Eight trends for 2008

I’ve had some good feedback to my column in Monday’s Financial Post, “Eight trends will fuel '08 growth”

My eight trends:
- Expect slower growth and more financial shocks from the U.S. and its subprime real estate crisis.
- More business owners will take advantage of Web-marketing tools that enable them to target niche markets more efficiently than ever.
- Entrepreneurs will make greater use of social networking sites such as Linked-In or Facebook.
- The loonie will hold the gains it made in 2007. That means more painful adjustments for manufacturers and service exporters. On the positive side, it will force them to focus on innovation as a source of wealth, and diversifying their markets beyond North America.
- Entrepreneurs will develop faster-growth markets, such as products and services for ageing Baby Boomers, mineral prospecting and development, "ethnic" foods and anything wireless.
- Mobility is going mainstream.
- Entrepreneurs will call on consultants and coaches because business decisions are getting harder to make, while the supply of talent is growing in the form of capable, experienced executives who are retired or let go from bigger corporations.
- Green consciousness will affect more decisions you make. Finding eco-friendlier ways to travel, produce goods, dispose of waste and reduce energy use will begin making a real difference to your bottom line.

You can read the full story here.

Do you have a trend to add? Leave a comment below.

Update: I had a dissenting note from one reader. Read my reply in my next post (see above, or click here).