6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Regulatory:

Regulation 1: "U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on applications to conduct certain activities with foreign endangered species, marine mammals, or both." 

Where I found it: Regulations.gov

Opportunity 1: An application with easy to use interface that allows people to vote on pending permits that deal with endangered animals.

What leads me to believe an opportunity like this might be successful is that the process of submitting these comments to the US Fish and Wildlife is kind of tedious. I believe millennials and young people who want to be involved will use this app. The Opportunity is rather easy to replicate if you know how to create app, but I believe what will set it apart is if it is government funded.

What leads me to see this opportunity is the recent rise of emerging apps that help young people get more involved politically.

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Regulation 2: IRS releases new 2018 withholding tables to reflect tax law changes

Where I found it: Forbes.org

Opportunity 2: Accounting firms can educate themselves better on these new tax laws which will allow them to be more valuable to companies.

What leads me to believe that this opportunity will be great is that companies now must, by law, use these new tax laws and withholdings. Companies are going to look for accounting firms that are up to date with the new code and will hire them. This is extremely easily to replicate since it is just a matter of learning the new code.

I see this opportunity mainly because I myself run a business and have no idea about this new tax code and need to hire an accountant that does. 

Economic trends:

Economic trend 1: "Baby Boomers Aren't Retiring"

Where I found it: https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666

Opportunity 3: Health Insurance for people aged 18-28, Low monthly premiums, telemedicine for simple check-ups and questions, some actual locations where patients can go if they need to. 

What leads me to believe this opportunity exists is that since baby boomers aren't retiring, companies aren't hiring as many full-time positions since the positions aren't as available. This means that young people might have a hard time getting a health insurance through their employer since they are most likely only working part-time. Once this idea gets going, it will be extremely difficult to replicate due to the complexity of a healthcare and insurance system. 

I saw this opportunity mainly because I despise how expensive our current healthcare system is for the quality of service we get.

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Economic trend 2: Subscription-based business models are the future

Where I found it: https://www.smartinsights.com/ecommerce/ecommerce-strategy/top-ecommerce-trends-inform-2017-marketing-strategy/

Opportunity 4: Current business models like Uber or Lyft can switch over to a subscription-based model.

What leads me to believe this opportunity exists is the fact that people already use uber consistently. And due to the information and success of subscription-based models, I can see how some people can save by switching to a subscription model, and now they are committed and loyal to that company. On the contrary, uber might lose some money (per ride) but they gain unparallel customer loyalty. This opportunity is rather easy to replicate, as many companies know they can change their charging model to a subscription-based easily. 

I mainly saw the opportunity here because I use to use Amazon regularly and often pay for 2-day shipping, and I also used Walmart and other online retailers. But then I realized I could save money by switching to amazon prime (subscription model), and then the commitment to Amazon started because I was getting "free 2-day shipping" .