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In this conversation, Jon Ostenson shares his journey from corporate America to becoming a franchise consultant. He discusses the benefits of franchising, how to choose the right franchise, and the intersection of real estate and franchise ownership. Jon emphasizes the importance of leadership, common mistakes in non-franchised businesses, and the role of faith in his business philosophy. He also provides insights on unique franchise opportunities and strategies for investing in real estate.

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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

Stephen Schmidt (00:02.766)
Welcome back to the show where we interview the nation’s leading real estate entrepreneurs. It’s your host Stephen Schmidt and I’m back at it again. If you’re joining us for the second third or hundredth time, welcome back to the show. We already know you’re going to get some value today. And if you’re joining us for the first time, where you been at? Welcome to it. I got a treat for you guys. I got Jon Ostenson sent in the house today. Hopefully I didn’t bust that last name. I’ll have to ask him after I get done here, but

(00:30.821)
We’re going to talk about his experience in the real estate space and in the consulting space coming from corporate America to now where he is the franchise consultant guru. And I’m going to let him explain that a little bit more. So just remember before we get started at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers, and real estate professionals, 2 to 5X their businesses so they can build the businesses they’ve always wanted in order to live the lives they’ve always dreamed of. that being said, Jon, welcome to the show. Hey, excited to be here, Stephen.

Stephen Schmidt (00:30.926)
We’re going to talk about his experience in the real estate space and in the consulting space coming from corporate America to now where he is the franchise consultant guru. And I’m going to let him explain that a little bit more. So just remember before we get started at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers and real estate professionals, 2 to 5X their businesses so they can build the businesses they’ve always wanted in order to live the lives they’ve always dreamed of. With that being said, Jon, welcome to the show.

Jon Ostenson (01:00.493)
Likewise man, so I know we had a little bit of time Jon to speak in the pre-show but give us a little bit of your background how you got into what you do now and For on a low level like what do you do? Yeah well You know like so many of your listeners spent many years in the corporate world and you helped others build their empires but always had that desire to build my own and didn’t know what it looked like didn’t know how to connect the dots and Really, you know was blessed to step into franchising about nine years ago and

Stephen Schmidt (01:00.588)
Likewise, man. So I know we had a little bit of time, Jon, to speak in the pre-show, but give us a little bit of your background, how you got into what you do now and for on a low level, like what do you do?

Jon Ostenson (01:29.585)
I had the opportunity to run Shelf Genie franchise system as their president and supported all of our franchisees across North America and really fell in love with the franchise model. I just saw how it could be such a better path to business ownership for such a diverse group of backgrounds all coming together under a shared system. So fast forward, eventually spun off there, invested in franchises myself on the franchisee side. So I’ve got a couple of holdings on that side of the table.

And then about six, seven years ago started my consulting practice as well, where I can help others do the same. So, end of the day, you can think of me as a real estate broker, but for franchises and I represent about 600 franchise companies out there. They’re looking to expand that still have good markets to expand into across the country. And, you know, this is across a diverse array of industries, everything from home and property services to health and wellness, to the categories like kids, pets, seniors, and, know, love just taking clients through the process of identifying the top opportunities.

in their market and then helping them understand all the steps that it takes to identify the right franchise and then how to be set up for success at the end of the day. And beauty of our model is it’s entirely free to work with us. So again, simply get a referral fee on the back end from the brand, very much like a real estate model. Now, so how does somebody go about picking the right franchise? I don’t have any myself yet, is how I would put it, but I’ve got friends of mine that own franchises, different…

Stephen Schmidt (02:41.774)
Now, so how does somebody go about picking the right franchise? I don’t have any myself yet, is how I would put it, but I’ve got friends of mine that own franchises, different types of industries. And so how does somebody go about figuring out like, what is the right franchise business for me, especially for someone that like actually wants freedom and, you know, doesn’t want necessarily be a day-to-day operator like a Chick-fil-A.

Jon Ostenson (02:54.073)
different types of industries. And so how does somebody go about figuring out like, what is the right franchise business for me, especially for someone that like actually wants freedom and, you know, doesn’t want necessarily be a day-to-day operator like a Chick-fil-A. Yeah. Well, you know, when I say the F word franchise, people usually think fast food and, know, what I’ve chosen to do is carve out the other half of the market and really go deep there. So all these other industries outside of food and we’ve got nothing against the food guys, but my humble belief is they’re easier ways to make money. So.

No, you know, what’s interesting, Steven, is about 90 % of our clients end up choosing something that was in an industry never on their radar when we first engaged. And so it’s a lot of fun to take them through the process and open up their eyes to the possibilities out there. And then that’s when the magic happens. And so, you know, some of the things I want to know off the bat, you know, what, are you looking to do in the business? Are you looking to run the day-to-day operations at least at first, and then pass the baton to someone else? Or are you looking to keep your day job and put a manager in place to run the business, you know, off the bat? So.

From there, we talk about the financials, we talk about all sorts of different things around the market and what we’re seeing out there. I we’re kind of at the tip of the spear. We see a lot of different business models, a lot of new opportunities. And I’ll just touch on that idea. A lot of franchises market themselves as semi-passive, semi-absentee executive models. The idea is you put a manager in place and because they’ve got a great support system with the franchise or his team on the sideline, it allows you to keep your day job.

I never want to sugarcoat that. It still takes a lot of work. think semi-involved is a better term for it. It’s not going to be a passive investment. But if you do have a good operator in place, that’s really what it comes down to. Then it does make that model very doable under the franchise umbrella.

When somebody comes in and works with you, mean, you mentioned doing it for free, get paid to…

Stephen Schmidt (04:38.421)
When somebody comes in and works with you, mean, you mentioned doing it for free, you get paid a referral on the back end. How do people even find you?

