The advent of the Internet has revolutionized the way in which businesses both large and small operate and has opened up a host of opportunities for the solo entrepreneur. The world remains as wide as ever when it comes to physically shipping goods, but contacts and customers around the globe are now never more than a mouse-click away.

That’s the theory anyway. The Internet is undoubtedly a wonderful tool for making sales and exporting abroad, but in practice it takes more than merely setting up your own little corner of cyberspace and waiting for the worldwide orders to start rolling in.