9 hot businesses you can start now

• Searches by would-be customers: 9,178 in 2012, up from 6,622
• Entrepreneurs listed: 499 in 2012, up from 227
• Typical pay: $53 an hour

Jennifer Crafts trained to become a pregnancy masseuse 12 years ago but says she wanted to find a "niche area" to focus on.

Her niche: Massage for new moms. "My focus at the time was to help women recover and heal after having a child," she said.

Then when Crafts became a mother herself, she had another idea: prenatal massage therapy. "I realized it was just as important to help women take care of themselves during pregnancy as it is after birth," she said.

Crafts, who is also a middle school science teacher in Waltham, Mass., charges $50 to $75 for her massage sessions, which she books primarily on the weekends.

Although her clients are increasing, and Crafts can become a masseuse fulltime if she wanted to, she's holding off.

"For now, I'm trying to keep a balance between both of my jobs," she said.

NEXT