While talking to a prospective customer, the MD of a micro company that is starting to grow, they said ‘Yes, we really want to work with you and think that one day per week won’t be enough – there’s so much to do. BUT we are waiting for this large order to be confirmed.’
All of this was true, but as we continued talking, it became clear that there were several small tasks that I could start to work on, that might only take a few hours a week. This could have an immediate impact and would be easier to build into their budget.
You will have heard the (very) old joke, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. In this article are examples of a few smaller tasks I’ve worked on so far this year, to show how you could share YOUR Workload without breaking the bank.
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SHOW NOTES
The International Business from Finland theme music was devised and created by Dodobones www.dodobones.co.uk
Writing SoMe Posts
For example, while that initial company is small in employees, they have an international business with customers around the world. Their newsletter and social media posts, however, are written mainly in Finnish.
“Well,” I said, “I’ve done quite a lot of writing over the past few years. I could write your SoMe posts and newsletters in English for you. Give me the original Finnish texts and I will transcribe them into natural, native English. I’ll even try to find a way to translate the jokes!”
I actually got the opportunity to put this into practice for another customer, whose products are in strong demand in the UK. They had three Facebook posts about the business and wanted these translated to communicate the heritage and quality of their products. It took a few hours of work, which is good value, I’m not very expensive, but means they present themselves professionally to their UK customers. That said, I really struggled with good translations of isäntä and emäntä – if you have any tips, please email me
Sales Development
The idea for my toiminimi company is to offer myself to Finnish companies for smaller periods of time, for example, half-a-day per week, making it easier to provide the help required by Finnish companies. Four hours a week isn’t too much of a financial commitment but can start to relieve the strain on company owners, who can feel like they’re trying to do the work of three people. They want to concentrate on sales, the lifeblood of any company, but are missing opportunities because 24 hours per day just isn’t enough.
If you can’t take on another full-time employee to share the workload, you can hire me part-time instead. Think about this: if you had a spare pair of hands, what would be the next task you would focus on? I have been working with Finnish companies, for 6 years now, to develop their international business, for example:
- International sales development, managing partner relationships, prospecting for new customers
- Inbound sales, handling incoming leads, making offers
- Customer-focused work at exhibitions/conferences (see the article Maximise your Messut. How to get more when exhibiting at international trade shows.)
- Setting products up on various Online marketplaces, such as Amazon
- International content marketing in native-English; for example this blog, a podcast or social media
Voiceovers & Podcasts
Speaking of this podcast, since 2014, I have been creating podcast series’ and recording native-English voiceovers for Finnish companies and organisations, for example, marketing videos, visitor safety videos, audio tour guides. You can see my showreel on my website:
www.markwiltshear.com/voiceover
Not only do I provide the voice, I will also proofread and edit the text, record the voiceover and edit the audio with markups for each section of text. If you have a project and my voice fits your requirements, I’m available. I CAN travel but I can probably complete the work from my home “studio” so it would also be more cost-effective, COVID-safe AND considerate of the environment.
I’m sure you can think of more tasks that you would be happy to share. Use the button below to let me know. We don’t have to do everything all at once, we can start eating that elephant together, one bite at a time.
Links
- Spotify: International Business from Finland with Mark Wiltshear
- Podbean: International Business from Finland with Mark Wiltshear
- YouTube: Mark Wiltshear TMI
- Website: markwiltshear.com
- Buy Me A Coffee: Wiltshear
- Rate This Podcast: Wiltshear
If you want to contact me for advice, with comments or to see how I can help your business, use the button below to reach out:
International Business Services 