Best Recession-Proof Businesses Even in a recession, you can start a business. Find out which ones were voted most likely to succeed.

Q: I'd like tostart my own business, but I'm in a recessionemergency-behind on my bills, savings gone and no start-upcapital. I have been unable to make enough doing temp service work,etc, to cover basic expenses. What are the best recession-proofbusinesses?

A: Some businessesactually do well during recessions; they're"countercyclical." For example, as both business andconsumer debt mounts in a recession and companies need to collectevery possible dollar they're owed, debt collection agencies,companies that specialize in repossessing items and bankruptcyattorneys are at their busiest.

If you're good on the telephone, probably the most feasibleof this type of business is a collection agency. The American CollectorsAssociation offers a CD-ROM that will provide you with sometraining, and you can either buy or lease collection-specificsoftware from a number of companies.