Just because it’s become a cliche doesn’t mean it’s not true: the Internet has completely changed the very face of business.
Before, you had to be a massive company before you could even start thinking about expanding operations overseas. It wasn’t an arena in which the small business entrepreneur could hope to compete.
These days, small businesses are popping up with a truly global reach right from the get go.
In 2011, Google’s chief economist Hal Varian predicted that these micro-multinationals — tiny companies with global operations — will eventually run the world.
It seems like that prediction has already come to pass.
In the UK, for example, a recent Fedex study found that 40% of micro-multinationals opened offices in new markets within the last five years. Three in 10 also increased overseas employee hiring.
The Micro-Multinational DNA
Being a micro-multinational is hard-coded into WORKetc’s DNA. Our management, sales, support, development, and marketing teams have been spread across four continents right from the start. We made a decision right at the beginning that WORKetc was a “Global First” startup.
For a small team with no big corporate financial backing, that’s a setup that would have been unthinkable just a few short decades ago. But we’ve made it work for us. In just a few short years we’ve grown to over 6,000 people from 29 countries who rely on the WORKetc platform every day to get their jobs done.
And we’re not alone. Many of our customers share the same Global First sentiment. Melbourne-based Eagle Vision Property, for example, has a dedicated team of render artists all around the world working in different time zones.
“We’re now essentially a micro-multinational company operating non-stop,” Eagle Vision founder Stan Zaslavsky told us in an interview. “This is where our real advantage lies. We’re doing things simultaneously, and we’re effectively working on a project 24 hours a day.”
The Age of Combinatorial Innovation
We live in what Varian calls an age of combinatorial innovation. A guy in Texas could come up with an idea for a product, have someone in Finland develop a 3D prototype, get it manufactured in bulk in China, and sell it online through a website developed by someone in India.
Being a micro-multinational goes beyond the established idea of telecommuting. When a company allows telecommuting, there usually still exists a physical office that acts as the company’s central hub. Employees still need to come in a few days a week just to stay in the loop.
In a true micro-multinational, nobody is out of the loop thanks to judicious and smart use of available technology. It’s a bit of a paradox, really. As physically separate as a micro-multinational team is, collaboration, efficiency, and productivity are usually on par with — and sometimes even exceeding — more traditional companies.
Cloud apps like WORKetc business management software let micro-multinationals keep all company data in a central repository. Every team member, whether they’re in Boise, Bangkok, Brisbane, or Brussels are always instantly up to date.
And when you’re a company with people in multiple time zones, replies to customer requests and tickets can be handled that much faster.
Take our very own QuickStart Onboarding Program, for example. Our product specialist Sarah in New York can start to onboard a customer during her workday. That customer’s data is then shared with Justine in Manila, who finishes the data migration by the end of his day.
By the time Sarah and her customer continue the QuickStart program the next day, the latter’s data is already in WORKetc — ready and waiting to be used before the start of the New York workday. The result? A happy, satisfied customer.
And let’s not forget the financial advantages. Having some parts of your operations performed overseas help you reduce costs. A micro-multinational can then allocate these saved funds to the most integral parts of the business.
Hiring Your Micro-Multinational Team
Almost any small business, no matter the industry, can be a micro-multinational. The trick is in finding people who fit the micro-multinational mindset.
We’ve actually tackled this exact topic on the WORKetc blog a few years ago, and what we said back then still applies today. Here’s a summary of what you need to do to find the best fit for your micro-multinational:
- Get creative with the headlines for your job listings. It’s the first thing job seekers see, so make sure it catches their eye. Be fun and use unexpected or surprising words, but don’t forget to explain exactly what the headline (and the job) means in your job description.
- Keep the job description simple. Focus on explaining what tasks and expectations come with the role. You can also try to be personable and maybe tell the backstory behind the role. Skip the bland buzzwords. Job listing sites are already drowning in those.
- Don’t be afraid to include a dollar amount in your job listing. Offer above industry rates to attract more qualified people and hire above the level you’re looking for. For example, if you need an iOS developer, advertise for a senior iOS developer instead. The higher skill level will act as a buffer for timezone and language differences or difficulties.
- Include a simple task along with your job listing. This will help you weed out unqualified applicants.
- Finally, promote the hell out of the benefits that workers would gain by working with your micro-multinational instead of a local big-name company.
Now that we’ve covered what makes a small business a micro-multinational, next we’re going to look at business management hacks that’ll make running one a lot easier — starting with how to manage it using WORKetc.
COMMENTS
We’re not a micro-multinational in the sense that we don’t have staff in other countries. However, we do have international clients, so I would consider us a micro-multinational from that viewpoint. For markets like ours, you don’t always need boots on the ground to keep work flowing overseas.
Dan great awesome story!!
My business is!! My virtual assistant works at the other end of the world. We are building our global online training and coaching company mydreambusinesscoach.com and ALL projects, operations are run in Worketc! I have been using it for 6 years now. And live is bliss.
My Micro Multinational will ultimately grow toa staff of 7 people all over the world. As we use the power of video to share our value with our business clients creating time through timezones really works for us.
When I shoot a video in my office in the Caribbean and go to sleep, my virtual team in the Phillipenes can start the editing process. Somebody else can the start the distribution process on our social media channels and later on somebody else can update our campaigns. Without Worketc we could not have done that.
By the time I wake up, the job is done!!!
Running multiple business models and reacting quickly on support requests is another key benefit.
All requests are centralized no matter which business modl is running. They end up in one support system. All previous email contacts are at your finger tips!
I’m so happy with this system!!!
The only thing I need from you guys is an affiliate link! So I can promote Worketc to every business I serve!
Excited about growing into these ideas. We currently are only working in our own country. Love how the power of the internet already fuels our growth.
I enjoyed this post so much that I presented it to our upper level International Management Class at Boise State last semester. This semester, I am using the post as a case study. WORKetc is a case study of how to operate successfully in an interconnected world.
When I first decided to test WORKetc as a CRM for our business, I did not even realize the company was based in Australia. We only found out when we had to address some tax issues when paying our bill. It is so cool to be able to contact WORKetc in the middle of the night and get tech support from awesome people anywhere in the world.
Thanks for mentioning our case study 🙂 – WorkETC has been an integral part of our long term growth strategy – it just makes multiple projects run seamlessly and management of them is a breeze.
A huge benefit in being a micro-multinational is that we are nimble enough to respond to market demands as required, so we can maintain our growth curve as the market evolves.