Small Business Labs

JULY 19, 2021

Sometimes we post articles on topics few people are interested in.  This is such an article.   But you should be interested because the economic and labor data collected by government agencies no longer provide the information we need to properly understand and manage the U.S. economy. Over the past week several sources explained the problems with government data collection efforts and made suggestions on how to improve them.

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Small Business Labs

JULY 7, 2021

May was yet another banner month for new business applications.  As the U.S. Census chart below shows (click to enlarge), 500,219 business applications were filed in May.  This was the second highest number of applications filed since this data was first collected in 2005. The recent surge in applications started last summer in July when a record 551,000 business applications were filed.   The surge has, so far, continued in 2021.

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Small Business Labs

MAY 27, 2021

Deloitte and the MIT Sloan Management Review recently released Workforce Ecosystems: A New Strategic Approach to the Future of Work.    This research study found that most executives and managers today "consider employees and other workers who create value for the enterprise — including contractors, service providers, gig workers, and even software bots — to be part of their workforce." They also found about 1/3rd (34%) of the firms surveyed plan to increase their use of exte

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Small Business Labs

MAY 25, 2021

Data from the IRS shows that sole proprietor small businesses spent $69.2 billion on contract labor in 2018 (the most recent data available).  Contract labor refers to nonemployee labor, such as freelancers, gig workers, etc. This is up from $64.8 billion in 2017 and just $34.4 billion in 2010. Over the period from 2010 to 2018, contract labor spend by sole proprietors increased by an annual growth rate of 9.1%.

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Small Business Labs

MAY 18, 2021

The new business application surge, which started last summer , continued in April, with about 488,000 applications submitted.   This data comes from the U.S. Census' Business Formation Statistics and based on IRS Employment Identification Numbers (EIN) applications.   Most of the applications are what the Census calls "applications other than high propensity" (grey in the chart; click to enlarge).  These are applications from businesses that are unlikel

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 26, 2021

Apple recently announced AirTags , which they describe as: AirTag is a supereasy way to keep track of your stuff. Attach one to your keys, slip another in your backpack. And just like that, they’re on your radar in the Find My app, where you can also track down your Apple devices and keep up with friends and family. These use a wireless communications technology called ultra wideband, or UWB.   Like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, ultra-wideband is a short-range, wireless communication protocol

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Small Business Labs

MARCH 9, 2021

The Creator Economy - the economic activity generated by the people who create online digital content and the firms that serve them - is a hot topic in tech circles.  And one of the hottest creator economy topics is NFTs.  These are non-fungible tokens.   The reason they're hot is they provide a way to make money selling digital content.

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 28, 2021

The number of people who have side hustles (also called side gigs) has been growing rapidly over the past 5 years.   The reasons for this growth - and how to start and run a side gig - are nicely explained in CNBC's extensive field guide The Ultimate Side Hustle Guide. Key quote on why more people are starting side gigs: "Starting a side business is one of the smartest financial moves you can make right now.

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 25, 2021

The 2021 edition of the annual Wunderman Thompson Future 100 report was released last year.  It's one of our favorite trend reports.  Here's how Wunderman Thompson, a global advertising and marketing agency, describes the report: The Future 100: Trends and Change to Watch in 2021   highlights  emerging consumer  behaviors  with 100 trend predictions from Wunderman Thompson Intelligence.

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Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 17, 2020

One of the clearest findings of the decade-long MBO Partners State of Independence study is full-time Independent workers (freelancers, independent contractors, the self-employed) consistently report that they believe they're happier and healthier because they are independent workers. In 2020, 83 percent of full-time independents said they are "happier working on my own," and 71 percent said that "working on my own is better for my health." These results are not surprising.

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Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 15, 2020

Last week, MBO Partners released its 10th annual report in the MBO Partners State of Independence research series. Emergent Research (that's us) worked with MBO Partners on this ongoing study across all 10 years. The research was based on surveys of over 23,000 independent workers, gig workers, and micro-business owners and was augmented by 1,500 in-person interviews throughout the decade.  Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be highlighting some of the key findings and insights f

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Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 26, 2020

One of the more interesting findings of the MBO Partners 2020 Digital Nomad study is the large number of Americans who aren't currently digital nomads who say they want to be. Key quote from Bloomberg's When You Can’t Work From Barcelona, Boulder Might Do , which covers the study: " there is a massive and growing reserve army of digital-nomad wannabes — people who tell the survey-takers they’re planning on going nomadic in the next two or three years, or at least thinking about it.&#

