As times have progressed there are not only more women in the workforce, but there are also a greater number of women who are taking on entrepreneurial roles. Business analysts have determined that overall women possess a great deal of the characteristics that can create successful businesses.

Women tend to gravitate towards children's product and service organizations, travel and home-based franchises. Here are 3 good examples:

Abrakadoodle Art Education

Abrakadoodle Art Education Franchise provides original and innovative multi-art education programs for children ages two through twelve and is now available internationally. Abrakadoodle is the nation's largest mobile art education program offering trained teachers with a unique skill-set and custom programs.

The Little Gym

The Little Gym is a motor skill development center providing noncompetitive developmental gymnastics and sports skills classes for ages four months to 12 years. The Little Gym curriculum has been designed to help children build motor skills while still having fun.

CruiseOne Travel

CruiseOne has nearly 500 locations nationally, and offers each franchisee the latest technology and a support system that includes expert advice and close attention to detail. Franchisees enjoy discounts, invitations to inaugural cruises, and seminars at sea. CruiseOne has nearly 500 established franchises and Parent company, World Travel Holdings (WTH) is one of the nation's largest online/offline leisure travel companies.

Welcome to "DQ-Topia," an interactive website that is more like a videogame than an information site. At DairyQueen.com, you can build your own street sign, watch funny promotional videos, look at old black and white photos, arrange "Gizmos" and try to flip a burger several times in a row. (Yes, they actually keep score). After the first ten minutes on the site, I forgot why I was there in the first place. Then I remembered that Dairy Queen is the largest Ice-cream chain in the world. The Dairy Queen System has developed over 5900 locations in the United States and Canada, including locations in 22 countries. Texas is the proud supporter of the most Dairy Queen restaurants with over 600 locations.

For over 60 years, the Dairy Queen system has promoted a formula for food and fun that has scooped out a permanent place in ice-cream history. Dairy Queen's pioneering system created a foundation for the platform that helped launch the franchising industry.

Today, the Dairy Queen System is one of the largest fast food systems in the world and is the leading ice-cream retailer with over 5,900 restaurants worldwide. Franchisees feel confident with DQ's staying power as one of the great Mega-Brands of all time, offering unparalleled support, solid branding, and a network of established followers that are loyal and self-replenishing. As long as there are kids, little league teams and families, there will be Dairy Queen.

We also discussed earlier this week that Dairy Queen is owned by Warren Buffet's company Berkshire Hathaway. Being backed by a well known parent company is always a good thing.

There is a lot of talk today about Warren Buffett and his acquisition of railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe for $44 billion. This was Warren's largest acquisition in Berkshire Hathaway's history.  So why am I blogging about Warren Buffett on a franchise blog? What does Warren Buffett have to do with franchising?

Well... Many people seem to follow the same investment patterns as Mr. Buffett. If you were given investment advice from Warren himself would you follow that advice?  If Warren Buffet owned a franchise would you buy it?

If you answered "yes" to the last 2 questions then Dairy Queen might be the franchise for you. The Dairy Queen franchise is a wholly owned subsidiary of Warren Buffets' company Berkshire Hathaway. In October of 1997 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. purchased Dairy Queen for $585 million.

So... If Warren Buffett owned a franchise company would you buy it? I would.

According to HealthNews.com, McDonald's patrons have become more calorie conscious and are making better meal choices in New York.  In 2008  New York issued a mandate requiring fast food restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus.  The city is the first in the U.S. to have issued such a mandate.

The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has just released initial findings of a recent analysis on the impact of the city's menu-labeling laws. Results indicate that consumers have become more selective in choosing food with fewer calories. In fact, people purchased lower calorie meals at 9 of 13 fast-food restaurants and coffee chains that were included in the study. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Obesity Society in Washington.

Since the 2008 New York mandate, similar rules have been established in areas in California, Oregon and Washington.

Read the full story: Calorie Count Labels on Restaurant Menus Are Helping Consumers Make Better Choices

Since late in the1990's, Mary Rogers and co-founder Rosemarie Hartnett, had an idea for an art-education program for children simmering in their development pot. In 2002, they invited children of various age groups to experience a unique curriculum. Through a process called "test classes," they refined their program and created a business model nicknamed "Abrakadoodle" that sought to promote the "magic" of art-enhanced creativity in children. One year later, in cooperation with the McLean Project for the Arts in McLean, VA, the team launched its first set of official Abrakadoodle classes. The program was an instant success, and with waiting lists swelling, the founders scrambled to accommodate the masses, eventually expanding to include daycare centers, private and public schools, and other locations in the community.

Mary C. Rogers is the first woman to create two successful national education franchise businesses, the first being COMPUTERTOTS ®, which is the nation's leader in computer education for children with 150 US franchises and licensing programs in eleven countries. Mary Rogers holds a Master Degree in Education, and has over 25 years experience in education, franchising and business development. Abrakadoodle President, Rosemarie Hartnett, has over 20 years experience, and is director of operations, training, and support programs for the company. She is also a frequent guest speaker on the topic of franchising.

