Girlfriend Women Entrepreneurial

Increase Sales and Income through Exporting


Women entrepreneurs who sell their goods or services outside the U.S. say it's well worth the extra effort and expense.

By: Doresa Banning
12/02/2009

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In March 2009, business owner Laura Owen fulfilled her first international order, shipping more than $500,000 worth of mobile, digital video equipment to Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, her Kansas-based company, ICOP Digital Inc., expanded sales to Mexico. Currently, foreign exports comprise 10 percent of her business. She expects that number to rise dramatically next year because she's going after business in additional Middle Eastern and South American countries.



"I think that, potentially, international could outweigh our domestic sales, both short-term and long-term," she says.



Like Owen, women entrepreneurs can and should capitalize on exporting their goods or services. Restricting your business to the domestic market limits potential sales, as 95 percent of the world's consumers reside outside the U.S., according to U.S. Department of Commerce data.