 |
|
Start-up Investment
Low - $2000 (importing and inexpensive product in small quantities and selling to an agent)
High - $200,000 (selling a costly product directly to retail or wholesale buyers)
Break - even time - Three months to three years Estimate of Annual Revenue and Profit
Revenue $200,000 - $20 million
Profit (Pre-tax) - $30,000 - $3 million
The Shrinking Globe
As our communication and transportation capabilities become more and more sophisticated, the marketplace ceases to be localized and becomes international. Whether we like it or not (and some lobbying groups expend a great deal of effort to keep foreign products out of the U.S. 0, our import/export revenues continue to grow. American import/export revenues exceed the Gross National Product of many of the countries who are our trading partners. While the giant corporations (Fortune 500 companies) export 80% of the goods going out of the country, internationally small businesses run the import side of the equation. And there appears to be no end in sight. The world economies are becoming more and more interindependent and as new markets open up, demand grows, and so will the opportunities for importing and exporting.
Bi - Lingual Business Between regulatory changes and language barriers, importing and exporting is not a business for the faint of heart. Regulations can change without a word of warning and seem to have very little to do with logic. Tack on quotas and tariff breaks for undeveloped countries and you have a real potpourri of information required in order to do business. Before taking on this type of business, you will need to do your homework well. If you are lucky enough to fall onto a hot new item (i.e., Cabbage Patch Dolls, Pet Rocks), a fortune could be made almost over night. And if you choose wisely, you will have no domestic competition. So--- choosing your product is one key to
|
|
|
|
Here are some products that may also be of interest to you:
|
|
|
|
