Many fresh business graduates want to turn entrepreneurs straight out of a business school and many even succeed! They don’t just start a local venture but dream of a global one and do it too. Their success can be attributed in part to changing business scenario around the world. The internet has made it easier than ever to start a global venture. Many market places and payment processors are equipped to handle international transactions. Thus, with just a few clicks, it is possible to start selling your product or service anywhere in the world.

Certain tools are essential to break into the global market and establish a presence there. Let us have a look at some of the crucial ones.

• Translation services: It is very important to have professional translation services so that the contracts and communication are proper. Any advertising campaign of the home country should be translated in such a manner that it does not become offensive in the foreign culture. For such purposes, Google translate cannot be relied on and professional translators should be engaged even if they are expensive. There are many such companies that provide translation services like Gengo, Rubric, Verbalizelt to name a few.

• Acquiring the local language: If the business is going to focus in a specific country, then it would be wise to master the local language and the important business phrases. There are plenty of online tools for entrepreneurs desirous of picking up a local language. These could range from apps to online courses and software. Online learning systems like the BRIC Language Systems and the Duolingo app are two such options. Fluenz is another option that tailors each of its seven language programs to the needs of its learners.

• International trade guidelines: Before you start doing business in another country, it is very important to acquaint yourself with the trade rules of that country. There are various websites like Export.gov, TradeAbility that educate regarding the destination country’s export licenses, economic sanctions and other trade regulations. Trade Map provides tables, graphs and maps with trade information for 220 countries and territories and 5300 products.

• Apps for communication: International calls to conduct business dealings can turn out to be very expensive. Apps like Skype, Whatsapp Business, and Zoom prove to be very handy as communication over them is free.

• Apps for scheduling: Because of different time zones, conducting business can prove to be tricky. But apps like Boomerang help you to schedule messages to send at a specific time. This app ensures that the message arrives in the foreign client’s inbox during business hours. Tools like ScheduleOnce and World Meeting Time too, let you work around different time zones.

• Money transfer: Money will definitely change hands during a business transaction and banks are the first point of call. At the same time, banks charge a hefty fee. But startups like Transferwise promise to save upto 90% in fees.

• Marketplaces: It is not easy to try to sell a new product in the global marketplace with all the tough competition that is already present. One of the solutions could be to list it on one of the online marketplaces like Amazon Marketplace, eBay, Etsy and others. These market places already have the reach and within minutes of listing the product, you could have an overseas order in your kitty. If it is a service it could be Freelancer, Upwork or Taskrabbit. Alibaba is the world’s biggest global trading platform.

• International payments: An international business is successful when customers overseas can actually make payments for the products or services. The most well-known is PayPal which is available in 203 markets and 26 currencies. Others are Wordplay and Stripe.

• Online Presence Management: It is the process of presenting and drawing traffic to a personal or professional brand online. This process combines eCommerce Website, Blogging, Search Engine Optimization, Google Ads, directory listings, link sharing and other avenues to create a long-term positive presence for an organization. GoDaddy is an Internet domain registrar and web hosting company and helps new businesses to register a domain. Hostgator is the provider of shared, reseller, virtual private server and also dedicated web hosting. The importance of communication in the success of a business can never be stressed enough. Gmail is of great help in facilitating business communication.

• Establishing Global Reach: A business is successful globally only if the traffic that its website witnesses, increases as this will lead to more customers. Fifth Shield does exactly that! It leads the charge to increasing your website search traffic from the world. It is not a typical SEO company though.

Thus, the environment for doing business has never been better globally. The global entrepreneur has a number of tools at his disposal to help him do business overseas.