Laid-off workers take control of their careers by becoming franchisees - Business First of Louisville:

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For many people, finding a comparable position elsewhere in corporate Americsa is not theonly answer. Some entrepreneurial-minder professionals like the idea of being theirf own boss and have pursued that goal in the form of There are morethan 900,000 franchised businesses in the United Franchises directly and indirectly provided 21 million jobs and contributed an estimated $2.3 trillionb in economic output in the U.S. private sectore in 2005, according a report released last year bythe . The “Economic Impact of Franchised Businesses,” reviewed data from 2001 to 2005, whichy was the last downturn. In this recession, the D.C.
-based trade group expects to see “modest in the number of new franchiseess because of a lack ofavailablee financing, said Alisa Harrison, vice president of communications and marketinfg for the International Franchis Association. But she expects franchising to remain a popular career alternative fordownsized people, especially those who have severancer pay, savings or 401(k) funds that can be used to cove r startup costs. “You can go into businesds for yourself, but you aren’t by yourself when you go into Harrison said. Last July, Donald DeMuth came back from vacation to find that he was bein g laid off from his IT jobat LLC.
Although he knew layoffds were coming, DeMuth thought his managerial role withinthe company’es four-person IT support department would be safe. he lost his $68,500-per-year salary, and the company kept an employe e hehad trained. Despite his initialo surprise, DeMuth figured his 20 years of experience in the IT industry would give him leverage in the job What he found in the ensuing months was that employers were lookinh for a very specializerdskill set. Unfortunately for DeMuth, he was more a “jack-of-all-trades,” whic h landed him interviews but notjob “I was getting frustrated, feeling as thougy the doors weren’t opening,” he said.
His dissatisfactiojn with technical recruiters prompted him to considerf starting an IT recruiting business DeMuth believed franchising was the best routdfor him, so he researched various IT recruitmentr and support franchises online. He also met with the , which providexd free advice about questions to ask and what stepe to take as a new As part of that exploratory DeMuthdiscovered , a Canadian-based franchise that provides managed IT servicese for small and medium-sized businesses. The Utilit y Co. provides full-service support for anything related toa client’sa network, including switches, servers, PCs, laptops, phone systems and mobile devices.