Small Business Labs

AUGUST 30, 2021

According to the 2020 census, between 2010 and 2020 the white population in America declined  by 5.1    The chart comes from Brookings' New 2020 census results show increased diversity countering decade-long declines in America’s white and youth populations.  In 2020, 33.8 Hispanic, 12.4%

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Small Business Labs

MAY 8, 2012

In 2020 the youngest baby boomers will be 55, the oldest 74.   As the chart below shows, by 2020  one quarter  of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects 43% of those 55+ to be in the labor force in 2020.  We expect close to 50% to be in the labor force in 2020. workforce will be 55 or older.

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Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

million American workers currently describe themselves as digital nomads, increasing 42% from 2020 and 112% from the pre-pandemic year 2019 (click on the study chart below to enlarge).  million in 2020 to 10.2 This is on top of the number of digital nomads with traditional jobs almost doubling in 2020 compared to 2019.

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Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

  And in 2020, 66% of new business applications were from solopreneurs.   See this article for details on the business formation statistics and the 2020 surge in new business applications.     See this article for details on the business formation statistics and the 2020 surge in new business applications.  

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Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 12, 2010

Reports and Resources Intuit 2020 Research Report Todays Hobbyists are Tomorrows Hobbypreneurs Homepreneurs: A Vital Economic Force Research Brief - Small Business Credit Outlook The Economic Stimulus Package: Whats in it for Growing Businesses?   This report is the first in a series of Intuit 2020 research and forecast reports. 

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Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 6, 2020

million in 2020, a 49% increase.   As the report chart below shows, the number of digital nomads with traditional jobs roughly doubled from 2019 to 2020. The number of U.S. digital nomads grew from 7.3 million in 2019 to 10.9 Emergent Research (that's us) works with MBO Partners on these studies.

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Small Business Labs

MARCH 15, 2021

  According to the MBO Partners 2020 research brief COVID-19 and the Rise of the Digital Nomad , the number of U.S. million in 2020, a 49% increase. We call this group "armchair digital nomads"    But having so many say they would consider it shows there's strong interest in digital nomadism. 

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 12, 2011

Intuit 2020: The Future of Financial Services builds on the data, trends and forecasts in the Intuit 2020 report , which identifies 20 emerging trends and shifts that will shape business and society over the next decade. We'll have more on this in the coming weeks including what it means for small businesses. 

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Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 28, 2021

Business applications (tax ID filings)  have been at all-time levels since the fall of 2020. has increased 34% in 2021 as compared to 2020.   And as we reported in September,  the number of independent workers (freelancers, gig workers, self-employed, etc.)

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Small Business Labs

MARCH 23, 2021

spending on pets reached nearly $100 billion in 2020, up from $95.7    And according to Crunchbase News bad pet pun infused article Pets Became Purrfect Pals During Pandemic While Startup Funding Didn’t Lay Down , 55 pet startups raised $281 million in venture funding in 2020 (chart below).

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 20, 2021

million applications to get a business tax ID (EIN) in Q4, 2020.    But Q3 of 2020 was a blow quarter by any measure.  There were 1.15   This is an impressive 27% increase compared with Q4 of 2019. As the U.S. Census chart below shows, business applications fell from Q3 by 28%. 

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Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 30, 2020

For example, according to eBay's 2020 United States Small Online Business Report : " 96 percent of small businesses on eBay in the United States export internationally, sending goods to an average of 17 foreign countries. ." Often these first exports are done via online marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, eBay or Upwork. 

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Small Business Labs

JULY 7, 2021

November 10th, 2020: The Surge in New Small Business Applications. See our prior posts on the business applications surge for more on this topic: May 18th, 2021: Led by Retail, The Surge in New Business Applications Continues. February 12t, 2021: New Business Applications Surged Again in January.

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Small Business Labs

JULY 7, 2020

In early April, we released a 2020 small business closure forecast. employer small businesses will close in 2020.    Under the optimistic case, about 700,000 employer small business businesses would close in 2020.    As a point of comparison, in an average year about 8% of employer small businesses close. 

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 26, 2021

COVID-19 has obviously changed the view of infectious disease risk, which came in 10th in the pre-COVID 2020 report. The top spot on the highest impact risk list are new infectious diseases.

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Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

   The chart is from Adage's Marketing Fact Pack 2020 and shows that the internet's share of U.S. in 2006 to over 50% in 2020 and is forecast to reach 60% in 2022. There's a lot of other interesting data in the Marketing Fact Pack 2020.   ad spending has increased from just 6.4%  

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 8, 2021

   And while we don't expect the growth rate in the number of digital nomads in 2021 to be nearly as strong as 2020, we expect the number of digital nomads to continue to increase over the next 2-3 years. Our first reaction when COVID-19 hit was it would greatly reduce the number of digital nomad. 

