James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » I like to think that I have consistantly been 'ahead of my time' calling myself a prophet is perhaps looking for 'comment' but due to my networks I have usually been involved in lobbying the people who write policy. The fact is that markets and legislation dictate most of our lives and indeed business opportunities.....how do I turn strong perceptions about the future to turn into profitable business in a recession?
In the rest of this blog I want to look at the dynamics of futuring and the role of entrepreneurs in getting the economy going again. What is needed now is the new normality I talked about a year ago....in fact here in the north east I think we are well placed to turn some futuring into reality. So having transformed my farm using my propecy what next I hear you ask?
So what does the future hold....I've just poured my wife and I some sloe gin we made in 2004, it is more likely to make you forget the past than see the future so I'll crack this article off before the alcohol impacts on my efficacy!
I have heard the phrase this week in relation to political correctness that the past is another land, well I think the future certainly is! So how can anyone of us react to the millions of bits of information we come across I am eceptionally lucky in that I have had access to people in society who know what makes there bit of society ticks, academics, politicians, business owners, professionals. The next jump is the big one, listen to your inner voice and have conviction to go in new directions, I have said a number of times since the recession that the hippies had a number of things right, festivals, good ice cream, sustainability .
So how does one make money from knowing the future...okay then I'm not Darren Brown and having the Lotto numbers is of course a dead cert but there is another conflicting issue going on here that is best summarised by the phrase 'The second mouse gets the cheese' what I mean by this is that without sufficient resource the pioneer often does not see the benefits, the UK has seen plenty inventors who failed to make the money from there intellectual endeavours. I am determined not to do this in the three areas I have committed my life to food, water and energy.
So as an entrepreneur I would encourage other entrepreneurs to join me in designing a future and marching there and then shouting to the rest of society so they know where we are. Profit should never be the be all and end all and frankly entrepreneurs are mainly driven by the creativity of the opportunity.....but of course the money is the key to playing on the pitch so life is easier when ideas turn into profit and I have become more focused on this recently. In a recession the social duty is to harness your skills to help people and with tax revenues down 25% we certainly need tax payers right now. So with that I am off to sharpen my business plans, water, heat and food - Maslow would be proud!
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