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The only constant in life is-you guessed it-change. Knowingthis, we make it our mission every December to cast our eyes intothe future and predict the hot businesses for the year ahead. Ourpredictions are based on a combination of research, expertise andpure gut instinct.

This year, these factors point to 14 stand-out businesses for1998. We've written about several of them in Entrepreneur-weeven touted a few last December as hot businesses for 1997. Yet anew year brings a new set of opportunities for such 1997 picks asspecialized staffing and job training/retraining, so don't passover these selections in your haste to explore such hot-businessnewcomers as mail order health care and wraps.

We also encourage you to take note of the underlying trendsinfluencing our roundup of 1998's hot businesses. Credit anaging population, for instance, for generating a demand for adultday services and assisted living facilities. And thank ahealth-conscious (albeit time-hungry) public for raising theprofile on juice bars and soup restaurants.