5 Ways to Grow Globally by Thinking Locally

To build globally, you need to think locally.

You can live anywhere and work everywhere thanks to the technology that connects us to information, resources, collaborators and customers around the globe. Despite this global reach, small town business sense is what works in the digital age.

In this post, learn the 5 steps you can take to build a global business using local business lessons.

This post was originally shared with Digital Homesteader newsletter subscribers. You can join them and receive our free Digital Foundations email series.

Building The Community You Want

Growing up in rural South Dakota, it was common to discuss what we would do when we left. Looking at universities, I traveled around the country, planning my escape.

After leaving for a decade, I returned  to realize a simple and powerful fact: the community I wanted could be built right where I started.

The best part: it’s happening!

Misfit Conf, Fargo, 2013

In Omaha friends at Silicon Prairie News are attracting world-class speakers like Ev Williams of Twitter and helping to shine a spotlight on local successes like Flywheel.

In Fargo, Greg Tehven plotted with A.J. Leon to host the best conference I’ve ever attended while launching community-building events and making Fargo a must-stop place for Misfits around the world.

In Des Moines, folks like Andy Stoll traveled the world and returned to the Midwest to share lessons on how to build an active entrepreneurial community.

Starting Local

These visionaries continue to succeed not because they have more money, the best venues or even the greatest ideas. Instead, they build global events and businesses by acting local.

They actually become friends of the speakers, attendees and companies they work with and promote.

They share ideas with attendees even when they’re not trying to sell something.

Most importantly, they genuinely want to build a community first and their personal businesses second.

5 Steps to Build Globally By Thinking Locally

We can learn from the lessons of these visionaries and distill them into 5 simple steps:

1. Start with an introduction

If you own a local clothing store, you don’t hold up a shirt when someone walks in and ask if they want to buy it. You ask how their day is, mention that you saw their son or daughter in the local basketball game and then ask how you can help.

Online you want to think like a local business and start with an introduction. Ask how you can help before you ask what you can sell.

2. Share your belief

We frequent merchants we enjoy seeing. Every day we might go to the same coffee shop because we like the barista (that’s how I met my wife!). We might buy our clothes from the local outdoor store because they sell only environmentally-friendly products with a lifetime warranty.

Whatever the reason, we make decisions not necessarily on price, but on who we want to do business with. As Simon Sinek notes, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy what you believe.”

In a digital world sharing your belief is essential. Your customers can find any product from anywhere in the world and receive it almost instantly to their door. In this crowded landscape you need to share what you believe.

Standing out and standing up for something may alienate some, but it attracts other passionate friends, collaborators and customers. Wave your flag online so you become the local coffee shop for your customers.

3. Teach your audience

When a friend first asked me to go cross country skiing, I said no. I had no idea how and didn’t want to look stupid. He persisted and took me to the local bike and outdoor shop.

There the business owner took over 30 minutes to show me the different types of skis and how to know if they truly fit. Then he offered to help me learn how to ski. All of this without selling me anything.

Of course, I eventually learned to ski and when it was time to buy my own (and tell others where to shop), there was only one option in my mind.

If we can teach others how to do what we do and more importantly why they should do it, we then become their source of education, inspiration and products. Inevitably they’ll come back to us to learn more and potentially buy more.

Whether you’re working locally or online, teach your audience first so they appreciate what you do and understand why you’re the best option. Then you’ll have no problem making the sale.

4. Provide no-brainer decisions

Even if you start with an introduction, share what you believe and teach your audience, there is always the risk of last-minute red flags. Maybe a product is too expensive, too long of a commitment or your audience just isn’t sure they need it.

Take a page from local businesses and provide no-brainer decisions. In your local stores, it’s easy to take something home, and if you don’t like it, just go back to the store and return it.

Online however the hassle of shipping products back and forth and the fact that you can’t touch or see what you’re buying in-person make it harder to actually purchase.

Make it easy for your audience by taking away every possible red flag. Offer a money-back guarantee if they’re not satisfied. Offer free shipping if they want a different size or style. Provide free support or other bonuses to help them get started.

Most of your audience will never take advantage of these offers but it allays the fears that all of your audience share.

5. Stay connected

In local communities you have the advantage of seeing your customers at the grocery store, at the local basketball game or on Main Street. They are reminded of you and your business.

Online you want to stay similarly connected with your customers to ensure they continue coming back. Make it easy to stay connected by encouraging them to subscribe to an email list, follow your business on social media or download your book/guide.

Send them messages on a regular basis and keep them up-to-date with your business. Most importantly, continue to share your belief and educate your audience so they don’t feel like you are walking down Main Street with a sandwich board on your body. Instead you are just like local business owners. You’re present and helpful, but not pushy. You’ll be there when they’re ready to purchase again.

Start Local, Go Global

If you can think like a local business, you will stand out online. Most people are not willing to put the extra time and effort into building a community in addition to a business.

As Digital Homesteaders that’s what we’re called to do.

Build a community of like-minded, passionate homesteaders as if you were building your local community.

This community will support your business and provide ideas and inspiration to help you continue to push the frontiers of what you thought was possible.