What do you think the most important trend affecting small business will be?, Planning and Strategy Article

Running a One Person Business and Starting a Business mentors Paul & Sarah Edwards respond to the following questions:

What do you think the most important trend affecting small business will be? How best can owners position their companies to take advantage of it?

Paul & Sarah Edwards' response:
Trends are ever more rapidly coming into existence, and disappearing and sometimes colliding with one another. It took over 80 years for three-quarters of the population to have telephones; it's taking eight years for three-quarters of Americans to have access to the Internet.

Small businesspeople need to regard change as an ongoing process, not something that happens from time to time. Therefore, adapting to continual change must be mastered like a skill. How to do this:

First, develop the sixth sense to notice the early warning signs of change by keeping in contact with your customers, with people in your own and other industries, reading, attending meetings and conferences, participating in online message boards and seminars.
Second, anticipate change by not investing too much in organizational structure and instead organizing your work into projects.
Third, be prepared to team up with others outside your company in project-oriented strategic alliances, focusing your contribution on what you do best.
Fourth, be prepared to get bigger or smaller quickly.

Related Resources:
Six Ways to Position Your Company for Success