Tracking consumer and business needs over the next decade is key to finding your entrepreneurial niche in the 1990s.

Finding the right business opportunity is like hunting for buried treasure. It's costly, time-consuming and there's no guarantee you'll hit pay dirt. Entrepreneurs can often be heard asking themselves the following questions during their quest: Is this industry recession-proof? Can I establish a niche? How much start-up capital will I need? Can I capture a significant size of the market? What are the industry trends?

Tracking consumer and business needs over the next decade is key to finding your entrepreneurial niche in the 1990s.

"When most people think of this industry," says Samuel R. Sacco, executive vice president of the National Association of Temporary Services (NATS), an Alexandria, Va., trade organization, "they think of the blue-collar segment. But the professional technical segment is seeing more growth."

The industry as a whole is growing. For the past two decades, the percentage of temp workers in the labor force has more than quintupled. According to NATS, revenue for 1991 was $20 billion, up 1.4% from 1990, and the industry's annual payroll also jumped 1.4% in 1991 to $14.5 billion. Modest growth, yes, but industry observers expect those numbers to rise as the economy creeps toward a full recovery.

"This is a great area," notes William J. Dennis, a senior research fellow for the National Federation of Independent Business Foundation, a Washington, D.C., small business research group. "Temps will be a thing of the future. We are seeing businesses attempting to scale back their labor force to meet customer demand. One way to do that is through temps. They allow companies to handle various sizes of demand without increasing fixed labor costs."

According to Sacco, the regions to watch are in the South and Midwest, specifically Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. "Those areas have experienced growth," Sacco notes. "A lot of companies have left the Northeast. The South and Midwest weren't as badly affected by the recession." Another popular region is Washington, D.C., where a number of government agencies rely on temp help.

The industry continues to be a reactive one. It doesn't drive workplace trends; instead, it reacts very quickly to them. One of the key challenges business owners face for the remainder of the decade is to quickly respond to shifting customer needs. For example, 10 years ago, if a company president needed a secretary, the only requirements were that she type 50 words a minute and have a small degree of telephone savvy. Not anymore. The workplace has gone high-tech and become more complex. Today's secretaries are computer-literate and can operate intricate spreadsheet programs. It has become even more critical for agency owners to upgrade a temp's skills to meet higher performance standards.

Thats exactly what Rosalind Clifton, president of Backlog Ltd., is trying to do. Backlog is a 4-year-old Chicago agency that grossed $700,000 last year. Clifton says she offers all her temps (for a slight fee) a six-hour multimedia training course. "In the past we just relied on a quick test and some references before sending our people out," notes Clifton, whose agency places medical claim examiners, clerical/customer service support staff and word processors. "Now we test them on a computer system to see if they know WordPerfect If they don't, we train them so we can give the client exactly what they're looking for."

It will take that kind of forward-thinking strategy for more black temp agency owners to succeed. Although the industry outlook is promising, the field remains fiercely competitive. Such upper-echelon agencies as Manpower Inc. in New York and Chicago's Kelly Services continue to monopolize clients. For example, according to Staffing Industry Report, a Cupertino, Calif-based industry newsletter, in 1990, those agencies alone had 1,407 and 935 branch offices, respectively.

Cynthia Cruickshank, president and CEO of Unique Support Services Inc., a 9-year-old New York agency, complains that most potential customers stick with agencies they've been doing business with for the last 10 years. For instance, Cruickshank says it took her four years to finally nab Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., the New York-based securities brokerage firm, as a client. "I called persistently, sent them introductory letters and profiles of my company, and all they said was they already had a list of vendors and they didn't need my services," Cruickshank recalls. "Then, all of a sudden, I got a call and they wanted me to do a proposal for them. I got the business in 1987 and provided them with secretaries and word processors."

Members of the Business Products Industry Association have voted to reorganize themselves and rename their group the Independent Office Products and Furniture Dealers Association. The group contends independent dealers are critical to the success of the office products and furniture industry. Independents account for office product sales of $6 billion and furniture sales of $11 billion, according to the group.

The Green Industry and the Economy

As many have come to notice, Colorado’s green industry is growing at an exceptional pace. The term “green industry” includes everything from nursery and garden centers to landscape care and maintenance. Also included are such fields as golf courses, florists and greenhouses. With so much growth it is important for people to take notice of the many economic contributions the green industry offers to Colorado.

