Head to a show first

Trade shows can help you get contacts, find potential customers and partner and understand the lay of the before investing.

I recommend: Export-Import Bank Bancomext maintains a calender of trade shows at its Web site.

Crunch the numbers

Hiring and firing, credit availability, taxes — all of these factors will affect your costs going in and could make or break the investment.

I recommend: The best  and most complete analysis of the Mexican economy is at the World Bank. Bancomext publishes a detailed guide (PDF file) for foreign investors, as well as a step-by-step, "setting up a business" checklist. It also runs a fascinating "simulator" that allows users to forecast actual business costs in major business cities.

Work the crowd

It helps to have a sense of who among your potential competitors is active in the country, and where your partners and possible customers might be.

I recommend: The American Chamber in Mexico maintains an open list of its 2,100 (mostly Mexican) members. Business News Americas maintains a pay database directory of companies in Latin America searchable by geography and sector.

Make friends on the ground

Often the best guide to doing business in a foreign land are colleagues who have been their first. Here, the U.S. government spends a lot of money to make things easier.

I recommend: The U.S. government also runs commercial offices worldwide with staffers assigned to dozens of sectors to help you get started.

Sell to government

Mexico, like many Latin American governments, moved its federal and state purchasing systems online, to cut costs and stem corruption problems.

I recommend: Mexico's award-winning Compranet is the government's central purchasing system.

Understanding the law

You will almost certainly need a trade lawyer before making a large investment in a foreign country, better one with local offices in-country.

I recommend: Get started on the basics of investing Mexico through this English-language legal guide published by Bancomext.

Brush up on free trade

Nafta, the free trade deal that really started the ball rolling for U.S.-Mexico cross-border business, is as complex and bureacratic as you can imagine. Yet it's important to understand.

I recommend: The closest thing to an official, yet simple, explanation of the rules and regulations that might affect your plan is at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection site.