Now might not be a good time to start a business in many people’s eyes but hey, things are looking up and in the next several months or so, we might actually witness change. More so, there are sectors which are still profitable and could use some new businesses. Here are some of the top industries you should consider when starting a new business, courtesy of INC.com.

Employment services
Today’s business environment is hyper-competitive and constantly in flux. To increase response time, companies have turned to temporary employees, in an effort to stay productive while managing overhead. This trend is projected to continue through 2012, pushing up the employment rate in this sector by 54%.

And guess where companies look to for temporary employees? Head hunters and other similar services!

Home health care
While employment in the health service industry is projected to grow 28% by 2012, employment in the specialized home health care industry is expected to be nearly twice that, or 54.5%. Each year, over 7.6 million people are provided with home health care services.

Thanks to science and medicine, people are living to a ripe old age more and more. This means, however, that more people are needed assistance at home. And that is where home health care comes into the picture.

Motion picture/video
Today, Americans and much of the world flip through over 200 channels of programming. The movie industry has grown in a similar fashion, with single movie houses getting consumed by 20-screen theatres with stadium seating. Such a massive amount of programming requires a commensurate supporting industry of production studios, distributors, advertisers and engineers, just to name a few. Over the next decade, the number of persons employed by the motion picture and video industry is expected to grow 31%.

This sector may require more long term thinking but hey, if you’re in it for the long run, you should consider this.

More ideas in the original article.

No I am not going nuts. I know that you must be thinking that hiring more people at this point in time is the last thing on your agenda. But if you think about it, if you have the money to take on more employees, this is the perfect time to do so. Let me explain why.

I am sure that you are aware that many companies are either laying off employees or closing shop. This means many things but the main thing that concerns you is this – there are a lot of talented and experienced people who are in the market for a job. These people used to have security in terms of their salary but are now out on the streets, looking for a source of income. Consequently, if you have the extra cash to spend, you might as well snap up these talented people who are hungry for jobs.

There is no doubt about it, there is a shortage of jobs and a surplus of manpower at the moment. The sad truth is that many people who are unemployed are reassessing their priorities when it comes to what jobs to take. This means that you, the employer, can find great people perhaps at a lower expense.

Another aspect which could be beneficial to both employee and employer is the flexibility of work relationship. Instead of hiring a full time employee, you might be able to work out a part-time position. These opportunities – and more – can actually open up for you in these hard times.

Now, more than ever, businesses are feeling the crunch of the times. It was so easy to be overly optimistic in December, when the year was ending. The rationale of many people was that, a new year brings new beginnings. Things can only get better, right?

But did you see Circuit City closing? How about Timberland? Not to mention many other smaller companies closing shop because of financial reasons.

This does not mean, however, that your business has to close as well. In fact, you can even bank on the economic troubles as part of your selling point. Instead of painting the prettiest picture you can come up with, you might want to stick closer to reality and use that picture to convince people to buy. When doing so, however, you should bear some things in mind.

One, do not lay it on too thick. Everyone knows how hard the times are but it does not mean that you should dig too deep to make a connection between “recession” and your business or product. If your business is related to the financial sector, then yes, you cannot avoid talking about the recession but let’s say you sell meat products – you really can’t go around using big words such as financial planning and relate it to what you sell. Don’t force it.

Two, find the right approach. This is to counterbalance the first point. Going back to the example above, the meat products store…instead of throwing around big financial terms, why not stick to something that your customers will understand? Something like value for their money? Make your sales pitch revolve around this idea and cash-strapped people will flock to your store.

Got any other sales/marketing ideas banking on economic woes? Why not share them with us?

Recession or not, the fact is that the turn of economic events has got a lot of business people running around, trying to keep their heads above water. It does not matter at what scale you are operating – the economic crunch is affecting everyone. Perhaps we can learn a lesson or two from the “big boys” of business. Inc. recently interviewed some executives about how the recession is affecting them and what they are doing to survive. Here is the most interesting answer to the question “Many companies are currently reorganizing, revising fees, or looking for ways to cut costs. What kind of changes is your company making to adjust to the economic climate?”

A few years ago, we redid our menu. So while you saw food prices growing at almost double-digit rates over the last few years, we actually lowered prices. In a tough economy, you can’t just raise prices, pass them on to the customers, and survive. You might be able to cover margins in the short term, but ultimately, you end up losing transactions and it’s not good for business. Our objective is to make sure that we keep prices down like we have so diligently in the past. – Kevin Reddy, CEO of Noodles & Co., a Broomfield, Colo.-based restaurant franchising company

This might not sound so attractive from the perspective of a business man as the margins will definitely lessen but as Reddy said, even if you do keep your prices and margins up, the bottom line is that you will lose customers if you do not try to keep prices as low as possible. It’s your choice – keep margins temporarily and lose customers in the long run or lose margins temporarily and keep your customers.

Put that way, the answer seems easy enough, doesn’t it?