Lisa Drennon: activator. Activating wealth through the smell of money. What does smell have to do with wealth? Everything. Our thoughts are the most important thing that we have and it's the very tool that will get us to financial freedom. check the description for the link to smellofmoney, idatemoney.com slash smellofmoney to find out how you can find at minimum of $500 in your wallet without doing anything but thinking about your wealth. So today we're going to be talking to the founder and CEO of Fran Bridge. I know a lot of you ladies and some of you gents out there are really interested in investing opportunities. Looking into franchises might be something that you're interested in. So we're going to be talking with John. Austin who is the founder and CEO of FranBridge Consulting he is the top 1 % franchise consultant. He's also the author of the bestselling book, Non-Food Franchising. So welcome John. Thank you so much for being here.

Jon Ostenson: Hey Lisa, excited to be here.

Lisa Drennon: tell us how you got your company started and what made go into non-food franchising.

Jon Ostenson: Yeah, you know, like so many of your listeners, at least I spent many years in the corporate world and had a good run and very thankful for it, but I really stumbled into franchising about nine years ago. I had the opportunity to step in and serve as president of Shelf Genie franchise system. And that was custom pullout shelving for kitchens and pantries and really fell in love with the franchise model. Just saw how all these diverse backgrounds could come together around a shared system. And long story short, I eventually spun off from there and invested in a franchise as myself on the franchisee side. I was getting a lot of questions about what I was doing and decided to start a consulting firm. So started about seven years ago and just been able to help countless people across the country, the top opportunities in their market and step into business ownership through franchising.

Lisa Drennon: That's awesome. I have a client in Spain who wanted to franchise her business and kind of explore that option. And so what are the pros and cons of franchising versus, ⁓ selling rates is really popular. So like if you're an online coach and you want, and you have a program that teaches specific step-by-step model, you know, like the, I got to say the template model, you know, so you're teaching someone say, I don't know, style. hair makeup style, how to dress for success. would they decide if a franchise or a master selling rights program would be best for them?

Jon Ostenson: Yeah. So that's a little outside of what we're primarily working with clients that are looking to get into a franchise. But no, I mean, certainly there are lot of companies that approach us and say, Hey, should we franchise ourselves? Right? Is that a good way to expand? And it certainly, it depends. mean, for some businesses, it makes a lot of sense. ⁓ you know, first off, you've got to be pretty buttoned up. You've got to be ready to hear people that are ready to invest in your business. You've got to be able to support them and have that playbook dialed in. you know, sometimes you see companies that may jump the gun on that, but. No, I'd say that on the pro side, you're ⁓ able to scale quickly, essentially using other people's funding and, you know, they've got skin in the games. They've got a high incentive to make it successful and private equity loves franchising. So if you're working towards an exit, that can certainly be a good path. the flip side, you you are giving up some level of control, right? You know, to these franchisees and yeah, I'd say that's probably overblown. It's not, it shouldn't be a huge fear as long as you ⁓ on top of things. and set the right expectations. But I'd say that would be one downside. And the other downside is if you're not ready to support them, you invite people in and all of a sudden you've got a lot of kids all across the country that have expectations of you and got to be ready to live up to them.

Lisa Drennon: Yeah, that's how I would describe it. I like that. I like the comparison with seeing it as a kid. The demands. Remember, you know, having those small kids and I have a five and a three year old granddaughters and when I spend time with them, it's like, that's all I can do. no time for anything else. So what made you get into the franchise as far as the transition? you feel like what was the drive? Like everyone says, well, I want to make more money. And this kind of drives the decisions that they make and then they end up somewhere where they're not really making more money, but they're spending a lot of money. So what kind of guided you along to think like this was the best way for you to find your true wealth?

Jon Ostenson: Yeah, you know, I always had that entrepreneurial desire. You know, I got tired of building other people's empires and wanted to build something on my own. And, ⁓ you know, never knew what that looked like. I didn't have that million dollar idea, you know, that tech startup or what have you. so I was very fortunate to get plugged into franchising because it truly is a better path to business ownership for most people where you can step in, you've got a proven playbook. You've, know, there's been product market fit established in other markets. you've got the support of the franchisor and their team. got a mastermind of other franchisees in that system, exchanging best practices and learnings. Obviously there's a lot of bulk buying and economies of scale that are to be had. So there's just so many benefits to it that, um, you know, think it's, it's a better path for, most people. And it was for me as well. So yeah, I've loved coming in and we work with over 600 different franchises. Lisa, most of the companies out there, they're looking to expand this love good markets to expand into, you know, it's in the industry is like home and property services and health and wellness and categories like. business to business services or seniors, kids, pets, all these other areas, oftentimes people have an interest in, but it's not top of mind when they first think of the F word franchise.

