Small Business Labs

APRIL 25, 2017

This makes direct selling a relatively bright sector of the retail industry.   A couple of other interesting data points on the direct selling industry are women make up 77% of sellers and wellness products are driving the growth of the industry (see chart below; click to enlarge). billion to $36.1

Purchasing 162

Purchasing 2010 AT&T UPS 162

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 6, 2014

Interesting study from Accenture on how the industrial internet is changing the competitive landscape of industries.   Accenture defines the industrial internet as the combination of Big Data analytics with the Internet of Things. Eighty-seven percent believe it will have that power within three years.

100

100

Small Business Labs

JUNE 2, 2017

The Ideas Industry  is an interesting look at how the marketplace for ideas is shifting due to the emergence of for-profit think tanks and ideas entrepreneurs. The book reaches no firm conclusions whether or not the evolution of the ideas industry and the rise of for-profits is good or bad.

Goals 113

Goals Policies UPS 113

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Last week the Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) released The Human Cloud, the Gig Economy & the Transformation of Work. It nicely covers the topics mentioned in the report title.

2016 160

2016 Networking Management 160

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 11, 2018

The Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) recently released their U.S. Gig Economy - 2018 Edition report. They found that about 48 million Americans are in the gig economy, which is 31% of the workforce. They also found about 13.7 million Americans are human cloud workers. 

2018 157

2018 157

Small Business Labs

JULY 17, 2017

This goes back to the early days of the direct selling industry in the late 1950's and early 60's. At that time the industry specifically targeted women as the market and women as sellers. The direct selling industry long ago discovered there is demand for highly flexible, low friction work.

2016 150

2016 AT&T Stress Skills 150

Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Two companies that connect artisan makers with retailers and customers announced large funding rounds last week. The wholesale marketplace Faire raised $100 million while the wholesale and licensing business Minted said they raised $208 million.

2008 216

2008 UPS 216

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

  That both Upwork and Fiverr have reached the size and scale to go public shows the maturation and growing importance of the online talent marketplace industry. .  Upwork competitor Fiverr is also considering going public. 

2018 153

2018 2016 2017 Filing 153

Small Business Labs

JULY 5, 2018

Crunchbase's  Investors Unleash Millions Into Pet-Tech Startups covers the surge in pet industry venture funding over the past 5 years. The pet industry continues to grow and the pet humanization trend continues to get stronger as pet obsessed Millennials pamper their pets even more than older generations.

2018 124

2018 2012 124

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 27, 2021

Which is good news, because housing is an industry in need of innovation.   .   As Axios's 3D-printed houses poised to go mainstream points out, multiple companies are pursuing this opportunity.   

2022 28

2022 28

Small Business Labs

MARCH 9, 2017

This means few, if any, industries won't become part of the on-demand economy. Also notice professional services are going on-demand with on-demand lawyers and architects in the list. The bottom line is consumers and businesses are increasingly looking for on-demand delivery of goods and services.

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133

Small Business Labs

JULY 29, 2021

Regular readers know we like both new buzzwords and pet trends here at Small Business Labs. So it's no surprise we enjoyed Wunderman Thompson's article On-Demand Pet Care , which is a pet trends article (it covers new on-demand pet services) and has two buzzwords that are new to us - petrenthood and petriarcy.

143

143

Small Business Labs

JUNE 17, 2014

The 1st Annual Local-Mobile Workspace-as-an-Industry conference was recently held in San Jose. The workspace-as-a-service industry includes office business centers, coworking facilities, incubators and other shared office environments and services. I'm looking forward to next year's event. Coworking'

2013 100

2013 Environment 100

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 21, 2021

.   In fact, there are ecosystem companies in almost every industry and most have SMBs and independent workers as important ecosystem partners.      The rise of ecosystem companies is one of the drivers behind the shift to barbell industry structures.     

Facebook 267

Facebook Google Management 267

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 25, 2015

The 3D printing industry is at an interesting point, with both good and bad news coming out on a regular basis. But even as it slumps a bit, there's still a lot enthusiasm around the 3D printing industry and no change in the view 3D will eventually fundamentally change how things are made.

UPS 100

UPS Google 100

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 18, 2015

TrueBridge Capital Partners recently released a report on the State of the Venture Capital Industry. The large funds are able to do this because they are garnering a larger share of industry assets. The venture capital industry has been going through a lot of change over the past decade. A couple of charts jumped out at me.

2001 100

2001 2014 2013 Management 100

Small Business Labs

JUNE 9, 2015

In response to this problem a rapidly growing industry focused on providing skills training and job placement has emerged. Expect to see this industry continue to expand in the coming years. Add in a growing reluctance by corporations to train their staff and the mismatch becomes even clearer.

Training 100

Training Skills Interviewing AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 22, 2016

The Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA)  recently released a study showing that nearly  30% of the U.S. Staffing Industry Analysts describes the latter as “human cloud workers.” workforce are gig workers. This works out to be about 44 million Americans. They also found that contingent workers represented $792.4

2016 100

2016 Management 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 13, 2020

One reason for this view is almost all industries are being negatively impacted by the recession. This index is calculated by adding the percentage of industries with employment increasing plus one-half of the industries with unchanged employment.   This means almost every industry lost jobs in April. . 

Restaurants 260

Restaurants 260

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 1, 2015

"Big Three" strategy consulting firm Bain and Company is forecasting the 3D printing industry will continue its rapid growth and reach $12.5 billion in revenue in 2018. The chart below, taken from a Bain infographic on 3D printing , illustrates this growth.

