Where to find new revenue streams

Ask FSB

Get small-business intelligence from the experts. Here's a chance for YOU to ask your pressing small-business questions, and FSB editors will help you get answers from the appropriate experts.

Your name:

* Your e-mail address:

* Your city:

* Your state:
Select Outside U.S. Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Dist. of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

* Your daytime phone #:

* Your questions:

More from FSB

Help wanted for HR firm A CEO and rodeo queen King of the mountain bike

Current Issue

(FORTUNE Small Business) -- Dear FSB: I have worked for firms in the IT recruiting industry for 14 years. Next year I'm going out on my own. I plan to develop 20 solid clients, and after that, I know placements can bring in around $300,000 in the first year. But I would also like to develop another revenue stream for my recruiting business. Where can I go to find value-added products to sell into mid-sized companies, IT or HR? One of my first ideas was selling an applicant tracking system that I'll manage for small businesses. Any thoughts?

- Robert Jones, IT Headhunter, Charlotte, NC

Dear Robert: "Your candidate tracking system solution sounds like a real win-win," says Frank Cincotta, Founder & CEO of MTP Software, a Needham, Mass., company that provides business software applications and services to small and mid-sized companies. "But only as a hosted service of which you'd be the provider."

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) will cost you anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 to develop, depending on how sophisticated the wWb-based application is, Cincotta estimates.

Cincotta cautions that while the idea of a candidate-tracking product seems appealing, SaaS would be the best way to go, because it allows your clients to eliminate the up-front cost of purchasing licenses and hardware and the recurring cost of managing the application. As a bonus, you'd be riding on the wave of a hot new trend in the market.

"SaaS has really gained significant traction over the last 18 months," Cincotta says.