Lisa Drennon: Yeah, when I think of franchise, I think of McDonald's and Chick-fil-A and food things. So I like that it's non-food franchising. So what are some options out there for our listeners if they were thinking about investing in franchising and saying, you know what, mean, a lot of the listeners are coaches, but sometimes you get burnt out, especially if you're doing one-to-one coaching. It's like, okay, I want to set it and forget it and just have everyone else run it. So what kind of opportunities are out there for them?

Jon Ostenson: Yeah. And I'd start off by saying, you know, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it, right? I mean, it does take work. ⁓ but it does allow for that path to a more passive setup because if you have a good operator in place, you've got a good franchise or supporting them. That franchise or can carry a lot of the daily support water for you, but it really comes down to having a good operator. And so I never went sure could that, but now we have countless case studies of people that will run the business through what we call an executive model. And the idea is the put a manager in place day one and. Again, they get a lot of support from the franchise or so. I mean, it is across the board as far as industries go. mean, everything from insulation to flooring and cabinets, kind of the home services, pool cleaning to things like in-home senior care or, you know, fitness for the senior population to health and wellness, like recovery modalities or golf simulators. In kids space, we've had ⁓ clients do very well with trampoline parks and with youth soccer and tutoring, know, pet grooming, pet boarding. You know, some of the unique ones these days are in the business to business services space, which is I'd say a niche within franchising. doesn't encompass a lot of opportunities, but there are some neat ones in there and coaching is actually one in there. You've got ⁓ freight brokerage. You've got essentially nursing home ⁓ brokerage. the middleman. You're the expert on that space that, you know, the ⁓ making some very consultative ones, insurance adjusting for property different forms of consulting around like cost mitigation, cost reduction for small and medium sized businesses. But then also have ones like industrial hoses or temporary walls around containment walls around renovation projects. So many different niches. And what I love doing, Lisa, is when I meet client, get to know them and say, hey, Joe and Albuquerque, if I were in your shoes, Joe, based on your background, what you've shared with me, based on what I'm seeing in the market, here are 12 opportunities that I were in your shoes, I would find really interesting to explore. And then I kind of hold their hand through the whole exploration process. You he'll pick a couple to talk to. And then I kind of guide him through the process. And % of the time, those that we work with end up purchasing a business in an industry that was never even on their radar. So it's fun to see when that light bulb goes on and the magic starts to happen.

Lisa Drennon: Yeah. Wow. I didn't realize there were so many different opportunities out there. And some of them are really interesting. Cause I know there's a lot of coaches out there who offer like pet services, training and things of that nature. Health and wellness is huge. And who knew that there was all these opportunities. So what kind of an investment would someone have to make as far as money? What's the bottom line of the dollar? Like I know some coaches who invest, you know, 10, 15, 20,000 to work with a coach. So, know.

Jon Ostenson: Yeah. You know, if you're buying a trampoline park, like I mentioned, you're talking several million dollars. But if you're looking at where most of those that we work with fall, um, when you look at the franchise fee, the startup costs and several months of working capital, you're all in investment range. You oftentimes you're in the a thousand to 400,000 ballpark. I'd say that's kind of a sweet spot. A lot of different variables within that. And a lot of people are using SBA loans to fund the business. Uh, you know, about put, put down 20 % then leverage the other 80%. Obviously banks prefer lending to franchises. So we've got some great SBA partners that work with our clients on the lending side. Also, if you had a 401k from a previous employer, you can actually roll that over through what's called the Rob's program, ROBS, and purchase the business with the retirement plan. And then you pay yourself a salary from that. So a lot of different ways to get involved.

Lisa Drennon: Wow, very creative ways. I like creative financing. your money ⁓ such a great way to invest it so that you can just borrow from yourself. I know that's in the business world that is kind of shifting towards that in the upcoming years. Whereas before we'd be like, no, I'm not touching my retirement. I can't touch that. We tell ourselves this money stories that I save for retirement, but I can't touch it. And then you could become retirement age. And it's like, I can touch it? Well, maybe I shouldn't. Will it last? what kind of stories, money stories do you tell yourself?