2018 100

2018 100

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

is formed in a niche market that may appear unattractive or inconsequential to industry incumbents, but eventually the new product or idea completely redefines the industry. When we first started tracking coworking back in 2007 we thought it had the potential to disrupt the commercial office space industry.

2015 231

2015 2007 2008 2011 231

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 31, 2021

  The online game industry is also promoting the metaverse.   While most of the current metaverse hype is around its use by consumers, there's also a growing array of industrial applications.  Facebook's video below provides more details on the virtual conference room.   

Facebook 50

Facebook Social Media Collaborate Promotion 50

Small Business Labs

APRIL 22, 2019

Over 500 attendees showed up to discuss the state of the coworking industry and learn from one another. It was clear from the discussions and presentations that the state of the coworking industry is excellent. And now there's a coworking option for this industry.  The 2019 U.S.

2019 214

2019 Learning UPS 214

Small Business Labs

JUNE 24, 2020

Not surprisingly, the largest drops in hours worked were in firms in the leisure and entertainment, beauty and personal care, and bars and restaurant industries. .  Hours worked since then have recovered, but as of early June were still 35.9% below pre-pandemic levels.

Restaurants 288

Restaurants Policies Interviewing 288

Small Business Labs

APRIL 2, 2018

We refer to this as a barbell industry structure , which we cover in more detail in our Industry Structure section. .  It's also an example of small firms thriving despite having to compete with global giants, such as Amazon.

2017 189

2017 2009 Stress 189

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 6, 2020

Most (52 percent) are also reporting they plan on visiting fewer locations but spending more time at each stop, which is consistent with trends in the travel industry as a whole. Instead, a resounding majority (76 percent) of American digital nomads are exploring the U.S. Relatedly, 41 percent report they are spending less time traveling.

2019 327

2019 2020 Travel International 327

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

The K-shape is driven, in part, because industries that employ high percentages of low and moderate wage jobs are not recovering as quickly as other industries.   One reason it will be both is the k-shaped jobs and industry recovery will keep the overall economy from fully recovering quickly.     . 

AT&T 215

AT&T 215

Small Business Labs

MARCH 6, 2018

There have been a number of recent articles pointing out that despite having to compete with several giant beer companies, the craft brewing industry has dramatically expanded over the past decade. We even featured the industry in a 2008 research report, The New Artisan Economy,  which we did with Intuit.

2008 174

2008 Equipment Goals Skills 174

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 25, 2021

This year’s report also includes 21 exclusive predictions from leading experts across industries to mark 2021. Each includes  an original   analysis of why it matters for the organizations whose products and services we use daily. As with past years, the 2021 report is beautifully produced and long - over 200 pages.  

2021 266

2021 Agencies Finance Travel 266

Small Business Labs

APRIL 11, 2019

Most revenue estimates for the podcast industry continue to be small - ranging from $500 - $700 million in 2018. But as the TechCrunch article Y Combinator Bets on the Booming Podcast Industry points out, revenues are expected to rapidly increase.  The use of internet audio in cars has become easier and more widespread.

2019 183

2019 2018 AT&T 183

Small Business Labs

MAY 18, 2021

The industry with the highest number of applications in April was retail trade, with 96,000 applications.     This same shift to solopreneur firm applications is occurring in most industries.    This is a bit more than twice the rate of retail trade business applications prior to COVID-19.

2003 175

2003 2007 Forms 175

Small Business Labs

APRIL 7, 2020

Based on an industry by industry analysis (1), our base case estimate is 21% of U.S.    Notes: (1) Our analysis looked at industry level historical closure rates (see the U.S. Morgan Chase Institute's study Cash is King: Flows, Balances, and Buffer Days is a good source for cash balance data by industry). 

2015 190

2015 Restaurants Retirement Travel 190

Small Business Labs

APRIL 1, 2019

CreditUnions.com's article 3 Ways to Connect Through Coworking Spaces provides an excellent example of how coworking is spreading across industry verticals and niche markets.   So it's no surprise the industry is starting to extend their community efforts by embracing coworking.  

Learning 213

Learning 213

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 16, 2021

According to the industrial firm Honeywell, which makes parts for aircraft, the urban air mobility market is expected to be worth about $120 billion in 2030. Their primary target market is urban air taxi services and they claim they're going to build and operate a commercial fleet of air taxis by 2024.

2024 253

2024 253

Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 18, 2017

  We are projecting continued rapid growth over the next 5 years, although slower than the industry's recent dizzying pace. The interest and involvement by these firms will help drive demand for the coworking industry. We recently released our new coworking forecast for 2018-2022. 

2022 213

2022 2017 2018 International 213

Small Business Labs

JUNE 8, 2021

  It's targeted at the travel industry and how it can better support the needs of digital nomads.  Another interesting article on digital nomads is Work and Wander: What Today’s Digital Nomads Signal for the Future of Travel , from Adventure Travel News. 

Travel 266

Travel 2021 2020 AT&T 266

Small Business Labs

MAY 23, 2016

The Coworking Industry is an interesting white paper by coworking industry veteran Drew Jones, who is a partner in the boutique coworking consultancy OpenWork.   The key reason for this is the real estate industry and corporate America are starting to adopt coworking.

AT&T 180

AT&T Management UPS 180