From Hands-On to Visionary with Graham Robins

The e-commerce revolution has transformed how products move across borders, creating new opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes. Our guest today is an expert guide through this complex terrain. Graham Robins is the Executive Chairman of A&A Customs Brokers. He’s also the Founder and Executive Chairman of BorderBuddy, which is digitizing the customs clearance process into the USA and Canada for carriers, digital platforms, importers/exporters and customs brokers. Graham is active in the Young Presidents Organization, and in fact, he just finished a chairmanship role of the British Columbia chapter.  He is also the host of the Graham Robins podcast. But most importantly, he’s a former client of mine, and we’re going to go behind the scenes on some of the initiatives we implemented on BorderBuddy.com. To kick off the episode, Graham shares his origin story, how he was born into the customs brokerage world with his parents starting A&A in 1979. He joined full-time after high school in 1991, learning the ropes during summers and weekends prior. A&A serves large companies shipping high volumes internationally. But 15 years ago, as e-commerce took off, Graham saw small businesses and individuals needing support, too. So, he launched BorderBuddy to provide tailored services for this market. We’ll hear Graham’s business advice from building two brands with his family spanning four decades, including tactical insights for e-commerce retailers, manufacturers, and service providers on expanding globally. And that, of course, will include how I and my team optimized the BorderBuddy website for better SEO and conversion. So, without any further ado, on with the show!