U.S. small businesses added 382,000 new employees and spent 86-Billion Dollars on information-technology products and services alone over the past 12 months. Spending on IT services increased 11%.

While technology does reduce or eliminate the need for some jobs, products, and services, it creates new needs for new and different jobs, products and services. And one of the unreported shifts in business thanks to both technology and outsourcing is the liberation of time and money to invest in new and additional opportunities.

No business change is ever a one way street, not even the outsourcing of certain jobs overseas.

Also, you may have heard how bad summer theater attendance was, how far ‘off’ movie sales are –- but behind the curtain, the movie makers and the entertainment conglomerates are thriving, as the movie’s profit itself grows less and less important, but is the centerpiece around which many profit centers revolve, such as paid product placements and advertising revenues, DVD sales, foreign rights sales, merchandise licensing, and more. (For fantastic business lessons and secrets from the movie industry, read the book The Big Picture.)

It is this way with many businesses, and the way a lot of business news is reported…we hear a piece of “bad news” out of the context of the complete picture, which when seen in totality, is quite good.

In this column of the blog, I’ll continually take you behind the curtain, and give you economic news you usually won’t hear on CNN or read in USA TODAY. It’s a mystery, that the media, dependent on support from advertisers, often reports economic news with a negative perspective – but it does.

Try this ‘how’s the economy doing?’ test:

Go to a mid-price, chain restaurant on a Friday night and judge how busy the place is, how long the wait is. A few chains have had slight dips in sales in the recent quarter to full year, which they tend to blame on high gas prices. However, almost all are still expanding, opening new outlets, or acquiring smaller chains.

Finally, a study by the Rand Public Interest Group of television and newspaper reporting of major economic news and trends in 2004 found that more than 3,000 news items indicative of positive trends with regard to economic growth, jobs growth, inflation, etc. were either under-reported (by comparison to coverage given negative reports of comparable significance) or not reported at all.

So be very careful who you listen to, what you watch and more importantly, what you choose to believe, because things ARE lookin’ up!

Don’t let the media fool you. There is more opportunity now than ever – 2006 can be YOUR year, if you make it happen!

To Your Success,

Chris 🙂

P.S. – Be sure to click “COMMENTS” below and post your thoughts!

(Sources: (a) AMI-Partners research study, IT industry, 05. (b) SmallBusinessComputing.com)