Time to get back to business. Hope everyone had a great holiday and is ready to work. The two times a year that I take a deeper look at business trends and economic forecasts are at the end of the year and at the end of 2nd quarter. End of the year is more a reflective time for some reason, like after the game. End of 2nd quarter is like taking inventory during half time while there's still time to change the results before year end, mid game.
No one that runs their own business, or is directly responsible for one, can ever really take their mid off the game. Sure you might go on vacation and spend time with your family, but you just can't help thinking about what you have going on. Sometimes it helps to get disconnected, a fresh perspective, see from a different angle and get some rest, but successful people rarely take their eye off the ball if ever. You love what you do and you know your competition is constantly grinding. So while relaxing, I try to take a closer look at what my competition is doing right and measure what's working for me.
One of the things I do at these two points is look at the big picture. Reading through economic forecasts for different industries and countries can give you great insight to why your efforts aren't measuring up to predictions or worse, the numbers are climbing up and you have no idea why. According to The World Economic Forum, Forbes and The Balance to name a few, the economic outlook for the US is strong and set for steady growth.
No matter what business you're in, investing in yourself is never a bad choice. Educate yourself, educate your people and increase the advertising budget. Hope you are off to a great year, game on.
Even with a busy schedule I try and keep an eye on movement in the tech industry. Where money is being placed shows the direction of the market and what the results of all these industry gurus research and decisions are being backed by speculation. Follow the money and you're following the end results of all these great minds. In an article on SIIA.net there's a comparative breakdown of the last three years worth of investments in different sectors of technology that leads in with some analysis on Q1 2018. Out of the gate, 2018 is up 124% compared to 2017 and the money is on tech enabled services up 207%. Marketing, analytics, database and information services have unprecedented increases. With stronger consumer confidence the market outlook for technology related goods and services is very healthy, as a consequence advertising and marketing via tech soars along side. Seems obvious to those involved with technology that this isn't going anywhere but up. Take a read through the numbers, what they mean is a future more interwoven with tech than anyone can imagine. The article is from Matt Kinsman, former vice president at Connectiv now at Accruent.com citing info from JEGI.com.
Happy 4th of July everyone. (This is a scheduled post) I'm taking a few days off and I hope you are as well.
Remember the real reason we celebrate the 4th of July and work on you're own independence, financial independence. Always a good time to start your own business or improve upon one. Pay your debts off and start building wealth. Here's to wishing you a great year ahead.
I stumbled upon the topic of technology camps and had to delve a little further. First the term 'tech camp' reminded me of some of the sweat shops I've worked in, they could be described as a 'camp', but more I found out there are quite a few tech camps catering to all ages, genders and vocations.
When I think of summer camp, I envision a lake in the mountains where kids roast marsh-mellows, ride canoes, fish and generally relax for a week or two. What's becoming more popular are tech camps for kids ages 6 and up and they're taking classes like programming, audio video engineering, robotics, and app design. I found technology camps not just for kids, but for teachers and executives to tune up with. Instructional design is the way of the new classroom any anyone that's familiar and comfortable with technology is going to be well ahead of the game. (And there's even game development classes.) At the college level there are even more camps to excel or catch up.
Tech camps aren't a new concept, but are growing. Here's and article by Tony Wan from 2013 with a list of popular kids camps. Camps and programs like these may just spark the genius in your child or expand an executive's insight.