Many industries have found themselves on the wrong side of trends history. Take the analog camera and film industry. Kodak was the leader in their field for many a decade. They did not anticipate the impact of the digital camera market on their business.

The digital camera industry did not expect the camera on everyone’s smartphones to take over either. A phone camera has replaced traditional photographers who made a living from a skill learned over the years.

Everyone can now be a photographer. With filters and excellent lenses at the end of your hand, many traditional photographers are now redundant.

Monitoring trends to future proof your business is essential to avoid being the Kodak of your industry.

Because of the pandemic, there is a lot of innovation that has happened around the world. Businesses that could not trade made quick and smart decisions about new opportunities to keep the doors open and staff employed.

Be Curious

If you are working away in your business and do not take time to look up intermittently to see what is going on, you may be caught unawares.

As you run your business, take time to investigate new trends in your industry. Research what is happening around the world and see if you can capitalize on anything in your business.

Be Bold

Don’t be scared to implement new thinking in your business. It is less intimidating to try out new processes one at a time. When your business is going well, this is the time to try new things. If you wait until your business is in trouble, you may be too vulnerable to make mistakes. Being overly cautious can be detrimental to your business.

Follow your hero’s

It is not always just following the already successful individuals and companies. It is also a good idea to speak to people who are not in your industry and ask them about their failures.

We can learn a lot from people who have already tried something new and failed. Maybe the timing was wrong, or there was a fundamental mistake that can be fixed.

We can also build on the learnings and not make the same mistakes.

Identifying futurists and following their social media pages can help you pinpoint some great options for your business.

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