The prospect of owning a business is daunting to most people, especially women. The thought of juggling family, home and personal responsibilities with the demands of business ownership often keeps this dream from becoming a reality.

However, franchising provides the business solution that enables women to become business owners while maintaining the flexibility they desire.

No longer limited to the categories of fast food restaurants and auto transmission shops, today's franchise opportunities span over 75 industries. There are also attractive options in terms of location (home-based, office or retail), time commitment (full-time or part-time), and investment level (less than $10,000 to more than $1 million).

Today, women come to the table with more varied backgrounds and needs. The franchise community fully understands and embraces this diversity. A stay-at-home mom can purchase a franchise that fits her specific lifestyle, just as a woman with a high-level corporate background can.

One woman whom we helped to find a franchise business is Brenda Cosby of Hainesport, New Jersey; she opened a Molly Maids residential cleaning franchise in August of 2004.

For Cosby, franchise ownership represents a second career after retiring from a successful customer service position with Verizon after 30 years.

Cosby finds franchise ownership to be both fun and challenging at the same time. She enjoys using her well-honed customer service skills with clients, yet she finds hiring the right employees for the job to be quite challenging.

Cosby recently told Courier-Post columnist Elizabeth Henderson that women who want to start their own franchises should "do the research, find out who your competition is, understand your market, and understand what you'll be delivering and what customer expectations will be. Make sure that you are available to customers."

When asked what her greatest success was so far, she replied, "That I am still here, that the business has grown and that we have more than 200 clients already. It's amazing that I was able to get through a year because there are so many businesses you hear about that fail."

At the other end of the franchising spectrum is Nichole Ferreira, a young working mother with a one-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son. Ferreira gave up a career in healthcare administration for the life of self-employment through franchise ownership. She and her husband, Pete, opened up a Carvel Ice Cream store in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania in February, 2005.

Ferreira's husband stumbled upon Carvel when he saw a television advertisement stating that the company was developing franchise opportunities in the Philadelphia area. "The timing was perfect," said Ferreira.

"At that point, my husband had recently been laid off from a career in human resources, and I knew that I didn't want to go back to the corporate world after having children," she recalled. "These personal factors, combined with the financial incentives Carvel was offering prospective franchisees, made the decision to purchase an easy one."

Ferreira, who considers herself a "workhorse" is able to balance home and career thanks, in part, to her loyal and committed staff. "I know I'm giving up a lot financially by having a crew of in-store staff, but by doing so, I don't feel that I'm sacrificing my family or marriage," she said.

Ferriera also notes that by having an in-store staff, she is able to develop her wholesale operation and work with a variety of community organizations - opportunities that she would not be able to pursue if she were in the store all of the time.

Ferreira still works long hours, yet she enjoys being a business owner because of the autonomy it affords her - and the fact that "it's all yours." Thanks to her staff and help from her husband, Ferreira has been able to create the flexible schedule she wanted.

"If one of my kids is sick, I can stay home and not worry about using sick days or personal days like I did in my corporate career," she said in a recent interview.

When asked about "words of wisdom" she could offer other women considering franchising, Ferreira said, "As a business owner, I've found that it's still "a man's world" out there. It was tough to get respect when I dealt with the contractors who built the store.

"And now that we're open, people will come right up to me and ask if they can speak with the boss, not realizing that the boss could actually be a woman! My advice to other women would be to stand your ground, gain respect, and feel proud of what you've accomplished," she added.

According to the National Foundation for Women Business owners, there are 9.1 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. - 38 percent of all U.S businesses - employing more than 27 million people and generating more than $3 trillion in sales.

Estimates show that the number of women buying franchises in the United States is close to the national average for women opening non-franchised small businesses in this country.

Women such as Brenda Cosby and Nichole Ferreira have found that there are distinct advantages to buying a franchise, including: