Baby Boot Camp's Appeal Starting to Show

Initial startup fee: $2,800 to $6,800

Factors affecting startup costs:

• Initial franchise fee -- $2,200 to $4,200
• Insurance -- about $200
• Fitness certification -- about $400

Erin Shirey started her first Boot Camp franchise three years ago with 22 paying moms. Now she has about 145 members at her Portland and Beaverton, Ore., locations. She made back her initial investment in the first four weeks and is grossing two and a half times what she made the first year.

Shirey, now Baby Boot Camp's West Coast manager, knows women that had to sell their franchises because they couldn't juggle family and business. The mother-child franchise fills a unique niche for women with families, she says.

"After their first or second baby, women don't want to continue traveling and having late night meetings," says Horler. Yet, these women also don't want to be shut out of the business world. Now in her second pregnancy, Shirey has no plans of taking maternity leave, as bringing her first child to business meetings is no problem. "People know this is a mother and child business," she says.

Most of the business is home-based, and Horler schedules her office duties around her children's' nap times, taking them to class when she teaches. "The mom and baby niche market is huge and growing all the time," says Shirey. "A business like this wouldn't be possible eight years ago, but now we are able to do it out of our houses."

Besides blending motherhood and business, the franchise provides a much-needed support group for both owners and members. "You're not only getting classes, you're entering into a supportive network," says Shirey.

Best of all, Shirey points out, the market isn't going anywhere. "People are always going to get pregnant and have kids," she says.

Out of more than 2,900 franchise systems currently active in the U.S., 779 concepts have started franchising in the past three years, according to the 2007 State of Franchising report by FRANdata. The health and fitness category was second only to fast-food restaurants in new-concept growth from 2003 to 2006.