step-by-Step Website Building Service

*** Be sure to download ALL of the FREE training materials the
above web hosting/building services provides, including their
great videos - they have the VERY BEST resources available
of any similar service my 17 years of Internet research has found.

Once you have invested in your future by obtaining the appropriate
training course to the type of International Trade business you are
going to "GET REAL" about, your first step to project a more
professional image should be to have a "REAL" Email address and
not be using a FREE one.

Not only does having your own domain name email project a much
BETTER Internet persona but even more importantly, YOU control the
level of filtering and YOU get to see all emails that are filtered BEFORE
they are deleted.

Additionally, many business people have their email programs set up to
filter emails coming from Yahoo and Hotmail addresses either to their
BULK or SP*.AM folder or have them automatically deleted!

You can have your own domain name email accounts up to 10
accounts for a price of less than $20 to a max of $40 per year depending
upon the number of email addresses you feel you need and you can
always upgrade to the higher level is the lower is not enough.

This is should be the FIRST and is the simplest thing you can do to
build your reputation and show you are serious about being in business
and it only takes a few minutes to do - here is the service where I have
a domain specific email address set up - go check them out:

Get A Real (LOW COST) Email Address Service

Quite frankly, if you invest in training and will not invest in
upgrading your Internet personality, you need to GET REAL about your
Import Export business or get out of the way of those who are
serious about their success.

In reality, whether you are starting an international trade
business OR any business, you need a REAL email address - STOP
jeopardizing your success by being to cheap to invest a few
dollars a year to build your online reputation.

REMEMBER, NO ONE CARES MORE ABOUT YOU, YOUR FAMILY OR
YOUR SUCCESS THAN YOU DO (OR SHOULD)!

And if you are too lazy to take the SMALL action necessary to set up a
REAL email address, then you should forget about being in business
for yourself because you are simply TOO LAZY to GET REAL about being
in business for yourself.

Hope you find these posts helpful - your comments are always welcome.

Ron Coble
International Business Marketing Services

International Trade Perils

This post is NOT meant to be critical of the importer who sent me the email and who has posted his story on various complaint boards on the Internet. The post is being offered to help other potential importers from having the same or similar situation happen to you.

I have changed the name of the company to "the fish food supplier" because this blog is meant to be educational and not a means of filing a complaint against any particular company (that can easily be found on other sites throughout the Internet).

The post is about 98% as I received it in an email, the only changes were the date formats, adding of US Dollar amount so it would be easier to see the British pound value to the dollar value and some of the British spelling to US English spelling. My comments in the body of the email have been coded in BLUE.

Additionally, I have placed some notes throughout the post and at the end of the post that will hopefully serve to help other International traders from encountering a similar fate.

Beginning of Email:

Hello and BEWARE!!,

This Fish Food Supply company has just cost me £18,000 ($27,725USD)!!

I began searching for a fish food supplier and came across the company (we will refer to them as fish food supplier), I enquired about there products and there export to the EU, they said they were experienced exporters to Europe and had done this many times before.

FIRST MISTAKE: Never take a company or their representatives word. It means nothing. DUE DILIGENCE - MAKE THEM provide you with at least 3-5 customer references in your country or region in this case for the EU. MAKE THEM DO SO OR DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. IF they cry, complain or continue on the "trust us" we know what we are doing path, simply walk away because they do not.

After about a month of communication with this company an order was placed and paid for (** SEE BELOW REMARKS **) and was due for arrival in the UK around the 6/15/2010 this date however the date got moved forward to the 8/15/2010 by fish food supplier, I was not to pleased about this as there was also a lot of koi carp food in the shipment and the koi season would be drawing to an end by the time I received it.

SECOND MISTAKE: Paying the full amount in advance. You now have NO CONTROL over the process or making them meet YOUR deadlines. If anything, pay 50% with the other 50% due upon shipment on the date YOU SPECIFY.

There were also a number of errors in the paperwork from the fish food supplier when my customs clearance agent received it ahead of the shipment arriving, these errors absorbed most of my customs clearance agents and my time for around 10 days to rectify these errors with port health authority.

THIRD MISTAKE: This ties in with mistake two - DO NOT PROVIDE 100% payment until everything is the way YOU NEED it - request copies of the documentation prior to shipment BEFORE you pay the remaining 50% and make sure those documents will pass the customs clearance.

The food arrived in the UK on the 8/14/2010 this was cleared by customs and was just waiting for the completion of a CVED form from the port health authority, this time the errors from the fish food supplier were out of our control. The fish food supplier had not included all the food ingredients in the health certificate, when my customs man contacted the fish food supplier about this they responded with a company letter stating this was just an error from a company clerk and that the ingredients where actually correct on the health certificate and sent relevant paperwork to back this up THESE WERE FALSE DOCUMENTS supplied by the fish food supplier.

FOURTH MISTAKE: All tied back to previous mistakes - the documentation could have been verified before shipment of the goods to ensure that once it arrived in port that everything would go smoothly.

The port health authority then ordered an examination of samples of the food from their testing labs, this took 12 days for these results to come back all the time this is going on i am having to pay £40 (about $61.61USD) per day storage for the container in the port.

The port health authority then found that the fish food supplier had NOT complied with the actual health certificate conditions that all the packs of fish food should bear a label stating "not fit for human consumption" on them.

The port health authority then issued a 2nd notice of rejection into the UK order on the container,,,there were now only two options available: 1) to re-export the container outside an EU country or 2) have the food destroyed by port health authority at my expense (i don't know the cost of this as yet).

The fish food supplier was contacted yet again to see what they were going to do about this problem due to there list of errors in the export/import of these goods, their answer was it was not there fault and for me to try harder to get the container allowed into the UK.

I then spent the last few days contacting various bodies to try and find help, including lawyers, the lawyers contacted the fish food supplier to point out that this shipment was not allowed into the UK purely due to the errors made by the fish food supplier.

There reply to the lawyer was, as you are a lawyer we will not reply to any of your emails regarding this matter.

I spoke to my lawyer this morning and he said it would cost around £17,000 ($26,185USD) to fight this case in china under Chinese law and even though i would very possibly win the case it would be very unlikely i would ever get my money back from the fish food supplier and was not really worth the risk of running up a large legal bill to not get anything at the end of it all.

So I made the decision this morning to have the food destroyed by the port health authority.

End of Email -

My further comments:

I was curious after reading the above email and did a google search on the fish food supplier company. The very first google search result showed them listed as a "Gold Supplier" or Trust Pass member in Alibaba.

Now again, don't get me wrong, Alibaba's trust pass system members are the ONLY sources that are worth following up with because they have paid to have a background check done on them to become a gold supplier/trust pass member.

