The Tribune

By D'ARCY RAHMING

I
 just came back from a book signing and seminar in Boston. As they read off my accolades in introducing me, they talked about me being in the field for 33 years. People in the audience were from the US, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. They had bought books and videos from me, either online or direct, over the past 20 years. And here they were buying another book. They called me a legend. I thought to myself: “I’ve built an international audience right from Nassau.”

Have you ever felt your ideas were simply too big for the Bahamas? That if only you lived in the US or the UK, or a place where the market was larger, you would be much more successful? Have you ever wondered what it would take to access these markets with your expertise or your product? I am sure many people have. As people who live in the Bahamas get more savvy with online marketing, you see more people crossing that barrier and beginning to develop an international following.

This is happening across all industries. People who are seeking another income source are getting it from recipes, ‘how to’ books, sermons, cultural expertise, fiction, poetry, art, coaching, videos, photography, counselling, music and even performing arts.

However, most people will never add the value that they can to people’s lives outside of a very few, because they simply do not know how to get the information about their product out or they cannot get organised.

So I teamed up with a couple of experts to put together a seminar just for the local market on how to collect a pay cheque from international customers while living in the Bahamas. The first expert in the seminar on Saturday, October 11, will deal with the aspect of getting organised. Who better to explain that than a trained newspaper editor? Because newspaper editors have to put out a new product every single day, with new content. They have to organise a lot of information and make it make sense by a daily deadline. All of them have a system for doing this.

The second expert in the seminar will deal with how to let your customers know about your product or service, so they can receive all of its benefits. Sometimes this involves transforming your product into information. Some products will be delivered digitally, and others will be physical. Some will be a service. That’s where my expertise comes in.

The third expert in the seminar will deal with how you get 
paid. How do you get a Paypal account in the Bahamas so a foreign customer can easily order your goods and services? What’s the best type of company to set up? They will tackle a host of issue related to doing business here and collecting a pay cheque from abroad.

Everything in the seminar has been done before so, as with this column, I write or teach from things that I have actually tried myself to help you, my readers, avoid some of the pitfalls that prevent you from providing great value to your customers.

Drop me a line at darcyrahmingsr@gmail.com if you would like to receive some more information on this seminar.

• NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, the retail, health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. He is also treasurer of the Bahamas Olympic Committee. To contact him he can be reached at DArcyRahmingsr@gmail.com.