Part-Time and Hobby Business Trends

Forbes has an interesting article on the growth of stock photograph sales on the Internet.  According to the article,  there are "thousands of amateurs who are discovering how to turn their expensive hobby into a profitable part-time pursuit."

Emergent Research buys stock photographs.  We bought the picture on the right from Philip Silverman, a part-time photographer based in England. 

We use the photo on our website and in presentations.  We found Silverman and his photo by searching the web for pictures of emergent growth trees. 

Our purchase of this picture - and the growth of the stock photo industry in general - illustrates several of the trends driving the growth of part-time and hobby businesses:

1.  Technology is reducing production costs in a number of industries, allowing part-time and hobby businesses to compete in industries that used to be limited to bigger companies.  Digital photography, for example, has substantially cut the costs of taking, developing and editing photographs and has led to a boom in the number of part-time photographers.   

2.  The reach of the Internet greatly expands the addressable market for part-time and hobbyist businesses and provides them new ways to find customers - and for customers to find them.  In our case we found Silverman, which simply would not have happened prior to the broadband Internet. 

3.   Payment and back office systems allow the smallest of businesses to easily bill and collect.  We used Paypal to buy Silverman's photo, which was priced in British Pounds. Even 5 years ago it is unlikely we would have bothered to purchase this photo due to payment problems.   

4.  New middlemen are creating new small business opportunities.  A wide range of intermediaries have emerged to make markets more efficient and help buyers and sellers find one another.  Like iStock in photos, many of these intermediaries target part-time and hobbyist suppliers.

5.  Baby boomers want to work in retirement, preferably doing things they enjoy and are different from their existing careers.  Part-time and hobby businesses fit their needs.  Silverman, for example, is a baby boomer with a regular job and career who plans to continue his photography business well into retirement.   

In our research we often find that small and personal businesses started part-time and/or as hobbies.  Because of this, more part-time and hobby businesses will lead to more small and personal businesses.