However, simply because it has been verified that a company is "registered" in some way with the government and and address verifies does not mean they are competent at exporting their products and most of all it does not mean they have ANY knowledge of the import requirements for your home country or region.

Literally, you should NEVER TRUST that a supplier can deliver what they claim to be able to deliver without first making them prove they are capable of doing so.

A couple of other flags flew up for me when I looked at their profile in Alibaba:

Their Total Annual Sales Volume was stated as being US$2.5 Million - US$5 Million while their Total Annual Purchase Volume was stated as being US$5 Million - US$10 Million.

This does not make sense? Or is it just my math?? They have a purchase volume twice as much as their sales volume?? That cannot be sustained but most likely it was just a figure they posted to the profile because the next bit of information shows their Registered Capital as being: RMB 1,000,000 which according to my currency calculator is about $147,000USD? Not very much for a company supposedly purchasing $5 million to $10 million a year - again, if you ask me.

Next you have the Date of Issue of their business registration: 2009-09-30 which means they were only about 6-9 months old when this importer began negotiating with them. Nothing wrong with trying to work with a new exporter, however, it would tend to negate the statement they made regarding their experience in dealing with EU countries: "they were experienced exporters to Europe and had done this many times before".

I tend to doubt they had or have done much exporting to other countries at all.

Last, the profile states: "All legal business licenses and contact persons are verified for those who have been A&V Checked. Suppliers must be A&V Checked before becoming a Gold Supplier." This is again the level of verification, not a condemnation of the trust pass system, but it simply provides you with a "somewhat" better level of company in knowing they are registered with the government and have proven it, however, as stated before, you have still got a lot to do in the arena of "DUE DILIGENCE" before committing ANY funds, even if only 1/3 of the contract upfront.

Personally, I feel the pain of the importer who sent me the above email. Losing money is never easy, whether it is a few dollars or £18,000 ($27,725USD) and in reality it will be much more because he has storage fees and the fee he has to pay the port health authority to destroy the fish food.

Whether you are importing or exporting, if all the i's are not dotted and the t's are not crossed to "YOUR" satisfaction, it is far better to quit now and find another supplier if you are an importer or potential buyer if you exporter. You CANNOT rely on TRUST in international trade, YOU MUST make the seller or buyer PROVE to you they are legitimate and are capable of doing their part of the transaction.

If you fear pissing them off, too bad, there are other suppliers and other buyers. This is business and don't let personal feelings ever make you vulnerable to letting your guard down. CONTROL the deal or the deal could end up costing you dearly.

Ron Coble
International Trade Help Center

Open Letter To Import Export Business Entrepreneurs

This blog contains some of the MOST VALUABLE REAL WORLD experience regarding International Trade and Ecommerce that you will find anywhere and best of all, it is FREE.

You have been directed to this post as a means of helping you make the most informed decision possible about your interest in starting an Export and/or Import business.

Quite frankly, if you will not spend hours and maybe days reading through the posts in this blog, especially ALL of the Questions and Answer posts, you really are not ready to be in business for yourself, especially international trade.

And, if bluntness offends you, you should leave now.

Over the past 4 1/2 years most or at least many of the questions I have received by email or by phone over the past 22 years in this business. My answers to those questions are posted here because it became apparent that many (or most) of these questions were the same, only from different people.

In recent months some changes have come about in our business, website and my health. Assessing these changes, I have decided to put more emphasis on the RETIRED side of the term I normally use of "SEMI-RETIRED" when describing my level of doing business.

In doing so, I also decided that if a person called or emailed questions that I would first refer them to this blog to read everything that has been posted here since most of those questions were answered in the archived posts.

Then if they are unable to find the answer to their specific question, they may come back and ask it, BUT TOO BE VERY BLUNT here, I do not intend to provide you a summary of the import or export course by phone or email when details of the course have been outlined "very" extensively on our web pages.

Also, I am NOT here to provide free coaching, mentoring or consulting - that is why we offer the course and the main courses have a ONE YEAR EMAIL consulting services for any questions that may not be answered within the course.

Before writing this post I tried to think of an analogy for the reason most people never succeed in "any" type of business and I think one came to me.

Let's say you decided to build an addition onto your house and you purchased all of the necessary plans, materials and tools to do so.

If all those plans, materials and tools are still sitting there or the addition is only 1/2 finished after one year, are the plans, tools or materials the reason it was not finished? OR, heaven forbid, would the fault be with the fact the person who had every intention of finishing this addition in 3 months, then 6 months, then 9 and 12, simply was not motivated enough to start or finish it?

If you follow my advice and read the posts within this blog, you may do so by using the links to the archives that are located on the right sidebar area linked to by Month and Year.

Ultimately, if you decide to get the international trade course offered on our website or do not, you will hopefully benefit from the REAL WORLD experience I have put into my answers to the many questions received over the past 22 years.

I will continue to post on this blog as there are still more questions and answers in my files, but again, I am entering a more RETIRED mode of my semi-retired mode of operation.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and I hope you will find the rest of the blog helpful.

UPDATE (24 October 2010): I realized that the Month/Year Arhive links were not showing up on this page, so just go to the MAIN page of the blog either by clicking here --> http://importexportbusiness.blogspot.com or by clicking on the header title of Import Export Business at the top of the page - the Arhived Posts are then found on the right side by Month and Year.

Regards,

Ron Coble
Owner - Coble International Marketing Services
http://www.importexporthelp.com

International Small Business Resources

Many people who visit our blog or website often overlook a
very valuable web page titled Small Business Resources.

I am bringing it to your attention in this post for two
reasons.

1. There are MANY No Cost and Very Valuable resources for
all size businesses available on this page and you should
really check it out and bookmark it for later reference.

2. About one year ago a long time business friend and
online publisher asked that I compile all of my suggestions
and resources together to help you from getting ripped
off either online or offline.

I compiled and he helped me publish 3 PDF reports on this
subject.

These 3 new resources were recently posted to our Small
Business Resources webpage. These 3 reports contain valuable
information to help you avoid getting ripped off whether in
an import export transaction or through your website.

The resources and experiences related in the 3 PDF reports
can be very valuable to learn, keep on hand and refer to if
you are not sure about doing business or accepting business
from anyone anywhere in the world.

The reports are FREE and that means you may download them
and keep them for future reference. Here are the titles:

International Ecommerce Do's and Don'ts
- Keeping Your International Ecommerce Wealth Safe From Fraudsters

International Product Shipping Methods And
Customs Forms
- a short companion report to International Ecommerce Do's and Don'ts

B2B or B2C? - covers some of the reasons whether B2B or
B2C may be better for your business

When you visit our Small Business Resources web page,
scroll down the page to find these resources hi-lited in
Yellow to help you locate them.

