Environmentally friendly industries are currently growing at a time when many others are dwindling.  According to MSNBC, the fastest growing sectors are recycling, energy efficiency, solar, wind and water conservation.  This “green” market is a hot bed for innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs who have what it takes to start a ground-breaking environmentally responsible business on their own.

A 2008 Dechert LLP Annual Report on Trends in Trademarks indicated 2007 was the busiest year ever for trademarks.  There were 300,000 applications for the first time in history, which surpassed the old record of 289,000 during the Internet surge of 2000.  The word “green” was the most popular branding of all trademark applications.  In 2007, the number of applications containing the word “green” increased from 1100 to over 2400.  This was the third year in a row in which the word “green” has significantly increased in the number of applications.  Applications for incorporating the word “earth” increased approximately 60% from 550 to over 900 in 2007.

Due to the recent economic downturn, it is only inevitable that the overall number of patent and trademark applications have decreased.  However, the Dechert LLP Annual Report for 2009 indicated that “applications for marks containing the word GREEN increased 32% in 2008 (to more than 3,200 filings), ECO-prefix marks were up 86% (with 1,700+ applications), and applications for more than 500 ENVIRO-marks were filed, representing a 22% jump. The word CLEAN was also a popular buzzword, appearing in over 1,000 marks to suggest environmental friendliness, up 30% from the year before.”

While there are some industries that will suffer from the hardship of extreme gasoline prices, there are other markets that will flourish.  Being environmentally conscious is a worldwide trend that will continue to escalate and intensify during the coming years.  When considering starting a new business venture, think how the new company can prosper and thrive in an ever growing “green” world.

1. Environmental Consulting – Going green is no fad – it is a very real and growing industry and is valued at $17.8 billion and is expected to grow by 9 percent per year for the next 5 years.  Every business sector can expect to be affected by the green wave.  Expertise will be in demand for air, soil and water quality management.
2. Translation and Interpretation Services – The old adage that “talk is cheap” does not apply to the new global economy and basically any service that can bridge the communication gap is very valuable.  This segment grew at 18 percent last year and is a $2.7 billion industry.  Budding segments within this industry would include healthcare, website translation and multi-language marketing materials.
3. Home Health Care – Even with the current legislation – this segment is expected to expand by an average of 4.9 percent for the next 4 years.  Out of hospital care and less expensive alternatives are very appealing to the growing elderly population in America.  Physical therapy fields and non-medical home-care hiring are expected to be the leading segments.
4. Mobile App Design – It all started with the iPhone and now with the iPad and all the web-enabled devices available – the market for mobile apps has never been greater.  Demand will be high for programmers, developers and designers.  According to the Dow Jones Venture Source – in the past three years – location based apps have received $656 million.
5. Ferryboats and Inland Water Transportation – Yes – believe it or not – the old fashioned ferryboat is making a comeback.  Sparked by a rise in urban highway congestion – privately run ferry services as well as tourist excursions are on the increase.  A high concentration of success has been found in the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes.  As part of the 2009 Economic Recovery Act – the production of ferryboats and terminals is expanding.  This industry grew about 17 percent last year.  One new Coast Guard certified ferryboat that carries 150 passengers costs about $6 million.

While no new business venture is a sure thing – these trends certainly deserve some attention and those who are able to offer complimentary services to these industries are targeting a very real and successful goal.   Whatever industry you serve – we at Harvard Business Services, Inc. are happy to serve you!

In the years since student Michael Dell scrounged up $1000 and turned his room into an assembly line, many more students are following his lead. Faced with a bleak job market, enterprising students see advantages in starting their own company; costs are coming down and pressures on nimble, low-cost upstarts aren’t as great. Growth is often a result of the internet, where snazzy websites don’t betray a home-based operation. Entrepreneurs can be more profitable with less need for capital or office space. Taking a risk often isn’t the leap of faith it used to be. According to the Challenger, Gray and Christmas’ job market index, 8.9 % of job seekers started their own businesses in the second quarter of 2009, way up from the record low of 2.7% in the last quarter of 2008.

Young entrepreneurs may be in the spotlight, but baby boomers are becoming business owners faster than any other group. New businesses started from 2007 to 2008 by 55- to 64-year olds grew 16 percent, faster than any other group, according to Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit group that studies U.S. business start-ups. They predict a sustained boom, not in spite of the aging workforce, but because of it! This group has built-in advantages including accumulated business knowledge and funds, as well as a network of people to tap as customers, suppliers and financial advisors. Many find that starting a business around lifelong interests or past passions is very rewarding as well as profitable.

With this trend, the next decade will see the growth of small businesses continue, and the social and economic impacts of small business increase.

To read articles on this topic, click HERE and HERE.

Small businesses are no longer cutting edge by calling themselves “green.” Big corporations like Wal-Mart and Nike down to the corner café are cultivating a greener image as consumer demand for environmentally responsible products and operations quickly goes mainstream.

What this means:  Businesses genuinely trying to limit their environmental toll must now work harder to authenticate their green practices and convince consumers they’re for real – not just throwing around green lingo.

The next phase of green business evolution will focus on businesses being more earnest an all-encompassing about their environmental sustainability practices and marketing. Here, then, are some green trends to pay attention to in 2010.

