I love my life! As a franchise business coach and an Entrepreneur’s Source franchise owner for the last nine years, I have had the unique opportunity to design the fulfilling lifestyle I live every day. And, I aspire to help others discover franchise ownership as a means to build wealth and equity while achieving their life’s goals.

Let me share with you how I got to this point.

I’m a CPA by training and worked in Phoenix with independent business owners for many years. I appreciated then just as I do today that small businesses are indeed the backbone of the U.S. economy. Participating in the financial aspect of other people’s businesses as a CPA seeded an interest and a passion in self-sufficiency that has matured over time.

Along the way I partnered with physician clients to start a new home medical equipment company where I worked for six years. We later sold the business to a publicly traded corporation, where I was employed for eight years as a senior executive.

During those eight years, I spent three to five days a week traveling on an airplane. I enjoyed the job, but I realized that I was losing my personal life. I lost touch with family and friends. My children were grown, but I didn’t get to see them much. I also longed for a more flexible schedule that would let me give back to my community in a more focused and meaningful way. And, the frequency of travel started to wear me out.

I craved a new lifestyle, one that would let me make the kind of money I was used to making, allow me the time and space to move in more directions, and help me recover the personal ground I had lost.

So, I resigned from my position, gave six months notice, and began searching for a new corporate job. A trusted mentor later suggested I might be heading down the wrong path because landing another corporate position would probably not be a good fit for an entrepreneur-at-heart like me. I listened. He was right. However, having been a business owner in the past, I really didn’t want to have to create a new business from the ground up, again. Enter franchising.

In retrospect, the franchise business-ownership model suited me perfectly, but I knew nothing about it at the time. While skimming a business journal, I saw an ad for The Entrepreneur’s Source (TES), became intrigued by franchising, called them, and started the process of learning about the industry.

I quickly learned that owning a franchise would provide autonomy, self-sufficiency, lots of client interaction and great income, together with the added benefits of access to training, business methods and marketing support, all provided by the franchisor. Not having to create a business from scratch and having access to first-class support systems sealed the deal for me.

Working with a TES franchise business coach was essential. My coach took me through a discovery process which gave me a thinking framework, one that helped me crystallize my wealth and equity goals, and define the lifestyle I was seeking. With clear goals and objectives in hand we then benchmarked various franchise businesses against my expectations and found the best fit in TES.

This marked the beginning of my almost 10 years of learning about the franchise business and about being a coach. The process of learning is not a one-time event; it is an ongoing journey. In the beginning, I had to learn skills and gain confidence in delivering services. Today, my skills are honed, but I continue to enjoy learning new ways to better communicate with and serve my clients.

Access to the franchisor’s continuing education opportunities has been invaluable. But, having a peer group of franchisee owners throughout the United States and Canada, with whom I can exchange information, ideas and rely on as a sounding board, is an extraordinary benefit.

Another advantage of owning a franchise is not having to do everything yourself. For example, I enjoy marketing my business, working with my contractor and serving the needs of my clients. While I’m doing that, I can be assured that the franchisor is working behind the scenes to improve and update the technology systems I need to run my operation, and is realigning the marketing methods with changes in the marketplace so I can remain competitive.

Considering the dizzying pace of technology over the last 10 years, there’s no way I could have kept up with all those changes while operating my business at optimal levels. By the way, in our franchise system, changes and improvements reflect collaboration between the franchisor and franchisee owners because our communication channels are two-way.

So, what’s the downside to the franchise business-ownership model? For me, there isn’t one, honest! But, there could be a downside for people with leadership styles that make it difficult for them to adopt already established systems. And, with franchising, if you can’t learn and follow the systems you probably won’t net the level of success you want.

There’s more. As a franchise business coach I have worked with many talented men and women to help them find the right franchise fit. Though everyone has their own story and their own set of needs, I find women bring unique needs to the table.

They have traditionally been, and continue to be, the primary caregiver in the home. As a result, many have had to place their careers on hold while raising families or taking care of aging loved ones. The franchise business-ownership model provides women with the chance to apply their talents, earn income and achieve self-sufficiency, while enjoying a flexible work schedule and improved lifestyle. Because I believe that business owners have a social responsibility to give back to the communities that fuel their success, three years ago TES senior vice president Lori Tyll and I co-founded WEBB, Women Empowered by Business (www.womenEBB.com).

The purpose of WEBB is to encourage women in our communities to become franchise businessowners and to help current women franchise owners to achieve a higher level of success in their business. We have been able to accomplish this dream of helping women entrepreneurs because of the strong time and capital support our franchisor, TES, has given us.

One of the principles of WEBB is to give back to the community. In 2009, WEBB chose breast cancer research and awareness as our annual charity. We raised funds to support a team of walkers from Arizona, Texas and Connecticut to walk 60 miles in the 3 Day Walk for the Cure in Dallas, TX, in early November. I’m excited at our opportunity to make a difference for women suffering with this horrible disease.

In sum, I get up every day feeling excited because I reap great benefits from working hard at running my business, helping other talented people become business owners and having the time to invest in my personal life-all while giving back in a meaningful way to my community. Who could ask for anything better?

For those of you seriously considering owning a franchise, keep the following in mind:

1. Before you start your search for a franchise, it is essential to define what your goals and objectives are. You can use a franchise business coach or other resources to help you, but you must know what you want the business to provide for your life before you’ll know what franchise is best for you.

2. Keep an open mind and benchmark different franchise opportunities against your goals and objectives.

3. Take the time to learn the business you’re about to run, the systems that will be required to run it with and operational details critical to your success. You’ll save time and energy, and you’ll net higher levels of success in the long run.

It really makes me feel good to contribute to the growth of small businesses because they are the backbone of the American economy, and I love being a part of it. I look forward to the many more people I have yet to talk with, the capital we have yet to raise collectively to fuel our econom, and the local and national communities we have yet to give back to. I have so much to look forward to!

Judy Stoleson, a franchise business coach from Phoenix, AZ, is married and has two grown children and four grandsons. Franchising makes it possible for her to enjoy all aspects of her life.