If you have never been to this web page, I encourage you to
look around as there are many more resources that are N0
C0ST which may be of interest and prove valuable to your
business.

I hope you will find value in these reports.

Your comments and feedback on the above reports is Welcome!

Ron Coble

Import Export Business - 2010 New Year Message

Happy New Year!

For those of you who follow this blog, you probably have noted quite a time lapse since my last post. My Father passed away during this lapse and I simply have not been in the right state of mind to make any new posts, nor have I had the time.

As we begin a new calendar year and with the passing of my father, I have become somewhat reflective on my life and business. As we move through this year, I hope that my efforts here on this blog will be seen by all who visit as my little way of helping those who wish to enter or expand their interests in international trade to do so.

The import export business is not a get rich quick scheme - there is NO such thing. Importing and/or exporting are real businesses that require REAL knowledge, REAL work (more mental than physical, but still WORK) and a REAL TIME commitment.

The unfortunate fact for many people who look at the import export business as a get rich scheme is that it ends up having the exact opposite effect. Instead of helping you 'get rich' it ends up costing you a lot wasted time and in many instances a LOT of money only to find out you really have not gained the knowledge you need to succeed and that it is a business that requires a real time commitment which you have now wasted.

Over the years (now almost 22) that I have worked in the international trade business and provided import export business resources and training materials, I have been contacted by hundreds, if not thousands, of people who had they not believed the "HYPE" and performed a little "DUE DILIGENCE" on the individuals or businesses with whom they entrusted their hard earned money, they would still have their money and not feel they had been scammed or ripped off.

The SAD fact is, most people tend to fall victim to the HYPE of believing that by simply throwing enough money into a hyped up so-called training program (sometimes thousands of dollars), that it has to be good, right, or how else could they get away with charging so much? Or, they get entrapped into believing that because someone has a few pictures posted on their web site shaking hands with high ranking government officials (easy to get if you give enough campaign contributions!) or using religion to promote themselves as being trustworthy, then they must really be going to help you succeed.

Worst yet, I feel especially sorry for those good people who spend $8000 or more on so-called training programs that promise to have "coaches" available to help hold your hand as you skip down the yellow brick road to the promised riches.

These "so-called coaches" are nothing more than minimum wage employees or people who sign on to work from their home who know "absolutely NOTHING" about international trade other than what they are reading to you from the same printed materials that you have been provided as part of their program.

Our business could be offering ANY of the types of training programs described above and quite frankly we would be earning a lot more than the self-study courses we currently provide, however, I like to sleep at night and simply cannot bring myself to allow anyone to purchase something I do not believe in.

In the past few years, I have spoken with at least 6 or more people who had spent their hard earned $8,000 or more on some of these so-called training programs and simply DID NOT GET WHAT THEY PAID THIER MONEY FOR.

One lady I especially recall offered to pay me a consulting fee to help her. After learning that she had paid the $8K plus to the other company, I asked her why she did not push them to get the support they advertised or get her money back. She told me that she had tried, multiple times, but she was unable to get either the support or her money back.

I am semi-retired now and I had to tell her that I simply did not have time to offer this type of one-on-one support and informed her, quite frankly, that if she had read our blog and taken our course she would have either been successful by now or at least she would still have $8,000 of her $8,500 she spent learning this business was simply not her cup of tea.

As a means of countering some of the scams and hype that are out there and "HOPEFULLY" helping people make a more INFORMED DECISION about their prospects in international trade I have attempted, over the past 4 years, to post as much free information on this blog as time allows.

A vast majority of the posts on this blog are "ACTUAL" questions I have received over the past 22 years of working in this business and my answers to those questions.

I try not to sugar-coat anything because NO COURSE, NO TRAINING PROGAM, NOR ANY COACH can guarantee you success in this or any business. And, quite frankly, I hope this post and the other FREE information in this blog would help steer you away from this business altogether if you were considering wasting your time and hard-earned money on one of the training programs described above.

After talking with thousands of people over the past 22 years, one of the conclusions I have reached is that most people are not ready to be business owners. Most people are trained from the time they are children to follow some leader, whether a teacher, coach, professor or BOSS who will make the decisions for them and tell them what to do so they receive a paycheck at the allotted time.

Making decisions, once YOU have learned how the processes work, is the real KEY to your success. NO ONE ELSE BUT YOU will have as much vested (i.e., profit) interest in whatever it is you are trying to decide about YOUR BUSINESS other than YOU!

If you have been provided with the RIGHT training, YOU will know who the subject matter experts are that you may need to talk with from the government or private business organization. EACH DEAL is going to be different, NO COACH or ME for that matter is a subject matter expert in ALL types of products that YOU may decide to export or import.

PLEASE read the above paragraph two or three times so you fully understand what has been stated!

Personally, I wish EVERYONE who purchases one of our International Business courses would succeed in the business to whatever level you desire and to which your abilities will take you, however, the TRUTH of the matter is, the VAST majority of people will not succeed.

Even though our training course is the best one I have found in my 22 years, neither it, nor we, can guarantee your success. There are simply TOO MANY VARIABLES including but not limited to:

• How well you can communicate by phone or written correspondence (can I understand you over the phone or can you compose a professional letter, fax or email)?
• How much time you have to devote to learning the business processes?
• How much time do you have available to working your business?
• How much patience you have in seeing your business through until you have your first success?
• How good are you at making REAL LIFE DECISIONS?
• What products will you choose to export or import (there are 10's of thousands and each may or may not have a viable market)?

With the above VARIABLES AND TRUTHS in mind, it HOPEFULLY is becoming quite evident to you that throwing thousands of dollars at a "coaching" program or following the lead of someone who carries their religion on their cuff as a means of separating you from your hard earned money, simply WILL NOT guarantee you success.

The SIMPLE TRUTH of the matter is, there are NO guarantees with this business or any business for your success, but by having a "SOLID" foundation of knowledge of how the business processes work and must be handled, you have a much better chance for success.

About 17 years ago I hitched our wagon (as we say here in central Pennsylvania) to ONE publisher of import export business courses because after reviewing just about everything else out there, and wasting a LOT OF VALUABLE TIME AND MONEY (sound familiar?) their courses were the BEST and MOST COMPLETE training.

In those subsequent years I have both purchased or received free review copies of competing training programs because they would like to get access to the 53,000+ visitors who visit our web site each month.

In 17+ years we have NOT found any other courses that provide as much VITAL international business information that you need to succeed in this business - period!

