Not sure if this is what your looking for. And I'm not sure if this will work on a rooted phone.
Go to the Android Market and get Quick settings app.
Open it and click on your phones menu button normally next to the home button. Select customize. At next screen find wifi hotspot in the list. Put finger on gray lines to right of words, after a second you can drag that function up to the top of the screen.
Back out of that screen and then turn wifi hotspot on.
My phone is not rooted, this app works great on my phone.