Just random thoughts:
Did The Donald own franchises during his rise up the economic ladder?
ok, I'm back after doing some searching and I cannot find evidence that he did. So, I suspect it should be a caution that there is more work than profit in franchising - the donald is not into work.
Now, Buffet does - except he owns The Franchise, the clean end of the dirty stick.
When I was forcibly retired in 2010 I needed something to occupy my mind. Looked hard at various franchises. Quickly figured out that they get my $1.5 mil in cash up front and I get a contract that says I have to buy everything from them at their price on their terms for the life of the franchise and that they retain the unilateral right to change the contract at will. Heads I win tails you lose.
ummm, cept I got a lesson on that one in the 3rd grade (I still miss my cats eye shooter)
I'm not sure that doing software prepares you for a whole lot else - except you are very likely detail oriented, which is a big asset for running your own business. Now if you have other skills, merging that with your skill at detail would be the way to go as opposed to jumping into the great unknown in the restaurant business, or whatever.
I was always amazed at the ways many of my patients made a living without being employed. Yeah, there were the house cleaners and the lawn mowers and the handiman types, and most were just scraping by.
But there also were the oddballs, like the fella who hit the yard sales and bought electronic games, game boys and the like. He looked for the ones that were 25 cents because they didn't work. He repaired and then resold them - said it was almost always a cracked solder joint on the mother board, a 90 second repair. Then he started trading in used games (the plug in cartridges of that day) Eventually he opened a store front for that business and did well - cept he confided in me that it was no longer fun once he had employees. This business hinged in his knowledge of repairing electronic devices.
Another was a fishing fanatic who got into buying and selling classic lures and collector items. Bet ya didn't know that like baseball cards there are valuable lures. The old stuff from 50-60-70 years ago. He too hit the yard sales and estate auction sales to buy old fishing tackle boxes stuffed with lures.
And there is the couple who were collecting Tee shirts, from rock band concerts and stuff, as a hobby. They scouted the yard sales, the GoodWill, etc. That led into printing and selling their own designed tee shirts at venues. They were making a tidy living and traveling the country last I saw of them.
Now notice that these successful folks went into doing something they were already 90% expert at as far as knowing the market, what stuff is worth, where to find it, etc. The thing they added was doing it in a novel way that others had not noticed.
Anyway, good luck and write often