SmartCompany’s summer reading guide

The summer break is a perfect time to relax, recharge and reflect on the year gone past and the year ahead. But we know what entrepreneurs are like – you’ll probably spend your holidays dreaming of a new product, rewriting your business plan and holdings networking events (other people call them barbecues) at your holiday house.

To help give you a bit of inspiration and brainfood for the break, we’ve prepared a summer reading guide. Many of the articles will give you insights about the coming year, but others are just thought provoking or entertainment.

Let’s start with five stories from SmartCompany that will help you hit the ground running after the break.

Sales expert and SmartCompany blogger Sue Barrett is one of Australia’s best sales writers, and her article The 12 sales trends of 2010 is one not to be missed. As companies seek to expand in 2010, effective sales strategies are going to be crucial, so start getting yours in place now.

Our Hot 30 Under 30 is always a great guide to the stars of the future, and this year’s list (published in May) was no exception. Study these names again over the break, check out their businesses and try and read the trends – these entrepreneurs could be your next competitors.

We know how much entrepreneurs love gadgets, and our Guide to the best gadgets of 2010 by our ace reporter Patrick Stafford has had owners and managers drooling over the last few weeks. Check it out again and get your wish list sorted out.

Now, we know the GFC seems like it was a long time ago now, but we shouldn’t forget that it’s been 12 months of trouble for many companies. With this in mind, it might be a good idea to go back and read our story 25 corporate collapses – and the lessons learnt. Dodge these common mistakes – too much debt, poor financial reporting and too great a reliance on a few customers – and you won’t end up a casualty next time around.

If you’re wondering how to shape your business plan for 2010, then you must check out the best forecasts from our economists. AMP Capital Investors economist Shane Oliver recaps 2009 and looks forward at the big trends in 2010 in his piece The recovery year, while Craig James sums up The Big Issues in 2010 in his insightful piece.

Finally, don’t miss SmartCompany’s predictions for 2010, in this special chat between our founder Amanda Gome and that devilishly handsome editor James Thomson. The economy, politics, growth and the skills shortages are on our list of big issues for next year.

Looking further afield and there are a plethora of great stories looking at the top trends for 2010 across a range of sectors.

The explosion of social media has been one of the biggest business stories this year, and in this blog from Harvard Business Review, social media expert David Armano looks at six trends for next year. The most interesting snippet? Social networks have become so cluttered that the push to develop niche networks will quickly emerge.

Along similar lines, Mashable founder and CEO Pete Cashmore has listed his 10 biggest web trends for 2010 at CNN.com. The general theme is personalisation – web services will become more relevant to a user’s location, their personal tastes and personal location. It’s worth thinking about how your business can adapt to this customisation push.

We’re also entering a new decade come January 1, which has allowed a number of publications to put together “best of the decade lists”. One we particularly liked was the entrepreneurs of the decade piece from Inc., which places Apple’s Steve Jobs on a pedestal.

And while you’re on Inc., check out their story Five ways to actually make money on Twitter for some more social media food to thought.

Time Magazine‘s website is a great place to go for a whole slew of best and worst lists – check out the top 10 of everything in 2009 page and marvel at the big hits and misses of 2010. Check out the list of the 50 top inventions of 2009 for some inspiration, the top 10 internet blunders for some words of warning and the list of 25 world-changing companies and consumers for some fresh ways of looking at business.

And if you’ve got time, check out their list of the best photos of 2009 for a pictorial recap of the year that was.

Finally, if you want to check out some of the best business writing of 2009, don’t miss Michael Lewis’ great piece on Iceland’s economic collapse and Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi’s controversial piece on Goldman Sachs.

If you haven’t read it before, check out Lewis’ piece The End, which is perhaps the best story we’ve seen on how dodgy home loans in American created a full blown crisis. As a piece of business writing, it’s as good as you’ll read.

And finally, if you’re taking your laptop away to a remote place this Christmas without internet access, why not download SmartCompany’s latest eBook 101 tips for your business in 2010.