Timeless Globe

Take a good long look at the timeless Chalkboard Globe (pictured).

It is a table top metal globe that has outlines of the continents painted on it, but can be drawn on with chalk. You can add the dividing lines of countries as they change or as you like.

Learn more here.

Business Megastars: The New Global Elite

Around the world, are the super-rich different from you or me?

Excerpt from the author, Chrystia Freeland:

Through my work as a business journalist, I’ve spent the better part of the past decade shadowing the new super-rich: attending the same exclusive conferences in Europe; conducting interviews over cappuccinos on Martha’s Vineyard or in Silicon Valley meeting rooms; observing high-powered dinner parties in Manhattan. Some of what I’ve learned is entirely predictable: the rich are, as F. Scott Fitzgerald famously noted, different from you and me.

According to Freeland, a lot of the distinctions have to do with our light-speed, globally connected economy.

Learn more:

The Rise of the New Global Elite
by Chrystia Freeland
The Atlantic 

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

The Power of Kindness in Our World

"One kind word can warm three winter months."  ~ Japanese Proverb

Photo credit:  Laurel Delaney, Chicago lakefront

Essentials in Setting Up a Business in Singapore

Unless you've been off the Internet, you've probably read somewhere (World Bank ranks Singapore #1 or The World Economic Forum through its "Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011") about how Singapore (pictured) is one of the best and easiest places to establish a business.

Here's a primer on what you need to consider before you set up a business in Singapore.

5 Essential Things You Need to Know About Setting Up a Business in Singapore

Biggest mistake you can make?

Get a permit

After laying out your blueprint and choosing the right product to sell in the market, as well as deciding on your target customers, you are now ready to set up a business in Singapore. If you are a foreigner who is not a permanent resident and wanted to actively run a business in Singapore, you have to apply for an EntrePass from Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM). However, if you don’t want to apply for an EntrePass, you can appoint a person who is Singapore citizen to act on your behalf.

World: Happy 2011 Chinese New Year of the Rabbit

Happy 2011 Chinese New Year of the Rabbit.  May it be prosperous, happy, peaceful and healthy.

Learn more about how the Chinese New Year is celebrated the world over here.

Motivating Tool: The Scratch Map

For all you worldly travelers, you can keep track of where you've been and where you desire to go next with the Scratch Map.

Use a coin, scratch off the layer of gold foil covering each country or area you've traveled to, unearthing punchy colors and local details underneath.  For less than U.S. 25 bucks, you are in luck.

Scratch map pictured.

Effortless Cross-Cultural Communications

A powerful online resource that will give you what you need for precise, effortless communication regardless of cultural differences.

Subscribers will have instant access to key business etiquette information on more than 60 nations, in addition to country background, business protocol and key phrases in local languages.

Don't wait another second to learn international business etiquette:

McGraw-Hill's Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands Online

Illustration credit here.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog