This month we seem to have spread our journalistic wings even further than usual with feature stories from Croatia, Russia, Spain and Australia.  As you read this I will be on my travels again at the OMNI conference in The Seychelles via FIDI in Dubai.  I suspect, therefore, the global coverage will continue.  

I have been criticised for not focussing enough on the ‘home’ market in the UK.  I understand that if you are running a family domestic moving company in the depths of darkest Lincolnshire the troubles and triumphs of those thousands of miles away can seem, well, distant.  But I make no apologies for taking a worldwide approach.  

Firstly, although The Mover is published in the UK, it has always been an international magazine and we have at least as many readers outside the UK than within it.    

Secondly, I believe that the best way to learn about new things is to study what others do and work out how to adapt their methods to your market.  Many of you in the UK will remember the study tours organised through The Movers Institute.  They were very popular and are still discussed now, with extreme fondness, whenever two movers of a certain age get together.  People learned a lot very quickly.  Although the tours are no longer, The Mover, in its own modest way, tries to fill a little of the gap.  So please don’t think that because a story is not about your country, there is nothing to gain from reading it.  I would argue the opposite.  

Finally, I would urge anyone that’s running a domestic moving company anywhere in the world to consider expanding into international.  There are experienced consolidators in many countries that make a living out of helping those who get an occasional overseas enquiry.  And one thing I have noticed, as I go around the world, is that many mainstream international moving companies developed when the owner, probably out of necessity, took the plunge to learn how to handle international work, put himself on a Boeing and set about building a new business from scratch.  It can be done.    

Continuing the educational message, I trust all those who attended the FIDI conference in Dubai found it to be constructive.  I trust also that at least some of you dragged yourselves away from negotiating reciprocation and took a little time to attend the plenary meetings.  I always find them to be interesting and useful.  They were better attended last year than in the past.  I hope the trend continues.