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Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Marriott's Taking Pause: How Slow Travel Is Changing the Way We Explore takes a look at the "slow travel" trend. Slow travel, which is considered an offshoot of the slow food movement , focuses on spending more time in fewer places.   Instead of attempting to squeeze as many sights or cities as possible into their trips, the slow traveler explores a destination and experiences the local culture.  The slow travel trend has been around for years, but prior to the COVI

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Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

A recent study by Colliers , a global real estate services company, found that 83% of those working from home due to COVID-19 would prefer to continue doing so after the pandemic ends. As the study chart below shows (click to enlarge), 45% said they'd like to work from home 1-2 days per week. Only 15% said they'd like to work from home full time.

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Small Business Labs

AUGUST 25, 2020

The U.S. Census started a COVID-19 impact survey back in April to measure how the pandemic was impacting small businesses.  The weekly surveys ran until the end of June. Unfortunately, the pandemic wasn't over by then.  But after skipping 6 weeks, they're back  with what they are calling phase 2 of the surveys. Things haven't improved much over the 6-week layoff according to the small businesses surveyed - 34% of the respondents said the pandemic has had a large neg

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Small Business Labs

JULY 20, 2020

Last week we had an article on U.S. Census data showing a big uptick in the number of Americans who are self-employed.   s It's likely this increase is caused by people who have lost their jobs turning to self-employment.   Because of this, we found the recent MBO Partners' blog post How to Become a Consultant: 5 Steps to Starting Right to be very timely.

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Small Business Labs

JULY 13, 2020

According to U.S. Census data, the number of white Americans fell by close to 100,000 in 2016 and continued falling in 2017 and 2018.   As the Brookings' chart on this data below (click to enlarge) shows, the white population change in the U.S. has been declining for several decades.  But in the last 3 years, it fell. Key quote from the Brookings report on this data :  An important finding in the new census data is the decline of the nationwide white population for th

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 25, 2020

Regular readers know we cover retirement and the financial lives of baby boomers a lot here at Small Business Labs.  The reason is older Americans have the highest rate of self-employment of any age group. So if more people retire later and work longer than in the past, the more self-employed there will be.   Transamerica's Retirement Security Amid COVID-19: The Outlook of Three Generations study covers a wide range of topics and is loaded with interesting data.

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Small Business Labs

MAY 13, 2020

Yesterday we covered a series of recent articles saying it will take 2-3 years for the economy to recover to pre-pandemic levels. One reason for this view is almost all industries are being negatively impacted by the recession. Illustrating this is the BLS's employment diffusion index. This index is calculated by adding the percentage of industries with employment increasing plus one-half of the industries with unchanged employment.

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 27, 2020

It’s clear remote work, and especially working from home , are trends that are being amplified and accelerated by the COVID 19 pandemic and related economic shutdown.   But one group of remote workers are mostly not benefiting from the pandemic - digital nomads.    These are people who embrace a location-independent, technology-enabled lifestyle that allows them to travel and work remotely, anywhere in the world that has decent Internet connections.  But being nomad

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Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

The San Diego Union Tribune's Would you live in a van? Two San Diego women launch startup for boho traveler movement covers a new app - conveniently called The VanLife App - targeted at VanLife nomads. The article provides a good description of VanLife: "For those who haven’t heard of it, “vanlife” refers to a recent bohemian trend of people buying cargo vans, old ambulances, school buses and other boxy vehicles, and converting them into livable apartments on wheels (think of it as a do-

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Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

OK, it's well known that Internet advertising has been growing rapidly.  But even knowing that, the chart below (click to enlarge) is still stunning.   The chart is from Adage's Marketing Fact Pack 2020 and shows that the internet's share of U.S. ad spending has increased from just 6.4% in 2006 to over 50% in 2020 and is forecast to reach 60% in 2022.

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 27, 2020

California's new gig economy law, AB5, is not being well received by independent creative professionals.  Freelance writers, musicians, actors, artists, and other creative professionals are finding the new law is damaging their livelihoods. Indie musicians are a good example. Key quote from the musician's Change.org anti-AB5 petition : AB5 will have a devastating and catastrophic impact on independent musicians, their livelihoods and the music industry in general in California.