The VERY BEST method of getting this vital information into someone's hands has been a combination of printed books and CD roms up until about 2 years ago when our publisher took our advice and digitized everything and placed it onto CD Roms which both helped save paper and shipping costs and allowed you to carry your course with you, even when traveling.

The course materials we have chosen to offer for the past 17+ years provide you with the MOST COMPREHENSIVE and EASY to UNDERSTAND that I have found in 22 years in this business.

These course materials are not only TRAINING they are also a REFERENCE LIBRARY that you may access 24/7 on your computer. And, because the course instructions are updated about every two years, most of the questions that were asked via the ONE YEAR EMAIL CONSULTING SERVICE part of the program have been incorporated into those updates resulting and fewer after purchase questions after each update.

This is probably one of the longest posts in the Import Export business blog and I am taking the time to "TRY" to address MOST of the questions people have when they are considering entry into this business. By posting I hope to be able to refer you here and you will be able to FIND the ANSWERS to the MOST commonly asked questions.

Here are some more questions that most people ask when they call about getting started in International Trade are:

Question: How much money can I make?

Answer: Quite frankly, and quite HONESTLY, I do not know.

There are thousands of international trade businesses in this world and tens of thousands in the world - ALL are dealing with different products, many with multiple products and ALL with different levels of expertise, different levels of self-confidence, different levels of communication skills, so how can I, or anyone, give you and estimate as to how much money can be made?

A realistic and truthful answer is, you can make as little as NOTHING or as much as YOU are able to make by applying the knowledge you gain in combination with the abilities you bring to the table, the products YOU select to work with and ALL the variables that go into each and every business that operates on the face of the Earth.

Question: Can I call you to ask questions?

Answer: NO, there is an EMAIL CONSULTING SERVICE included with our courses that allows you to email a question that is not answered in the course materials to our publisher AND you can also CC (carbon copy) us a copy of your email question. Then, when our publisher replies, we will review their answer and if there is ANYTHING that I personally can ADD to their reply, I will be happy to do so.

But, let me elaborate because this is one of the BIGGEST downfalls of people who try to enter this business.

Many people believe, if they pay enough money or are promised a caring, fellow religious person is on the other end of the telephone, that their 'personal coach' possesses some VAST KNOWLEDGE of the International Trade business that spans every type of product and every type of situation that might occur and that faceless person cares enough about "YOUR" business decision to give you the right and definitive answer you need to proceed.

The fallacy of the "coaching staff person" with other training programs is your belief that the coach you are able to talk with on any given day (rotating work from home or minimum wage staffers) have the answer to your individual question.

A question, that if the training materials been updated constantly, should have been covered in the training materials in the first place or should have instructed you where you can get a "REAL" SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT answer and not waste your VALUABLE TIME giving you their 'UNEXPERIENCED" rendition of answer gathered from the same training guide they have provided you, more often than not.

Do I or our course publisher have all the answers? NO and quite frankly, no one does.

But, if this post has helped you UNDERSTAND the TRUTH about international trade business (not opportunity, BUSINESS) and you decide to NOT buy our course or any import export business course, then I say GOOD because that means you really may not have been ready for this business and it may have also saved you up to $8,000 or more and a lot of wasted time.

If, however, after reading this post, you are still interested in pursuing what you may be able to accomplish in international trade, then I sincerely HOPE this post will have convinced you of the NEED to take little more time to perform DUE DILIGENCE on all course providers, INCLUDING US using the FREE due diligence resources posted on our company page.

The courses described on our website are, in my humble opinion, the BEST resources to help you help yourself to learn this business, like I did.

Getting close to the end of this post, I like to relate how amusing I find it when people call me for answers to questions about getting started. They seek my advice and counsel to answer questions that are covered in our courses. They want the BEST advice from an experienced international business person but when I inform them the answers are covered in the course materials, they are either unsure of their own abilities to read and comprehend them or they really do not value the actual information they called or emailed me in the first place? Puzzling and both amusing at the same time.

This concludes my 2010 New Year's Day post, I hope you have found REAL VALUE in taking a few minutes to read it and in closing, I hope you and your families have a Happy New Year and may it be a prosperous and healthy one!

Ron Coble
Coble International Business Help Center

International Business Information

Import Export Business Question:

I am interested in the import/export business. I only what to be an agent, at this time. I would like to know if I locate the buyer, where do I get help to close the deal and make a fee for my efforts.

I have been to export/import site's I have a lot of this information from export.gov and us export.gov

This information is helpful but you can have all the information in the world if you don't know the steps to process.. it's no good. I have plenty of contacts; I have done my home work. I was told that the freight and banking information is important and the freight companies part, helps with the paper work.. send me information. I have a lot of the information already, that's where I started!

I am looking for your help to refine the process. as I am more detailed oriented.

What is our first step? etc... I have a list of manufactures etc... I want to do a deal. as an agent 1st then move up the latter. So what ever product I can move as an agent, without the licensing part, (at this time) I'm in. I have a list of buyers also. but we need to know the preliminaries; evaluate opportunities, product , shipping, country, pricing, etc..

Import Export Business Answer:

I understand exactly where you are at - I was there 20 years ago - I
only wish the Import Export Toolkit self study course we offer had
been available then as we make it available now - see details here:
Starting An Import Export Business

The course provides you with the step by step you are seeking - yes,
some of it may be redundant to what you already know, but if you are
seeking step by step, then the toolkit is your best resource.

This person never followed our advice in getting a comprehensive self-study course and about two weeks later emailed us again with the following request:

Follow Up Question:

i have a diamond deal i would like so help on

Our Answer:

Sorry cannot help you on this one except to say, BE VERY CAREFUL.

Most diamond sales are locked up through the big diamond buying companies and
this is very much a closed market just as Oil, Urea, Sugar, Precious Metals, etc..

These type of deals are generally foisted on those who have little or no knowledge of
the import export business but who have a lot of interest in getting rich quickly and easily - sorry, there just is no such thing in this industry or any for that fact.

FOLLOW UP COMMENTS:

The above exchanges illustrate what I call "Blinded By The Hype". This person does not view the import export business as a business, but views it as his lottery ticket where he can make a quick score and sit back drinking margaritas on a beach somewhere for the rest of his life.

Literally, he would be better off buying lottery tickets because he is not serious about going into business and at least when he buys a lottery ticket, he really does have a chance of winning something as opposed to losing everything he owns and maybe more if he follows the yellow brick hype path that he apparently is doing.

Comments, criticisms, suggestions are always welcomed!

Ron Coble
Coble International Marketing Services
http://www.importexporthelp.com/

100th Post - Import Export Business - Is It Really For You?

Why an international trade business offers import export training courses?

