What You Need to Do to Become a Freight Forwarder
This profession is responsible for global commerce and the propagation of global free trade.
Without freight forwarders a Japanese Sushi chef from San Francisco will never get the tuna from the cold waters of Canada which he needs to create his amazing sashimi and sushi dishes.
The case may be the same for an Indian call center agent in need of a computer that is manufactured somewhere in China.
Freight forwarding has made the globalization of commerce and the world possible.
Without it, who knows where we would be today.
We might still be ruled by feudal lords.
We might not even have half of the countries and economies we have today.
A freight forwarder is an individual or a company that provides for their clients logistic needs.
Often this involves the shipment of goods, both for personal use and for business.
The shipment can vary from local domestic shipments and wider international shipping.
Some of the more prominent freight forwarding companies includes the United Parcel Service, DHL and FedEx.
Among the biggest users of commercial freight forwarding are small to medium sized companies with employees numbering five hundred or less and there are hundreds of them that need shipping services.
An enterprising person would be wise to jump into the situation and provide freight forwarding services to these companies in dire need of them.
To become a freight forwarder, one needs to start small by taking a limited number of clients.
You can get clients by contacting the local chamber of commerce.
It should be easy to convince them because of the fact that an additional shipment company can only make the prices better for the company.
Even with all the clients in the world, you would not be successful at this without having the ability to move the goods from one point to another.
Contact local ship owners as well as trucking companies.
These companies would like to use their ships to their full capacity.
Often they would have trouble selling smaller ship space and would gladly offer discounts.
You in turn can sell this shipping space for a profit.
If a person wants to be successful at this business, one needs to be updated on the many events that occur in the shipping world.
You need to study the world market so that you can identify trends.
These trends can help you narrow down your market so that you can concentrate on a niche.
This way you can make the most of your resources.
Finally, becoming a forwarder involves a lot of tax computations as well as rules and regulations to be aware of.
As such, one needs to hire a lawyer or a customs expert.
They should be able to tell you what taxes you need to pay and what paperwork you need to fill out.
This way, both you and your client would be happy with the shipping of those goods because it gets where it needs to be and you get paid in the process.