Periodically, the business channel here at b5 has a challenge, and this one is about taking risks. Since it’s world trade month, I thought mine should have something to do with, not surprisingly, trade.

The risk I took was to start a law firm with the aim of assisting foreign (mostly German) companies set up in the US, more specifically in the Philadelphia area. Before, during, and after law school I was told that you couldn’t be an international lawyer in Philadelphia, that you had to go to New York or Washington. A combination of stubbornness and home-town pride (Go Flyers, sigh) made me think otherwise.

Then a funny thing happened – I kept bumping into lawyers who would never have called themselves “international,” but who had transactions all over the world. There was, in fact, a steady stream of trade between Philadelphia and the world, and fortunately for us we’ve been able to capture some of the legal business related to that trade. The same is true about cities and towns across the US (and the world). After all, who’d have thought that Walldorf, Germany or Redmond, Washington, USA would spawn two of the most international companies in history (to say nothing of an expensive hotel)?

The moral of the story is that trade is everywhere, and that you can probably be successful at it if you’ve got a good product and some patience.

image courtesy of Wikipedia, public domain

Post from: EveryJoe

Taking risks