8 hot businesses you can start now

• Searches by would-be customers: 8,929 in 2013, up from 1,047 in 2012
• Entrepreneurs listed: 910 in 2013, up from 282
• Typical pay: $55 an hour

Restoring old photos is an art that's in hot demand. Searches for photo restorers on Thumbtack have surged more than 700% since last year.

Mary Horn, an Oklahoma City-based photo restorer, isn't surprised. Most of her clients are age 50 and up. Aging baby boomers are "pulling out their old photos and want to rediscover them," she said. An upswing in genealogy searches by families also is fueling business.

Better computer technology has made restoration faster and more effective, said Horn. She used to spend four to five hours on a project that now takes her two to three.

Depending on what's wrong with the photo, Horn charges $35 to as much as $400 to fix it. "I've worked on everything from restoring debutante photos from the 1950s to photos damaged by tornadoes," she said.

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