Timing is what made UGGs, Tesla, Google, and a whole host of other companies have huge growth and success. They saw what was coming and took advantage of it.
Physic or Observant?
Did those companies have a crystal ball? Could they see the future? Well, actually, kinda. They would watch their customers closely and from that they were able to spot the trends and movements to be able to position themselves to take advantage of it. We need to watch our customers so that we can spot trends, position our companies, and grow our businesses to piece together financial freedom.
Small Business Owners
As small business owners, it is our job to make sure we keep the doors open and our dreams alive. But that is often a lot harder than it looks, especially if we don’t have a crystal ball. So what can we do? We need to learn how to identify the trends and the next big thing. When we can identify this we can position ourselves to ride the trend and make some money.
Trends and How to Find Them
There are three main indicators of a trend. The first is extreme loyalty and commitment by the early adopters. They love to show off what they bought or made. They tell everyone about it.
The second indicator is that a few more people are starting to pick it up as well. Its starting to snowball.
And the third indicator is that one or two “cool kids” are doing it too! If you spot something like that then it could be a major trend coming and you may want to position yourself to take advantage.
But if you find that snowball and all the cool kids are doing it, chances are it’s too late, but you may still be able to profit from it, just don’t put all of your eggs in that basket. You want a snowball that most people haven't found yet.
Side note here: The cool kids are the people and companies that influence your industry.
Ask yourself
How do you know if something is going to go big? First, take your quilt shop business out of the equation. Then ask yourself what are your customers doing regardless of if you were there or not? What are they making? How are they making it?
Next ask yourself who is making these new things? Are they “cool kids”? Do they show off what they made? Do they make sure everyone knows about it? Are they convincing others to make and buy what they bought to make it?
If there are “cool kids” making new things and getting people to follow them then you have found your trend, the next big thing. Now you can position yourself to take full advantage.
By the way, if you are not already doing this and looking at your industry, the economy, and the new technology coming out, then your business could end up like Kodak or Blockbuster - closed. We don’t want that, so please click on the link below to download my tool for finding the coming trends and while you are at it, click the free webinar pic to register for my next webinar “How to avoid losing customers” which will be on Feb 21.
