Years ago, when I first decided to start my own business, I didn’t know what kind of business I wanted or in which area, but I had one measure criteria; start a business that I could run from everywhere in the world using only a phone and internet. Something where I will not need to see the clients face-to-face to survive, have clients from everywhere, in different countries so I will not have any limit to my business.
I am glad that I made this decision 10 years ago, because it helps me to start 3 different businesses in 2 different countries (France and US) and ended up with international businesses with clients all over the world as I wanted.
But how do you adapt your business to various industries, various countries or various cultures without losing any clients and still double your revenue every single year? Of course you know that you should have a business plan when you first start a business. I didn’t have any for my first business in France in 1998, I just wanted to work on my own and don’t have a boss anymore. At that time, it was the beginning of a new trend, being a virtual assistant. I was a sales and marketing manager for almost 10 years and didn’t know nothing of being a secretary or a personal assistant, and barely knew how to use a computer. Being a virtual assistant would be the door to the freedom, so I learned. But very quickly, I realized that being an assistant or a secretary was not for me, and something was missing.
So I started advertising and promoting my business a different way, and offered my services as a sales and marketing manager part-time to clients instead of being just their assistant. I sent direct mail pieces, launched e-mail campaigns and very quickly attracted new clients—small business owners who didn’t have the money to maintain their own sales teams, but who definitely needed to promote their businesses, so that they could make more money.
With my background, experience and skills as a marketing manager, I was able to help them develop their marketing and sales departments, organize direct mail campaigns, make cold calls to develop their client databases, set up appointments and negotiate contracts.
Quickly the venture became so successful that I didn’t even have to advertise or promote it anymore. I had all my clients, and more than I could handle. As a result, I started having clients from everywhere in France and not only in Paris where I used to live, just with internet and by word of mouth. That was my first victory.
But once again, something was missing. I may not have a business plan for the next 5 years for my business but I had one for my personal life, and my long time dream was to live in New York. Travelling just for the holidays was not enough anymore.
Since my business was “portable”, I decided to move it to New York and see what happened.The good thing is that at least at first I didn’t have to start all over again, Paris or New York I was still able to run the business from my computer, phone and internet and I didn’t have to stop one business to start a brand new one. This was actually very important because I didn’t lose any clients or money, and this gave me the time to learn about the American culture in order to decide what will be my next venture. My project was to see if I could expand my company and locate US small business owners who wanted to develop their businesses in France. I believed I could help them set up appointments, make cold calls and organize their trips to France.
Almost by accident, that is how I discovered the world of networking.
Networking didn’t exist in France at that time, so the concept of networking was completely new to me.
I still remember the very first networking event that I attended in New York. I discovered the event on the Internet and signed-up. I arrived in a crowded bar, very noisy, took my name-tag, and looked around. I was so intimidated that I left in less than two minutes and said “Ok, this networking thing is definitely not for me.”
Looking back, this is quite funny when you consider that I now run Biba4Network, a business that organizes and facilitates networking.
But I wouldn’t accept failure, a couple of weeks later, I decided to attend another event, only to discover the same thing—a crowded bar, very noisy, and extremely difficult to meet people and conduct business. Again, I took my name-tag, except that I decided that I would not leave before I spoke with at least two people.
Actually though, I cheated. I stayed in a corner clutching my glass and waited for someone to come over to speak with me. Then, I attended more and more events. I set goals to speak with four people, then six people, then ten, etc. But I quickly realized that I would not find clients for my French company and the project that I had, because small businesses had enough opportunities in the United States and didn’t really need to expand their businesses in France. I was quite disappointed because I had spent the last two years building a business that I couldn’t expand here in the US. What was I going to do?
Plus, I didn’t really like those networking events in crowded, noisy bars. At that time, I was not completely fluent in English, and, it was often difficult to understand what people were saying to me, especially with the noise. In addition, I was really not comfortable in the middle of these crowds and was not able to grow my business.
That was when I decided to start my own networking events—smaller, more intimate—where people would be able to have conversations and not have to shout at each other. They would have time to introduce themselves and their businesses and not merely exchange their business cards in three seconds and go to meet the next person.
