Second of three parts.

For the purpose of this article, trading companies are divided into two types- international and domestic trading firms.

In international trading, one attains mastery of the complexities of global commerce. Entrepreneurial lessons start when traders are assigned to a set of products or industry/ies and tasked to handle the company's existing businesses or create new ones. In this set up, one realizes that business can actually be made possible even if a company does not have an initial product to sell. For instance, one may link with a company in the UK that represents a steel facility in Russia. The steel products may then be offered to an end user in Thailand- through another trader in Korea. This type of transactions (commonly known as Triangle trade), teaches a trader to cover every party through watertight agency agreements.

It may look trivial but a trader's expertise in handling Letters of Credits (LC's), fast and inexpensive ways of remittances and related solutions go a long way. For example, only a few know that money transfers from Seoul reaches the account of Manila based suppliers faster if wired through a certain correspondence bank in New York. If Korean clients will try to send money directly to Philippine banks, there will usually be a few days delay before the transaction gets reflected in the suppliers' account. In telegraphic transfers, one learns that the shortest distance between two points may not always be a straight line.

Supplier-bank-client negotiations are also perfected during times of disagreements. For instance, the terms of payment may specifically prohibit partial deliveries. However, clients might suddenly have the need to ask for urgent partial shipments. The problem is, banks will not release any money to a supplier if there is an inconsistency in the performance of the contract. Naturally, suppliers will refuse to ship out. A remedy will be for the buyers to apply for bank amendments but the process may be costly and time consuming. In this instance, a seasoned trader should be able to offer solutions. All the things mentioned, are simply some of the entrepreneurial lessons that are learned in international trading.

International trading may be complicated and overwhelming. But when mastered, one cannot help but feel confident of being on top of any possible future scenario.