Abrakadoodle's explosive success has been well noted in the Wall Street Journal, SmartMoney.com, Entrepreneur.com, and the Washington Business Journal to name only a few. If you are looking for a child related franchise I suggest you check it out.

Accoding to the New York Post, the Dunkin Donuts franchise is pressuring franchisees to install a surveillance system that it says will curb employee theft and boost profitability.

While franchisees can log into the system remotely through the Internet and keep tabs on their employees, Dunkin' also can access the system through which it can monitor all of the franchisees activities which is pretty scary.

The company has told franchisees that it won't use the system to monitor them unless there is a "major incident" that would affect the brand, such as a robbery or shooting. We find this hard to believe.

Dunkin' franchisees are required either to allow Dunkin' to monitor the stores 24 hours a day, 7 days a week or pay to have each store inspected every other week at a cost of $350 a visit.

Either Dunkin' Donuts has taken the whole franchisor / franchisee relationship way too far or it is setting a standard for other franchisors to follow. I guess we will have to stayed tuned to see how this "pans out."

Read the full  article:  Donut in the sky

Seeking Sitters founders, David and Adrienne Kallweit, a husband and wife team from Tulsa, OK, formed this pioneering franchise in response to a growing need for reliable, safe sitters for the average working family. With over 20 years of combined experience in the corporate world, David and Adrienne created the US babysitting system based on David’s national presence in management and Adrienne’s experience conducting background investigations through her family owned business called, Hide and Seek, USA.

With Adrienne conducting the investigations, there is no guesswork involved for franchisees wanting to hire employees of high moral character for their franchises. The FBI-style investigations ensure employees have nothing notable in their past that might make them questionable choices for caregivers. With nearly 300 locations established in less than 2 years, this newbie is setting the standard for nationalized babysitting services, and has proven that the public is ready to trust a commercialized babysitting service, whether the need is for part time work or as a replacement for full time nanny services.

According to the NY Times, the franchisor's terms may be less negotiable with strong franchise companies, especially on items that might dilute the integrity of the brand or create inequalities among franchisees. Some franchisors flatly refuse to budge from the standard template, but some experts disagree.

Peter Birkeland, a small-business consultant in Chicago and author of “Franchising Dreams” believes that in the current economy, franchisees should be emboldened to negotiate on items like franchise fees, larger territories or deals on multiple units. “I would push hard for the bargain,” he said. “A franchisor may put on a stern face and say, ‘Take this deal or we’ll find someone else’ — I wouldn’t believe it before, and I definitely wouldn’t believe it now.”

I agree with Mr. Birkeland, it doesn't hurt to ask for a lower franchise fee or lower royalty payments. If you are buying into a brand new franchise company I strongly suggest you work out lower prices. The worst thing that can happen is they say know.

Read the NY Times article: A Guide to Assessing Franchising Opportunities

The UPS Store Brand is a globally respected market leader. There is no doubt that franchisees will immediately enjoy public trust and the established familiarity of a nationally recognized brand, but do the pros of owning The UPS Store franchise outweight one very important and major con? You be the judge...

Pros

• The most advanced technology - The UPS Store franchising network utilizes one of the most innovative and highly developed digital information systems in the world. This technology enables UPS franchisees to deliver more than 13 million documents, pieces of mail and packages every day. The cost for this sustained development is reportedly in excess of $1 billion annually and comes with an unequaled tracking and distribution capability.
• Number 1 in its category - Voted the #1 franchise in its category for 19 consecutive years by Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500.

Con

• Questionable Profitability – According to a very reliable source it takes “about $365,000 in annual gross sales” to produce a modest “$35,000/yr income for the owner” and “about 60% of all US stores do not break even.” In other words, you will not see a nickel in profit until your UPS Store does over $30,000 in monthly sales consecutively every month and you have to hope you are one of the 40% of franchisees that see any profits at all.

We suggest you do thourough research before investing in The UPS Store franchise. Ask lots of questions and be sure the location you are choosing has the capability of generating enough business to be able to feed your family.

Read the full review: The UPS Store Franchise Review

According to the franchise blog  BlueMauMau.com, a federal judge has ruled that franchisees may explore Dunkin's ulterior motive in terminating their franchise agreements.

For the past decade, Dunkin' has faced allegations of  spying, intrusions into franchisee's love lives, and assorted bare-knuckles tactics in terminating franchisees.

One of the nation's leading franchise journalists was threatened with a lawsuit if she wrote about the tactics taught by Dunkin' at an American Bar Association meeting; ironically Dunkin's outside law firm justifies higher assessments of attorney fees to franchisee-Defendants based on their "national reputation" achieved by presenting at the ABA meetings.

Now a federal judge has ruled that Dunkin' must disclose documents which may shed more light on the controversial practices followed by the Dunkin' attorneys.

Read the full story: Dunkin' Donuts v. Grand Central Donuts