This is the 100th post to this blog - I am baring my soul (so to speak) as to why an international business offers import export training courses - I hope this post will help you make the final decision as to whether import export is for you or isn't and why it is important to make INFORMED decisions, both before, during and after starting your business.

In the learning phase of my own business in the late 1980's, I did not have the HUGE advantage that the Internet offers you. I had to make innumerable visits to the library which was about a 20 mile round trip.

I spent hundreds of hours there researching, reading, copying. I spent hundreds of dollars on training materials that were extremely outdated (that was the 80's and the materials were written in the 60's and 70's). I wasted thousands of dollars on postage sending inquiries to trade leads that were so outdated it was almost enough to make you want to quit.

I visited with international bankers, department of commerce personnel, actual live importers and exporters to gather as much information as I possibly could.

Because of all the expenses of trying to learn this business piece meal, an idea came upon me one day that some people might be interested enough to pay for reports that compiled all this research into a current newsletter and thus the information part of my business was born.

The newsletter drew the attention of a publisher in Washington DC (at the time) who published a newspaper filled with trade leads each month. I agreed to sell his newspaper along with our newsletter after I tested the leads.

The first lead was for Organic Fruit Juice. Although the lead was about 2 months old I called the buyer and he advised me that only one other person had contacted him. He was definitely still interested and asked for quotes.

Off to the library, I researched and found 6 companies that produced it. I contacted 5 and was rejected - they were not interested. The sixth and last was. I had to pay a local machine shop a dollar a page to send and receive each page of a fax (this was 1988 remember).

I faxed an agreement to the producer after we agreed to terms by phone, they signed and faxed the agreement back and I then put the two parties together. Only two sales ever resulted from that deal but I was paid approximately $1,000 for about 3 hours of work/research.

This does not mean you will make that much on your first deal or that little, it is presently purely to document our first export deal.

Our business evolved and about 1993 we were contacted by a publisher of an import and export business course. After having such a bad experience with those I had purchased, I wanted to review it before agreeing to sell it (this was ll by mail order at the time).

I was thoroughly impressed with both the course and with the publisher. Since 1993 we have been offered the chance to market just about every other export/import course there is on the market and after reviewing them, nothing comes remotely close to the vast amount of information presented in such a manner that it is easily understood.

Because of our experience in the industry, our publisher has implemented many of the suggestions that we provided. Many of the questions and answers that were received during these 16 years have been included in the updates made to the course materials which averages about every 2 years.

Quite frankly, the revenue from the sale of these courses only represents about 5% of our total annual revenue and if it were to end tomorrow, it would hurt but it could easily be replaced with other revenue streams.

So why do we continue to offer the courses? Several reasons:

1. There are many people out there who are like I was 21 years ago - people who have a sincere interest in the international trade business but do not know how to go about getting it in a manner that is easy to understand and not go broke or spend hundreds of hours like I did.


2. There has been a proliferation of offerings that are out there with the advent of the Internet - some ranging from as little as $10 to others ranging $8,000 or more and I know in my heart that the courses we offer are the BEST based on my personal review and 21 years experience.


3. Many of the people described above will end up calling or emailing me and rather than taking trying to explain the same processes over and over and over, they have a comprehensive course that is not only training but a resource library for the entire term of their business.


4. There has to be training available that is not too complicated like many courses are that will discourage you before you ever take the first step and a course that is not so outlandish in price that you have to take a 2nd mortgage (if you can get one) for the promises of some boiler room operator/trainer who has absolutely no real life experience in this business and in my 21+ years of experience I have yet to find any course that is better - if I did, it would be posted to our web site tomorrow.

The Import Export Business is just that - A business! It is NOT an OPPORTUNITY that will magically transform you into a super worldwide success. This is a REAL business that without the serious application of WORK by YOU will not provide you with anything by and of itself!

This business is NOT for everyone (bet the boiler room operators whose weekly commission check depend solely upon selling you their $8000 plus 'program' will never tell you that)!

Here is a list of people who will have a problem succeeding in this business:

1. Those who cannot write a sentence or paragraph in basic English (sorry but English is the main language of international trade).


2. Those who will not pick up the phone and call someone and be able to speak English well enough that the other party can understand them - if the truth offends you, then I have save you from a lot of wasted money and time.


3. Those who need a coach or camp counselor who they can call and cry on their shoulders when they cannot get a buyer or seller to talk with them - when in reality the camp counselor/coaches by the $8000+ programs are nothing more than boiler room operators with the same printed material in front of them as you have in front of you - this is all part of business - the buyer or sellers in the world are not waiting for you with baited breath so you can tell them about the "certificate" you now possess as if that really means anything in this industry.


4. Those who are unable to make a decision for themselves even after they have been provided with all the details and processes that are necessary for them to make an informed decision - they are not ready to be in business for themselves, they need a job where they have a boss who will tell them what to do for 8 hours.


5. Those who think an exorbitant price somehow translates into something being better - they think well if it costs that much, it must be good, right?


6. Those who are too lazy to perform due diligence (read our company page for instructions) - if you are going to invest $8,000+ in the belief a company is what they say they are, spend a couple of hundred and fly out to their location, see their "warehouses" (I find it amusing that some people expend more time checking us out for an investment in a course that is less than 5% of the $8K+ program)


7. Those who, even after they perform 'in-depth' due diligence, still foolishly throw their $8K+ at a dream that is sold to them by a commissioned salesman/woman with absolutely no experience in the industry.

I wish everyone who purchases a course from us would be an incredible success, but the sad fact is probably less than 5% ever follow through and take the first step of action necessary to achieve any success.

If you think the $8K+ programs offer you a better chance, give me a call during normal business hours at 717-292-5763 - if I am in the office I will gladly tell you how to do a very simple google search to find the thousands of now inactive web sites that others who have taken the $8K+ path have followed. I just did this search today and quite frankly I was amazed at how many there are but before you call me - DO YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE and if you are really cut out to be in business for yourself, you will not need to bother calling me because you will have already made the right decision.

The courses we offer will provide you with everything, step-by-step instructions on how to succeed in both importing and exporting - the success factor is what looks you in the mirror each morning.

If any of the above has offended you, well let's say in this area of Pennsylvania, we have an old saying the goes "if the shoe fits, wear it!" If it took this as a slap up along the side of you head and you are offended and you forget about this business all together, then I have accomplished my goal as you simply are not ready for this business.

If however, you are the type of person who says, great, finally someone who tells it like it is, no bull shit, someone who not only talks the talk but who has walked the walk, well then you are ready for our course and for being in business for yourself (as long as you can handle the oral and written communications).

