by theEmother | Jun 9, 2010 | entrepreneur trends (past & present!), so you think you're in business
The latest and greatest from trendwatching.com; well worth reading…
Long gone are the days when ‘online’ was synonymous with social isolation and loneliness. In fact, we’re now witnessing the exact opposite: technology is driving people to connect and meet up en masse with others, in the ‘real world’. It makes for an interesting, easily-digested trend, begging to be turned into new services for your customers… continue
If there are new services to be provided, that has to lend itself to new business options as well surely? As you read through this article, think about what your business is doing now, and what it might be doing in the future…
Source: www.trendwatching.com. One of the world’s leading trend firms, trendwatching.com sends out its free, monthly Trend Briefings to more than 160,000 subscribers worldwide.
by theEmother | Mar 18, 2010 | entrepreneur trends (past & present!), entrepreneurial mothers, MEinc
This is a great little piece from Deborah Gough for The Age
GIULIA Baggio’s mad mornings are a familiar tale of hustling children from bed, dropping them to kinder and school, hurried goodbyes, then a race to work through rat runs to avoid traffic, only to be funneled, bumper-to-bumper, onto the main routes into the city.
When she sits down to a plate of cereal at her desk to ”start” her day at 9.30 am it is almost a relief…
…People who considered themselves time poor were 6 per cent less satisfied with life than those who did not define themselves that way, the research found.
Of those who said they were unhappy, 46 per cent said ”time” was a factor and problems with public transport’s cost (34 per cent), regularity (43) and availability (44) were also factors…
continue…
by theEmother | Feb 15, 2010 | entrepreneur trends (past & present!), so you think you're in business
As trendwatching.com wanted to keep things straightforward and hands-on this month, they’re highlighting “FUNCTIONALL“. Which is all about a new breed of products that are simple, small and/or cheap (with a dash of sustainability), giving them global appeal, from India to Sweden. Now, if that doesn’t warrant a brainstorming session…
FUNCTIONALL | Captures the phenomenon of simple, small and/or cheap products and services designed for low(er)-income consumers in emerging markets, with cross-over appeal to consumers in mature consumer societies.
Goods and services especially designed for emerging markets often incorporate one or more of the following characteristics:
* Smaller and/or limited number of features, to keep prices low.
* Simpler, or easier to use, for inexperienced consumers.
* Energy efficient (or not using any traditional energies at all) and/or easy to repair and/or waste-reducing.
* Robust, as some of them are used in rugged conditions.
* Well-designed (the democratization of design is a global phenomenon).
* Aimed at helping owners to generate income, or allow users to create self-sustaining systems.
read on… it is well worth it
by theEmother | Jan 19, 2010 | business ideas & thinking, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), entrepreneurial mothers, MEinc, so you think you're in business
by Seth Godin for ChangeThis.com
Years ago … the system set out to persuade you of something that isn’t true.
Not just persuade, but drill, practice, reinforce, and yes, brainwash.
When exactly were we brainwashed into believing that the best way to earn a living is to have a job?
I think each one of us needs to start with that.
read on… it’s a must
by theEmother | Jan 2, 2010 | entrepreneur trends (past & present!), entrepreneurial mothers, inspiring women, MEinc, so you think you're in business
Catherine Archer for SidewaysNews.com
Work flexibility and the lure of being your own boss has boosted the entrepreneural spirit of a growing number of mothers, with many planning to set up their own business next year, a study has shown.
Telecoms giant BT questioned 1,200 women and found 15% had founded their own companies since starting a family, with one in 10 planning to join the ranks of self-employed “mumpreneurs”.
Reasons for going it alone included the ability to choose suitable working hours and achieve a work/life balance. But BT said online social networks had created more business opportunities for mothers to run a company from their lounge, kitchen or bedroom…read on
by theEmother | Dec 31, 2009 | business ideas & thinking, entrepreneur trends (past & present!), so you think you're in business
Vasu Srinivasan for ChangeThis.com
The World is Flat, declared Thomas Friedman.
It is a Long Tail, says Chris Anderson.
Everything is Miscellaneous, avers David Weinberger.
Seeing it as The Wisdom of Crowds was a profound insight from James Surowiecki.
Their perspectives addressed several aspects of business, life and the human condition in general.
The truth is that we have reached not one era, but a multitude of eras, all at once and in a time-space compressed fashion. This has caused a shift in our expectations and our practices that impacts how we work, what we consume and how we live life.
Currently, the only tool that we have in our hands to combat this phenomenon is Change Management. It is a linear response to the non-linear set of changes happening in this Poly-Era (or Era containing multiple Eras). It is so Newtonian. We need a holistic new paradigm.
Complex Systems, on the other hand, has the beautiful notion of Emergent Structures, which are patterns not created by a single event or rule. Instead, the interaction of each part with its immediate surroundings causes a complex chain of processes leading to some new order.
The Connected Intelligence System is a practitioner-centric corporate operating system that augments Knowledge Work. The principal components emerge out of simple interactions of fundamental components and are based on Complexity Thinking.
It provides tools to address the changes that have taken place all at once in the human enterprise due to the coming of the Poly-Era in a holistic fashion… read on