Jon Ostenson: Yeah, know, growing up, you know, I was very blessed. I went to a great little private school, but I was also probably the poorest kid in the private school. And so I think that, you know, created a little bit of a, you know, as I reflect on it now, you know, a little bit of a drive. I wanted to have different money conversations in my household one day when I had my family versus what we had growing up. Again, parents, very thankful for that. experience and set me up well, but there was always that desire. You know, I had to pay for my first car, I had to pay my way through school. it, whereas I saw friends that did not. And so it created drive. And I think that, um, you know, now with our kids, you know, we're, very open about money. I want to expose them to, you know, I invest across the board in all sorts of different asset classes. So I want to expose my kids to that, help them understand how business works. Um, I want them to see me working hard. but also creating jobs for others, you know, and being a part of the economy. it's been fun. I mean, we're kind of, you know, forging our own path here, but it's been a great journey and, you know, lessons learned along the way, but we're fortunate to be in a good position today.

Lisa Drennon: Yeah. What's the most challenging lesson that you had to learn?

Jon Ostenson: Yeah, I think through the investing journey, ⁓ you know, I've certainly refined my investing criteria over time. You know, I haven't, I fought the urge, to jump into things just because friends were jumping into them, right. Or someone had a hot stock tip or, you know, private investment. ⁓ do a lot more due diligence now. I also, you know, ⁓ like investments that are one of two things. One, either I have control over them, like in the case of a franchise writer or business ownership, I can directly impact that. If it's a bit. investment that's outside of my control, like say a real estate fund or energy fund or private credit. I like to know the, you know, the person at the top, the founder or the CEO. And I also like for it to be collateral backed as much as possible. So again, that just comes through lessons learned over the years, but I'd say those are two of my main criteria.

Lisa Drennon: I love that. It's so important to do the research. I know a lot of people will just, based on hearsay, will invest. And I did a summit a month ago and we had two crypto coaches on there and I've always shied away from crypto. mean, what can go wrong with imaginary money? And everyone has this idea that, okay, well, it's digital and does it really exist? But then if you think about our money, we just give it a value. We say that that's what this is worth. like our $20 bill is worth $20 because we said so. I mean who set that stone? just, know, the Treasury Department just keeps running money off. So, oh we need more money, let's just print some more. And it's funny how people have different viewpoints. So when you were growing up, what was the big, that you know now was the biggest lie that you heard about money?

Jon Ostenson: Well, think scarcity, having a scarcity mindset that, you know, we're always talking about expenses and cost reduction instead of how do we grow the top line, right? And so, you know, I've learned over time that, yeah, you've got to keep an eye on the bottom line, but if you keep that top line moving in the right direction, it covers over a lot of sins and it takes care of things. So I'd say, you know, just a little bit of a scarcity mindset that there was only so much to go around was probably the lie that I believe.

Lisa Drennon: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and that is a common belief. Actually, you're not alone with that one. Everyone believes, you know, like... was reading a post the other day in one my Facebook groups where the woman was asking, you know, does it... There seems to be a general consensus that the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. There's not enough money for everyone to go around because there's just limited amounts. And that's the biggest lie that I've ever heard. Like, there's money for everybody. So what do you think drives that understanding? Because I think a lot of entrepreneurs will think, like I grew up with the belief that money goes where money is. And when my mom told me that, I was like, well, I want to be where money is. How do I do that? And so I said as a question, I was seven years old to be where money was because I grew up in a very, lot of ⁓ were very wealthy. our was, my parents were divorced. So we had. My dad was rich, my mom wasn't. were both entrepreneurs and when they split, my mom had to start her business all over again. And she'd always compare herself to my dad, who just basically sustained the business and grew it after they split up. And like, well, imagine if we were still together and, know, but there's always this scarcity mindset and this idea that there won't be enough. But when it comes to earning more, A lot of the women that I work with in my smell of money community, we work on wealth activation and our beliefs, our money story. The common belief is that if I work harder, I will have more, but I might take it away from someone else. And I can't set my prices because they can't afford it. So what was your experience with that? Like as far as like you said, $100,000 to invest in some franchises. Like I know some listeners were like, Ouch, wait, 100 grand? That's a lot to invest.

Jon Ostenson: Yeah, you know, everyone's got it's fascinating where I sit because I feel like I play psychologist and often times get to see, you know, other people's backgrounds that kind of play out. You know, they they'll climb up the stairs and diving board, get to the very end. Some will make the jump, some don't. Some will back out. And, you know, it is sad in a lot of cases because they don't believe in themselves. I think that's ingrained maybe from childhood or just from fear, you know, from scarcity mindset. You know, it's interesting, Lisa, as I've

Lisa Drennon: And then.