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Small Business Labs

JULY 26, 2021

  The key change from 2019 is that during the second half of 2020, Americans spent ten waking hours a day at home.    The article charts below (click to enlarge) shows the biggest winners and losers, timewise.  This is up from 8 hours in 2019.

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 8, 2021

.  There were even a bunch of forecasts in the 2000's suggesting a lack of oil would lead to the collapse of modern civilization, with many suggesting the collapse would happen by 2020 - or even earlier.      Instead of running out of oil, it's now likely vast amounts will end up staying in the ground.  

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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.

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Small Business Labs

MAY 10, 2021

.   At the time, demographers tended to blame this on the great recession and many forecast birthrates would increase as the economy got stronger. But fertility rates didn't improve.    In fact, they got worse and steadily declined from the all-time low of 1.72 in 2010 to a new all-time low of 1.64

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Small Business Labs

MAY 24, 2021

After the strong growth in the number of digital nomads in 2020 , we expect another uptick in their numbers in 2021.  The shift to remote work has untethered workers from their offices.    And many are taking advantage of their newfound freedom and becoming digital nomads.

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Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

  Back in 2014, there were lots of forecasts that AI-based driverless cars would be common by 2020. would be disrupted by AI by 2020. What is hard is identifying when the impact will occur.  There were also many forecasts that many professions - accounting, medicine, law, etc. These forecasts were obviously wrong.  

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Small Business Labs

MAY 18, 2020

MBO Partners recently released its 2020 Client of Choice study results, which found that 7.6 million independent professionals (freelancers, independent consultants, etc.) provide their skills to business clients.     Independent professional service providers work in a variety of fields. The

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Small Business Labs

MAY 24, 2018

.  Uber is planning on starting limited air taxi service in Dallas and Los Angeles in the 2020 time frame. So don't be surprised if it doesn't happen by 2020. They're also looking for more test cities.

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Small Business Labs

AUGUST 17, 2021

Furthermore, the majority of the “Gold Club,” 76.49%, made under $50k in 2020, which is not exactly remarkable for being part of what is considered the most elite revenue group of this streaming platform (click to enlarge chart below).     But they only represent 0.8 percent of Spotify’s total artists.

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 27, 2021

These results are similar but more negative than the 2020 MBO Partners State of Independence study results, which found 61% of independent workers said that COVID-19 set them back financially. .  Also, 76% of the respondents reported their financial situation has negatively impacted their mental health.

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 15, 2020

Work From Home Survey 2020 report. Gensler, a large global integrated architecture, design, planning and consulting firm, recently released its U.S. "  In other words, Gensler's surveyed nicely captured the views of people who typically work in an office who are currently working from home due to the pandemic.

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Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

million in 2020. A decade later, that had ballooned to more than 23,000 startups. Crunchbase data also shows that the average seed investment has grown from $1.7 million in 2011 to $4.6 The article points to the launch of Amazon Web Services in the mid-2000s, which made it cheaper and easier to start a software company, as a driver.  

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 5, 2021

With teaming on the rise (20% did so in 2020), we think that it’s only a matter of time before virtual reality is surpassed by virtual corporations. They maintain more control and flexibility, lower margins and raise efficiencies and satisfy their client’s needs for great results.

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 6, 2021

  The picture below is from Uber's Elevate air taxi effort and according to Uber in 2018, their air taxi services would be in trials in multiple cities by 2020.    In case you wondering, there are no trials underway and Uber sold its air taxi group last year.

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 6, 2021

Our work with MBO Partners has found that the number of digital nomads substantially grew in 2020 as more workers found themselves untethered from the office due to the pandemic. In all these areas, there are potential legal landmines remote workers could easily trigger that would create legal problems for their employer.   

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Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 17, 2020

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

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

Newly launched in 2020, Moment House has produced over 700 concerts, called “moments,” selling one million tickets through its platform. Moment House is a live streaming, interactive social media platform for digital entertainment.

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 19, 2021

3%) to 10% in 2020.   .  Especially interesting is the percent of independent workers reporting social is their top source of customers has gone from effectively zero in 2014 (it was.3%)    Social media is just one part of social selling - there are obviously other ways to leverage a network in the sales process.  

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Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

  The new funding will be used for expansion and the firm hopes to be in over 30 cities by the end of 2020. .    The company currently has over 300 units across 13 cities in its network.  Landing is attempting to tap into the growing trend toward mobility and digital nomadism. 

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 16, 2020

On April 2nd we released a set of scenarios with estimates of how high the unemployment rate may go in 2020 due to the pandemic induced recession.    As our chart below (click to enlarge) shows, already the current estimated unemployment rate (18%) has likely reached our optimistic case (18%).  

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