Business Card Barometer: What Business Card Orders Tell Us About the US Small Business Climate

The other day one of my managers stuck her head in my office and said, “Pooper Scooper Service.” I added it to my spreadsheet.

You see, recently we’ve been making a concerted effort to keep tabs on the businesses and industries who have been ordering business cards from us so that we can track trends in the small business and start-up market. Ten years ago a pooper scooper business would have struck me as highly unusual. These days it’s part of a growing and lucrative trend in pet-centered businesses.

We’ve got a unique vantage point at my business-card printing company. Cards are often the very first thing an individual or group does once they’ve decided to go ahead with a new business venture. The weak economy has actually been a boon for my business as formerly corporate workers are making the jump to self-employed freelancing and other start-up pursuits. Here’s what I’ve seen coming our way lately and what I think each says about the current small business climate.

Pet-Based Businesses

What We See: Pet Pampering Products, Pet-Sitting, Pet Daycare, Pet Treats, Pet Supplements, Pet Psychiatrists, Pet Massage Therapists, Pet Trainers, and Pet Toys

What It Says: Some consider the pet-care industry recession-proof because pet-lovers would rather cut back on their own groceries than on their pets whose unconditional love may actually serve to soothe pet owners’ anxieties during these high-stress times. According to the American Pet Products Association, sixty-two percent or 72.9 million households in America own at least one pet. In 2010 pet owners spent $48.35 million dollars to care for and pamper their furry, feathered, and scaly pals. Pet services such as scooping poop or pet-sitting require almost no overhead or initial capital to start. Pet accessories such as collars or bowls or homemade gourmet pet treats may sell at relatively low price points and can be manufactured at home.

Outsourced and Freelance Business Support Services

What We See: Virtual Assistants, Bookkeepers, Copywriters, Social Media Managers, Document Producers, IT Specialists, and Errand-Runners.

What It Says: Businesses who cannot afford to keep support staff are able to outsource services on an as-needed basis. More people are working from home or on the go with just themselves, a computer, car, and smartphone. Resources such as freelancer.com are providing ways to pair those who need services with those who offer services. Social media and Craigslist offer free ways for these independents to market themselves.

Gourmet or Homemade Foods

What We See: Niche bakeries for cookies and cupcakes; sauces, preserves, and relishes with regional or farm-fresh flavors and ingredients; products branded as old-fashioned or all-natural; and mail-order treats.

What It Says: Commercial space can be had cheaply for small businesses that don’t need a lot of space – such as a bakery – and are therefore able to gain a foothold despite being narrowly specialized in, for example, cookies, muffins, cupcakes, or pies. Baked goods and other food products can also be made at home as part of a home-based business which may or may not eventually move out of the house. Focus on sustainable and/or local ingredients seems to be a popular branding technique with products being shipped to customers. Restaurants and grocery stores are also finding room to feature these specialized products so that these businesses may not need their own retail outlet.

Online Retailers

What We See: Specialized online retailers that sell one type of product exclusively, such as solely charm bracelets, flip-flops, doggie beds, pajamas, or briefcases.

What It Says: E-commerce is as popular as ever even as its explosive growth has necessarily slowed, giving even the most narrow focus an outlet where people looking for these specialized products can find them no matter where the business is located. While traditional retail businesses are faltering in many sectors, the Internet Retailer Online Retail Index that tracks the stocks of twenty-five online retailers is showing gains even when the Dow Jones and Standard & Poors’s indexes are performing at a loss [Source: http://www.internetretailer.com/home/].

Consultants

What We See: Human Resources, Management, Strategy, Marketing, and Public Relations Consultants.

What It Says: Larger companies are downsizing and these professionals are replicating their previous in-house roles by working on a contract or hourly basis for businesses that don’t need or can’t afford full-time employees dedicated to these operations. While these folks used to have very specific roles in their previous situations they now find themselves small business owners with all of the planning, management, and marketing that entails.

General Take-Aways:

Whether by choice or necessity, people are going out on their own, foregoing benefits and stability for flexible hours, variety, and independence.

According to LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman in the Wall Street Journal on starting a business, “It’s much better to start during an economic downturn…Partnerships are easier, hiring is easier, and the competition starts later” From where I stand on the printing floor, enterprising people seem to be taking advantage of these factors.

Brick-and-mortar operations are being replaced by online outlets and home-based businesses. In fact, AMI Partners reports that home-based businesses increased by eleven percent in the last year and that a majority of home-based business owners who had been downsized by their previous employers had no plans to return to a traditional corporate career.

Individuals starting their own businesses are encouraged by the multitude of options for relatively minimal start-up costs and overhead.

Recently down-sized employees are finding new careers as business-owners, increasing their wealth of experience as they must manage all aspects of a business from budgets to marketing to taxes to customer service. Whether these new business owners return to the corporate arena or not, they will be more valuable workers with their increased depth of business experience and understanding.

It remains to be seen how successful these start-ups will be. As I said before, the cards are generally the first order of business. Hopefully, these start-ups will start hiring other folks and even more cards, but even if their new ventures don’t make it or don’t grow quickly, for many the financial losses could be minimized by the low cost of doing the types of businesses they are starting. I’ll be watching the orders, and until then if you need the name of a good pooper scooper…

About the Author: Bill Post, Small Business Research Analyst, provides research on issues of concern to small businesses for 123Print.com Custom Business Cards. Prior to his involvement with 123Print, Bill was a small business owner himself, providing marketing and branding services to other small businesses in the Washington, DC metro area. Before working with 123Print on Business Cards, Bill also spent several years after receiving his degree in the fast-paced corporate world. It was there that Bill not only honed the skills he uses to help small businesses get ahead, but where he realized that he’d rather help the little guy prosper than make huge corporations money.

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