It's the season for 2009 predictions! I couldn't resist throwing mine into the fray. While I have plenty of ideas about what 2009 will bring in a general sense, the predictions in this post will focus on the year from the perspective of small and independent business owners. I strongly believe that 2009 is our year! Or, I should say that it could be our year. Whether or not a particular business will actually make the most of 2009 is up to each individual business leader.
Recognizing the trends is an important part of making the most of any year, and I think that my Top 10 Small Business Predictions are the ones to watch, plan for and act on for success in 2009.
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Social media will explode. Again. This one is easy. If you are a small and independent business owner, and have not begun to incorporate social media into your marketing program, your business will begin (or continue to) die a slow but certain death in 2009. If you're new to social media, and terrified of it, start with your own blog and a Twitter account to get your feet wet. Don't wait to get started. It will spell disaster if you do. This trend will naturally result in the next one.
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Social networks will begin to replace traditional email. As Indies incorporate their favorite online social spots into their lives and businesses, they will find more ways to make it efficient to hang out there. This means that traditional email communications tools that are cumbersome or take too long to use will be phased out of their lives. Over the past few months, how many times have you said, “DM me” instead of “Email me?” I rest my case.
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There will be more bankruptcies and layoffs. This is not news really so I guess it's an easy prediction. I hate to say it, but it's true. But the good news is that, with smart use of the Internet and the new technologies it will spawn, you won't have to worry much. If you're Indie, your job is safe because you are your job. What could be better than that?
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People will voluntarily use less credit. And doggone it, it's about time we started being happy with our 19-inch television set, and stop buying the latest wall mounted flat screen with someone else's money. Some people will voluntarily surrender their credit cards while others will be forced to do so. But in the long run, by the end of 2009, everyone will voluntarily use less credit, even when it's available to them. Some may not like this prediction, but I've been advocating it for well over a year — when it wasn't such a popular topic. Some will say that use of less credit will further weaken global financial markets. I don';t know much about that, but if a weak global economy is the price I have to pay to strengthen my own personal economy, I'm pretty much OK with that.
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Girl-owned businesses will make money online faster than boy-owned businesses. Sorry guys, I think it's true. With the continued explosion of social media outlets and our natural ability to take advantage of it as a relationship building tool, more similarly situated woman-owned businesses will become profitable faster than most similarly situated man-owned ones. And because while we're socializing together, we have a tendency to buy from each other, well, we're gonna be passing around our girl dollars to each other a lot more often next year This leads directly to my next prediction.
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More married couples will start businesses. As hubs sees wife's checking account balance blossom, he'll want to get in on the action. More couples will start figuring out ways to combine their talents, gifts, educational backgrounds and career experiences to make money online and at home. I've been doing it for years and it's a great thing, especially since I have young children. I predict lots more of you will do this in 2009. Welcome!
(I predict that the trend toward the new family business will lead to more couples choosing to stay together rather than separate or divorce when they encounter the proverbial “irreconcilable differences”Ask me how I know.)
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Small business will play a larger role in the regulatory environment. Indies will have to watch President-Elect Obama and his friends like hawks because they will be clamoring to pass new laws and implement new regulations to curb the selfish and out-of-control behavior of the mega-companies that don't fall prey to Prediction #3. Economic turmoil, corporate malfeasance and regulatory failures will lead to a more proactive government, which will not know how to regulate industries that are composed of both huge companies and tiny little ones online. Read this post to see how this is already happening, and get ready to learn how to converse with your elected leaders to make sure that your business is not regulated out of existence.
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Online real estate will become the new trademark registration. As more people launch and expand online businesses, they'll reserve and use more and more domain names. Since formal trademark registration will be out of their price range, at least for the first few years, savvy Indies will begin to use online portals to use their brand names so frequently, ubiquitously and consistently that no one else will want to use them anyway — trademark registration or not. It won't make sense to do so because the smart Indie has pretty much locked them up in cyberspace.
This trend will not make trademark registrations less important, nor will it put trademark attorneys out of business. But the projects for trademark attorneys who serve Indies will change significantly as more clients, particularly start-ups, seek advice on choosing and using domain names offensively than seek advice on actual registration of their marks. This trend will continue to be especially important as more Indies seek to expand their businesses globally. (This is another trend, but I'm stopping at #10.) In such cases, it will be more effective and cost effective to simply lock up foreign domain names than it will to file trademark applications around the world.
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More mobile web applications will come to Main Street. As more people rely on the Internet to enjoy life and business simultaneously, mobile devices will become less expensive and more prolific. This means that we'll be getting more business done faster using PDAs than ever before. It also means that we'll be getting more of our daily dose of national and global news via PDAs connected to the Internet rather than from traditional newspapers and radio and television broadcasts. (This is another trend, but once again, I have to stop somewhere!)
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“Collabetition” will abound. More people will begin to successfully collaborate in profitable ventures with people that just last year were considered “the competition.” I call this “collabetition,” and if you're Indie, it's going to be one of the keys to your success. As more Indies figure out unique and fun ways to collaborate for success, collabetiton will become an integral point of leverage. Remember when the Big Three automakers went to Congress on separate corporate jets with their hats in their hands? They were sent home empty handed. When they returned a few weeks later, they did so together, even agreeing beforehand to work for a dollar a year if they got what they asked for. They got their money. Collabetition at its best.
Best wishes for a fruitful 2009!
Question: What do you think of these predictions? Do you have any of your own to share?
