Franchise!

Scott Needham, president of Princeton Air Conditioning, has three divisions in his company, one of which is a franchise, LINC Services.

He's in a unique position to judge the merits of 100 percent complete ownership and making his own decisions as opposed to adhering to guidelines, regulations and regimens from a home office.

"When I cut the royalty check every month I don't look at it as a cost, I look at it as an investment in my company's future," Needham said.

Like Needham,

The 26-year-old store owner agrees that owning a franchise is well worth sharing the profits with the parent company, as the marketing support and training provided allows her to stay focused on management of the store, its staff and making ice cream.

"The upside of owning a franchise is you have this whole team of people behind you that are constantly coming up with new concepts, they have the top, top, top people in the industry who've been in franchises for years; they know what to look for, they research different products, know how to market the products while you're running the business.