Aiming to live to work - not work to live

Having received an unexpected, yet generous, redundancy package recently I have been looking at the options for investing in a new career in the dog world - why not do what you love right?! There seem to be a lot of franchise and business opportunities in the dog industry that I can go for but it can be hard to tell what works and what would fit. Would anyone be able to offer any advice on what they've tried and what worked for them?
Terry Lake

Editor's note:
Can we keep this positive? I can forward Terry any personal negative experiences you may have had but if I make any live here we will quickly find ourselves in the libel courts!