Jon Ostenson: evolved over time and you become a business owner, you know, about a decade ago, I hang out with business owners now that they think big and you become like this five people you spend the most time with. Right. And I've been very blessed to have a group of business owners. get together for five hours every month and we take two big retreats a year as part of the entrepreneurs organization. Um, you know, but even outside of that, I mean, you were talking about playing golf before this, you know, the people I play golf with their business owners, you know, when someone says, Hey, I've got to ask my boss off for vacation. still kind of like Twitch a little bit, you know, like Um, and so I think when you're around people that think big, that, you know, maybe aren't the most risk averse. mean, we're not talking about our 401ks. We're talking about our private investments that we're making, you know, things that are making 15 to 20 to 25 % returns. We're not talking about, you know, six to 8 % returns or not. And so I think, I think that's been huge for me and my growth over time, because I was taught to be a W2. I was a W2 for many years, had a good career, very thankful for it. But yeah, I was maxed out the 401k and

Lisa Drennon: Thank you.

Jon Ostenson: doing everything that they told you to, but you know, to really move the needle. And the fact is the government incentivizes business ownership right through the tax code. mean, it is written because they want you creating jobs and starting new businesses. so now oftentimes I'll have someone that's got a high paying W2 job. They're like, ultimately I'm trading time for money. want more time freedom. That's, that's the why behind for most people. It's the time freedom. And I have to remind them your first year or two in business ownership, you're probably not going to make a whole lot. You'll make some, especially in year two. But when you compare that to what you're making at the W-2, it's going to look like less, but you're going to be able to do all these other things. You'll be able to start putting, kids in the business, letting them put into a Roth IRA, setting them up for their future. You'll be able to write off all sorts of expenses you couldn't have otherwise. You could create a defined benefit plan or there's just so many things you can do that you could never do as a W-2. So I'm going down a little bit of a, we're having a trail here. I apologize, but ⁓ I get excited just when people wake up to what business ownership can mean for

Lisa Drennon: I like the fact that you brought up the W-2 because a lot of Entrepreneurs that I work with they don't even pay themselves all of their money goes back into their business It drives me crazy, but it's it's why it's why they need me because I can system

Jon Ostenson: Yeah, well, every year there's a magic number. I pay myself every December via W-2, right? And it's after move money between accounts, pay myself and then I put it back in the account. But it allows you to run that payroll once a year so you can the QBI qualified business income and you can do the retirement plan contributions. ⁓

Lisa Drennon: that's interesting. I haven't heard of anybody doing an annual salary. Most people want, know, minimum, they'll do bi-monthly salary because they want it. Well, unfortunately, a lot of the people out there are just ⁓ running business and the business is paying for everything. Personal expenses as well. And that drives me crazy. I was a treasurer for over 30 years for three not-for-profits and No. You need to stop doing that. And so what is this idea with entrepreneurs that they shouldn't pay themselves regularly? Like do you think it's a, we talked a little bit about psychology, so let's dive into this a little bit more. The psychology is like I want to get paid. I want to, if you're CEO of a company, you're guaranteed a bonus. You're getting that, you know, you're getting the car, you're getting the seller, you're getting all the perks with the country club and all of that. But as business owners, we don't give ourselves any perks. And when I introduce this concept to my clients, they're like, I don't know if I'll have enough money to do that. I'm like, OK, let's go back to square one. Like, this is what we're doing.

Jon Ostenson: Yeah. No, I take distributions all throughout the year. So I'm still getting paid. It's just not in the form of a W-2, right? I'm, you business is still flowing through to me. Um, you know, we'll move from my escort business account over to my personal account, but now I've, I've been on five international trips already this year. Um, we have six one planned in January. So, I mean, I've got the time freedom. I work hard and I worked very hard in the early, in the early stages. You know, I won't pretend like I didn't, but it sets me up. mean, I coach my kids. teams, I've volunteered at our church, I life on my terms. I'm very grateful for that because I know that, ⁓ yep, I've worked hard to position myself that way. And that's what business ownership allows. I have so many physicians that I reached work Lisa and they reach out and they say, Hey, I'm making a million bucks a year, but I'm trading time for that money. I've got to pull back my hours because you only live once. Right. And I want to focus more time on travel, more time on my kids. yes. And again, that's where business ownership allows for that path. It's not easy, but countless other people have done it. And my humble belief is franchising is a better approach. It's a safer approach. You kind of have training wheels. And not every franchise is created equal. That's where we come in to help our clients identify the top opportunities, the franchises that do provide good support that are going to set you up for success. And it's entirely free to work with us. ⁓ We get a referral fee from the brands. None of that's passed on to our clients. So I love model that we have here.