Bottom line, we offer the courses we do because our experience tells us that they are the best - we could earn 10 times what we do if we opted to sell the $8K+ program (and believe me they would love to get exposure to our 53,000 monthly visitors) but quite frankly, I would rather lose that 5% of income and not replace it with anything if their program was the only choice available. That would free up more time for me to spend with our rapidly growing grand child.

That is it for my 100th post to this blog - I hope you have found it to be both helpful and enlightening, comments, criticisms are "always" welcome (you do have to register with blogger.com to comment, however).

Thanks for visiting and taking the time to read what I hope is one of, if not the most, thought provoking post since we began this blog.

Ron Coble

The Key To Your Long Term Import Export Business Success

I want to once again emphasize the importance of the Internet
in the long term success of your international trade business.

Whether you are trying to market the products you are importing
or attempting to promote or market a manufacturer's product
to a worldwide audience, the Internet is your LONG TERM KEY
TO SUCCESS.

Our little web site has generated hundreds of thousands of
dollars in sales, not only for the import export business
services we offer but for the manufacturer's that we have and
still do market on our "little web site that could".

The total of the value of services and products that we have
marketed through our simple little web site actually amounts
to well over SEVERAL MILLIONS of dollars.

I am talking about overall value of the products that the
manufacturer's or service providers we represent as agents
have sold (or we have sold) because of our SIMPLE LITTLE WEB
SITE.

The success of our web site began with the purchase of a
course back in 1998. I attribute 75% of our success to what
I learned from that course (the other 25% is my own tenacity
and perseverance).

But, I needed that course to motivate and show me what I
needed to do in order to make the Internet work for me.

Now that same course, which came in two large 3 ring binders
has been made available online and if you were scared to
spend a little money to develop your future using the Internet
due to the lack of money, then you need to read this to the
end because I've got something that's going to ELIMINATE that
hurdle for you...

I've just heard from my friends at the Internet Marketing Center,
(the publisher of the course that got me started using the
Internet as my tool to bigger success than I could have ever
imagined) and they've agreed to let me offer you a 30-Day Trial
to their #1 best-selling profit system,
"Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business On The Internet!"

So for one full MONTH, you can have UNLIMITED access to the same
step-by-step Internet business-building system that I, like
thousands of others have already used to make their fortunes
online.

http://www.importexporthelp.com/recommends/imc-coursetrial.htm

Activate your trial today and you will uncover easy techniques
for creating winning websites, even if you have NO technical
experience... for driving throngs of visitors from around the
world straight to your new site (for FREE)... and MORE.

Using the techniques revealed in this course our traffic to
our site quadrupled within a week of implementing them and
our website now receives well over 50,000 visitors monthly.

During your 30 day Trial, you can use as MANY of these
proven profit-generating strategies to create YOUR new
site as you *want*!

This is your best opportunity to "test drive" the Internet
system that's created more six-figure incomes than any
other -- WITHOUT RISK.

To activate your 30-Day Trial of "Insider Secrets," just
follow this link:

http://www.importexporthelp.com/recommends/imc-coursetrial.htm

In LESS than 5 minutes, you'll have unlimited access to this
entire system, so you can start building YOUR new, highly
profitable international business website TODAY!

http://www.importexporthelp.com/recommends/imc-coursetrial.htm

Ron Coble
Coble International Business Services
http://www.importexporthelp.com/ (the little website that could)


P.S. My IMC friends are telling me that they have not decided
how long to offer the 30-Day "Insider Secrets" Trial offer,
so if you want UNLIMITED access to this entire step-by-step
blueprint for making money online, you'll need to activate your
trial NOW:

http://www.importexporthelp.com/recommends/imc-coursetrial.htm

International Business Questions And Answers

Import Export Business Question:

We are to Norwegian export agents based in Vancouver, Canada,
who would like to find potential buyers in Norway for Canadian
and American companies. Even though one of us has a bachelor
degree in International marketing & export, we still have some
questions about how things really work in the real world.

Due to our limited resources, we have just started a home-based
export business, and we think we have everything in its place now.
However, we are a little bit unsecured if we as agent need to be
responsible for the shipping of the goods and custom declaration?

Could some companies require this?

Import Export Business Answer

Even though you have a degree, I would still suggest you get a copy of
our Exporters Master Training package since it contains "real world"
information, not just theory - you may review details at:
http://www.importexporthelp.com/trdspm1.htm

I will attempt to answer your question below, but you should also take
several hours and visit our import export business blog at:
http://importexportbusiness.blogspot.com
*** look on the right side - down a bit - to find the dated archived posts -
not all will be of interest but the majority are questions and answers
that we have received and answered over the years which will be
beneficial to you.

Now to your question - working as an agent/broker can involve you doing
everything that is part of the exporting process from taking care of the
shipping, customs, financing, etc. if that is what you agree to do or
what your client requires in order to do business.

You can also work the business (again subject to your negotiated
agreement with the supplier/manufacturer) in a manner like I do where all
I do is generate or identify potential buyers for manufacturers and pass
those qualified leads on to the supplier - upon completion of a sale to
the parties I introduce them to, I get paid a commission which is far
less than the one I could earn if I wanted to handle all the follow up
details as you have described.

Some purists would say I am a finder, some would say I am nothing
more than a lead generator and I would respond, call me what you will
but as long as they have my name or my company's name spelled
correctly on their checks, I could care less what anyone else wishes
to call me.

So bottom line, it comes down to you and the supplier and what
involvement you wish to have in the process - the more involvement,
the more you can demand in payment, the less involvement and the
you can expect to be paid less - you have to weigh the offset of the
time you spend on a deal versus what you will get paid for that time.

Hope this helps and again, I strongly recommend you and your
partners get the Exporters Master training package - it is something
you all may use and continue to use if and when you hire any employees
or take on any new partners in your business.

Good luck and I wish you success!

Ron Coble
http://www.importexporthelp.com

Import Export Business And The Economy

Question:

I am going to order your program next month, but I was wonder, if the economy is such a crappy mess, is Import/Export Business hard to get into?

Answer:

Thanks for the opportunity to answer your question. It is one that
I thought I had answered this question in one of my blog posts but
upon reviewing it this morning it does not appear that I have done so.

I will try to keep my answer from getting political, but it is difficult
not to reference some of the reasons our economy is in the mess
it is in.

First, let me address your basic question. Is the Import Export
business hard to get into?

The quick answer to your question is Yes, it is a hard business
to succeed in whether the economy is good or bad.

In fact, it is hard to succeed at any business at any time and
the economy does play a role in how difficult it will be and
right now, it is much, much more difficult to succeed in ANY
business.

