It’s been a while since I wrote anything for this series. We have been busy meeting with several people to optimize our finances and we will also be moving our offices to a new location next month but in doing so I think we are doing our best to take advantage of the trends in our business and the trends in our communities from the local area to the world.

One thing we often struggle with and sometimes fight against the older we get is following trends. As someone who is fascinated and passionate about technology and the things it can do I also find myself fighting against certain aspects of it from time to time. You may find this kind of funny but as “tuned in” to the latest in tech I can also be extremely sentimental about some of the strangest things. I don’t miss the AOL service at all but when I first got online in the mid 90’s I kind of enjoyed and sort of miss the start up animation of a lighting bolt and key as you logged into the service and the welcome greeting. I miss the old Netscape 3 web browser with the captain’s wheel splash screen and animated “N” in the star field. Yes, very old technologies and the reasons for the animations and splash screen are no longer needed. Sometimes it can be very hard to break away from things even when they don’t make sense.

Ironically trends that are on the upswing don’t have a majority of the market share now but watch out they may very well in the not too distant future and that is where you should be looking in your business. The young can often see the trends easier in the world because they are plugged into a community that is more open to new things and doesn’t worry as much about not looking “professional.”

What social networks are you plugging into to see the trends in the world? Are you risking looking less professional so you can experiment with new technologies, forms of dress, furniture, etc? Before you turn your nose up at something new or strange read up on it, check it out. It may very well be your future business.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 11:28 am and is filed under Innovation, Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.