Navigating the Future with 2025 Entrepreneurial Trends

If we're not thinking about 2025 and we're not starting to budget, plan out our goals, what that looks like, we need to be thinking about it. Let's find some people. If we're looking to grow because this is going to be a time of growth and opportunity. Let's start looking at the people we might find, the right people that can help support us to get to the next level of growth within our team. If you want to be a wealthy entrepreneur and you want to achieve a certain level of success, we have to be thinking about these things at times like this and, and we also have to be planning our goals and what the next year looks like. Good day and welcome to the Wealthy Entrepreneur Podcast. I am your host, Bob Govero. It is great to have you here today. I just want to remind you that the Wealthy Entrepreneur Podcast is the place where we dissect the elements that contribute to entrepreneurial success, from mindset and leadership to profits and revenue. What we're going to talk about today is something that I think all of us should be thinking about as we're, you know, right now at the time of recording, we're, we're heading into the end, the tail end of 2024, thinking about and planning for 2025. Guys, it's November, time of recording. If we're not thinking about 2025 and we're not starting to budget, plan out our goals, what that looks like, we need to be thinking about it. But what we're going to talk about today is the top five emerging trends. For my opinion of what is going on in the entrepreneurial space as we head into 2025, a couple ideas that I want you to be thinking about as we, you know, really, and I'll start off this with thinking about what 2024 has looked like. We just finished a major US political election where the party that is elected is focused on building the economy back, which is definitely a positive thing for business owners. Whether or not you're in agreement with who's in leadership or not in leadership. The idea from an entrepreneur perspective of an improved economy and an investment in the US Marketplace is definitely going to be a welcomed situation for entrepreneurs and small businesses and medium sized businesses across North America. Really this has an impact across Canada as well. But 2024 has been a slow time. We've all seen it. You know, again, 2500 clients that we have across North America, we've definitely seen sales dropping, sales are harder to cross the line, show up, rates are a little bit lower, reoccurring business has somewhat dropped off because people are scared. They're eliminating any sort of ongoing commitments. That's just been our market. And we've seen it, our clients have seen it, We've observed it across the industries. I was at the top Growing Businesses in Canada event where I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel, and they're feeling it. You know, the top growing companies in Canada are feeling that sort of recession and the economy shift. So it's happened. Right? So some positive movement with maybe some election and some focus on reinvestment back into the market, interest rates are coming down. So this is sort of where we're sitting to end 2024. And we're starting to feel momentum pick up, pick back up. Started to feel it in September. We got access to some lower interest rates both in Canada and the United States. Kids were back to school. You know, a lot of people were off in the summertime. September started to pick back up a little bit, although the economy didn't necessarily suggest that. We just feel the momentum coming back into the businesses that we were working with. You know, more business was coming in. Maybe it wasn't start to finish, so to realizing revenue just yet, but the insights of people that were selling and projects that they were interested in, we're seeing that. Right. And that's a super positive thing. So what is it that we need to be thinking about in 2025 for sure? You know, before I get into the top five things for sure, something we should be thinking about is our goals. What is our plan based on? Where the economy has been, where we believe it's heading. More interest rate cuts are on their way for sure, as inflation has slowed down. We're not going to hit a recession. It appears they've sort of stopped the slowing of the inflation and they're doing so by reducing interest rates, which is why they're going to continue to happen. So we're not going to hit a recession, but what happens on the tail end of a, of a negative economic sort of journey over a period of time, we know it picks back up, right? The confidence in the market, the costs, the increased costs are starting to go down. Interest rates are dropping. That means people have more disposable income, which means they're going to start spending again, which is what, you know, some of the North American politicians are looking at right now as a focus as to how. How do we restart this economy. Okay, aside from your goals and what your plans look like, what your projections look like, here's five emerging entrepreneurial trends that I want you to just be aware of and things that you should maybe be incorporating into your goals, into your plan on how you want to accomplish those goals this next year. So the very first one is it's grow time. Is grow time means that the economy is recovering and that a lot of people struggled through this situation. And there's a lot of people who are going, you know what? I'm done. I'm fed up. I don't have the strength. Maybe some older people looking at retiring, some people just saying, we don't want to do this anymore. Employees have been challenging. Labor pools have been challenging. Although I think we're, we're on the other side of that right now. So there's, there's opportunity. And I can tell you right now on the table, we have eight ongoing acquisitions that our clients are acquiring businesses. So that is going to be the number one trend that we're seeing, is it's grow time. There's opportunity for, for acquisitions to be happening at reasonable amounts because people are looking to exit because they're fed up. But we know that the opportunity that exists ahead of us is going to be way greater than anything that we've seen in the past. And if you've got any sort of momentum heading forward and you've grown a company that's got controls and systems and a team and accountability and you're achieving your goals, you and you've got surplus resources coming in or you've got a really strong financial performance, it's time to be looking at getting resources available to make an acquisition. If your goal is to maximize your impact or to continue to