Doing Europe
She went, she saw, she came home with entrepreneurial success.
Five years ago, a friend asked Karen Hamilton for a favor, and
that request snowballed into a business. Hamilton and her husband,
Gary, own The Hamilton Group Ltd., a Whitefish, Montana, firm that
sells truck parts to private companies abroad. This past May, she
and Gary went to the Netherlands, France and Germany with a Women
In Trade Business Development Mission. We asked Karen to walk us
through her experience.
Evaluating
Possibilities
"I got literature on the mission and had to determine if [it]
was the best avenue to get new business," says Karen. "I
had to analyze the required money and how long it would take to
make it back."
Karen sent information to the U.S. embassies in the Netherlands
and France to help the commercial officers uncover potential
business partners she could meet. She also detailed what she
expected from the mission, including drumming up new business.
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The trip seemed worth the expense, which Karen now estimates to
have been about $8,000. She suspects it will take 12 to 18 months
to recoup the investment.
Day One
Up at 4 a.m. to catch a flight from Whitefish to The Hague in the
Netherlands for a get-acquainted party the next day.
Day Two
To an 8 a.m. group briefing, which included an overview of the
Netherlands' economy and culture, with a U.S. Embassy
representative.
Then a one-on-one meeting with the senior commercial
attaché followed. "He gave us a study on military
business in the Netherlands," says Karen.
Following the meetings, the group took a VIP streetcar tour from
The Hague to the city of Delft. There they attended a cocktail
party with the mayor of Delft and Dutch entrepreneurial women.
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