Catherine Langman:
Well, hello there. It’s Catherine Langman here, tuning in from the Productpreneur Success Podcast. Today on the show, we are going to have a chat about all things to do with importing and the freight and customs requirements when you are importing or exporting goods, so getting your inventory in or out of the country. And to help with this conversation, I’m going to be joined by a guest, Carolina, from Plane 2 Sea freight forwarding company.

Catherine Langman:
And it was kind of ironic that this morning in one of our coaching groups, I was having a chat with a couple of clients about their product shipments. And one lady sitting there kind of drumming her fingers on her desk, waiting for a truck to arrive hopefully today if possible, with her inventory that she’s desperately waiting to be able to turn around and sell for Christmas. Another one, she knows her summer products are going to be cutting it really fine to get it here in time for summer. They may or may not arrive this side of Christmas.

Catherine Langman:
Really, at the moment, it is quite difficult getting the freight component really dialed in. It is really hard. Thanks. Thanks, COVID. Not. It’s really hard to get stuff in and out of the borders in a timely fashion. But, you know, if you are new to business as well and you’ve never really gone through the importing or exporting process before, there’s also a whole lot of unknowns. I definitely remember my very first experience of handling this part of the process. I’m not going to divulge it up front. I do tell it in this podcast episode and it is completely embarrassing and hilarious. So you are all welcome to laugh at my expense. But, you know, I’ve had loads of different experiences of trying to manage this process.

Catherine Langman:
Bottom line is if you can find a freight forwarder who you can form a really strong relationship with, a working relationship, it’s going to make your business life so much easier. They’re going to help you to manage your supplier or your factory through fulfillment of that production run and getting it out the door, onto the boat or onto a plane, and getting to you in a timely fashion. Managing it through that border, that customs process. It’s a real headache if you try and do that all on your own. So definitely finding a partner to do that with you and help support you through that process is going to be super helpful.

Catherine Langman:
Anyway, we are joined by Carolina on the show today. She’s going to walk us through the entire process. She’s going to share some stories around some not so great experiences and maybe some pitfalls that you would like to avoid. Certainly, if you do accidentally fall into one of these pitfalls, it can cost you an awful lot of money. So hopefully we’ll help you save time and money through this freight and importing experience with Carolina’s help. So without further ado, let’s welcome Carolina to the show.