Working from home has become much more common in recent years mainly because telecommunications have made it more possible than ever to conduct business and operate an entire company without the need for office space. A franchise represents one of the best businesses to run out of your home because the franchisor will generally take care of external marketing, advertising and training, leaving the franchisee to own and run their business from the comfort of their own home. If you are interested in starting your own business and are interested in working from home, take a look at the six most successful work from home franchises.

6. Matco Tools
Matco Tools has received many awards including #1 in category from Entrepreneur Magazine, Top 50 Franchises of 2008 from the Franchise Business Review and a 4-star satisfaction rating. Why so many achievements? Because Matco Tools is a home based business opportunity where the franchisee owns and operates a mobile tool truck which displays the state of the art tools and allows the franchisee to efficiently display and deliver the tools to the client. Along with this strong home based business model, each franchisee is given a territory and "list of calls" so you won't have to worry about competing against other Matco franchises. Matco also does not charge franchise fees, royalties or advertising fees so your earning potential and profit margin are high from the start.

5. Chem-Dry
Robert Harris, founder of Chem-Dry, originally got into the carpet business as a carpet cleaner to pay for law school. He began to notice that the techniques being used for carpet cleaning wasn't very efficient and didn't always work. Chem-Dry is more than just a carpet cleaner, their proprietary, hot-carbonated extraction cleaning method leaves the customers carpets clean and dry in just 1-2 hours and makes Chem-Dry a great candidate for a home based business franchise. As a Chem-Dry franchisee, you can delight your customers with more than just superior carpet and upholstery cleaning. Chem-Dry franchisees can offer extraordinary services from leather cleaning to tile and stone care.

4. SERVPRO
SERVPRO franchises bring help and sanity to those victimized and affected by fires and floods. SERVPRO performs just about every type of restoration from fire and smoke to water removal to vandalism. A SERVPRO franchise makes a great home based business since all of the work happens on location. This can greatly reduce the costs traditional service businesses deal with. A franchisee can start a SERVPRO franchise for a total of $100-$150 thousand dollars which includes everything needed to get up and running. SERVPRO also makes a great multi-unit franchise and can be expanded as needed to grow your business bigger and bigger.

3. JAN-PRO
JAN-PRO is a cleaning service business with over 7,000 franchises worldwide. JAN-PRO can be run from home with as little as a single employee. JAN-PRO offers a professional touch to the cleaning industry by providing the franchisee with a well-trained franchise business owner who focuses on customer appreciation, and possesses the attitude, desire and determination to maintain the superior quality of cleaning your customers require for their companies.

2. Bonus Building Car
Bonus Building Care is a cleaning industry franchise ranked #7 in the
Fastest-Growing Franchises 
in Entrepreneur Magazine. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "janitors and cleaners" will be one of the top two growing areas of employment for the next decade. Who will employ these janitors? It could be you as a commercial cleaning franchise owner. The commercial cleaning segment of the cleaning industry is more predictable and constant than carpet cleaning businesses, maid services and other specialty cleaning businesses.

1. Jani-King
Jani-King has received more accolades and awards than any other franchise of it's kind. Like many of the top six work from home franchises, they specialize in commercial cleaning and have become very successful in recent years due in part to the massive growth occurring in the commercial cleaning business. Jani-King has been rated the #1 Home-based Franchise among all franchise companies every year since that category's inception in 2003.

If you've ever wanted to own your own business, consider one of these very successful franchises. Each one has earned it's awards and success because they have taken successful business models and figured out how to replicate them through equally successful franchises. These franchises allow the entrepreneur to run the entire business from home and they all come with the support, training and business plans to get you up and running right away.

May 14, 2008