Office of International Trade U.S. Small Business Administration

Where will your next customer come from? Small businesses looking to increase sales and profit are taking their business global. Did you know that the majority of the world’s purchasing power resides outside the U.S.? There are many good reasons to export, just a few of these reasons include:

• reduced dependence on the domestic market
• diversified sources of revenue
• extended sales potential and product shelf life of existing products
• stabilized seasonal market/sales fluctuations

The Small Business Jobs Act, signed by President Obama on Sept. 27, 2010 includes provisions that will help small businesses become more competitive in the global marketplace. The Jobs Act builds on the President’s National Exporting Initiative, which is helping to increase U.S. exporting opportunities for small businesses. The Jobs Act provides many of the critical resources needed to help a small business begin exporting or expand an existing export operation.

There are larger loan sizes to support growth and expansion projects. There will be more SBA export specialists to help you with financing. Find out more about SBA loan programs at www.sba.gov/international. Toni Corsini, is an SBA trade finance manager in New York City. In this YouTube video clip, Toni explains how SBA loan programs work. SBA also recently added to its Web site a list of all lenders who make SBA-guaranteed export loans. Check it out at www.sba.gov/international.

Counseling and training services can help you create an export business plan, identify exporting buyers, and make sales. SBA has two resource partners that provide counseling and training.

• Learn more about the Small Business Development Center at their website.
• SCORE – Counselors to America’s Small Businesses provides online international counseling at //www.score.org/.

Perhaps the best way to find out about exporting resources to help small businesses, is to watch Andy Kruse, SBA’s 2009 Small Business Exporter of the Year, and learn how he became a successful exporter:

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