Jon Ostenson is a top .1% Franchise Broker, Consultant, Investor, and Author of the book ‘Non-Food Franchising’. He draws on his experience as a former Inc. 500 Franchise President and Multi-Brand Franchisee in serving his clients. He is a frequent contributor on Franchising for Forbes, Inc., Bloomberg and The Franchise Journal.

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Guest Resource

Franbridge Consulting – Check out Jon’s website and get a free copy of his downloadable book.

3 Value Bombs

1) There is no perfect time for success. Stepping out and fighting through is what separate entrepreneurs to wannabe-preneurs.

2) Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition or ETA is a time consuming process. Existing business sound great on paper because you get a team that is already in place and market awareness but you have to put in mind that whenever you have a change in ownership you will also have a change in culture, key employees and key customers.

3) Traditional start ups once exposed to franchising realized that there is so much benefit in starting on 3^rd base because the product and market fit are already proven out and are a lot less risky.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.

Today’s Audio MASTERCLASS: Non-Food Franchise Opportunities for the New Year.

[1:42] – Jon shares something that he believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

People think there is a perfect time for success, to take the plunge and to take the leap but he realized that there is no perfect time. The timing is never right and will never be perfect and they will only paralyze themselves to overthinking. Stepping out and fighting through is what separates entrepreneurs to “ wannabe-preneurs”.

[3:16] – Jon gives some color on what he is seeing in the franchise landscape as we launch into the new year.

Entrepreneurship in America is alive and well. Momentum is peaking up and starting a business is on a record high.
Real estate investors are moving into franchising and business ownership because of the tax-advantage alternative investment.
There is a lot of optimism around the tax code with the new administration.
There are so many in demand opportunities out there like home and property services, health wellness, B2B kids, pet services. In general, these are the cash flowing, non-trendy, does not go out of fashion and stand the test of time and does well regardless of the state of the economy.

[5:34] – Jon gives real world examples of franchise opportunities that are resonating with his clients across industries.

Custom plow shelving for kitchen and pantries for people who need more space in their kitchen are and businesses in health and wellness, recovery service space like cryo, sauna, red light, IV drips , oxygen and injections in one roof are good examples.
Those recurring revenue type business that are membership based.
Restoration company services such as water clean up, mould medication.
B2B in commercial kitchen space, exhaust system cleaning in a quarterly basis.
And others like sunless tanning, ongoing maintenance of homes for the aging population that build wheelchair ramps, stairlifts, retrofit bathrooms for mobility solution.
Trampoline parks are also huge.

[11:03] – A timeout to thank our sponsors!

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[13:04] – Jon talks about his clients who run the day to day operations of their new ventures and those who are hiring a manager.

Half of his clients run their day to day operations at least for a time being and they eventually replace themselves with hiring a manager. The other half places a manager in their business from day 1.
Franchise build themselves with a semi-absentee model or executive model where the clients are semi-involved in the operations. Claiming it as totally passive doesn’t work. Success comes when there is a strong operator on the day to day operation and a strong franchise on the sideline.

[14:38] – Jon talks about his thoughts for those who are looking to acquire an existing business.

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition or ETA is a time consuming process. Existing business sound great on paper because you get a team that is already in place and market awareness but you have to put in mind that whenever you have a change in ownership you will also have a change in culture, key employees and key customers.
Traditional start ups once exposed to franchising realized that there is so much benefit in starting on 3^rd base because the product and market fit are already proven out and are a lot less risky. You learn from other franchisees and you have a community, system and an optimized marketing.

[17:59] – Jon talks about how to find the right franchise opportunity for you.

When you search in Google, every company is putting their best foot forward. Its difficult to find because it could take you time to see the full picture of their team, leadership and systems. Even if these companies are listed in the top 100, you still can’t be sure because often times those companies are paying to be on that list and it is simply a PR move.
Another alternative is to partner with Jon which is entirely free and they just get a referral fee.
In a nutshell, there are 3500 franchise companies in the US and what they do is they take out food and hotel categories and focus on a wide variety of industries filtering good leadership, good validation and good financial. They end up with 600 companies that are looking to expand across different industries and there are 50-60 that he feels are strongest.
Their company gets to see what is resonating with other franchises with similar background and clients across North America and they have a streamline process with their clients that have a great record of success.

[20:40] – Call to action.

Franbridge Consulting – Check out Jon’s website and get a free copy of his downloadable book.

[23:30] – Thank you to our Sponsors!

HubSpot: When you combine the power of Marketing Hub and Content Hub, you can have your best quarter, every quarter. Visit Hubspot.com/marketers to learn more!
Optimize: To chat with JLD about Optimizing your life, click here: EOFire.com/optimize.

Killer Resources!

1) The Common Path to Uncommon Success: JLD’s 1st traditionally published book! Over 3000 interviews with the world’s most successful Entrepreneurs compiled into a 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment!

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3) Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 podcasting community in the world!