MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends

Minitrends: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends

by John H. Vanston, Ph.D.

with Carrie Vanston

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The Pinnacle Book Achievement Best Business Book Award Winner

An Eric Hoffer Business Book Award Winner


ForeWord Reviews’ Book of Year Award Finalist

USA Best Books Award Entrepreneurship & Small Business Finalist

Dan Poynter’s Global Business eBook Award Finalist

The #1 Book on “Business Trends” at Amazon.com!

“189-page do-it-yourself guide to the early identification of those emerging developments that eventually become the next big things.”The Futurist

"MINITRENDS should quickly become a—if not the—standard work for the futurist’s search for business applications."-Joseph Coates, Foresight Network’s Futurist of the Year


 

Description:

MINITRENDS provides information, insights, and guidance to individuals and organizations to achieve success in a period of rapid change. Based on Dr. John Vanston’s 3 decades of experience in identifying and applying technical, social, and business trends, it shows:

  • Individual entrepreneurs will learn how to identify, assess, and exploit new business opportunities.
  • Decision makers in small and mid-size businesses will learn how to gain advantage by recognizing and utilizing emerging trends.
  • Innovative thinkers in large businesses will learn how to distinguish themselves by their special perceptiveness.
  • Investors will learn how to uncover attractive new investment opportunities.

MiniTrends are emerging trends that promise to become significantly important within 2-5 years, but are not generally recognized. Unlike Megatrends, MiniTrends are of a scope and importance to offer attractive opportunities to individuals and businesses of all sizes.

In addition to “How To” advice, MINITRENDS provides background, current trends, and business opportunities for several attractive MiniTrends.

Combining advice, instructions, and examples, MINITRENDS assists you in launching your own exciting, profitable MiniTrend Adventure and allows you to utilize your imagination, logic, innovative nature, and basic good sense.

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Author Bios:

John Vanston, Author, Minitrends


JOHN H. VANSTON, Ph.D.

Chairman, Technology Futures, Inc.

Dr. John Vanston is an internationally-renowned consultant, educator, speaker, and award-winning author in the fields of technology forecasting, minitrends, technology/market integration, trend analysis, and technology management in uncertain environments. He founded TFI in 1978, building the Austin, Texas, company into a leading authority in custom research, forecasting, and trend analysis in telecom and other high-technology industries.

At TFI, John has conducted analyses of emerging technologies for a wide range of commercial, governmental, and academic organizations. These analyses have assisted his business clients in gaining sustainable competitive advantage and provided his government clients with important new information, insights, and advice that have increased the effectiveness of their operations.

Prior to establishing TFI, John served on the nuclear engineering faculty at The University of Texas at Austin and as Deputy Director of the University’s Center for Energy Studies. While at the University, he conducted a number of forecasts and trend analyses in the energy area. Earlier, John served as a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army.

Full Bio

 



Carrie Vanston, Collaborator, Minitrends

CARRIE VANSTON

Media and Marketing Director, Technology Futures, Inc.

Carrie Vanston is Media and Marketing Director at Technology Futures, Inc. (TFI) where she has helped increase TFI’s profile as a highly qualified forecasting and trend analysis leader in the high-technology and telecom industries over the last several years. Most recently she has partnered with Dr. John Vanston on the MiniTrends concept which is designed to increase creativity, innovation, and success.

She is Conference Director of MiniTrends 2013: The Integration of Profit & Social Responsibility and co-author of MINITRENDS: How Entrepreneurs & Innovators Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends. Because the successful exploitation of a Minitrend requires effective marketing, she brings a distinct real-world quality to the book, particularly in the media communications and social media areas. Carrie enjoys speaking about how MiniTrends can help you pursue your passions and make a difference in the world.

Carrie Vanston has many years of experience in public relations, marketing, and sales at both Technology Futures and in the entertainment industry. Because the successful exploitation of a MiniTrend requires effective marketing, she brings a distinct real-world quality to the book, particularly in the media communications and social media areas. Her easy sense of style and readability helps the reader to connect with the Minitrend concept.

 


 

What Reviewers Say:

The Pinnacle Book Achievement Best Business Book Award Winner

An Eric Hoffer Business Book Award Winner!
“The ability to capitalize on newly emerging business trends is the premise of this book. There are 'MiniTrends' all around us, defined as those that ‘promise to become significantly important within the next two to five years.’ … By reading this book, you will learn how to take hold of these opportunities, overcome common obstacles, and ultimately profit from MiniTrends."

