A Franchise for Executives and Corporate Professionals

Should you buy a franchise after getting laid off?

Buying a franchise after a layoff can be the right move for some people, but it is a decision best made once the news is no longer fresh. From January 2023 through December 2025, 3.3 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least three years (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026). The agency’s worker displacement release found that 44.4 percent of them lost their job because their position or shift was abolished (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026).

Of those 3.3 million workers, 66.1 percent (nearly two-thirds) were reemployed when surveyed in January 2026 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026). Ownership is one path among several, and it deserves an honest comparison with another corporate role. If you keep your job search open while you research franchises, any offer that arrives becomes a real alternative you can weigh against ownership.

While that search is still open, a mentor through SCORE can be a useful sounding board as you set the idea of ownership beside the roles you are interviewing for. If a job offer and a franchise are both on the table, compare what each would mean for your hours, your control over daily decisions and your household budget.

How do severance and savings fit into your timing?

Severance can give you time to explore, although a payout can also create a deadline of its own. Decide early how many months your savings must cover household costs, and ask each franchisor how long its new owners typically take from signing to opening. Setting those numbers side by side shows you if your severance and savings would cover your household through your research, the months before opening and the early months after it, or if the money could run short and push you into a rushed choice.

Using severance or a 401(k) toward a franchise is a personal financial decision. Before you commit severance or retirement savings to a business, talk with a qualified tax professional or financial planner. If you expect to borrow, see FranNet’s funding options calculator and the U.S. Small Business Administration’s page on 7(a) loans.

Can you collect unemployment while you start a business?

That depends on your state. Five states (Delaware, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York and Oregon) have active Self-Employment Assistance programs (U.S. Department of Labor, 2026), and those states can pay eligible dislocated workers who are starting a business an allowance instead of regular unemployment insurance benefits. Wherever you live, ask your state unemployment office how starting a business would affect your benefits before you sign a franchise agreement.

How do you know if you are cut out for ownership after a long corporate career?

For a senior manager or executive, the most telling fit test is how you would work without the structure a large company provides. In the early months of a new franchise, you will likely go back to tasks you once delegated. The specialist teams in finance, HR and IT that stood behind you will be gone, and beyond what the franchisor provides, you will handle much of that work yourself at first. Franchisors also expect owners to work within the system they have built, which can be an adjustment if you are used to setting strategy, and current franchisees can tell you how much room they have for local decisions.

Before you meet franchisors, you can take FranNet’s franchise ownership assessment and answer a few other questions honestly, ideally with the people who will share in the decision.

• Do you enjoy selling, given that owners sell to customers, clients and new hires alike?
• Would you rather run one location closely or build a team of managers over time?
• Does your spouse or partner support the idea, and what role would they play?

What corporate skills carry over into franchise ownership?

For managers and executives, the experience that travels best into ownership usually concerns how you lead and organize people.

• You have hired, coached and kept good people, and staffing shapes daily life in many service businesses.
• You can read financial statements and hold a budget, which helps when you review a franchisor’s disclosure document.
• You have led teams through new systems and reorganizations, which helps when you adopt a franchisor’s processes and train staff on them.
• You have managed through other managers, which matters if you hire a general manager or grow to several locations.

Which franchise models suit a former executive?

In an owner-operator model, you work in the business every day and run operations yourself. In an executive-style model, you work full time on the business rather than in it, leading a general manager or a team of managers while you focus on hiring, financial oversight, local relationships and growth. The executive-style model draws most directly on years of managing through other managers, while an owner-operator model can suit you if you would rather learn every part of the business firsthand.

Corporate refugees with years in sales or account management may find that business-to-business franchises draw on the same work of building relationships with business clients, while staffing franchises can be a natural match for former HR and talent leaders. If you plan to take another role and own a business alongside it, our page for investors and our overview of semi-absentee franchises cover that kind of ownership. If your move is a chosen change of direction rather than a layoff, the page for career changers may fit you better.

How does a FranNet consultant help?

A FranNet franchise consultant is a local franchise expert who advises you on franchise and business opportunities, helping you learn about franchising, research businesses and meet franchisors that fit your model. If you are leaving a corporate role, your consultant can also help you compare owner-operator and executive-style models and identify the structure and mix of businesses that suits you.

Working with a consultant costs you nothing and carries no obligation, because FranNet receives its fee from the franchisor of the franchise you may buy. As our client bill of rights sets out, you will not be pressured toward anything that does not fit your goals, budget or skill set. Your consultant guides you through the buying process from your first research to the franchise agreement, and the decision to sign is yours.