increase your revenue and those people that you serve because that's part of your mission, then acquisitions are an easier way to grow. They're not an easy thing to do, but they're an instant growth. When you can acquire another organization, especially if there's two organizations that have complementary offers and they have different clientele, you can cross sell to those clientele. Anyway, it's something that we need to be thinking of. And I believe strongly, as we can see with our clients, eight deals on the go, that there's opportunity for acquisition. And let's start having conversations with people out there. I know for me, I'm constantly on broker lists, call constantly for my clients. For me, looking at it and saying, if there's an opportunity for a really great acquisition, now would be a good time. We see the economies upswinging, interest rates are dropping. Now's a good time to start thinking about borrowing money at variable rates, because the rates are going to continue to come down. And once they get down to the bottom, we'll maybe lock into some fixed rates. So a lot of positive things are happening in there. Plus the opportunity, because people have had a beating over the last couple years. We've all felt it. You know, the economy has been a little bit tighter than what we would like and inflation has caused some headaches. Employee issues, right? Being able to attract new talent across the board in all industries has been a challenge. So let's look at 2025 and then the employee issue seems to have switched. Now their unemployment rate is higher, which means our available pool for employees is growing across all industries as well. So look at acquisitions, look at growth. Get ready, get positioned to take advantage of the opportunity that lies ahead. So that is going to be number one. Number two, the number two emerging trend, and it's been the talk of 2024, maybe even 2023, is the introduction and implementation into all of our businesses of AI solutions. Right. Artificial intelligence is here, the tools are here. And you know what? So a friend of mine, I'm going to call him a friend because we've had multiple interactions and he's been on the podcast and we got to connect down in Texas and have a few good chats and our businesses do some really great collaboration together is Jack. Jack is the CEO of Clio. And Clio is the largest worldwide valuation of a law focused tech company and which I think just had a three or four billion dollars valuation on nasdaq. And anyway, it was very exciting. They raised a bunch of capital. And, and when we were down at the Clio Con event this past year in October, Jack talked about the implementation of AI in the legal space. And you know, a lot of professionals such as me, is that AI could be replacing some of us as professionals. And we've been waiting to see sort of how that trend was going to evolve over the last couple years. And Jack came out with data this year, which was really interesting, and we looked into it as well. And it seems very representative of almost every industry that AI is not going to replace any business for the most part, specifically the legal side, other professional services, anything where you're delivering really a solution that requires people and any form of customization or advice or anything like that, it's not going to eliminate people. But the firms and the businesses that are utilizing AI and implementing it into their business, they will replace people who are ignoring it. And I think this was really good advice for everybody. So yes, you know, you might not be looking at AI to replace your employees. So really great example is, you know, new AI for client service and communication on the front end. I can do a lot of what maybe a front desk person could do or a client service person could do, but people aren't necessarily looking to eliminate those roles, they're looking to augment those roles and create a better experience for customers, create more skills and resources for their client service team to be more successful. Right. That's what a strong, progressive business is looking to do. Not to eliminate people, but how to use these tools to make a better result for their clients, their customers, their business, their employees. And that the company is innovative and on the cutting edge. And I truly believe that if you're not at least considering AI tools that are available for you in your business, you're going to be left behind. And I think, you know, as a second emerging trend in 2025, that you need to be thinking about is including AI in your ongoing goals, implementation and some of your plan as well, you know, So a really great example of this is, and it's kind of freaky, I got to tell you, but we've got a coaching program called the Wealthy Entrepreneur we, which essentially helps business owners understand how to map out their goals, create a pathway to success. It's also got a community where like minded entrepreneurs can share their wins, their losses in a space that is very supportive and collaborative, helping learn from each other, but also being able to celebrate that win where maybe sometimes business owners just can't do that. So in this Wealthy entrepreneur group, they've created AI Bob and that's where I'm going. It's kind of freaky because AI Bob is essentially taking all of the trainings, podcast recordings, everything that I've done over the last five to seven years, because we've been doing this for quite some time. Specifically, not, not necessarily the podcast, which is coming up to two years here in the next couple months, but all of our online recordings, they've uploaded those. So when people ask questions, they get an immediate response from AI Bob, who has got all of the libraries of all my trainings and teachings over the last seven years. That's not replacing me. I still need to come up with the new trainings, the new techniques, but what it does is it gives an instant answer with all of the data that I know, which is pretty cool. So instead of us emailing back and forth internally to say who's going to be the person, the expert who can answer these questions, AI Bob is coming up with these solutions for people instantaneously, and it's really, really powerful. So that's one method of AI. We're introducing AI in a lot of our marketing and coming up with ideas to present. We put in, you know, maybe some of our comments help support us writing detailed articles with details and data that we're providing. AI is really there to help augment and really eliminate some of the heavy lifting from an administrative side and deliver a better experience to, you know, our clients