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 13, 2020

Quibi is a startup entertainment company that has raised $1.4 billion in venture funding to build a new content streaming service designed exclusively for mobile devices.  Founded by Hollywood titan Jeffrey Katzenberg and led by CEO Meg Whitman, a Silicon Valley titan, the company has additional star power because of who they've signed up to provide content.  According to TechCrunch : "Quibi has attracted big-name talent to help kick off its first year, including Academy Awar

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Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 22, 2019

We'll be back in 2020.

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Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 16, 2019

Quartz’s members-only article (meaning you have to be a paying subscriber to see it) The stars, teams, and investors turning esports into big business nicely covers the rise of esports. Key quote: “Tens of millions of viewers are tuning in to watch other people play video games competitively, and it’s becoming big business …  it is creating a new kind of sports star, and both the gaming industry and professional sports franchises have taken notice.”.

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Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 1, 2019

MetLife recently released The Gig Economy: Opportunities, Challenges, and Employer Strategies. Key quote from the study press release : The report’s findings demonstrate the fundamental impact gig work is having on the American workforce in the changing work-life world, as employees are increasingly drawn to the allure of flexibility, autonomy and desire for purpose in their work.

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Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

According to a survey from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling , military service members and their spouses are turning turn to the gig economy to supplement their income.  Key quote from the study site : The findings of this year’s survey are a clear indication that military households are turning to the private sector for supplemental income.

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Small Business Labs

AUGUST 15, 2019

WeWork released its S-1 this week, which is the legal document a company files prior to going public.  WeWork going public is a bit of a watershed moment for the coworking industry. It's the first of the new wave of coworking spaces to do so. It's also a highly watched and controversial company, particularly due to its high private valuation and steep losses.

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 13, 2019

Yesterday the CEO's of Uber and Lyft published an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle offering to support efforts to improve the working conditions, wages and rights of their drivers.  The offer is in response to a bill in the California legislature that would make it much more difficult for companies to classify workers as independent contractors.  The new legislation would codify a ruling by the California Supreme Court in the Dynamex case.

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 30, 2019

The Forbes article Breaking The Faustian Pact: What Motivates Professionals In A Gig Economy World? covers a study comparing the motivations of independent consultants with consultants working at big consulting firms. As the article chart below shows (click to enlarge), there are big differences. Key quote on the differences: " the freelancers emphasize the flexibility of when and where they work; their peers employed in big firms focus on financial security, personal development and having

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 15, 2019

Salon's Mike Schur's new sitcom "Abby's" is "Cheers" for the gig economy is an interview with the producers of a new NBC sitcom that takes places in a backyard bar.  The interview covers what a show set in an illegal backyard bar says about modern culture.  The interview explores multiple themes. But the most relevant to us here at Small Business Labs are the blending of work and life and break down between professional and amateur.

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 11, 2019

In case you hadn't heard, podcasting is booming.  According to The Infinite Dial 2019 , an annual survey conducted by Edison Research and Triton Digital, more than half of all adult Americans have listened to one. And as the report chart below shows (click to enlarge), 32% of all Americans aged 12 and older listened to a podcast in the last month.

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Small Business Labs

MARCH 18, 2019

McKinsey's Bias Busters Collection covers how are decisions are often affected by cognitive and/or organizational biases.  These include being unwilling to cut back on an under performing asset or activity, getting too distracted by shiny new initiatives, sticking with numbers or projections that are out of date or likely incorrect. But our favorite was what they call taking an "outside view" of a project or forecast.

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Small Business Labs

MARCH 4, 2019

The global human capital consulting and services firm Mercer recently released their annual Global Talent Trends study. For the 2019 edition of this study, they surveyed over 7,300 business executives, HR leaders, and employees from around the world on a variety of talent and HR issues. The major finding is 73% of the executives surveyed expect their industry will experience significant disruption over the next 3 years.  The study chart below (click to enlarge) summarizes the main sources

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Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 18, 2018

Marketplace and Edison research recently released Americans and the Gig Economy, a survey of gig workers.  The survey covered a lot of ground, including finding about 24% of American 18 and older are gig workers. This works out to a bit more than 60 million.  The survey also asked a series of questions about economic anxiety. They found gig workers, on average, experience more economic anxiety than those with traditional jobs.

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Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 11, 2018

We've covered the changing nature of retirement so often in our Baby Boomer section we feel like we're feeding a fed horse by covering it again. But it's an important trend and there continues to be a flurry of interesting articles on working in and/or delaying retirement. So.  Quartz's Perennials, not millennials, will trigger the next wave of talent retention efforts provides a good description of the trend towards later retirement: "Increased life expectancy across t

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