Below are the top 10 I have observed as "Hot" recently on the small business airwaves....
**On line administrative assistant
** Services to the elderly- transportation, errands etc
** Pet Care and Training Services
** Federal government contracting to tap stimulus funding coming through 128 federal agencies in almost every field of endeavor
** "GREEN " Environmental initiatives in almost every venue
** Maintenance, Repair and upkeep of foreclosed properties
** Non-profit organizations for community development chasing grants
** Self-Help Guides for Business
** Training on all aspects of small business Management
** On-line Books
These are the buzzwords for a VC startup for 2012:
1. avoid 'cloud'. Too overused
2. Mobile apps are still hot - smartphone customers are expected to spend $6.2 billion on more than 4.5 million downloads
3. Social apps - Facebook and LinkedIn are still hot
4. sharing, bartering, lending, renting and gifting--of goods, skills, money, space or services. This is what Entrepreneur magazine also said.
5. games - in any form
6. still the same-old niches - health, fitness, wellnes and environment
Successful small businesses are developing enterprises in these fields through market research and business plans to deliver unique products and services - then pricing them and comparing them to the existing market, the competition and client demographics to determine feasibility before applying for financing and launching an enterprise.