St. Petersburg, Fla - 2 January, 2006 -

After 30 years in the corporate world, Wendy Ducatte is finally doing what she loves -- and she's the boss. Ducatte started a Florida-based business called Incredibly Edible Delites, which turns fruit into flowers. "We thought it would be hard, very difficult and very challenging,” Ducatte said. “But it's exciting at the same time." Today, more and more women are opening new businesses. In fact, women are opening new businesses almost twice as fast as men. Wendy Ducatte started a Florida-based business called Incredibly Edible Delites. Susan Mell owns two franchises: Quik Drop and Entrepreneur's Source. Entrepreneur’s Source helps clients decide if opening a franchise is right for them. She said the top franchise is Subway, which costs about $70,000 to get started. But not all franchises sell food. At $36,000, Curves is considered by Mell to be the best low-cost franchise. The top new franchise, at an investment cost of $25,000, is Results Travel. Jackson Hewitt is also a top performer, with a franchise fee of $51,000. If the costs sound high, keep in mind that it’s easier to get financing for a franchise. It took $150,000 to get Ducatte up and going. It is a lot of pressure, she said, but at the end of the day she couldn't be happier. "Punching things in a computer and seeing reports come off isn't quite as fulfilling as when people go ‘Ooh,’ ‘Ahh’ or ‘Wow,’" said Ducatte, who hopes to be profitable within a year.

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