Some are in their early 50s and just got laid off . . . again.

Some are baby boomers who worked for the same companies for years and want to try being their own bosses.

Some are simply tired of the rat race and want to regain work/life balance.

But all of these workers and more are finding the same solution to their career problems: franchising.

According to a 2004 study by the International Franchise Association and conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, more than 760,000 franchised businesses directly employed about 9.8 million Americans.

The study said franchises, which include everything from restaurants and real estate agencies to auto repair shops and hotels, provided $506 billion in payroll and stimulated an overall economic output of $1.53 trillion, or nearly 10 percent of the private-sector economy.

Chances are those impacts have grown even more since 2004, according to Randy James, president of the Utah office of FranNet in Midvale.

His own story shows why. James said he used to work for a Fortune 500 company, putting 50,000 miles on his car every year and taking several plane trips. Then one day, his wife threatened to divorce him.

He decided to start a business with help from his parents, but after a few years, they were nearly $250,000 in the hole. While he was in "the depths of despair," he read a business book that mentioned franchising. The idea caught his attention, so he started talking to customers who ran franchise companies.

Eventually, James said, he turned his business around and made money at it for about 15 years.

"When I sold my business, I wanted to branch out on my own again," James said. "I decided I wanted to be in business for myself, but not by myself, so I started looking at franchises."

Franchise basics

According to investorwords.com, a franchise is "a form of business organization in which a firm which already has a successful product or service (the franchisor) enters into a continuing contractual relationship with other businesses (franchisees) operating under the franchisor's trade name and usually with the franchisor's guidance, in exchange for a fee."

As James investigated franchisors, he found FranNet, which has about 70 associates across the country and another 30 internationally.

"FranNet is sort of a franchise itself," he said. "We all use a similar process to help people find a business that would be a good fit to their interests, skills, resources — both time and money — and, most importantly, their goals."