According to an independent study conducted by Colorado State University, Department of Ag and Resource Economics with support from GreenCO, in 2002 the green industry of Colorado contributed over $1.7 billion in sales to Colorado’s economy. The industry also provided 34,000 jobs and paid over $825 million in wages. While this data is a few years old, the new data for 2007 in my opinion will only improve on these numbers. This particular study conducted by Colorado State University is published approximately every five years. For more information on this particular study check out GreenCO’s web site: www.greenco.org

So even if you are not a business but a local resident of Colorado, it is important to consider your new home improvement project or even your weekly round of golf, a contribution to Colorado’s local economy.

If you are an expert in a certain industry or field than you are qualified to write business articles on your industry's topic and related topics. Getting a byline for that article is essential and can help you and your business in a few different ways.

The primary reason why writing business articles is important is that it portrays you as an expert, that potential consumers and customers will want to call on. Your business can realise revenue benefits of your writing business articles related to your company's field.

The first tip on writing business articles is to write on the industry that you know, and any other related industry. Offer tips and advice to consumers that offer them an inside glance at how your industry works and offer them help in resolving their problems and making a sound decision on which industry expert to call on.

You should write your title after you write your business article. If you're using some feedback form that requires that you choose an article title than choose and change later if necessary. Don't get cute with the title - it should be clear and enticing.

The initial three words of your business articles should always be very relevant keywords.

Your business articles, especially if written for the Web, should not be longer than 500 words. If you find that the material is lengthy and must be so, than break it up into more than one article. Do mention in each article that there is to be a subsequent one - if there is. If it really must be in one article, then set up sub heads and dividers that leave a lot of white space and allow the reader to take a break, as well as drawing them back into the article with a strong tease.

When you first start out writing business articles begin by making a short article outline to guide you through the writing. In lieu of an outline you can just jot down the main points you want to be sure and include in the business article. Think about sub themes and secondary points you want to make and issues you want to discuss.

Have you ever noticed that Industry Professionals often create a new language to describe the things they are discussing? They often do this for reasons of maintaining common ground in their business endeavors. However often in making this new language and industry jargon they in fact borrow other words, which are common words used in society. If you are to ask these professionals why they chose words which are common words in the language to mean something else in your industry, they look at you and simply say; “So, that is irrelevant” we are using them this way here and that is just the way it is. Computer Industry was quick to take this egotistic approach and shun their responsibilities to the greater good of the common language. Yet, how on Earth can they say that public use of a words definition is irrelevant?

Yet these same industry gurus will say with out “common ground” in their own industry; that one is isolated? Then in fact they are saying that they themselves have isolated their entire industry from the rest of the civilization. If an industry is isolated then it can never complete whatever it is it is attempting. Often an industry, which masks itself and wraps itself in a jargon can run a stealth in its attempt to innovate past competing industries in the market place, yet in doing so it risks the synergy of explosive growth. By using trickery and stealth they attempt to distance themselves from others. In doing so they may not recruit the hard chargers necessary to hyperspace the industry.

If you are looking to increase your business and income (and chances are that your trying just that), joining associations and professional groups in your industry can help you accomplish just that. These organizations are set up to help members of the industry and by becoming a leader of an organization like that, you can increase your reputation, prove your expertise, generate publicity and free advertising for you and your business and increase your income all at the same time.

No matter what industry you are in, chances are that there is an industry association that you can join and work with. In the vast majority of cases, there are several. Mortgage brokers can join the National Mortgage Brokers Association and other professional can join similar organizations. These associations can help you advertise your services, decrease your costs and show your expertise to the community.

If you are a salesperson, you most likely introduce yourself to potential customers in a variety of different ways, but using your position in an industry association to show your expertise can help you in whatever way you introduce yourself. If you write a letter to a potential customer, you can include your position and the association or associations that you belong to. If you meet people in person, you can include a short list of organizations that you belong to on your business card.

By showing that you are a member or even a leader of an industry association, you are showing customers that your job is more than just a job. You are showing them that it is a vital part of your life, which it needs to be if you want to achieve unparalleled success. By joining industry associations, you can easily prove your expertise, save money through cooperative agreements, increase free advertising and publicity for you and your business all while increasing your income and improving your social standing. These are all things that you need if you want success, and something that you should do today.