You're the Boss There are some things beyond your control, such as a poor job market. But that doesn't mean you can't control your future. Follow the lead of these entrepreneurs, who bought their own franchises.

Unless you're planning to go the route of Office Space's Peter Gibbons and opt for a life of doing nothing, complete with no income and unpaid bills, the greatest security you may have is what you create for yourself. When the job market sucks, and your own job is shaky at best, what are your options? Perhaps franchising is the answer that will enable you to enjoy the benefits of all your hard work and ease your worries about plant relocations, layoffs and management reshuffling. Here are the stories of three franchisees who chucked their time cards, put down the want ads and made the leap:

School's Out, Franchise Is In
Jason and Jeff Jokerst, both 24, didn't need to invest years in the corporate life to learn it was the wrong one for them. In fact, they never bothered finding out.

"I started thinking about graduation and what I was going to do after. I didn't want to go straight into a 9-to-5 job, because everyone I know just hated it," says Jason. "I didn't want to jump into something really complicated right away, like trying to start my own clothing company. [Franchising] seemed like a good way to start out. So I starting looking at franchises."