The fact that this business, or any business, is difficult to
succeed at is a fact the "hype" masters of the Internet and
opportunity magazines seem to ignore. It can best be summed
up in a Chinese proverb I just posted last night in our
Import Export business blog - the proverb is this -

“Fish see the bait, but not the hook. Men see the profit, but not the peril.”

International trade or trade between businesses in different
countries has been going on since the beginning of mankind.

There have always been obstacles placed in front of them and
these obstacles can be in the form of mountains, rivers, oceans,
thieves, and the biggest thief and obstacle of all, governments.

Governments create obstacles whether through the manipulation
of their economies or supposed protection of the industries
within their borders from less expensive goods coming in and
threatening the status quo.

Governments try to regulate things that most often will work
their way through, if the government would just let their hands
off of it in the first place.

We human beings have a tendency to believe that the persons
making up our governments have a better understanding of how
business should be run than the people who are actually working
in that business, yet most government employees and elected
officials have "never" run a profitable business.

And the people who make up our governments are just as
subject to greed and envy as all human beings and in some
instances I believe they are more subject to it.

Sorry, I am getting off on a rant here but in regards to starting
your business, you must decide if the Import Export business
is really what you want to do. It is not a hyped up business
"opportunity", it is a serious business and what our course
offers is "training" on how to start that type of business.

If you are serious about starting an import export business,
then do not wait around for the economy to turn, get started
learning what you need to know to succeed now. Then when
the economy finally does turn around, you will be that much
ahead of everyone else who sat on their hands waiting for
an imagined government solution.

One of the biggest obstacles to international trade, right
now, is financing or letters of credit.

Banks no longer trust each other, both within the USA and
from one country to another and this means you or a
manufacturer you work with as an agent or broker is going
to have a much more difficult time getting a buyer to get
a letter of credit and secondly have the manufacturer's
bank accept that letter of credit (loc).

The course will discuss financing options and where you
or the manufacturer can go to get financing if that is the
only method by which a buyer can make a purchase.

There are other alternatives to financing depending upon
the amount of the purchase. Credit cards often have a
line of credit large enough for a buyer to make the purchase
if an loc is not an accepted solution. Direct bank wire
transfers are still another option.

If a buyer really has a market for the product(s) you are
helping a manufacturer sell, the buyer will find a way of
paying for them.

So the bottom line, in answer to your original question,
is YES it is more difficult today than just a few months ago
but if you are serious about your interest in this business,
then begin learning the "how to" now and you will be in
a much better position to capitalize on the turnaround
once it comes.

If you make the decision to get started now, do not wait
for a turnaround, begin looking at markets that are still
moving goods. Food is a commodity that will always
be needed and the USA still leads the world in food
production.

In finishing this LONG answer to a SHORT question,
let me cite how difficult trade can be and then begin to
think about how much easier a path you have than
the following example.

Over the past weekend there was an episode of the
show "Globetrotter" on one of the PBS stations. I
missed the first part of it but saw enough to impress
me on how easy our lives and businesses have it
in comparison to other people in the world.

The 'globetrotter' on this episode was a young lady who
(when I picked up the show) was walking across a barren
desert in an African country (I think it was part of the
Sahara).

She had joined a trader's caravan from a desert oasis
where they grow fruits and vegetables. The people and
their camels were walking across the desert as these people
have done for thousands of years to take their goods to
a city where they would trade their goods for "salt".

The salt is required for both the people and their animals
due to the intense desert heat.

Most of the people in the caravan were walking and the
narrator stated how they would cover 50-60 miles a day!

I think they said it was a 17 day round trip and the city
where they traded their goods for salt was about 600 miles
from their oasis.

Once they got to the city, they made their trades and
loaded 4 very heavy pillars of salt on the camels and
began their journey back to their oasis.

This is what these people have been doing for thousands
of years and in my humble opinion, nothing that is currently
facing us in regards to the economy even comes close to
the hardships these 'traders' face on a continual basis.

So, yes, it will be more difficult to succeed in the import
export business today than just 6 months ago, but if this
is the business you wish to pursue, then you need to make
the decision that once you learn the "how to" that nothing
is going to stop you which brings up another proverb or
old saying I once heard many years ago.

"Let the dogs bark but the caravan moves on"

You can liken that to the first caravan that ever made that
long, hot and fateful journey across the Sahara. There
were probably more people telling them it would fail than
succeed but in the end, the caravan left those barking dogs
behind and moved on.

Hope this helps you make a more informed decision.

*** There was a brief follow up to the above answer that I
remembered a few days later that I had intended to include,
that additional answer is as follows:

Just wanted to follow up with you since there was one other
comment I wanted to include in the previous reply shown below.

It basically involves how in today's lousy economic environment
and a general distrust of investing your money with any
institution, the very best thing you can invest in is yourself.

Once you gain knowledge about a new subject, the investment
will last for a life time. No one can ever take it away from you
and the growth of that investment is solely dependent upon
you and the actions you take, not an investment advisor,
banker, etc..

So if there is any ONE place I would recommend for someone
to invest right now or for that matter, any time, is in educating
yourself.

For further information about Import Export or other International
business resources, visit the International Business Help Center
and be sure to take your time looking around the 285 web pages
that make up this premier web site.

Ron Coble
Coble International Business Services

International Business

International business conjours up dreams of wealth and glory for may people in every part of the world and for good reason.

International business more often involves the B2B arena rather than B2C (business to consumer) and a business to business sales often involve huge numbers of products rather than single items sales.

Many would be international business entrepreneurs read about how a company became a multi-million dollar one overnight because of one international sale or an individual who earned huge commissions by closing a global sale for their company.

International business is all of the above and more, but what most of the 'hype-masters' do not tell you is that there is a great deal of work that requires patience, persistence and decision making.

I talk with would-be international business entrepreneurs every single day and the most common trait I encounter is their inability to make a relatively easy decision, even when the facts are clearing staring at them.

There comes a time when you either realize you are a decision maker or you realize that you should just keep going to your job every day, punching your employer's time clock and have someone who gets paid more than you, make your decisions for you.

The people I believe who have the most chance for success in this business are those who make the decision to get an import or export training course, either place the order online or call to place their order.

These sort of people are "decision makers" who are able to make a decision based on their own ability to read and understand the information that has been presented to them. This is the kind of decision making ability you need to succeed in international business.

It amuses me much of the time how people will call to get my advice which they must value or they would not call, right? Then when they are given the advice they so cherish, they never act upon it??

I actually had a lady call me recently from Canada - she wanted to get into the Import Export business but she wanted someone else to set everything up for her, get the business going and allow her to step in and take it over????????

