So, you’ve got some cash saved up and ready to take the plunge into self-employment and the non-stop, demanding yet rewarding world of franchises. You’re first task (it may be more daunting than you might anticipate): choosing the right franchise for you to open.

We have many suggestions for choosing a franchise that fits your needs, goals, and interest because every entrepreneur makes these decisions differently. But if you’re looking for the top franchises to open in the coming year, then you need to check out Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of Top 20 Best Franchises to Open in 2011.

Because with every passing year comes new opportunities, a new economic environment, and new markets to corner. One of the most profound lessons we learned from the Great Recession is that not all businesses took a hit with the nose-diving economy; dare we speculate that some franchises are recession-proof businesses?

Consider this: four of the top 20 on the Best Franchises for 2011 list are commercial cleaning service franchises. It probably doesn’t matter how many layoffs a company makes, or that bottom-line margins have been cut in half during the height of the recession’s panic; offices will almost always need to be cleaned.

Also consider that the trends of making the buck stretch for businesses across the world will probably continue well into the New Year. While the recession may have ended, recovery as measured by our nation’s GDP is still crawling along at a puny single-digit percentage, and that forecast is not likely to change much anytime soon. If you’re thinking of opening a franchise next year, inevitably, you’re going to want to ask yourself, “Is this business needed and recession-proof?”

The four commercial cleaning service franchises on the list are Stratus Building Solutions, Jan-Pro, ServPro, and Vanguard, all ranging in start-up costs from a few thousand bucks to as much as $175k bucks. The next most populous type of franchises on the list are fast food chains, including McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Subway, which all carry substantially higher start-up costs and higher franchisee capital requirements.

Dunkin Donuts, Denny’s, and Hardees also made the list, and again, start-up costs are much higher, ranging from $200K to as much as $2 million. Some unlikely candidates also made the recession-proof list, including Anytime Fitness, a discount fitness club; Jazzercise, the popular women’s dance fitness class facility; Kumon Math and Reading Centers, providing supplemental education courses to kids; and Days Inn and the Hampton Inn, both discount motels (strangely enough, considering business travel has been cut way back in the last 2 years).

Supercuts made the list (perhaps a testament that while people will always need haircuts, they won’t always want a $200 boutique salon bill afterwards) and so too did 7-Eleven and AMPM, both convenience store and gas stations.

So, what kind of franchise will you be opening in 2011? If you want to associate with quality brands and franchises and at the same time leverage the economic uncertainty to work in your favor, you’ll likely be opening one of the 20 Best Franchises to Open in 2011 list members.