International Business Idea #5: Import/Export

Almost everywhere I travel, I notice something that I think might have a market someplace else. Garden urns and antique furniture from Ireland, for example…hand-carved wooden santos from Ecuador…uniquely woven baskets from Panama…leather jackets from Argentina…sweaters from Peru…hand-painted tiles from Colombia…wood furniture from Indonesia…silk from Hangzhou…

These are all opportunities for the would-be importer-exporter.

A great deal of research and planning is required to pull this off on anything grander than a suitcase-by-suitcase scale, but buying something cheap in one part of the world and selling it for multiples of that price in another is a real and viable opportunity to make money to fund a life of adventure.