1. Transparency. Consumers want to know where products are sourced, what they’re made of and why they’re better than the status quo. Businesses are responding by giving them more information than ever before. Some restaurants, for instance, include the name and location of the local farm it buys chickens from and the conditions they were raised under. A “green” dry cleaner might describe its cleaning process on its Web site, so customers understand why the process is less environmentally harmful than traditional dry cleaning.

2. Measuring footprints. To be transparent, businesses must themselves know how much carbon they generate, how much water they use and other factors contributing to their environmental toll. What’s more businesses are paying more attention to environmental friendliness of their supply chain. Many big companies have take steps to measure their carbon footprints. But small businesses increasingly are, too.  Some online tools are making it easier for businesses to calculate their footprints.

3. Engaging customers. Savvy green businesses aren’t just trumpeting their own environmental good deeds. They’re engaging customers in the conversation. Some are starting their own green initiatives, such as handing out reusable bags or encouraging customers to recycle products they buy. One green cleaning service I know hands out customer tip sheets on how to clean green, using household basics like baking soda, vinegar and lemons.

Read the full post HERE.

5. Social Media Grows Up: Have you noticed that “social media” is a term that doesn’t really describe the experience that well anymore? Yes its social, and yes its media, but for business it has become so much more than that. Tapping, nay, mastering, social media is one of the hottest of all online trends:

• Everyone from Jet Blue to Comcast has turned to Twitter as a customer service tool.
• Companies like Whole Foods and Popeys increasingly use it to get feedback, post company news, etc.
• Big business has discovered what many small businesses already know: Facebook is a great place to advertise. “Facebook” in fact was the most searched term in 2009. (Source: Experian Hitwise)

Hop on the social media train, Jane, because it’s headed out of the station at light speed.

4. Going Local: Consumers are increasingly looking for a local angle when looking where to spend their hard-earned dollar. Example: The explosion of farmers markets across the country. According to Entrepreneur, “there are almost 5,000 farmers markets across the country, the result of more than 5% annual growth for the past five years.”

Additionally, with people staying closer to home right now because of the economy, with folks focused ever more on community and family, and with the green ethos growing, home is where the heart (and dollar) is.

3. Sharing vs. Shared Experiences: According to a recent NPR podcast, we used to share national experiences. The nightly news was a shared ritual for instance. The OJ Simpson trial was a shared experience, the same with Vietnam, and so on.

But that is changing, for two reasons. The first is the fragmentation of the media. With innumerable news outlets, websites, cable channels, mobile options and the like, the opportunity to create shared experiences is diminishing. We are all not watching or experiencing the same thing nearly as much.

Secondly, with the advent of easy to generate user-created content, sharing experiences and opinions is becoming ever more prevalent. YouTube, blogs, Facebook, Yelp, email even, all contribute to both the media fragmentation as well as the sharing culture.

For the small business person, it is vital to realize that 1) people look for, and increasingly expect, the personal, and 2) small, localized, immediate user-created media are where the eyeballs are headed.

2. Mobile Mania: Maybe the only marketing trend that is hotter than social media is mobile mania. Why? Maybe because there are four-times more cellphones than PCs worldwide, or because they are the favorite product of Gen Y, or because in 2000, there were almost no texts sent but this year, 130 billion texts will be sent a month, and only 23% of those will come from my daughters.

So yes, mobile marketing is exploding. Whether it is creating the Next Big App, offering customers a real-time mobile coupon, or creating a text marketing campaign, in 2010 there will be mobile options galore for small business.

Even better maybe: The variety of ways to measure the success of your mobile campaign. According to the Mobile Marketing Association, they will include: “The number of eyeballs, shakes and finger swipes. The number of blogs, articles, tweets and diggs. The number of acquisitions, conversions, calls, responses or purchases. Total basket size, consumer recall, loyalty and recommendations. Check-ins on foursquare and check-outs on Amazon.”

It is a new world indeed.

1. The Start-Up Economy: Last year, 2009, my top trend was entitled “Economic Tumult,” and tumultuous it indeed turned out to be; the Great Recession is great in all the wrong ways.

But this year, while the state of the economy will continue to be the most significant trend effecting small business, the outlook is both brighter and calmer. It is calmer because things are slowly getting back to, if not normal, at least something recognizable. And it is brighter because out of the rubble, a new, vital, innovative start-up economy is being born.

We have entered the era of small business. Whereas GM president Charles Wilson once said “What’s good for the country is good for GM, and vice versa,” it can now safely be said that what is good for small business is good for the country. Consider these statistics.

Small businesses now

• Number almost 30 million
• Employ more than half of all workers
• Constitute 99.7% of all employers
• Constitute 97% of all exporters
• Create the majority of business innovations
(Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, 2009)

With 10% unemployment for as far as the eye can see, with the unemployed running out of benefits, and with benefits not what they once were for the employed, start-ups of all shapes and sizes are taking root: One person shops, home-based businesses, part-time ventures, online enterprises, high tech companies – you name it. These are the folks who, with their creative energy, drive, ingenuity, and hard work will be leading us out of this anything but great recession.

We will have to wait until next year’s list to see just how far they will take us. My hunch is that the companies born in this recession will be the stuff of legend by the end of the decade.

Read the full article HERE.