Strategic Trends for Online Selling and Handmade Communities for 2011

Everyone is talking "trends" these days. The new year always brings about predictions and opinions on what our world will look like and how our business will fare in the coming year.

Here are some specific strategic trends that relate to online sellers and the handmade community as "solopreneurs." You can read the enhanced article with details on FoxBusiness.com.

Wishing you a profitable 2011!

1. Organic, green initiatives and renewable energy will continue to be among the hottest investments and trends.
2. Financing will continue to be difficult into 2011; most small business will turn to non-bank asset-based lending and pay more on the amount borrowed. Lenders will screen out businesses that don't have a solid business model. 
3. Unemployment will continue to rise. Small businesses will continue to lead innovation in the marketplace.
4. More Fortune 500 companies will market to women specifically. 
5. The distinctions between online and offline will become irrelevant. 
6. Brands will have to play well with others, as companies have less and less control over how, when, where and with what other products their brands are experienced.
7. We will need to move from thinking about individual products to thinking about cohesive experiences and must continue the evolution of integrating online and offline brand experiences.
8. We have to get into the mind of our customers so that we are delivering brand experiences where, when and how they want them. 
9. Increase in apps usage as more and consumers use smartphones in their business as well as their personal life. 
10. Cloud computing can be a phenomenal innovation for working collaborations to enable solopreneurs and small firms to work in real time to leverage resources with great efficiency. 
11. People will talk less and text and e-mail more.
12. Solopreneurs who took jobs to survive in 2008 and 2009 will relaunch their practices or other new entrepreneurial endeavors. 
13. The number of networking groups you can join will continue to increase, forcing those groups to be more strategic about their message and the value they provide.
14. Allowing information seekers to replay webinars and live events at their convenience will continue.
15. More peer-to-peer business planning. Because of the need for prompt business idea validation and feedback, startups may emerge as key components of business planning for next-generation entrepreneurs. 
16. Business plans will start to appear in a more compact and digital form., making them more accessible to potential funders, mentors and potential customers.