by Beth Anderle

Created on: May 06, 2009   Last Updated: June 08, 2009

With the downturn in the economy more and more women are looking for a way to bring in more money. Many are finding that the best way for them to achieve their financial goals is by purchasing a franchise. According to the website smallbusinessnewz.com, over the last decade women-owned franchises increased nearly 17% and 25% of all franchises today are owned by women.

Because women tend to excel at building relationships, it is no surprise that the most popular franchises for women center around businesses that have a high level of personal interaction. With so many more women in the workforce today, many of them with high-level positions and long hours, a number of them look to businesses to provide some of the services that women traditionally performed for themselves, such as caring for children, cleaning, and cooking. In addition, women working long hours in the boardroom still need to find time for themselves. They want fitness centers and spas that meet their needs and their schedule. More and more women wanting to own their own businesses are seeing these needs and meeting them by providing these much needed services at premium prices.

The most popular franchises for women are the child-care and education franchises. These range from education franchises like Kiddie Academy, and Sylvan Learning Centers, to child safety companies like Identi-Kid, to daycare centers like La Petite. These type of businesses allow women with a fondness for children to turn that passion into a profitable business while still being able to interact with the kids.

Also high on the list for franchises appealing to women are house-keeping services. A large number of busy female executives simply do not have time for the routine household chores they once did. While they prefer someone to do their cleaning for them, they may not be willing to go through the trouble of interviewing, employing, paying and insuring a full-time housekeeper. Recognizing that, many savvy women are purchasing franchises like Merry Maids and Maid Pro, knowing this is a recession-proof business. For women who want to still have a hand in their food preparation but don't have a lot of time or energy, companies like Dinner by Design and U-Bake allow busy women to prepare meals to take home to be cooked and served later, while someone else washes the pots and pans.

Women also want their own places to work out. This has spawned a whole industry of women-only fitness centers, such as Snap-Fit and Curves, where women franchise owners, managers, and fitness instructors understand what women want in the area of fitness and provide it. In addition, woman are investing in spas, tanning salons, and weight loss franchises such as Inches-A-Weigh, Weight Watchers, and Physicians Weight Loss centers.

But perhaps the main thing that women are looking for in a franchise is the same thing every businessperson wants: a chance to be their own boss and in control of their own financial destiny.

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