You're the boss: there are some things beyond your control, such as a poor job market. But that doesn't mean you can't control your future. Forget the 9-to-5 rat race and follow the lead of these entrepreneurs, who bought their own franchises

Entrepreneur,  Sept, 2003  by Devlin Smith

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Though just a few months into this venture, Telaroli is certain his corporate days are over. The corporate world "is a pretty challenging and stressful environment, and I didn't feel passionate about the job and really in touch with my customers," he says.

His new business not only brings Telaroli closer to his customers, but also gives him more time with his family. "I have my boys helping me in the business," he says. "[As a sales and marketing executive], it was hard for them to understand what I did in a business management position. But now they can see Dad carries a camera and has an office in the home ... and they think it's pretty cool."

Ex-Employee Declares Independence

Charlie Goff just wanted to bring home enough money so his wife didn't have to work. Goff felt his job as a technician with Sears wouldn't help him achieve that goal, so in 1998, he started his own appliance repair company in Cedar Creek, Texas. While this was a step in the right direction, something wasn't clicking for Goff. "I had a vision for the business, and I had all the technical skills to do the work required, but I didn't have a business plan or any business experience," he says. "I knew what I wanted my business to look like. I just didn't know how to get there."

To bridge the gap between his business vision and reality, Goff, now 32, joined the Mr. Appliance franchise system in January 1999. "It was obvious I had no business experience and no time to go to college and learn the business while running it. So Mr. Appliance was a no-brainer for me," he says.

Though it wasn't always easy, Goff does feel his past experience as an employee gave him a head start in running his franchise. "It's a huge advantage because you may already have a lot of contacts, suppliers and vendors. You understand the industry, the demand. You understand what the customers are like, what they expect," he says. "It makes a big difference."

After four years, Goff has amassed enough business experience to branch out into other ventures, like real estate. "I still think about starting other businesses. Mr. Appliance is just the beginning for me," he says. "We're getting ready to build and open a retail site for our office, and we'll also have other businesses that can rent office space or retail space from us."

If he hadn't made the move to franchise ownership, Goff has little doubt he'd still he working as a technician, making money for someone else. Because he did make the move, Goff has managed to achieve his original goal, in addition to many others. "I'm able to provide a nice living for myself and my family," he says, "as well as the families of the people who work for my company."

FINDING THE PERFECT MATCH

Buying a franchise may be starting to look a lot better than scouring the want ads or hoping for the best with your current job. So now what? "You need to develop a checklist of what you are willing to do and not [willing to] do, and what you are going to base your decision on," says Steve Hockett, president of FranChoice Inc., an Internet-based franchise referral network in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.