As I mentioned in previous articles, Europeans in general like Americans. They like American culture, and they like the entrepreneurship often exhibited by Americans. However, one of the things Europeans often find difficult is how much money seems to influence almost every aspect of American business. Let me explain.

Recently, I was attending Scanpack in Gothenburg, Sweden, and while I was walking the aisles with some good friends, a vendor introduced himself. He is a nice guy and talked about his company, and I talked about INKISH.TV—the usual kinds of trade event conversations we all have, At one point, he told me about a conference they were doing, and he believed it could be an excellent event for INKISH to attend. Since it was an event sponsored by this particular vendor, I told him to give me his business card so I could send him a proposal. Neither my friends nor the vendor were particularly in favor of me offering my services at this stage. That made me think about how we sell, how we market, and how we approach people are very different from culture to culture.

For example, I found it strange that the submission of a product to be evaluated for a major technology award had a price tag. When watching TV in the U.S., you can't find anything other than cable that isn’t supported by advertising. Advertising plays a significant role in the U.S., and almost everything is endorsed, sponsored, or brought to you by.... Coming from Denmark, this to me is noise. A lot of noise.