319 10 Brexit Mistakes We Can Avoid as Entrepreneurs - a podcast by Michael Veazey

Today I want to talk about Brexit. It’s not a very positive topic, but I believe there are intelligent business lessons we can take away from it, specifically in regards to e-commerce. In this episode, we will be focusing on mistakes we can learn from Brexit for online business owners.





Mistake #1 - Taking a massive risk for small gain (Cameron and the Conservative party)

This is something I picked up from Tony Robbins when he said that many of the great investors he knows share similar principles, one of which is asymmetric risk-reward.



* You want to make sure you risk a moderate amount for a potentially massive gain. In that way, the downside is limited.



How this relates to Brexit:



* Cameron’s upside to having a referendum was to close down the debate in his own party, which only affected a few 10s of thousands of people, at most.

* His downside was to risk plunging his whole nation into division and uncertainty, which ended up happening.

* Ironically as a downside, he also risked tearing his own party apart with in-fighting!



The lesson we should learn:



* Having a small upside and a massive downside is dangerous

* There are some business and product choices that could have massive downsides, and you must avoid these.



Mistake #2 - Asking a simple question about a very complex issue

Tony Robbins says the quality of our questions affects the quality of our lives and this is a classic example on a huge scale.



The question asked in the referendum was very simplistic. Brexit lumped together multiple complex issues, such as immigration. I would have liked to have seen an informed debate around the topic and various policy areas.



Many political and economic or business problems are full of complex issues.



“I’ve got an Amazon business that has been struggling, should I shut it down or keep going?”



* This is a very simplistic question, implying you only have 2 options. When in reality, you probably have multiple options.



Mistake #3 - Failure to appreciate how global the modern economy is

I think that failure was partly on the people who may have voted for Brexit, not realizing the consequences and implications of what it meant.



This is very relevant for e-commerce sellers.



* Supply chains are international



* Even if you source in the UK, the likelihood is high that your suppliers source from across Europe, if not from across the globe.







All countries depend on each other these days more than ever.

Mistake #4 - Failure to account for the impact on Currency exchange WITH OR WITHOUT ACTUAL BREXIT

I was directly affected by this the day before the Brexit vote happened. I was about to place an order in China, and I was looking at a 15% loss in the profit margin. So I canceled the order.



If you’re British, and you’re buying products in China, you’re mostly exchanging pounds for dollars most of the time:



* If you’re British, the simple solution is to sell at least to some degree into America

* You can then stay in the dollar economy: Change GBP into USD to source from China in USD then sell in USD and buy in USD.



For sellers outside Europe eg based in America, Canada, Australia, South Africa, etc. :



* Avoid starting to sell in the UK for now

* If do already sell there, consider widening the scope to sell into Germany. You’ll need to deal with language issues but it’s not as big a deal as you probably think.



GBP to EUR - selling in Europe If you’re already selling in the UK, whether you’re based in the UK or outside, I’d urge you to sell into Europe.



* If in doubt, sell into Germany,

Further episodes of Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners, and other e-commerce sellers and digital entrepreneurs.

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