Today in Global Small Business: Steve King's Predictions for 2016

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Start the new year out establishing a global footprint:  Register for Laurel's complimentary webinar, Getting Started in Exporting, January 6th from 11:00 a.m. -- 12:00 noon Central time.
• How to expand your business globally without abandoning your roots.
• What do you do if your love letters go global?
• Predictions and trends for 2016 -- the good and the ugly.
• Crystal ball predictions in 2016 from Jim Blasingame (who claims a 15-year 73 percent accuracy record).
• Steve King's famous small business trend list (going strong 8 years+) -- you won't want to miss his 2016 predictions!

The Cloud Is Redefining the Small Business Playing Field

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Will small businesses embrace the cloud for efficiency and global growth purposes?  A few experts -- Steve King, Partner, Emergent Research who we've been following for a number of years, Terry Hicks, Vice President and General Manager, QuickBooks Online Ecosystem, Intuit and Joshua Reeves, CEO & Co-Founder, ZenPayroll -- have an answer for us with their new report "Small Business Success in the Cloud."  The authors say "the cloud is redefining the small business playing field."

If you are on a fence about whether to get in the cloud, read: Dispatches from the New Economy: Small Business Success in the Cloud.

Anyone Looking to Export?

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Our favorite small business researchers give Exporting:  The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably a thumbs up.

The book provides practical, easy to implement advice on how to start exporting or grow an existing export business. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to export. - Steve King and Carolyn Ockels, Small Business Labs

Read Book Review:  Exporting:  The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably

A big thank you to Steve and Carolyn!

Next-Gen Artisans Fuel New Entrepreneurial Economy

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Another one of my favorite reports has just been released: The third installment of the Intuit Future of Small Business Report™, which looks ahead 10 years and examines the prospects, influences and profiles of small business. The report is sponsored by Intuit Inc. and authored by the Institute for the Future.

Check this out:

The Next Wave of Globalization Will be Driven by Small Business

The number of U.S. small businesses trading globally will substantially increase, fueled by cross-border business opportunities, technological advances leading to broader social networks, and reductions in export costs. More specifically:

• Almost half of U.S. small businesses will be involved in global trade by 2018. As the costs associated with doing business globally continue to decrease, small businesses will make no distinction between domestic and international commerce.

• Social networks will fuel borderless commerce. Online and offline social networks will help remove soft trade barriers, such as language and cultural differences. These networks will introduce small businesses to new markets and facilitate cross-border trade.

• Globalization will increase small business diversity and amplify its economic value. Small business diversity will help increase market growth in the U.S. and abroad and will unlock new opportunities for all small business owners.

Clearly, borderless business is going to become BIG.

Special kudos to the main authors of the report: Steve King, Anthony Townsend, and Carolyn Ockels who also, in addition to writing the Intuit report, publish a nifty blog at Small Business Labs.

For a shortcut to the report, visit here and look for Phase Three: The New Entrepreneurial Economy.

Note: We contributed a tad to the report.