I asked her, point blank, why would someone want to start a business, get it up and running and simply turn it over to you for a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars? She was a well educated lady, a teacher I believe, but she was living in her own little dream world.

Another amusement for me is when someone is really indecisive when on the phone or continues to ask questions in repeated emails information that is covered on our web site or in this blog. Some of these people are genuinely in bad financial situations and cannot afford (or so they state) the $160, $316 or $424 price for our international business courses.

My suggestion to them? If you have NO business experience at all, then get some by starting to sell items on EBay. By selling items on EBay, they can open their auctions up to the world bidders and they will soon be experiencing every aspect of doing international business.

They will be dealing with customer service, international shipping, language barriers, fraud, profits, accounting, literally every aspect of doing business but on a smaller scale that allows them to learn.

Most never take the advice they sought and simply continue to have dreams of international business grandeur that will somehow fall into their life without the need to make any decisions, do any work or expend any funds (almost sounds like some of our political candidate promises).

We get the "don't want to spend any money" international wanna bees from other parts of the world as well. They will send an email asking (sometimes telling, believe it or not) us to give them free importer listings.

I generally send them a reply that points them to a trade directory they can purchase, never to hear from them again. I soon will be testing a new tactic, again for my amusement - I will ask them to send me the value of what they are asking for in the form of products they are selling but in equal value to the trade directory they seek.

Think that will go over well?

It is kind of funny isn't it? These folks are seeking something they believe to have value to them and their business but not enough value to pay for it, when in reality one sale to one lead in a directory would more than pay for that directory?? What is wrong with this picture???

Is this what can be defined as a "dichotomy"?

I get phone calls all the time from people who have gotten themselves into some dire straits in import export deals. When I hear what type of situation they have created for themselves, I ask if they took any type of international business course.

They generally answer NO or well I read a book or two on the subject but that is not why I am calling you. I want you to wave your magic import export wand and help me fix what I was too cheap to learn how or why it would get them into trouble.

One guy had 5 container loads of food sitting on the dock and was paying storage fees that had already equaled the cost of the goods. He "thought" he was too smart and did not need anything more than the $29.95 book he had read about international business fortunes.

He had not gotten the approval he needed to bring food into the country from the Agriculture department. He did not apply for it until the food was landed. Guess what, the normal turnaround time for the food he was bringing in was 45 days and he thought I could wave the magic wand (like politicians promise) and get them to approve it today (or tomorrow).

Guess what, no one has that power and why would they use it for this guy if they did.

How about another guy who called and was worried because he had not heard from the supposed owner of a furniture company in Indonesia he was going to buying a container load of furniture from.

First question, again, what makes you feel qualified to import goods? did you take a course, read a book? No, I just found the company on the Internet and they had incredible prices and I knew I could make a fortune. Next question, let me guess, did you already send this guy your money.

Answer: Yes

I am getting too old to remember all of these fool tails but the two above stick in the part of my brain that I will always recall.

If you are a business owner, employee of a manufacturing company or an entrepreneur considering entry into the arena of International Business - make a decision, get step by step training in the form of one of our import or export training courses and pay for a lead service to separate yourself from 99 9/10% of the others out there and begin - take action.

The government, no matter which party wins the election, is not going to solve your personal and business problems, only you can make the "changes" you want in your life and/or in your business.

If you are reading this and do not take the advice, then why are you wasting your life's precious time reading it?? You either find value in the advice dispensed here or you do not and if you do not, unsubscribe from our B2B updates list and take this blog off of your bookmarks.

Ron Coble

International Trade Questions And Answers

Question:

I have read through you info on this site and found it very informative.

In regards to due diligence as well as doing the checks by cold calling and checking their website, is there a pack which I should put together to ensure the least risk possible.

Any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated as these people can seem very trustworthy and I myself or employees of mine can have a set procedure in place to make sure we have covered ourselves as well as we possibly could.

Answer:

I am not aware of a 'package' of details that you can check, except for the resources we have compiled on our company page at: http://www.importexporthelp.com/company.htm which you and your employees are free to use any time - just scroll down the page until you see the "Due Diligence" sub-title.

These are not all that are available, I am sure, but if you follow that list you should be able to find any negative details on someone, if there are any on record.

I am not sure if you are in the USA or not, but the US has a program through their embassies that you can pay a couple of hundred dollars to have the embassy rep do a background check on the potential importer.

Another thing you can do is ask for references of other businesses they have dealt with and then actually contact those references. I know of one supplement manufacturer who would not even bother following up a lead if they would not provide them with at least one reference.

You will want to cross reference the reference also to make sure you aren't calling the guys brother or brother in law who is in on the deal with him.

Last, confirmed letters of credit (LOC) are about the safest way to go when it comes to payment, but they are often very difficult to get and much more expensive than regular LOC's.

Ultimately there are no guarantees of keeping you from getting ripped off. I have personally talked with several exporters and importers who had worked for some time with their buyers/sellersin smaller quantity orders. Then a larger order comes in and they end up never getting paid for it or if they are the importer, they send the money and never receive the merchandise.

This last type of deal is the old confidence game where they use small orders to gain your confidence, pay for them up front or shipthem right away and then hit you with a big order which is never paid for and you can never seem to find the person in their office at any time.

It is an unfortunate fact of business life (and personal) that you have to approach every transaction as if it is a fraudulent one and be very firm in your requirements of the other party.

Fraudsters are everywhere - in every country - unfortunately much of the scams come from the very countries that need legitimate trade the most and they are in Africa.

Many (not all) people have come to realize Africa is the main origin for the fraudulent activities so many of the fraudsters have now resorted to faking emails and other correspondence with actual names of legitimate companies in China or India.

The fraudsters will use the actual graphics or letterhead from a legitimate company but place their (the fraudster's) email or phone number (which is usually forwarded) in the correspondence.

Another fraudster technique is to use a color copier to duplicate an actual money order or cashiers check from a legitimate bank. Looks legit, you deposit it, have the goods shipped only to find out about 3-4 weeks later when you get a call from the bank telling you it has been returned. Guess what - it isn't the bank's responsibility and they will take you to court, if necessary, to get the funds from you.

Your qualification requirements have to be so firm that most fraudsters will consider them not worth the effort and crawl back under the rock from which they came - these strict requirements may cost you a real transaction from time to time but it is better to walk away.

Fraudsters know most companies and individuals are desperate to make a sale and they use this against you. If a deal seems too good to be real - it is. If you ever run into a deal that you just can not seem to resist but would like my input, feel free to call me and tell me the details without revealing who the party is and I will be happy to give you my opinion.

In most instances, you will probably not like my recommendation but you always have the final decision.

Hope this has helped and I wish you the best.