Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 6, 2012

We decided to spend some time figuring this out and just released our findings in  Food Trucks Motor Into the Mainstream , a new research report from Intuit and Emergent Research (that's us). As part of this project, Emergent Research conducted in-person interviews with 272 food truck customers. billion in 2017. .

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Small Business Labs

MARCH 24, 2015

It comes from the 2015 Economic Report of the President  (page 147), which is prepared annually by the President's Council of Economic Advisers for Congress. But out interviews from a decade ago shows a much smaller percentage of side giggers citing this reason.   We don't have historical survey data on this.

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 9, 2015

Corporation report increasing problems finding qualified people. According  According to a recent survey by the employment consulting group Manpower , companies are facing a "crippling talent shortage" At the same time, many people report being unable to find work. Because of this, they work hard on job placement.

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Small Business Labs

JULY 25, 2016

  The study consisted of a survey of over 400 small business owners coupled with a set of 26 in-depth interviews with "successful" business owners.   Most do want to grow - 76% of those surveyed and 71% of those interviewed reported having a growth goal - and almost all (over 90%) have explicit financial targets. 

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Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

  In our interviews, surveys and focus groups independent workers almost always describe what we call the yin and yang - or two sides - of independent work (freelancing, self-employment, etc.).   For most independent workers, the good outweighs the bad and the majority report they prefer being independent. . At

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Small Business Labs

JULY 30, 2015

We did that based on our interviews with independent workers. This led to about a 4X increase in the number of survey respondents reporting multiple sources of income. Fusion's There are probably way more people in the 'gig economy' than we realize covers a major shift in thinking about how many people in the U.S.

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Small Business Labs

JULY 8, 2014

Last week the Freelancers Union released How to Live the Freelance Life , a report based on a survey of more than 1,100 freelancers nationwide that asked freelancers about their work, money, lifestyle, and values. Nearly 9 in 10 independent workers (88%) reported they would keep freelancing even if they were offered a full-time job.

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Small Business Labs

JULY 29, 2014

  As the article's title states, 87% of the surveyed freelancers reported having more than one source of income. The chart below shows the number sources of income reported by these respondents. We've known for some time from our interviews that side gigs and multiple income streams are becoming more common.

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 9, 2013

  To better understand this age group, as part of the MBO Partners State of Independence study we surveyed and interviewed a group of independent workers (self-employed, independent consultants, freelancers, etc.) Most are not working due to financial need: Only 24% reported working because they had to for financial reasons.

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Small Business Labs

JULY 22, 2014

The chart below is from the Freelancers Union report How to Live the Freelance Life. Upon reflection - and with the help of a few follow-up interviews - we realized this makes perfectly good sense.  Follow-up interviews led to an interesting explanation.      Most of this was not a surprise to us.

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Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

In interviews people like this consistently tell us they are happy to trade off the benefits of a traditional job (predictable income, benefits, higher pay, etc.) " In other words, independent workers with autonomy and control are highly satisfied and like their work. to experience the autonomy and control independence provides.

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Small Business Labs

AUGUST 18, 2014

  In our interviews, surveys and focus groups independent workers almost always describe what we call the  yin and yang  - or two sides - of independent work (freelancing, self-employment, etc.).   For most independent workers, the good outweighs the bad and the majority report they prefer being independent. . At

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Small Business Labs

JULY 24, 2012

Without a doubt, "creepy" is a term we heard a lot in our interviews - especially after we explain how personal data is being used by marketers.   Despite our interviews, the recent flap about Orbitz steering Mac users to more expensive hotels caught us a bit off guard.   The reason? ."

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Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

MBO Partners has released the 2nd Annual State of Independence report.   The study consisted of two national, statistically significant surveys as well as several focus groups and dozens of one-on-one interviews with independent workers. 71% of the respondents reported having a high level of satisfaction with independent work.

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Small Business Labs

APRIL 22, 2014

" Based on our interviews and discussions with freelancers who are contributing to Forbes for free, this description is accurate.    Not surprisingly, their freelance workforce greatly exceeds the 40 full time staff reporters Forbes employs. Many dozens more make between $10,000 and $25,000. 

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Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

This echos what we often hear in our interviews and focus groups with independent workers.  A bit over 40% of ODE workers who also report having a full-time job say learning new skills is one of the reasons they working in the ODE.  It also describes the various sources the author used to learn new languages and systems.

