The Future of Small Business

I've just returned from a very eventful trip to Scaling New Heights 2011 in Las Vegas. And, I don't mean that in a good way! I realized that I'm a "travel newbie".

Traveling woes…I was traveling to a time zone with a 3 hour difference from my home. That may have been OK, if my flights were on time. Instead, my flights were cancelled once, delayed twice, I missed a connection, and I finally arrived to the conference almost a full day and a half later than I intended to. I let my conference experience be totally hampered because I got off on the "wrong start".

But, I did learn about what I'm going to do next time, just in case:

1. I'll have a contingency plan. For instance, what if I can't make it to the classes I was supposed to attend on the first day? And, is there a time to reschedule any networking or "hanging out with friends" that had to be cancelled because of a late flight? I'll know to expect that these things can AND DO happen.

2. Revise packing down if missing a whole night and day! I really didn't need to take as many snacks, reading and work along that I had planned to do on the initial day and a half.

New business opportunitiesOn a good note, I got to meet some online peeps, reconnected with a few friends, and came upon some great new opportunities. The training part of the conference was fabulous! Here are a few things I learned will impact our businesses during the next decade:

1. Specialization is key to growth for small businesses. In other words, when offering services and products, offer them to a specific industry or segment of the market.

2. There will be new business opportunities due to the large population of aging baby boomers starting new businesses. They'll need help in areas of accounting, web services, business coaching, marketing, etc.

3. Business has to be able to interact with "Gen Y" (those who are in their 20′s and early 30′s right now) business owners who are tech-savvy. They expect digital interaction…texting, online, and self-serve customer support are important to them.

4. Online marketing and social networking will become a key source of new clients. Social media will be used more and more to develop brands.

I'm really excited about the future of my business due to one of these trends. What will you do in your business to take advantage of the new opportunities that will come about in the next decade as mentioned above?

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