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Small Business Trends: Handmade Jewelry and Digital Content Creation

Two small business trends are rising above the rest in the post-pandemic world, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: digital content creation and handmade jewelry.

Small business founders are busier than ever creating new ventures for consumers to enjoy. The Census Bureau reports that business applications have leapt up 60% over the past two years, and the season average remains higher than usual. Global media firm Mashable notes that in particular, personalized handmade jewelry is experiencing a boom in sales partially due to the upcoming increase in weddings over the next two years. Searches including the keywords "personalized jewelry" shot up 393% over the past three months on small business-friendly craft sales platform Etsy.

While this began as a simple pandemic hobby, Mashable notes that the enthusiasm of friends and family has driven many creators to open their own Etsy shops and sell their wares, which are now in high demand. The wedding boom also coincides with the phenomenon of "dopamine dressing," a term coined by fashion psychologist Dr. Dawn Karen, describing buying clothes and accessories to increase one's happiness.

Another trend in new small businesses is the field of digital content creation, including YouTube videos, sponsored Instagram content, and TikTok influencing. The content creator industry is becoming a huge part of the larger economy, with a market size of more than $104 billion. Last year, Statista reported that 139 million creators globally retained audiences between 1,000 and 10,000 followers, which qualify as semi-professional content creators who utilize their platforms like a part-time job. However, there were only two million digital content creators with 100,000 to one million followers and another two million with over a million followers. Over 2.5 quintillion bytes of content creation data are made and posted each day as millions attempt to turn their influencing businesses into million-dollar empires.