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Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 29, 2013

  Last week Intuit released the 2103 Future of Accountancy report. We co-authored this report with Intuit and it's an update of The Future of the Accounting Profession study we did with them in 2011.   The main think tank was held in September at the Intuit Accounting Summit.

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Small Business Labs

JANUARY 22, 2013

One of the interesting things we found interviewing Big Data experts is how they define Big Data. Because of these interviews we're thinking differently about Big Data. For more on Big Data and what it means for small businesses, see the Intuit 2020 report The New Data Democracy.

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Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Key quote from our Food Trucks Motor Into the Mainstream report: For many, it’s the experience that attracts them to food trucks. More than 80 percent of those interviewed used words like fun, exciting, new, different, unusual and unique when asked why they dined at food trucks. One example is the growth of food trucks.

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Small Business Labs

MARCH 11, 2014

 These include: Pew Research - Millennials in Adulthood : Pew consistently does excellent research and this report is another example.  I rarely listen to podcasts lasting more than a few minutes, but this 15 minute interview with the author of Baby Bust  was more than worth making an exception for.

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Small Business Labs

MARCH 15, 2011

Network Solutions recently released its 2010 State of Small Business report and it has lots of interesting information, including data on social media usage by small businesses. As the chart below (chart 14 from the report) shows, Facebook is used by 27% of small businesses for business purposes.  small business sector. 

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Small Business Labs

JULY 30, 2014

According to a recent survey close to 60% of men over the age of 50 with incomes of $75,000 or higher reported not feeling confident they will be able to maintain their current lifestyle in retirement.  Even more women, close to 70%, report not feeling confident.

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 4, 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?   Conduct two surveys augmented by in-person interviews.

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Small Business Labs

MARCH 5, 2013

The quick summary is most small businesses are happy with their external accountants with 85% reporting they are highly satisfied (69%) or satisfied (16%).   But we also found in our interviews and surveys of accountants that many didn't have the skills or interest in providing these services.  

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Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Interesting interview with the head of the U.S.  According to a labor report written by the Post Office in 2011 , they are looking to grow their contingent workforce to 30% of their total workforce by 2015. Postal Service in the Wall Street Journal.   Key quote from U.S.

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Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

 We did this because almost everyone we interviewed described balance as having a flexible work schedule.   A recent survey by Mom Corps as reported by Business News Daily found that nearly half of the repondents would give up an average of nearly 10 percent of their salary for a more flexible work schedule.

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Small Business Labs

MAY 7, 2013

Based on our interviews and other research on the independent workforce, there are several reasons self-employment increases with age: 1. See his report on self-employment in the U.S. for .  85% of the self-employed are 35 or older, 64% of the  are older than 44 and 12.5% are 65 or older.

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Small Business Labs

AUGUST 1, 2012

Why Micropreneurship May Be the Key to Job Creation :  A Huffington Post article that interviews the CEO of Task Rabbit, a micro-job site.   We will be reporting on our findings in the coming weeks.  It argues companies are going to have to treat their employees better or lose them to independent work.

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Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

  This work is summarized in the just released Intuit 2020 Report - The Future of the Accounting Profession.  The report  examines the four broad trends areas surfaced during this project and their impact on the accounting profession: 1.   The reason? . 

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Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 8, 2013

New Data Reveals Why Freelance Writers are Smart from the Make a Living Writing blog provides an excellent summary of the information contained in the 2013 MBO Partners State of Independence report. It also has a very active comments section with lots of great quotes from freelance writers discussing their lives as independent workers.

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Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

  Based on our interviews and focus groups, the main reasons most freelancers do not have health insurance - and there are no surprises here - are cost and availability. In other words, job lock exists - we're just not sure how big an impact it has on the economy or self-employment.

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 30, 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? Carolyn is leading the coworking study and Steve is a member of the project team.

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Small Business Labs

JULY 21, 2011

State Street CIO Defends IT Job Cuts  from Bank Technology News is a really interesting interview with State Street's CIO.    The article covers State Street announcing the elimination of 850 IT jobs on the same day it reported strong earnings.    Corporate earnings are much less linked to U.S.

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Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 7, 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? .  Carolyn is leading the coworking study and Steve is a member of the project team.

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Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 14, 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? Carolyn is leading the coworking study and Steve is a member of the project team.

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 14, 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? Carolyn is leading the coworking study and Steve is a member of the project team.

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Small Business Labs

JUNE 17, 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? .  Carolyn is leading the coworking study and Steve is a member of the project team.

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