and our team. So make sure that whatever you're doing, you're including AI in your plans for 2025. Emerging trend number three, sustainability. This has been something, a topic for years. Not only just the sustainability from a waste reduction and environmental standpoint, but a sustainability of our business practices focusing on waste reduction and, and lack of waste, for sure, whether it's an environmental or a resource waste, but sustainable practices that continue to focus on creating efficiency in our business and maybe leaving the world, the actual green space in our world, a little bit more in a better place. So something to be thinking about there. Customers are looking for it. You know, people are more so conscious about how the world's working, looking at sustainable practices, how we can help support that and help our business make the world a better place. Really, ultimately, if we're looking to make an impact, we might be looking to do it in certain ways. But sustainability is definitely something that people are aligning over and have a really shared sense of purpose. So let's make sure that we're thinking about sustainability and how that works. And another one here, customized learning and skills development platforms. You know what, this is so important. And I would say, you know, one of the things that we've done over the last few years has been really successful. And this is based on feedback from our teams, our new employees, the onboarding process of bringing new team members on, which we're constantly trying to make better, right? Like it's, it's very, very good. We get, you know, 10 out of 10 feedback, but there's always ways that we can continue to evolve this and stay ahead of it too. So which is really, really great. One of the areas is to create, you know, an online learning platform. So all of the trainings that I do, getting our team access to that, you know, people who want to learn, want to better themselves, want to continue to progress through the organization, create a platform and a plan for them to continue to progress. And I'll take this one step farther and say, not only do we have to have a learning and development platform available, but we should be, and this is a trend with employees. We should be looking at how we can incorporate a progression and, and a career tracking map for our employees. What do they actually want to accomplish? Do they want to be the CEO one day? You know, what does it take to be a CEO from being, you know, an entry level employee? What skills, what resources do they need access to? You know, what roles do they need to advance through? What does that progression look like? Because I got to tell you, this generation that's coming into the workforce, they want this, this is important. And then not only do we create this career progression, we're giving them the skills, the resources, the learning, the development, but we're also going to mentor them. They want some time and attention with somebody who cares about them. They really want to know that you care. And this isn't just this next generation. All people want to be cared for, right? As leaders of an organization, how we're going to show more interest in our team, show them that we care for them, to show them that they can trust us, build that trusting relationship that we're all in this together. Invest in them, you know, invest in the time that it takes in order to have those conversations, Give constant feedback, right? These are very important things that we need to be taking advantage of and implementing. And when I say take advantage, I mean like these tactics are available. Let's implement them so that we can create a better workplace for all. And then lastly, I'm going to talk about the employment situation overall. So the last year or so has been a spot where it's definitely been an employee market, right? Where the employee shortage has been well felt overwhelmingly in all industries. And I can speak specifically for mine right now where you've got some of the big four firms, right? Some of the largest corporations in the world, which are like the KPMG, Deloitte, ENY, PwC, they've got hundreds of millions of employees around the world. And these large organizations are doing work for a lot of the other large organizations. Consulting, tax work, assurance work. They're helping them go public. They're reporting, yada, yada, yada, as the economy has struggled, a lot of those businesses have struggled. As the market shrinks, so too to the services that are required for these people. So these big four firms are starting to have mass layoffs. I believe one of them announced a few weeks ago, 7% of their employees, 7% of hundreds of millions of employees just got laid off because the economy is struggling and the lack of work is, is becoming very well known. So this is, that's my space where all of a sudden we've got this massive influx in available resources and skilled resources at big, well trained firms. That puts me in more of an employer situation versus an employee position. Right. So an employer position means that we've got access to multiple resources, multiple employees, and we get to pick from some of the top talent to bring out and find the best solution. But this is something I want to talk to you and it's not necessarily an emerging trend, but it's something that I want you to incorporate into 2025 for your business is proactive hiring solutions. So a few years ago we got into a position where if employees were getting ready to leave, if they were, and if one left, I had a really tough time replacing and finding somebody. And typically it was very reactive. You know, if an employee was going, yeah, we've got, we're moving and we don't want to work in a remote environment. We want to be in person. It was really hard to find a replacement for them. One thing we did, which I will share with you, is that we opened up the remote working environment more so for senior level people. Senior level people we were hiring in a remote environment because they could work independently. They had the experience and the knowledge they needed. They didn't need a lot of ongoing support that worked fairly well. But let's move from being in a reactive employer position to a proactive employer situation. So this is looking at our goals, looking at our plans, what is going to be needed to happen, what are the sort of trends in our business? We should always be recruiting and looking for people who could fit positions that may or may not be available in our business. I'll give you one rule example in our business, bookkeepers. Bookkeepers are definitely tough to find. Good