Be prepared to work in an educational franchise

You don't have to be a teacher to own a franchise in education, but you need to have an interest in the subject matter of your business. Select an educational franchise opportunity that you're passionate about and have business experience within the industry. If you love kids, think about an after school education franchise. Consider music education or a foreign language program.

I recommend: Check out Mathnasium, where you'll find an opportunity to help kids in 2nd through 12th grades hone their math skills. Virtuoso Music, a Better Business Bureau member, provides parents with music lessons for their children either at home or at school. If foreign language education is important to you, take a look at Language Leaders, a company that focuses on teaching young children.

Thoroughly research the educational franchise opportunities that interest you

Readily available information makes deciding to open an education franchise or training franchise less risky than starting your own business from scratch. You will find lots of information online, but talk to other franchise owners. Some may not want to talk to you, but others will leap at the chance to share the pros and cons they discovered when they opened their franchise, along with shortcuts and advice to help ensure success.

I recommend:  FranChoice provides free consulting services to those interested in franchise opportunities. They will perform a needs assessment with you and then do the research to find the education franchise opportunities that best meet your criteria. Their services are free to you, because the franchises in their database pay the fee. Also check out FranchiseGator, a Microsoft subsidiary, for a quick look at liquid capitol required to start specific education franchises.

Understand your personal financial situation and learn about different financing opportunities

Some education franchise opportunities have relatively low startup costs, but others may unexpectedly astound you.

I recommend: A good place to start your franchise journey is with the Small Business Administration. Here, you'll find an assortment of free online courses that will prepare you for education franchise opportunities. Classes typically take 30 minutes and address starting a business, business plans, financing and other topics.