Small Business Labs

APRIL 4, 2017

A key reason we started following coworking back in 2007 was it provided a flexible alternative to the traditional long term commercial office lease. Because of this, a recent article by the CEO of the coworking chain Industrious grabbed our attention. Brick and mortar and heavy iron gave way to speed, flexibility and innovation.

Restaurants 178

Restaurants 2007 2008 Customer Service 178

Small Business Labs

JULY 23, 2014

. The "lolly" end of the lollipop denotes the average mix part-time due to economic reasons versus part-time due to non-economic reasons by industry in 2013.  The size of the "lolly" represents the size of the industry and the bottom of the stem shows the mix in 2007. 

2013 100

2013 Restaurants 2007 2012 100

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

.  There are now coworking conferences all over the world and the industry has grown to thousands of spaces.   We've been following coworking since 2007 and one of the most interesting aspects of this industry is how consistently people all over the world describe coworking and its benefits.

2007 100

2007 2009 UPS 100

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

 In 2007, a year when the economy was strong and unemployment low, a bit over 22 million Americans worked part-time. Given the impact of the Great Recession, this not a surprising shift from 2007.   But there's more than just industry sectoral shifts going on. has always had a lot of part-time employment.

2002 100

2002 2012 2007 Retirement 100

Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

As we state in our food truck research report , we think the food truck industry will continue to substantially expand for at least the next 3-5 years. These areas provide new business opportunities for the industry.   Compared to 2007, fast food visits by this group are down 15%. Our reasons are: 1.  

Restaurants 100

Restaurants 2007 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 16, 2013

.     The working sector consists consists of manufacturing, construction, retail and related industries. The creative sector consists of professional, managerial and educational services; finance and insurance; information services and related industries. But this data, which comes from the U.S.

2003 100

2003 2012 2007 Finance 100

Small Business Labs

JULY 30, 2015

  Regular readers know the gig economy industry has been aware of the problems with asking about "2nd jobs" for several years. Again, this is something the gig economy industry has been pointing to for years.   Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing academic research or these highly respected economists.

2007 100

2007 Interviewing AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 15, 2012

auto sales to 18-to-34-year-old buyers declined to 11 percent in April 2012, down from 17 percent for the same age group in April 2007, before the recession, according to Southfield, Michigan-based R.L. These are big shifts and will have a major impact on transportation and related industries.  Polk & Co."

2012 100

2012 2007 100

Small Business Labs

MARCH 6, 2012

 Back in 2007 we discussed the growing role cars would play as mobile offices in the Intuit Future of Small Business report The Connected World of Entrepreneurs.   Fast forward to today and telematics - the auto industry's term for car-based computing services and Internet access - has become a booming sector.

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2025 2007 Goals Google 100

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 28, 2014

Analogies , useful ideas or systems in other teams, business units, companies, or industries. For example, we started researching the coworing movement when it first started back in 2007. Extremities , such as fringe members of stakeholder groups who push for solutions.

2007 100

2007 International 100

Small Business Labs

MARCH 4, 2013

But even though we included it our Future of Small Business report in early 2007, at that time we didn't expect it to take off as fast as it has. It's clear at this point coworking is a trend and industry that will continue to grow. At the time we believed it to be an interesting idea and a trend that potentially had legs.

2007 100

2007 AT&T Learning UPS 100

Small Business Labs

APRIL 24, 2012

We first spotted this trend in 2007 (and yes, we are patting ourselves on the back), and it was clear by 2010 this trend was gaining momentum.   The chart below is shows the results by industry.   The chart below is shows the results by industry. Reshoring is the latest term for manufacturing returning to the U.S.

2007 100

2007 2010 UPS 100

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

We first wrote about the growing demand for butlers in 2007. Because of this, coaching kids across a wide range of activities (sports, academics, arts, music) is a booming industry. But the butler boom continues to grow.  Fear of Falling Behind:  Many affluent parents are very concerned about their children falling behind.

2012 100

2012 Salary Agencies 2007 100

Small Business Labs

MARCH 27, 2012

  We've long followed the personal services industry - examples include everything from gardening to career coaching  -  but what has attracted our attention over the last few years is the growth of high-end, expensive personal services.  We first wrote on this in 2007, when we covered the Butler Boom.

Expenses 100

Expenses Salary 2007 2011 100

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 6, 2011

  The term was popularized by the 2007 best selling business book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.    But I think small businesses can also learn from this article and be better prepared for industry changing events.   Greece's financial woes are an example. 

2007 100

2007 AT&T Learning 100

Small Business Labs

JUNE 27, 2012

 Back in early 2007 we released a research report forecasting the continued growth of personal businesses. We're seeing more and more industry segments become viable for personal businesses. We've long studied non-employer businesses (we prefer to call them personal businesses).

Elance 100

Elance 2007 AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

JUNE 18, 2010

This blog posts, several blogs … in fact since I named the new CEO in April of 2007 I’ve done slightly more than 2,000 blog posts, and three books. .  He is very enthusiastic about his retirement because he found something he loves doing.    Key quote: "For me it was writing, blogging, speaking, etc.

Retirement 100

Retirement 2010 2020 2005 100

Small Business Labs

JUNE 4, 2010

.  We first wrote about coworking in a research report in the Intuit Future of Small Business report The Changing Face of Entrepreneurship , which was released in January of 2007.    Because of this, we think this is an excellent time to explore coworking in more depth.      Our project plan is to: 1. 

2010 100

2010 Social Media Retirement 2020 100