I love to see images from the 50’s and 60’s about what they thought the future might look like. Often these images were from magazines like Popular Science or comic books. Often they would say something like “The car of 2000 will drive itself!” and it might show a big car with tail fins zooming through the sky while a very traditional stereotype of a 1950’s family (mom in an apron, dad smoking a pipe and wearing a fedora) sat inside.
Of course things are not like that at all, although Lexus is heavily advertising a car that can parallel park itself.
So what will your business look like in your future? Let’s not peer into the far future but into the near future- 2007. Are you ready for it? What does 2007 hold? Here are some of my thoughts
• We’ll continue to see a surge in online video, in particular the opportunity by Google to use its newly acquired YouTube to combine video and advertising.
• Entertainment is going to be big as PlayStation 3 and the oddly named Wii have both been released and are fiercely battling for market share.
• The economy has been threatening to slump for a while but I think it will continue to stay strong for at least the first 2 quarters (and hopefully longer).
• Housing is an issue because foreclosures are on the rise so the once strong housing market will slump.
In many sectors, in spite of forecasts, I think it will be business as usual. Are you ready for it? What can you do?
My advice? Start planning! Get out your business plan and look at it to make sure you are on track. Update it if necessary. Also
• Start searching for two or three new markets or new products to introduce.
• Make sure you have a contingency plan in place in case the market does suddenly slump. Will you be ready if that happens?
• Plan to increase and diversify your marketing efforts and brainstorm ways that you might be able to create a potentially viral video marketing plan to help grow your business.
• If you don’t have any employees yet, think about whether or not this is the year that you think about getting one. Even if you don’t hire this year, it’s a good idea to look at the things you’ll need to have in place before you put out that help wanted sign… and you’ll want to uncover exactly what needs you want to staff to solve.
I know that 2007 is going to be a great year of business for me. I wish you the very best in your business through this coming year.