ones. Now our team is stacked with excellent bookkeepers. But because there's so many people who call themselves bookkeepers out there, we need to spend a lot of time to find the right ones. So what we've done, instead of being reactive and finding somebody that takes a lot of time, after somebody were maybe to depart or we were to ask them to depart, we've now proactively created a bench of qualified candidates that are available. So we're always pre recruiting so that we've got candidates available that if positions are open, that we have these qualified candidates so that we're on demand, ready to be able to do that. What it also does is it gives the employer right, our business owners puts us in a position of power instead of weakness. And so that if we're having any challenges with employees or if employees are pushing back on, you know, their responsibilities, we've got other qualified candidates who could come in and take over that role pretty quickly. Right. So what it does is it forces accountability amongst our team to make sure that they're not taking advantage of the employer. And so proactiveness in the recruiting process, I think is something that we all need to be thinking about, we need to be doing. And especially now that we're going into this space where there's an abundance of people and resources that should be becoming available, we're starting to see it. With the unemployment rate being higher, let's proactively get out there. Let's find some people. If we're looking to grow because this is going to be a time of, of growth and opportunity, let's start looking at the people we might find, the right people that can help support us to get to the next level of growth within our team. Okay, I'm going to leave it there. So this has really been talking about the top five entrepreneurial trends heading into 2025. I hope this has been extremely valuable. This is something that we think about all the time. We incorporate into our planning for 2025. You should be too, if you want to take your business to the next level. These are the kinds of things that we need to be incorporating. So just as a bit of a recap, if I can remember correctly, talking about acquisitions was the first one. It's grow time. Let's get ready. Let's start planning our 2025. If you haven't done that, start thinking about it and let's think about acquisitions. Maybe not just acquiring a business, but acquiring new markets. Let's get maybe a little bit more aggressive with our marketing, a little bit more spending on our marketing because now we can capture more market share. People are, are struggling. People are in a position that they maybe want to close up shop. So let's, let's look about maybe acquiring those businesses or acquiring the markets that they serve. Number two, incorporating AI. I think enough said. Again, I don't feel like if AI, ultimately, I feel like AI is not going to eliminate jobs. It's not going to eliminate job businesses, not to the extent that, you know, was once thought, but more so if you're not incorporating AI into your business, you will have other businesses who are, that will eliminate you. So it's important to be aware of how it can help support. You can't turn a blind eye to it. You've got to Incorporate it into your business because it is going to be a strategic tool that can take you to the next level. Sustainability. Talking about how we can continue to create sustainable solutions, controls, processes in our business to make sure that we have consistency, sustainability as a business practice, but also sustainability from an environmental standpoint. How we align people, creating a better world for everybody, maybe even having a positive impact on the green space in our land as well. That's a sustainable or as a Trend heading into 25 customized learning and skills development for employees. They want to have a career map. They want mentorship, they want training, they want resources to help them go from where they are now to their goals to their professional career goals. And we want to help map that out for them of where they want to get to and what it's going to take to get there. And then we want to support them along that journey. And it might not be, you know, this year, it might be a 10 year track record for them to get there, but they want to know what it's going to look like and what resources they have from the organization to support them. And then lastly is to get into a proactive hiring process versus a reactive hiring process. Let's build a bench of qualified candidates. Now that we're starting to get some available, let's look for them again. If we match this with opportunity that's available, this is something that we're going to be able to do that's going to help us proactively plan for growth as we head into 2025. Guys, I hope this has been extremely helpful. As you can tell, I'm pretty passionate about this sort of discussion about building and growth and what the future holds and how to plan for it. Because it's important if you want to be a wealthy entrepreneur and you want to achieve a certain level of success, we have to be thinking about these things at times like this and we also have to be planning our goals and what the next year looks like. If this has been value for valuable for you, make sure you hit like right. Follow us on whatever your platform is. Make sure that you're getting access to the next episode. Feel free to share this right Grab the copy link. Share it with somebody who you think. If you know a business owner that you think would be benefiting or could benefit from this, we would love to have that. Share it out. We're mission Our mission is to empower all entrepreneurs with the good information, good financial information to make a positive change in the world so the more people we can help, the better. Leave a comment if you have a question. If you have another emerging trend that you would like to share so that everybody else can can learn from your insights, please feel free to do so. Once again, we're really excited. I talked about our our Wealthy Entrepreneur Coaching program. Wealthy Entrepreneur Co is our website. Check it out. We would love for you to come in and join our coaching program. Obviously, govro, CPA CA is really here to help support you with any of your professional services. My name is Bob Govreau. I'm the founder of these organizations, the very proud founder of, and we're continuing to plan out what 2025 looks like for us, which is going to be full of growth and opportunity. You should be too. I look forward to seeing you next time. Once again, I'm Bob Groverow. Thanks for joining me. We'll see you next week.