10 Ripe Areas for Starting Your Business

If you’re hot to get going with a startup, but your finances aren’t, here are some independent businesses – requiring little more than a certificate or license – that you can start today:

1. Tutoring: The last U.S. Census reports more than 76 million school-age children. Federal laws like “No Child Left Behind” and state requirements that students pass tougher standardized tests before moving to the next grade have led to booming demand for tutors.
2. Hair Care/Makeup: Women – and men – spend big money on grooming services. Assisted-living homes, nursing homes and senior centers are great places to get started, and sharpen your skills.
3. Child Care Provider: U.S. Census figures also show that more than 20 million children live in single-parent homes. Many of those working parents need and are looking for childcare – especially outside of regular business hours.
4. Catering: This is a great first step to opening a restaurant. Home-based catering is an inexpensive way to build clientele, test recipes and find out if you're suited for the rigors of food service.
5. Cleaning/Lawn Service: With unemployment low, more people have less time – but more money – to spend on taking care of their homes and lawns.
6. Online Professor: Have an advanced degree or a lot of experience? Selling your services as a virtual instructor can be lucrative. Web-based and traditional colleges and universities offer online courses.
7. Financial Services/Business Consultant: If you know your stuff and have a proven track record, financial planning and/or business consulting can pay big.
8. Party Planning: Kids’ birthday, sweet 16 and graduation parties, bat and bar mitzvahs and other celebrations today involve a lot more than just buying a cake and inviting people over. Besides event planning, other niche opportunities include making invitations, decorations and party favors.
9. Computer Services: Whether you fix the machines, develop software or are able to translate technical jargon into everyday language, this growing field needs experts who make house calls. Many new users, especially older people who once avoided computers, now are giving in to lower prices. This new wave needs help with everything from setting up their new box to using the Web.
10. Personal Organizer: If you have a knack for neatness, you can turn it into money by starting a service to organize anything from closets to computer desktops.

Now take one last tip: Plan carefully.

"Don't start until you have a business plan," Turner says. "The reason a large number of small businesses don’t survive beyond three years is the lack of financial and marketing planning."