Gutsy Global Entrepreneur

A friend and colleague of mine, Rebecca Herwick (who I have invited to contribute to this blog), runs Global Products, Inc., a woman-owned full-service, worldwide promotional marketing company. GPI provides more than 750 Harley-Davidson domestic dealers and 450 international dealers with products to sell to the public.

Rebecca is a dynamic and gutsy global entrepreneur marching to her own drum.  And she meets challenges head-on. Here’s what she faced when growing her business global:

As the company entered the international marketplace, the challenge was to implement and fine-tune the staffing, reporting methods and the IT infrastructure needed for international distribution. Going global meant overcoming such obstacles as language barriers with misunderstandings in communications, different office hours, limited supervision at the international locations, currency exchange and lack of historical data for setting inventory goals.

“To solve these global challenges, we learned to create in our minds ahead of time the perfect storm with the steps to prevent it. Never over-promise or under-deliver is our motto. We have learned to do our homework, move slowly and not expect immediate return on our investments,” explains Herwick.

Hopefully we will hear more from Rebecca via this blog on just how she built her company from scratch to more than a U.S. $15 million global empire. In the interim, read a short piece on her here.