The Staff of LifeStart your own staffing service.

Have you been eyeing the drum-tight labor market, thinking you ought to get into the staffing business? If you can match the right people with the right jobs, that might just be a smart move. It was for Tom Potenza, 33, who in 1998 launched TechLink Inc., a Ramsey, New Jersey, staffing firm that provides IT professionals to clients who develop their own software, Web sites and other systems. "I was flipping throughThe New York Timesand saw there were tons of jobs out there. I read about how the demand for good employees is so much greater than the supply," explains Potenza. A former computer programmer, he figured he had the connections to open a company to fill the need.

Potenza's timing couldn't have been better. A robust economy and low unemployment rate are driving the demand for workers. Companies vying for the same talent need an edge to compete. Increasingly, that edge is staffing companies.