Employment service companies are designed to help match companies who have job openings with available, qualified employees. Also called staffing agencies, these types businesses support most industries and can be found in both small towns and large cities. The most common structure of employment agencies is a small office with a handful of internal employees who recruit candidates and sell employment services to local businesses. Even the largest international staffing companies operate in this manner, so your small business will be able to compete with established firms if you have the right business plan and tools.

1. Check out your city's chamber of commerce website to learn more about the area's top industries and companies. For example, you may live in a city that has a high number of attorneys or finance companies. You may live in an area with many hospitals or technology companies. You'll also need to research local labor and employment laws at this time.

2. Pretend to be a job seeker and visit established employment agencies to check out your competition. Find out how much they pay their external employees, as well as what they charge their clients, if possible. Take notes about what types of employee screenings and tests they conduct, as well as if they offer free services to their employees, such as resume writing.

3. Concentrate your efforts on your target market and focus niche. For example, you may want to sell administrative office personnel services to all types of industries if you live in an area with many high rises and corporations. If you live in an area with lots of industrial parks, you may want to focus on light industrial or warehouse personnel. Other examples include legal personnel staffing or finance-industry staffing if your city has a high number of attorneys or accounting firms.

4. Include extra start-up cash to pay your external employees in your overall financial plan. You'll most likely have to pay your external employees before your clients pay you, so you'll need money for that. Establish your overall pricing and payment plan, including hourly pay rates for external employees, markup percentages you'll charge clients and target gross margin percentages.

5. Locate your office space near potential clients and in a convenient interview spot for your future external employees, or temporary workers. Choose a location that is easily accessible for external employees who may not have personal vehicles -- for example, you may need to office at a location that is near a bus line.

6. Recruit external employees and build your prospective client database. You can do both for free -- place job ads for free on online job services boards. Find prospective clients for free by prospecting large office buildings or by cold calling companies from the phone book. Qualify potential clients by finding out if they use employment services or external recruiters.