ForeWord Review’s Book of Year Award Finalist! "Vanston has the ability to discuss minitrends conceptually, as well as describe specifically how the reader can discover and potentially profit from them. The author’s enthusiasm for the subject is infectious, and readers looking for new business opportunities are likely to share that enthusiasm. This is a book that should inspire many readers to take action.”–ForeWord Reviews

USA Best Books Award Entrepreneurship & Small Business Finalist

Dan Poynter’s Global Business eBook Award Finalist


“Vanston’s company, Technology Futures, has been making predictions about technology and business trends since 1978. Here, he describes how individual entrepreneurs, as well as companies, can find and exploit “minitrends” -- small trends (not yet recognized by the public) that have the potential to grow. … [T]his title offers a new take on possible product development and investment avenues.”Library Journal

MINITRENDS should quickly become a, if not the, standard work for the futurist's search for business applications, and therefore for a wide range of social, economic, and business consequences. ... Readers who should not be without it, include professors of futures studies and their students, all working futurists, whether employed by organizations or as consultants to them, in all business institutions, those responsible for planning and general direction... Similar use should be found by foundations, non-profits, consultancies, and other institutions large and small.
--Joseph Coates, Foresight Network’s Futurist of the Year

MINITRENDS presents a set of practical-but-powerful tools and mindsets, offers the reader a rich array of accessible, authoritative information sources, and spells out purposeful processes by which a variety of practitioners can use the resulting foresight. HEROIC!”
—David Pearce Snyder, Strategic Forecaster & Contributing Editor, The Futurist


”I first met John Vanston in 1994. His insights into the emerging Internet technologies were pivotal in shaping my own view and interest in pursuing their application to the larger challenges we now face globally. MINITRENDS continues this work, with insights, lessons, and cases that are relevant and provocative. I highly recommend this book.”
—Dave Evans, Author, Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day


MINITRENDS is one of the most important books for technology entrepreneurs written in the last decade. With diligent attention to processes and trends, it provides a specific set of factors that entrepreneurs should consider in order to maximize the opportunity for success in the marketplace.”
—Augie Grant, Ph.D, Professor, University of South Carolina


“This book is packed with usable ‘how to’ information and real life examples about how to find Minitrends and take action to prosper from them.
—Terry B. Newman, Assistant Vice President, Graduate School, The University of Texas at Austin

More MINITRENDS Reviews on the Minitrends Website


Book Excerpt:

"Expanding Involvement in Virtual Worlds"

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Table of Contents:

Part I: The Value of MiniTrends
Chapter 1: The Importance of MiniTrends
Part II: Uncovering MiniTrends
Chapter 2: Searching for MiniTrends
Chapter 3: Where to Look for MiniTrends
Part III: Some Attractive MiniTrends
Chapter 4: MiniTrends for Individuals
Chapter 5: MiniTrends for Small and Medium-Size Companies
Chapter 6: MiniTrends for Large Companies
Part IV: Prospering from MiniTrends
Chapter 7: Selecting a MiniTrend for Exploitation
Chapter 8: Developing a MiniTrend Expolitation Scheme
Chapter 9: Putting the Exploitation Scheme into Action
Part V: Becoming a Minitrend Master
Chapter 10: Here's the So What!

Expanded Table of Contents (on the MINITRENDS book site)

 


 

Pricing/Ordering Information for:

Minitrends Book CoverMINITRENDS: How Entrepreneurs & Innovators Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends

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Published by Technology Futures, Inc.
2010, Bound Soft Cover, 220 pages, ISBN-13: 978-1884154362, ISBN-10: 1884154360

Call for volume discounts. For academic adoption, contact Technology Futures, Inc.

We also invite you to find out how emerging trends can provide great opportunities at our Annual MiniTrends Conference, MiniTrends Website and Minitrends blog.

 


Find what trends are on the horizon and how you can find profit from them while being socially responsible.


The Pinnacle Book Achievement Best Business Book Winner

An Eric Hoffer Business Book of the Year Winner

ForeWord Reviews’ Book of Year Finalist

USA Book News Book of the Year Finalist

Dan Poynter’s Global Business eBook of the Year Finalist




Dr. John Vanston, Author, Minitrends MINITRENDS PRESENTATIONS
BY
DR. JOHN H. VANSTON


MINITRENDS BLOG
Recieve information, insights, and suggestions on how minitrends can materially improve your life. 


What Reviewers Say
An Eric Hoffer Business Book Award Winner!
“The ability to capitalize on newly emerging business trends is the premise of this book. There are 'MiniTrends' all around us, defined as those that ‘promise to become significantly important within the next two to five years.’ … By reading this book, you will learn how to take hold of these opportunities, overcome common obstacles, and ultimately profit from MiniTrends."

ForeWord Review’s Book of Year Award Finalist! "Vanston has the ability to discuss minitrends conceptually, as well as describe specifically how the reader can discover and potentially profit from them. The author’s enthusiasm for the subject is infectious, and readers looking for new business opportunities are likely to share that enthusiasm. This is a book that should inspire many readers to take action.”
ForeWord Reviews


[T]his title offers a new take on possible product development and investment avenues.”
Library Journal

“[MINITRENDS] should quickly become a—if not the—standard work for the futurist’s search for business applications, and therefore for a wide range of social, economic, and business consequences. … Readers who should not be without it include professors of futures studies and their students; all working futurists, whether employed by organizations or as consultants to them; and those responsible for planning and general direction in all business institutions."
Joseph Coates, Futurist, Consulting Futurist, Inc.

“MINITRENDS explains a set of practical-but-powerful tools and mindsets, offers the reader a rich array of accessible, authoritative information sources, and spells out purposeful processes by which a variety of practitioners can use the resulting foresight. HEROIC!”
David Pearce Snyder, Strategic Forecaster & Contributing Editor, The Futurist

“Minitrends is one of the most important books for technology entrepreneurs written in the last decade. With diligent attention to processes and trends, it provides a specific set of factors that entrepreneurs should consider in order to maximize the opportunity for success in the marketplace.”
—Augie Grant, Ph.D, Professor, University of South Carolina

“Minitrends is an excellent book that I am confident will be very useful to its readers. I, personally, found the sections of the book that included plentiful examples to be most valuable. The examples are very good.”
—Mark Kapner, Strategic Planning & Enterprise Development, Austin Energy

”As I go deeper into the chapters, the more I like the book! You have managed to hit the sweetspot of this fascinating concept of MiniTrends. The book itself is a precious gem.”
—Guy deManuel, President, Sigma Dataserv Informática (Brazil)

“This book is packed with usable ‘how to’ information and real life examples about how to find MiniTrends and take action to prosper from them. Delivered with a little humor, it goes beyond a reference book, pointing readers toward their own inner thoughts and frustrations to countless information sources. This book will definitely be used as a conversation piece, but that will only be the beginning. I’m very excited about this book.”
—Terry B. Newman, Assistant Vice President, Graduate School, The University of Texas at Austin

“Almost 30 years ago, I read with great interest Naisbitt’s book Megatrends. The MiniTrends book differs from Megatrends in that it provides instructions that allow readers to personalize their own data mining procedures so that they can solve their own problems. Thus, it provides a great tool for personal growth. The book is so packed with sources of information, it is hard to understand how Dr. Vanston got it all done. He must have a staff of hundreds, jars full of NoDoz, and cots in the office.”
—Dayle Baldauf, Baldauf & Associates Real Estate

“Attempting to predict the future is always a dicey proposition, but John Vanston has used his powerful, common-sense approach to identify what can only be described as the inevitable. The book stimulated me to think of a few Minitrends of my own.”
—Howard Smallowitz, Project Manager, IBM

“Dr. Vanston’s new book offers a highly readable route through numerous examples of MiniTrends presented in a structure that makes grasping the concepts both enjoyable and a rapid read. His use of the searching, discovering, and exploiting of gems provides a handy trail that is easily followed and remembered. The very fact that MiniTrends are likely to be overlooked offers huge opportunities for those wise enough to spot and capitalize on them.

“It’s impossible to avoid the call to take action, as there are approaches offered for individuals and for small, medium-sized, and large companies. The path blazed is clear: assessment of value, searching, examples of small to large enterprise issues, and, finally, profiting from Minitrends. Wherever the reader is, there is a place for her or him in this book.”
—Jim Bryce, Attorney at law

“I have read a lot of business books, but MiniTrends is definitely unique, which is refreshing. It’s also very timely given the state of the economy and the fact that businesses are having to redefine themselves if they are to stay afloat. It is clear that Dr. Vanston has a wealth of knowledge on the subject.”
—Laura Alter, Search Engine Optimization Expert, All Web Leads, Inc.

“As the world goes through this period of major change that only hap-pens every 100 years or so, we find that those things that ‘always worked’ no longer do. Minitrends is timely in exposing and explaining the gold mine of new opportunities that exist for us. The book comes along at just the right time to help business and government leaders rapidly grasp the mind-boggling technology developments, put them in language that can be understood, and convert them into practical applications for a highly competitive marketplace.”
—Ervin (Butch) Ackman, Organization Change Management, RWD Technologies