10 Trends for Soul-Driven Business
One of the coolest things about being a conscious entrepreneur is that you can take advantage of emerging trends because you a) are on the leading edge of knowing what’s happening because you’re living it and b) have the opportunity to create a business that speaks from your soul and meet those trends as they occur.
There’s a term that captures the essence of that leading-edge sight for new trends – it’s called “visioning” or “futuring”. So you’ll hear of people who do this kind of calculated speculation by observing collective behavior that create new trends referred to as visionaries and/or futurists. And that’s one of my roles as a soul-driven business mentor – to help you know what’s happening so you can look at your opportunities in a new way.
It’s all about taking charge of our own destiny as an entrepreneur… setting our own schedule, doing work that’s beyond a job, creating lasting value by distilling our essence into a contribution that others recognize as valuable and will pay to take part of it. And doing this kind of business – start-ups, boutique and soul-driven business – is perceived as more able to meet emerging needs faster than established big brands. This is the perfect time to start and grow your soul-driven business.
These trends can inspire you to innovate something new or ride the wave and jump into optimizing an opportunity. For wherever these lead you, here are the top trends that are catching my eye for conscious / soul-driven entrepreneurs.
1. The process is the product.
We’ve gone beyond the economic ages of agriculture and industry and are even nearing the next level of the experience economy… we’re in the age of energy. People want to feeeeeel something good and the way they do that is to go beyond what they already know, expect or find familiar. The process by which they feeeeel that IS the product vs. the physical outcome that you use to sell it.
2. Smaller that can go bigger is better.
People want flexibility and they want to decide what they want to purchase. That means modules, that they can buy and add on to, are a key delivery component of ideal products and services.
3. Do it yourself remains a classic value.
People want the option to be able to do it on their own. Give them the pieces, recipe and a place to buy the ingredients, and let them create their own process / product.
4. Never-ending is becoming a way of life.
Whether it’s a conversation thread, a to-do list, a particular project or life goals, we are becoming accustomed to “forever” in how we relate to our lives. We seem to not be getting to the finite end of anything a lot less. The result is the new relationship between our self-worth to what’s never done in our lives. And the effect of never-ending communications… (hint: think blog post or tweet that lives on the net forever and all the thousands of people to whom you connect with just one click…).
5. Imperfect fast is better than perfect polished.
Being transparent, opening opportunities for ‘beta’ (or pre-formal launch) testing, and responding to what people want is more valuable than a perfectly completed product or service.
6. Everybody is somebody on the Internet.
We want to support the people and businesses we know, and the Internet is where we find them (even if they’re local!).
7. Giving is the new receiving.
Giving has become the new taking, as people reap the benefits of gifting (both intangible – feel good – and tangible – recognition and tax advantages). Even more, sharing time and energy is the new giving.
8. Simple is.
Going back to basics, returning to the essential and keeping it brief are a big reaction to people feeling saturated with information, overwhelmed with life responsibilities and reducing expenses.
9. Time for self-reflection is required.
People want to know what makes them really happy, and the only way they can know is to contemplate. They want more time and they want an easy way to dial into what they really want.
10. Business branding transcends marketing.
Making the most of what your business stands for is more important than launching a marketing campaign. Being of service, responding to your customers, living your values says more than a cool advertising campaign.
The big bucket of all these trends is that people want meaningful connections, whether it’s to themselves, others or the world around them. What can you do to foster significant connection that makes a real difference in the quality of people’s lives? It doesn’t have to be big – it just has to be real