One of the most important things we think the media can do is connect small business owners and creatives across industries and markets to give them an opportunity to learn form each other. The insights on trends in particular can be transformative if our communities were better connected and so we’ve tried to create a space where folks can share the trends they are seeing and read about trends other sharp entrepreneurs are seeing.

Mike Bloomfield

One of the biggest trends I’m seeing right now in the IT and cybersecurity world is the rapid integration of AI into both offensive and defensive strategies — and I mean that in every sense. On the one hand, AI has completely transformed how we protect our clients — from intelligent threat detection to automating routine security tasks. On the other hand, cybercriminals are using AI too, and that’s where things are getting scary fast. Read more>>

Melena Guevara

Honestly, we’re in a really interesting moment in the wedding industry. Couples are being more intentional than ever with their budgets, and that’s leading to a surge in DIY weddings, creative cost-cutting, and month-of coordination over full planning packages. People still want a beautiful, memorable celebration—but they don’t want to go into debt for it. That shift is reshaping everything. Read more>>

Tiffany Hu

In food and beverage, especially in concepts on the lower price range of the spectrum like cafes, coffee shops etc, it feels like there has been more and more a shift towards focusing solely on the product and transaction rather than also the environment and experience – the hospitality aspect, which goes hand in hand with the space you provide. It makes total sense given the high price tag of space, the lack of availability of spaces with small square footage (at least in Seattle), and the lack of flexibility or feasibility of operating a smaller space (even if you do find a smaller space, it may not actually save in costs if you need to do more custom wrangling in construction to make things work for permitting, and then less of the square footage ends up being “actively in use” eg for customer seating or for equipment / working space). Read more>>

Michael Watkins II

One of the biggest trends I’m seeing in the Pressure Washing marketing industry is the rise of AI-powered systems and automation, especially around lead follow-up, review generation, and customer reactivation. At The Code Chasers, we’ve been leaning hard into this because it’s not just a buzzword — it’s the future of scaling small home service businesses. Read more>>