Quick ChangeHow fast can you make a million? For these companies, the answer was one year. But who knows? Maybe <i>you</i> could do it in less.

Despite what you may have read inGet Rich Quick! Volume33, there's no foolproof plan for making $1 million in yourfirst year. Most start-ups never make that kind of annual revenueat all. "People are running away from the big splashes,"says Robert Lattimore, president of CCSBI (Contra Costa SoftwareBusiness Incubator), a Concord, California-based incubator fortechnology companies. "A year ago, the discussion was macro,not micro, but now people are interested in consistent growth,results and profit."

But that focus on the long term can yield results in the shortterm. Start-ups that stuck to business basics during the dotcomhysteria of the past few years are now reaping the benefits.Consider these fledgling firms: