Marketing to Senior Help

Al Cooper, 50, was the director of operations for the marketing department at Fidelity Mortgage. Another casualty of the housing bust, he was laid off in November 2007. Finding a new job in finance in Cincinnati was impossible, but being a single father with three kids, he refused to move. He worked a few jobs, including as a bill collector, before buying a Caring Transitions franchise, which helps people deal with the issues that come with growing old. The business meshed perfectly with his degree in social work, and it was nice to be doing something good for people. "I look at it as karma for doing collections," Cooper says.