Got $100,000 to spend? According to Alan and Brian Beaulieu, you should invest in the funeral home industry.

In their Fridays with Vistage Webinar, recorded today, the economists, half joking, stated they would offer a full range of services from death counseling to creative casket making.

All kidding aside, there are a number of opportunities for 2011 and beyond, according to Alan and Brian:

• The economy is on the rise going into 2011-2012. “We’re in the start of a recovery for employment,” says Brian.

• Firms aren’t making a commitment to new employees but they are bringing on more temp employees, which means companies are saying they need help.

• Consumer loan delinquency rates are going down, which means that consumer spending is on the rise.

They also made the following recommendations for small business leaders:

For 2011:

-Review and uncover competitive advantages to gain market share

-Invest in customer market research (know what your customers value)

For 2012:

- Continue to build inventory

- Increase prices

- Consider outside manufacturing sources if internal pressures are becoming tight

- Open distribution channels

- Use cash to create new competitive advantages

For 2014:

-          Prepare for another mild recession

Vistage members:

Missed the webinar? Here’s the Beaulieu webinar archive.

Exclusive content: An Interview with Alan Beaulieu: Hiring, Inflation and Halting the Growth of the Deficit

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