We don't need help.

We manufacture blenders for both the commercial and the household markets. We first started seriously exporting beyond Canada in about 1995. We used a letter of credit with our first major order from Japan. Unfortunately, the individual in our local bank who was handling the paperwork died, and the letter of credit was not found until after the letter had expired. Luckily, our customer in Japan was honest. We still give them credit today, making letters of credit unnecessary.

From this experience, we learned to choose our dealers very carefully. We have subsequently given credit to all of our carefully chosen dealers with no major issues. We avoided currency problems by selling in U.S. dollars.

But we are constantly challenged by countries adding new standards agencies and keeping up with changing requirements. We spend a small fortune on international patents, trying to slow down the companies in the Pacific that are making copies of our products. Fortunately, they do not perform or hold up like our products, so we are still able to compete in countries like Taiwan and South Korea without any legal protection.

We are in the process of starting a direct sales program in Europe for our household products, so we now have to deal directly with foreign currency, credit cards, etc. Again, the banks and regulations do not make this at all easy. The complexities which have resulted from this international marketing/exporting have been very great. However, the rewards, including profits, also have been great.

We have not asked for much from the government agencies and do not expect much. We have learned how to do what we need to do and keep moving.

John K. Barnard 

CEO, Vita-Mix

Cleveland