Lisa Drennon: Mm-hmm.

Jon Ostenson: and it works great for our clients.

Lisa Drennon: Yeah, well that's wonderful. I know that made everyone's ears perk up. ⁓ They're like, wait, we're free? Wait, they don't cost anything? ⁓ awesome. ⁓ is the, you know, thinking about the financial advice that you've, all the financial advice that you've been given, what's the best financial advice that you received that really helped you that you can share with the audience?

Jon Ostenson: Yeah, I think will always be a deal to be had. There'll all, know, deals are like ⁓ You there'll be another one in five minutes. I think where I've gotten in trouble at times in the past is maybe rushing it and jumping into something and not really understanding how it works. mean, you mentioned crypto, a wide dollar cost average into crypto every Sunday X amount comes out of my account because in the, ⁓ account, you know, that's just a piece of the portfolio. I'm not betting everything on that. but I invested in really bad, crypto fund. run by some really smart guys a couple of years ago. It's hard to diligence that one. I, but I jumped in a little too fast. hadn't given enough thought. so, you know, lessons learned, ⁓ I would say don't feel like in a rush. You don't have to do every deal that comes your way. ⁓ be wise, be patient. And, you know, I'm preaching in the choir here after my myself with that all the time as well.

Lisa Drennon: Yeah, but that's so true. It's the best advice. Be wise and patient because a lot of times we make impulsive buys and I'm doing, I have a YouTube channel and tomorrow we're talking about those impulsive buys. I bought a $600 chair that I didn't need. My husband's like, really? When we moved into our house three years ago, the owners must've owned a lamp company because they had 14 lamps in our living room. I was like.

Jon Ostenson: Ha ha ha.

Lisa Drennon: Why do you need so many lamps here? My husband's like, are we going to have as many chairs as we did lamps? I'm like, listen, this chair was special. But it really sparked this conversation about impulse of shopping. And we tend to make decisions without research, without thinking about it, and seeking that wisdom and just really thinking, OK, I'm going to lay it out. I'm not just going listen to this person. I'm going to find out all the facts and then see if it's a good fit. And our body language will tell us that.

Jon Ostenson: Wow.

Lisa Drennon: before even our thoughts even do, because we'll get that feeling like, no. I was asked to invest in a trucking company. So there was this thing about three years ago where you could buy a truck, hire the driver, ⁓ then, ⁓ know, this was your, it was like $20,000 investment. I was like, ⁓ yeah, like I on a call and like 20 people had jumped on. And I was like, my husband and I were like, I don't know, I gotta research it more. And ⁓ I like, I wasn't. I didn't want to jump onto it. I wanted to get research because I'm like, well, what happens if they break down like the repairs, the insurance, you know, like I'm thinking workers comp and all of this and an accident. And we ended up not doing it. So, and I was thankful because the person I was thinking about investing in actually had a truck accident and it was, they, they couldn't drive anymore. It was just so horrific. So thank you for sharing that wisdom.

Jon Ostenson: Wow.

Lisa Drennon: Tell us what's the best way for our audience to connect with you if they'd to know more about your non-food franchising.

Jon Ostenson: Yeah, come on to our website, FranBridgeConsulting.com, F-R-A-N, BridgeConsulting.com. ⁓ share your email address. My assistant will then reach out and share a downloadable copy of our book, Non-Food Franchising, which has a great resource for a lot of folks out there. And, when reaches out, if you'd like to take the next step and jump on a call, I'd be more than happy to help. Again, it's entirely free to work with us and I would love to help you, you know, bring you the top opportunities in your market for consideration and see where it goes.

Lisa Drennon: Perfect. Well, ladies and gents, you heard it. Check the show notes for that link to find out more if you're interested in exploring your wealth opportunities through non-food franchising. It's free to find out and you can do the research and think about, know, instead of chasing after money, you can pursue it doing something that you absolutely love. Now, who doesn't want that? Because remember, it doesn't matter how much money you have, it's what you do with it.