Starting a Foreign Business Series – Part 1
Hello fellow entrepreneurs!
After taking some much needed holidays, this week I’ll be starting a new series to share some of my experiences as a Canadian running a business in Europe. I’ll have some interesting stories to share that you might find useful. Even if you have no plans to start a business in another country, you might at the very least find some of my experiences highly amusing.
A number of years ago I was working with a business partner to bring a new technology to market, and having a heck of a time making progress. In 2016 we had the opportunity to partner with a university in Europe that had been working on a product that would benefit from the technology I designed. After agreeing to work together, I volunteered to move there, along with my family, to get the business off the ground. This was a huge leap of faith, and a very large project to undertake!
I was highly optimistic, but had NO idea of the challenges (and the shockingly amusing events) that lay ahead. Over the next few weeks I will break down some of the highs and lows of starting a business in another country, based on my own experiences. Some of the topics I’ll cover are:
- Moving your household to another country.
- Visa & immigration issues.
- Finding professional services.
- Finding office or manufacturing space.
- Hiring staff.
- Preventing staff from quitting due to coffee concerns.
- Office supply issues.
- Mobster concerns. Sopranos anybody?
- Safety inspectors. Oh my.
- Productivity concerns.
- “Professional” equipment “requirements”.
- Cultural concerns.
- Etc…
Hold onto your hats, this will be an interesting ride.
Please don’t forget to visit my website and subscribe to get my weekly blog in your inbox.
Until next time,
Ernst Bergen
B.Sc. Mech. Eng.