Franchising's 4 Hottest Categories Offer Small Costs and Big Payoffs

Micah and Tom Nisley wanted to start their own business but didn’t want to go into debt to pay for it. The couple were in their 20s and were working in restaurants -- and socking away as much as they could. Then they quit their jobs to figure out what business they wanted to start. “We knew that if we put in the work, the returns would come,” Micah says. But despite their savings, the barrier to entry just seemed too high. Then they discovered low-cost franchises.

Even a decade or two ago, people like the Nisleys may not have been so lucky. Traditionally, most promising franchises carried a high buy-in fee and required a ton of overhead. Some were more affordable to launch, sure, but they typically required years of grunt work without much growth potential.

Today, that’s all changed. A new breed of low-cost franchises requires minimal investments, because most of the expensive parts of running a business have been stripped away. Call