So here again, a few years after I started my first business in Paris, I was ready to start my second one from scratch, in New York City. But this time I knew it would be a lot more difficult because this was not my home country and English was not my primary language.
My personal experiences and desire to start a business in the United States made it possible for me to learn a lot about how to start a business.
I attended almost every seminar that I could find and spent the summer of 2001 at the New York Public Library reading every book I could find about starting a business, how and where to incorporate, LLC vs. Corporation, how to write a business plan, how to write a proposal, how to develop strategies, how to develop a marketing plan, and especially, learning how to do business the “American way”. I spent hours and hours studying the topic. “How to Start Your Own Business.” And from personal experience, I know how difficult it is to walk through this entire process. That is why, now I dedicate my time, helping other people realize their own Dream.
So I started Biba4Network, a company designed to organize networking events, help people grow, meet other people, build their businesses and circle of contacts.
Quickly, many people, both French and American, asked me for advice and help in starting their own businesses. At first, I helped them one at a time, for free giving them advice on how to structure their business, and then somebody suggested to me that since I was already organizing networking meetings, I should organize seminars so I could even help more people.
But even though I knew a lot on the topic, I didn’t feel comfortable speaking in public, plus I am not a lawyer or CPA. But thanks to the network I built over the years, I knew a lot of professionals and experts who could work with me.
That is how I came to organize not only networking events but also seminars on “How to Start and Grow Your Own Business” and wrote my book “Start Your Dream Business Today”.
Then after 5 years in New York, I moved “again”, direction Miami this time. A decision I made in only four days, after spending a weekend with friends. First time in Florida, first time in Miami. For a reason that I still can’t explain, I had the feeling that the city was calling me and something big was waiting for me. When everybody were asking me how I could move so quickly and what will happen to my business, my answer was simple. “My clients are not only in New York but all over the US, Europe and Africa, and 90% of my business is done over the phone and internet, so wherever I live I will keep them and once again, moving will not chance anything to my business”.
I knew something big was calling me, I just didn’t know what. But two months after I moved, thanks to networking; (see how networking is crucial in your business life, so please stop saying that networking is not working!). I meet a person who was doing the same as me for my French consulting firm (www.MyFrenchNetwork.com), even if we were competitors in a way, after a couple of meetings, we realized that we had the exact same goals, and both wanted to create an international network of independent consultants all over the world to represent our services. Network that we immediately started and already have consultants in France, US, England and China.
So once again, as a result, this new change had a positive impact on my business and kept my only criteria, work from everywhere in the world, have clients all over the world and keep growing over and over again.
What I learned over the last 10 years is that when you focus on your business and always find a way to expand it in the same area of business, first you grow, second you don’t lose any clients, because as your business evoluate, your clients always find the right services for them in what your offer. And as long as they love you, and trust you and follow you everything in everything you do.
© 2008 Biba F. Pédron
Recently I had met with a new client from France here in Miami, to teach him the steps to start his US business. He found me through a mutual French contact who referred him to me. This contact also wants to start his own business in the US next year. This is actually the fifth referral he sent me since we met online a year an a half ago. I learned from my new client that they both met only two months ago at the gym in south of France! Their conversation moved to starting a business in the US and my contact said “I have the perfect person for you. I know a consultant that helps French entrepreneurs start their businesses in the US and she can definitely help you reach your goals and dreams.
“Who Else Wants To Learn How To Attract New Clients And To Turn Prospects Into Paying And Satisfied Clients, Capable of Referring You To Like Minded People?
Did you ever meet a person at a networking event and had to think before you answered this simple question “What do you do?”
In order to grow your business you need to network, even if you don’t like it. It is imperative to attend networking events on a regular basis.
Are you like most people who hate networking? You are not alone.
January is already over. Time goes so fast that we usually don’t have enough time to do everything we would like. I am sure you probably have your to do list in the morning and when the evening comes you still have a lot to accomplish from it. You got distracted during the day, something happened and you are late.
