Carpet cleaning business? (house, buy, inspector)

[Tac-Sea]

I've been thinking of starting a business on the side with low start up costs. At first I was going to become a home inspector, since most I've used are very busy and charge $400 per inspection and do 2-3 inspections a day.

But the training for licensing is kind of costly. I suppose it would be worth it since the income is all but guaranteed, but spending 5K on something that may not work out seems somewhat risky.

Then I shifted my attention to carpet cleaning. I could buy a Rug Doctor for $400. Only problem I see is that most carpet cleaning businesses seem to be really competitive; they often do a whole house for $150 and when you count furniture moving and drive time, you may not be making more than $300 a day, which isn't bad but also not spectacular (you're not going to get rich).

So any thoughts on the two above business ideas? Or are there others that I'm overlooking?