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Transatlantic Connection - CoSBI

John W. Furst
John W. Furst
After having written about the benefit of blog carnivals it is finally time to host an edition on this blog.

I am proud to announce:

“The next edition of the ‘Carnival of Small Business Issues’ will be hosted on this blog.”

This makes it a Canarian - Canadian — simply a Transatlantic Cooperation. But it should not stop here. I know some of my readers are from South America, Australia and New Zealand. Wouldn't it be great to have some of the upcoming editions of this carnival hosted on the other side of the globe? However, no matter where you live, consider hosting one of the weekly editions. It's a win - win situation for everyone. And it's fun, too. ;-) Volunteer now to host an edition! (↑)

Today small businesses can transform whole continents and even the entire planet into their market place. There are a lot of chances, but also some threats that a small business owner needs to be prepared for.

  • Currency Risk
  • Legal Risk
  • Market Risk
  • etc. …

No reason to stick the head into the sand. Risks on one side can mean great opportunities on the other side, if you are on your toes, and if you are flexible.

  • Currency Opportunity → cheaper supplier
  • Legal Opportunity → moving offshore
  • Market Opportunity → expansion onto foreign markets


Charan Atreya wrote in his introduction to the latest edition of the carnival,
“My only word of advice for small businesses is to get their house in order and start looking at markets in Europe, and of course the domestic market. Depending solely on the US markets might just kill your business”

You might think, your products are more affordable for European consumer as long as the US Dollar is devalued that much. Let us assume, you are selling an electronic product. Your first guess is right, … But did you know that European fiscal legislation enforces collection of value added tax (VAT).

Go to Clickbank.com, select a product, pretend you are from Denmark, …
25% VAT added to the purchase price. “Not bad!”
Based on country of residence a consumer must pay between 15% and 25% VAT

Update: At the same time the EU-directive, on which this taxation is based, helps non-EU businesses with simplifying the administrative process. Earlier you had to get a local tax consultant in each of the EU countries, where your sales exceeded a certain amount. Now, you can choose in which one country you wish to be represented for tax purposes in the entire EU.

For the interested readers: EUROPA - Taxation and Customs Union / E-Services

Now, you should check your recent posts for topics that help Small Businesses. I am sure you find some quality post of yours. Submit it by using the link below. And check out the current issue of the Carnival, too. Even better, if you subscribe to its RSS feed. :-)




Carnival of Small Business Issues

Edition 24: Oct 16, 2007 (↑)

Next issue: Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007
will be hosted on this blog.

Submit Your Article Today (↑)

Deadline: Sunday, Oct 21, 2007,
11:59 pm EDT [23:59 -0300]


Carnival Home (↑) | Info about the Carnival (↑)


Yours
John W. Furst

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While I am no expert in European economy, Europe used tariffs and government controls to protect domestic industries. I suspect the VAT is part of that.

On another note, I received a note from blogcarnival.com that the edition on Tuesday, 23 October is going to be a featured carnival. So it will splashed across their home page all day. :-)

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