Despite economy franchises still popular...

Part of the American dream of owning your own business seems to stay alive no matter the economy, in fact some who have ended up having to make a career change when they've lost their job look at a franchise opportunity as one way to start a small business without having to do it totally from scratch.

Not every franchise out there is a "golden opportunity" so it does require some due dilligence and research on the part of the future business owner. You also need to do some basic marketing research as to how much competition you would face with that particular franchise. If there's only one air duct cleaning service in town it could be a good choice, if there are 100? Maybe not such a good choice...