Industries Growing Exponentially

This item could also be labeled clean energy, but let's focus on solar. Clean energy is here to stay. Governments around the world are committed to going green. Solar energy is going to be the biggest winner of this shift.

Consumers are recognizing the value of solar. It is an alternative to relying on power companies that are more focused on their grid than your home.

Solar can be applied in three different ways. Homes, businesses and farms.

There are plenty of companies building solar farms that could eventually power cities.

The biggest opportunity is with residential solar. Individuals purchasing solar panels to power their home. This would offset the use of coal power plants used to create energy for for single family homes. But a lot of things still need to happen.

The cost of panels needs to come down. The government needs to continue and strengthen incentives for home owners to purchase these panels. The tariffs on panels coming in from other countries needs to end.

We are just at the beginning of the solar panel industry. Sunrun has only been around 10 years and the technology has become better over time. If this business can continue to innovate with products and find new customers they will be really successful over time.

The sun shines everywhere on earth. There is a huge market if these businesses can execute. But execution of selling and installing this technology is the key and has yet to be determined.

Medicine is advancing faster than any other field. Technology is combining with traditional medicine to create vaccines, test and products. Medical robotics has been a really lucrative investment area so far.

What is gene editing?

The manipulation of the genetic material of a living organism by deleting, replacing, or inserting a DNA sequence, typically with the aim of improving a crop or farmed animal or correcting a genetic disorder.

Gene editing has been going on in farming for a while. Farmers and producers need to create more durable crops to feed the world. Larger output. High quality output is the goal. I am saying this is right, I just know that it is happening.

What about gene editing in medicine?

Parents have more information than ever into the health of an unborn baby. Doctors can tell is a child is going to have a genetic disorder before the baby is born. What is a parent could alter the genes of a their child to make sure they do not have a terrible health problem.

Stem cells.

Vaccines.

Altering human DNA.

What if a doctor could alter a human's DNA not to have alzheimers or lupus or sickle cell anemia? How many diseases could be cured with the help of gene editing. There is the moral question: Is gene editing 'playing God'? Should humans be editing their own DNA?

Heart disease, cancer and HIV. These are diseases that have not been cured yet. Gene editing may be the answer.

You may not like the US healthcare system, but it is profitable. This is one reason that so many drugs are developed in the US, because there is a lucrative market for manufacturers. The Covid vaccines have been profitable for the businesses that produce them. It can take a long time and lots of money to create a successful drug treatment, but there are clear monetary rewards.

Risk

Most gene editing is happening in the Biotech field. Energy and biotech are 2 sectors of the economy that I understand the least. I find it hard to pick the winners and the losers, because these companies can be really speculative. You are betting today that the products these companies are developing will be valuable. Some will and some will not.

Just know that you are taking a big risk when investing into these businesses.

This is a broad umbrella. There are plenty of different forms of media. Radio, TV, Streaming, Internet, Social Media.

Media in the past 10 years has exploded thanks primarily to Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok. The platforms themselves are valuable, but so are the people behind the platforms. There are more creators than ever before making content for their audiences.

The number of creators continues to grow. The number of audience members continues to grow. The number of media businesses continues to grow.

Youtube, Discord, Patreon, Onlyfans, Spotify. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Disney+.

Traditional media has entered streaming on top of their traditional TV and radio channels.

The number of media choices has exploded. Radio, TV, Social Media, Books, Podcasts, Blogs. It has never been a better time to build up an audience and this trend will continue.

The demand for housing has never been higher. Right now there are 330 million Americans and growing. Right now there is not enough housing for the people that want it, let alone the growing population. Housing is the biggest way that people build wealth. It is basically American religion, you must own a home.

And there is demand for all kinds of housing. People want to live in trendy apartments located in downtown areas.

They want vacation homes at lakes and in the mountains. They want Airbnbs.

Raw materials are also in high demand. Everything from wood, steel, copper, plastic, concrete. Along with batteries, which we will discuss later. You need it all to build new housing. These things are all in high demand and the demand will continue, because mining is becoming harder and harder due to climate and environmental concerns.

The demand for housing is not going anywhere. The interest rate is another story. As the interest rate increases the people that can afford housing decreases. People stop qualifying for loans. But the demand does not go away. As long as you find businesses creating quality products you will be able to capitalize on this wave.

People really fear robots. Terminator, iRobot, The matrix. Someday the machines are going to take over. We have seen it a lot in the movies. But that is Hollywood. What really is robotics?

I believe that the assembly line was the first robot. Henry Ford created a car, which is a robot, along with a better process of making a car, which is a robot.

A robot is just any tool that makes a person more efficient.

People fear robotics or automation, because they believe it will take away their jobs, but most often the reverse happens. Progress create a need for more jobs.

The creation of the automobile created a need for truck drives and mechanics and automakers.

In my opinion, the most cutting edge robotics is happening in the medical field. Doctors are using robots to do less invasive surgery. You no longer have to cut someone open from top to bottom in order to take care of their kidney stone or appendix.

Does that mean that doctor's jobs are in peril, because they are using a robot? No way. There will always be a shortage of doctors. It just means the doctor can be a little bit more efficient in their job.

Someone is going to need to fix robots. Manage their progress. Read/analyze the data they produce. And then there are companies that are going to produce the robots. There are going to need to be factories to create those things. And what about the raw materials. Robots do not come out of thin air. There will need to be companies that supply those raw materials.

I am sitting here typing these words with my computer, a robot.

People should not fear the robots.

Software has pretty much already taken over. Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, Facebook. It is all just software.

