International Business Opportunities on a Dime

The web provides the best of internet business opportunities because the startup costs are very low and you can run your international business from home without ever stepping foot across a border or hiring a local representative. With the widespread availability of affiliate programs for almost every retail product and service sector you do not even have to develop your own product. We knew the internet would change things but even the most optimistic seer could not have predicted how the web would democratize international commerce.

The only real potential gotcha’ are international banking laws that may affect money transfers between countries. You will want to read credit card processor and affiliate agreements very carefully to be sure that you will get paid for your efforts.

Even language is not an insurmountable obstacle. If you want to sell in a foreign country and are not proficient enough yourself to write web copy you can easily and quickly find a freelancer to either translate your work or to create copy from scratch in the desired language. This will increase your start up costs but probably less than you think. Websites like elance.com advertise translation and copyrighting services for as little as $5 a page. I suppose the old maxim that you get what you pay for still applies but there is enough anecdotal evidence from around the web to suggest that most people are happy with the results they get from these freelance sites.

Taxes are beyond the scope of this article but still an area that you must investigate. Here again the web is a valuable resource and you can start your tax research there. Generally you will need to investigate the tax laws in the jurisdiction in which the sale takes place and the jurisdiction in which payment is made. Your home country may have additional requirements if it is not included in the locus of the sale or the payment.