What's hot, why and how you can launch one for yourself.

There's no place like home - when it comes to starting a business. Especially now, with the unemployment rate soaring and corporate downsizing relentlessly displacing thousands of workers every month. To the laid-off toiler, the anxious second careerist and the enterprising self-starter with a dream, the home office is viewed as an attractive alternative to the traditional nine-to-five option, or lack thereof.

If you've been thinking the time is right to set up shop at home, you're not alone. Half of all businesses launched last year - about 1.5 million - were home based, and black antrepreneurs are well represented among those making their mark on the home front. Today, more than 850,000 African-Americans are working either part-or full-time from their homes, according to LINK Resources Corp., a Now York City-based research and consulting firm. Meanwhile, women - always looking for ways to satisfy both career and family needs - are starting these new businesses at twice the rate of men.

Why the dramatic rise in home work? Home businesses offer entrepreneurs the chance to embark on low-risk ventures (initial investments typically range from a few hundred to less than $5,000) that can become quite lucrative, while still allowing for the kind of flexibility that most companies can't offer. The average at-home business owner will earn $50,760 this year, according to LINK.

The five home-based businesses highlighted below are among the best bets in coming years. Selected on the basis of their low start-up costs, high marketability and income potential, all of them can be launched with no staff save one: you. In addition, they are positioned in industries expected to experience significant growth over the next decade: repair services, computer consulting, specialized services, support services and interior design. Here are some folks who are carving out successful niches for themselves in these areas.

Home-Sewn Success

When Cynthia Malone is not traveling the skies as a Delta Airlines flight attendant, she runs a custom dressmaking business out of her in Kenner, La., home. Her part-time enterprise with the upscale name of House of Malone features handmade career and evening wear. Since her home borders on New Orleans, she often designs extravagant gowns for Mardi Gras.