Why is going to continue growing exponentially? The network effect. The more people that use the software the more exponentially valuable it becomes.

Software has better economies of scale than other businesses.

There will always be a need for the Walmarts of the world. Physical business locations with employees helping customers. But more and more things can be software.

Airbnb. Doordash. Google.

All of these things create enormous value and all thanks to software. You have a small number of people developing this software and then the business works on scaling it to as many customers as possible.

Businesses need to get their products in from of customers. And that is getting harder and harder to accomplish. There has been an explosion of media. This means that audiences are divided among all the different platforms out there.

Streaming even cuts out a lot of the advertising.

But businesses still want to be top of mind and reach new people. There are so many platforms like Twitter that need advertisers to make their business model work. The more people that use the platform the more advertising they need to fill.

As these businesses grow, so does the advertising market.

These are the raw materials that make products.

The human population is not shrinking. The demand for products, specifically electronic products, is not shrinking.

These are the engines that are going into every single new product.

We have all heard about it, but what is it exactly?

I just had a conversation with my mom about getting braces. Basically orthodontists now use the Metaverse to create an apply braces.

80% of braces are now down with plastic molds rather than the traditional metal braces. They take picture of mouth and recreate your teeth in the Metaverse where they review where your teeth are currently and what adjustments need to be made to straighten them out.

The patient can call and interact with the orthodontist via online chat or text message. I would not be surprised if the patient will one day be able to visit the doctor from their own via the metaverse.

Many different industries are going to be added to the Metaverse. It is a great way for businesses to advertise their products in another format.

In the beginning the Metaverse will be about entertainment: gaming, music, shows.

Over time it evolve for more business applications. There is real money behind the Metaverse. Gamers are already used to using US dollars to buy tokens, coins, powerups. This is what led to the rise of cryptocurrency and it will also play a major role in the Metaverse.

No one is getting less sick. If anything our society is getting more sick. And yet people are living longer. The human lifespan is getting longer. You need healthcare to live longer. Doctors and prescriptions. The physical real estate of healthcare is growing along with service, procedures and drugs.

Now that abortion is illegal in many states, more life saving measures will be taken to save more newborn lives. That costs money.

Health is a complicated system between the government: Medicare and Medicaid, private insurance, cash customers and non paying customers. There is a system of healthcare reimbursement costs. It is a complicated system, but one that guarantees income. Just like banks, healthcare is not a great business model, but a tried and true one.

Technology.

I went to the doctor to get my appendix taken out. I through each department of the hospital. At every step there was technology involved in my care. From check in to check out. And the technology keeps evolving.

The surgery was laparoscopic. Meaning that did not cut me open, but instead made 3 small incisions in order to remove the organ. Technology continues to make healthcare better. And more expensive. Someone has to pay for the surgery robot.

As the population grows and grows older there will be a never ending need for more healthcare services.

eCommerce peaked for the moment during 2020. Everyone purchased things online and needed products delivered being locked in their homes.

But eCommerce is still growing. Every year more and more people get online and are more comfortable purchasing products online. There was a time when no one would dare buy groceries online. Grocery stores tried and failed to make it work. But not anymore. Walmart, Target, WholeFoods all deliver groceries.

Every single physical retailer is now online and expanding their online offerings.

What about small businesses?

Look no further than the Kardashians.

The rule social media now Hulu. But they also laid out a roadmap for influencers, entrepreneurs and small businesses. They built up a following and then started selling their products online to that following. And now they have big businesses.

That same model is happening 1,000 times with much smaller influencers. They are all selling merch online and growing what merch items they sell. Same for musicians. They all sell merch at shows and online on their sites.

Everyone has their own website or they sell through Amazon. Amazon will always be the dominant player in the eCommerce space. But there is plenty of room to run. It is simple to start a website and start selling. It is hard to create brand loyalty, but easy to begin.

eCommerce will continue to grow in the coming decades. And it will benefit from the Metaverse.

Trucking.

For eCommerce to be successful it needs a fullfillment network. Amazon has it. UPS, FedEx and USPS. But what about all the other stores: Walmart, Kroger, Macy, Walgreens. The list of stores is endless. They all need trucks to move goods from ports to warehouses to the customer.

The demand for trucking and truck drivers will increase along with the rise of eCommerce.

A big part of climate change is the food industry. Farming along with animals.

As the population grows so does the animal population.

One way to reduce the climate impact is to reduce the animal population. Chickens and beef. If more people stopped eating meat it would reduce the demand for cows and would more humane. More and more people are turning to plants.

I must say that the plant based options have also become much better. It used to be a fringe market and the food did not taste that great. But not anymore. Everything is being made into a plant based options. Burgers, steaks, eggs. There is a plant based option. And that trend will continue. As climate activism becomes louder more people will change to plant based options.

Also as more fast food chains bring in plant based options more people will be exposed to this food and may adopt it into their diet. Most people will never give up meat, but they may give eating meat one day a week. If they plant options that are the same quality or better.

The food industry is notoriously difficult to crack. It is capital intensive to build a food factory, labor, input costs and then getting premium long lasting shelf space with a retailer is also hard. And then marketing your products so customers know your option is out there and you should choose it over the alternative. Lots of companies have tried and failed to climb that mountain. But we also live in a new internet age where people can have quality food delivered directly to their door.

If these businesses can get a loyal following they can be successful.

I believe this industry still has a lot of innovation to conquer. More products and more customers that have not been exposed to their brands before.

I hope more veggie and vegan restaurants appear. I am hopeful that this is a big industry in the making.