Beyond the Headlines: 6 Trends Pointing to Massive Future Opportunities
Steph Smith's insights on business trends that are currently untapped
I'm a regular listener of the My First Million podcast. One of my favourite guest, Steph Smith, was back on the show recently.
I think it was her 9th time!
And honestly, nobody finds and talks about data and future trends like she does. She spots these little things ("Digits," she calls them) that most people completely miss, but which point to HUGE future opportunities.
The full chat was almost an hour long, packed with insights.
You could definitely listen to the whole thing here. Or, if you're short on time or just want the main points broken down simply (so you can still sound smart when you talk about it!), let me give you the gist right here in this edition.
She shared some fascinating trends and potential opportunities that feel like they're still under the radar, but feel like they could become really big.
Let's break them down:
Trend 1: Our Ears Need More Attention
What it is: Hearing loss is going to affect a massive number of people worldwide in the near future.
The Signal:
Stats show billions will likely have hearing loss by 2050.
Rules in places like the US are changing, allowing hearing aids to be sold over-the-counter (without needing a doctor's prescription first).
Our modern lifestyle (constant earphones, loud places) is likely contributing.
The Opportunity: The current hearing aid market is often expensive, and the products aren't great or stylish. There's a huge gap for building better, more affordable, user-friendly hearing aids, and related products like effective, cool-looking earplugs. Think about making hearing tech less medical and more like a common, accessible device.
Trend 2: New Things Are Flying High
What it is: Airspace is opening up for different kinds of flying vehicles, not just big planes.
The Signal:
Governments are changing rules to let drones fly much farther than before (beyond where a person can see them).
New types of electric mini-aircraft (Light-Sport Aircraft (LSA) or sort of like electric mini-helicopters) are getting approvals to operate.
The Opportunity: While building the actual drone or Light-Sport Aircraft (LSA) is complex, the massive opportunity is in building the ecosystem around them. This includes businesses for maintaining and repairing these new vehicles, software for managing their flights, creating new types of packaging for drone deliveries, and services to manage and operate fleets of them. Think of all the support infrastructure needed for cars; the same will be needed for these new flying machines.
Trend 3: Exploring the Mind in New Ways
What it is: Using psychedelics is slowly becoming accepted and legal for therapy and personal growth.
The Signal:
Laws are changing in various places (like parts of the US) to decriminalize or legalize substances like psilocybin (magic mushrooms) for therapeutic use.
Research and interest are growing in how these can help with things beyond just severe problems, like making big life decisions or gaining new perspectives.
The Opportunity: There's a clear need for trained, reliable guides and therapists who can help people have safe and beneficial experiences. This could be a whole new category of wellness or therapeutic services, tailored to different personal development or mental health needs, moving beyond just crisis treatment.
Trend 4: AI Helping Where People Are Needed
What it is: Many important jobs are growing but don't have enough skilled people to fill them.
The Signal:
Job reports show strong demand but staff shortages in areas like accounting, nursing, and trades for clean energy (like installing solar panels).
Businesses in these fields are struggling to take on more work because they can't hire enough people.
The Opportunity: Instead of focusing on AI that replaces jobs, build AI tools that help the existing people in these understaffed fields. If an accounting firm in Bangalore is short on staff, they'd likely pay for AI that helps their team handle more tasks, so they can serve more clients. The opportunity is building AI solutions in markets where the main problem is a lack of people, not too many.
Trend 5: Free Data on How Much Jobs Pay
What it is: Salary information for many jobs is becoming publicly available because the law requires it (specifically in US)
The Signal:
In US, more and more states are passing laws that require companies to list salary ranges directly on job postings.
This creates a huge pool of official, mandated salary data that wasn't easily accessible before.
The Opportunity: Build a platform (like a website or app) that collects all this newly public salary data from job postings. Organize it into a searchable database. This is valuable information for job seekers trying to negotiate, recruiters, and even companies doing market research. It's official data given by companies, waiting for someone to make it easy to access and use.
Trend 6: Learning from Nature's Designs
What it is: Learning from how nature (animals, plants) solves problems to design new technology and products.
The Signal:
More researchers and companies are studying "biomimicry", copying strategies from nature (like waterproof leaves, strong spider silk, efficient animal movements).
Nature has millions of years of "R&D" built-in.
The Opportunity: Look at natural designs for inspiration for new products or materials. Use nature's amazing adaptations as marketing stories for your brand. There are resources listing nature's "inventions." It's a vast, largely untapped source for innovation across many industries.
So yeah, those were some of the ideas from that chat that really got me thinking about where things are headed and where opportunities might be hiding.
That’s it for this week.
Manoj
"1 Idea" delivers interesting insights every week straight to your inbox. If this edition resonated with you, how about sharing it with a friend?
And if you're just diving into my world for the first time, why not hit that subscribe button?