It’s 2010.  The economy is still in the crapper, and investors and consumers alike are slowly beginning to earn back the bottom that fell out of their 401(k)’s and other investments in late 2008 and most of 2009.  The average work-a-day executive that has spent a decade or more toiling along, towing the company line and dutifully climbing the corporate ladder, only to be told it was leaning against the wrong wall and their comfortable paycheck is in danger, have started to question the logic of the entire foundation of their professional career.  Mid-level management is one of the first expenses to be pruned when companies are tightening their belts; as a result more and more college educated, talented individuals are finding themselves with reduced salaries, questionable job security and increased work requirements just to stay ‘in the game’ for a competitve performance report.  Is this you?  It could be, or you could be just one of the untold thousands of people daily who are striking out on their own, leaving the office politics and unforgiving work environment behind to be their own boss.

So where do you start?  Well, if your journey is anything like mine, you probably start thinking about the types of opportunities that you see every day.  Sandwhich shops with $5 dollar foot long marketing campaigns, pizza delivery franchises that have landmark Super Bowl advertising budgets, restaurants that use cows to pitch their chicken sandwhiches.  The list goes on.  The economy may come and go, but food?  People always have to eat.