Microtrends: What’s new on the Millionaire Mind Book Shelf
posted in Business Start-up, Decision Making & Problem Solving |
Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes
by Mark Penn, and E. Kinney Zalesne
I first heard about “Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes” from Jim Cramer during his ‘Mad Money’ show — CNBC weekdays 6 &11pm EST. Watching Mad Money should be a daily ritual for those of us whose part-time business is managing and investing our money, and creating passive income streams. Crammer touted the book as a great research source for spotting hidden value in the market. Once I read the book, I realized it offered the exact type of business insight and information that Millionaire Minds need to establish or expand successful business ventures.
The Washington Post once referred to MicroTrends’ author, Mark Penn as “the most powerful man in Washington you’ve never heard of.” Mark Penn, the man who identified “Soccer Moms” as a crucial constituency in President Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign, is known for his ability to detect relatively small patterns of behavior in our culture — microtrends, that are wielding great influence on business, politics, and our personal lives. Bill Clinton recognized Penn’s “keen mind and fascinating sense of what makes America tick.” Penn has become one of the most respected and sought-after analysts in the world because he can define and articulate a clear understanding of social insights and identify related “trends” that could well be turned to profit.
Information Week credited Penn with sifting “the sociological sands to come up with a fine-grained view of where we’re headed.” Millionaire Mind Intensive graduates will find this ‘Microtrends Factoid’ relevant: Only one percent of the public, or three million people, is enough to launch a business or social movement. Entrepreneurs are using the Internet, viral marketing, and social networking to identify and profitably promote their products and services in a ways not possible only a few years ago.
A recent example, with which we are all familiar, is ‘The Secret’. The brilliant use of all the marketing tools the internet has to offer helped producer, Rhonda Byrne take The Secret from a personal, heart-felt intention to multi-million dollar marketing and social phenomenon.
In Microtrends, Penn analyzes significant business opportunities that were enabled by trends involving as little as one-percent of the population. He identifies over seventy such mini-waves, explaining the forces behind them and the implications for entrepreneurs. For instance, there are about 11 million more American women seeking husbands than there are men available to marry. Penn says that means opportunity for industries such as home repair and investment management.
Penn’s interpretation of his research data indicates that America is no longer a melting pot.
We are a collection of communities with many individual tastes and lifestyles. Entrepreneurs and investors who recognize these emerging groups will prosper. Penn shows readers how to identify the Microtrends that can transform a business enterprise, tip an election, spark a movement, or change your life. In today’s world, small groups can have the biggest impact.
Penn identifies tends in religion, leisure, politics, and family life that are changing the way we live. How would the knowledge that women are driving technology changes and that although folks are “retiring”, they are continuing to ‘work’ affect your BIG IDEA for a business or a passive income stream? Whatever businesses you’re in, these mini-trends suggest possibilities for a targeted approach that gives you the edge on your competition.
Penn’s nano-sociology guides his readers through the ever-splintering societal subsets with which Americans are increasingly identifying and offers an analysis of the implications and opportunities of each Microtrend. By the end of the book we start to understand movements that are transforming today’s world are being driven by small trends that started well below the radar of the elite media. The Millionaire Minded entrepreneur is also aware that independent analysis of a market, before investing time, talent and treasure is one way to play the money game to win!
The book is carefully and completely indexed. That may sound like a minor feature —its not. When some wisp of information is flirting just beyond memory, and that one bit of insight will help with your decision making process, searching your business books by their index pages is more efficient than thumbing through the chapters, hoping to find what you need.
Millionaire Mind Resources
Jim Cramer’s Mad Money
Cramer’s Newsletter, The Street
Millionaire Minds Are ALWAYS Learning More
So they can MAKE MORE!
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