Type in the words ‘Work from Home’ into the search engines and you’ll find an endless list of sites that state they are not scams and you can earn extra money whilst sitting in the comfort of your own home. Somewhere in the search you’ll start to come across the word ‘Franchise’. Franchises can range from large and expensive business brands like ‘Dunkin Doughnuts’ through to the smaller franchises run from home like ironing and cleaning services to mention a few.

So can having a franchise mean that you get to ‘work from home’? Well it can do. No longer do you need to get up in the dark and sit in the traffic or on a packed train rushing to get to the office. No more thoughts of what to wear to sit behind your desk or what food will be in the canteen today. Even the fact that no matter how hard you work the pay cheque will still be the same as last month. By having a franchise you really could actually work and earn from the comfort of your own home.

Before everyone hands in their notice to the boss it’s important to really consider what it means to ‘work from home’ and what you want. It is the smaller franchise businesses that will be able to offer you as a franchisee the opportunity to be your own boss and to work from home, this is often because in the early days you’ll not require staff or the premises to put them in. All you need is a space to work by yourself productively. Franchises can give you the chance to make a business as successful as you desire, from matching your previous earnings without the travel hassles. Or whether you want to see a greater share of the business profits from your hard work end up in your back pocket?

The reality is, it will depend on you and what you put in to your business. You can sit and wait for customers to come to you and be happy with your turnover or if you want to increase the turnover and your profit then you may need to get out and get the business. To many this would still be classed as working from home even if you do have to go out and collect business or meet clients, the difference is it will be your choice. Franchises can provide you with a sound business model to follow and minimise a lot of the risk of starting up on your own as well as offering you the opportunity to work from home.

Many franchises will allow you to start part-time until the business has grown sufficiently. If a change in your working life is at the forefront of your mind then the franchise opportunities that are on offer could help you to make that life change. The first step is to stop daydreaming of working from home and to start actually researching the franchise industry and the opportunities that can give you that freedom.

The online industry is a great industry to look at when looking at work from home opportunities.

Activ offer 3 online business opportunities:

• Find out about the Activ web design franchise opportunity here
• Find out about a Activ Click and Earn a ‘Pay Per Click’ opportunity here
• Find out about Activ Keywords a business opportunity that only costs £499 here