Jon Ostenson (04:45.039)
Yeah, you know, well, I go on a good number of podcasts. You know, I’m very active on LinkedIn. I’ve got a large following there. We put a lot of content out. Yeah, but about half of my business is referrals and just in a lot of different circles, masterminds and such. Yeah, I get associated with the term franchise. And, know, so when people are interested in business ownership, you know, someone in that group usually says, Hey, you need to talk to our friend, Jon. So I’ve been very blessed that, you know, the business comes to me. It’s, it’s kind of magnetic, you know, put a lot of good content out and the right people come.

Now with what you’re doing, how does the real estate component come into play? Yeah, you know, about two thirds of our clients invest in real estate as well in different forms and in fashions. I personally do. I’m a big believer it’s an all of the above strategy. I mean, I invest in real estate directly, Airbnb’s as well as have, know, recindication investments. I love the tax benefits of that and how oftentimes you can offset passive income. You know, I love business ownership because I can offset active incomes. They kind of marry together, especially from a mindset standpoint, but

Stephen Schmidt (05:16.161)
Now, with what you’re doing, how does the real estate component come into play?

Jon Ostenson (05:45.36)
A lot of our clients, know, last couple of years, know, the good real estate deals have been fewer and further between and interest rates are high. Inventory was low for a period of time. So we saw a lot of people moving in our direction saying, Hey, what’s another alternative investment with tax benefits? yeah, they can compliment oftentimes their real estate practice. you know, we’ll see some saying, Hey, I’ve got a lot of single family homes and I’m already paying for these services for the upkeep. Why don’t I start a business around that or franchise that the supports me.

I can provide it not only to my own rentals, but to others. And some are looking for more of a diversification play and they get into something totally different or maybe they’ve got a commercial space they want to fill and they say, hey, what would be a good franchise? So the two really married together well, based on my experience.

Stephen Schmidt (06:31.661)
Sure. One of the things that I find that I’ve been in multiple masterminds over the past five, six years since I really started getting into entrepreneurship myself and building my own business. And one of the things that we find is a common theme is somebody starts having a little bit of success in their business. And then they ask the question of like, well, when should I be investing in real estate? You know, I got a hundred grand laying around. got 150, 200. At what point in your

Jon Ostenson (06:33.114)
One of the things that I find that I’ve been in multiple masterminds over the past five, six years since I really started getting into…

Jon Ostenson (06:43.302)
things that we find is a common theme. Somebody starts having a little bit of success in their business and then they ask the question of like, when should I be investing in real estate? You know, I got a hundred grand laying around. got 150, 200. At what point in your experience does it make sense for somebody to look into investing in real estate versus taking that 100,000, 150, 200, maybe higher amount. And instead of putting that into continuing to boost the systems, maybe implementing EOS, maybe

Stephen Schmidt (06:58.829)
in your experience, does it make sense for somebody to look into investing in real estate versus taking that 100,000, 150, 200, maybe higher amount? And instead of putting that into continuing to boost the systems, maybe implementing EOS, maybe putting it into marketing, at what point does it actually make sense for them to put it in real estate versus their main machine?

Jon Ostenson (07:12.934)
putting it into marketing, at what point does it actually make sense for them to put it in real estate versus their main machine? Yeah, that’s a loaded question. Certainly it’s different for everyone on the franchise front. All in investment for a lot of service based businesses is anywhere between 150,000 and 300,000 all in. That’s franchise fee, startup costs, several months of working capital, all built in. Certainly if you’re going to do a large customer facing retail type business, then it’s going to be a decent amount larger than that.

But no, a lot of our clients come to me and say, hey, you we’re invested in real estate. We love real estate, you know, but again, we’re trying to diversify the portfolio or we’re trying to get some of this more cash flowing in the near term, oftentimes to allow them to invest in more real estate. So it’s kind of a, again, it goes in tandem. And so I think there’s seasons of life too, you know, there are real estate investments that are definitely more passive, maybe in some of the business ownership ones, but there are a lot of kind of mid-level professionals that…

Maybe they’re in the technology space or another space that, you know, it’s kind of downsizing. saying, Hey, you know, I’ve always wanted to build a business. just haven’t known how have it. And there’s never a perfect time. Right. And some people decide it’s still not the perfect time, but most people realize that, Hey, it’s never going to get better. You know, I’ve got to, you know, fight inertia here and step out on my own. And, um, but yeah, I’d say in a lot of situations, the business ownership is a key strategic piece.

for the means of getting to the end of a lot of real estate investment.

Stephen Schmidt (08:46.029)
That’s a really good answer to that question. Thanks for sharing.

Jon Ostenson (08:53.286)
with franchise models. One of the big pieces.

Stephen Schmidt (08:53.311)
With franchise models, one of the big pieces that I find attractive to it, and I’m sure a lot of people that you found have worked in the space as well, is because there’s already an existing system of some form of success that the parent franchise company has built. You’re kind of buying a business in a box, supposedly. Why is the franchise model

Jon Ostenson (09:08.208)
parent franchise company has built. You’re kind of buying a business in a box, supposedly. Why is the franchise model really attractive in your opinion to the people that you end up working with? Why do people pick franchises versus bootstrapping their own company or investing in an idea that they have? What’s the benefit of a franchise versus maybe a, I don’t want to say traditional business, but let’s call it that for.

Stephen Schmidt (09:19.853)
Really attractive in your opinion to the people that you end up working with and why do people pick franchises versus you know bootstrapping their own company or investing in an idea that they have why what’s the benefit of a franchise versus you know, maybe a I don’t want to say traditional business, but let’s let’s call it that for lack of a better term unless you’ve got one for it

Jon Ostenson (09:36.293)
lack of a better term unless you’ve got one for it. Yeah, absolutely. And franchising is not right for everyone. I won’t pretend that it is. I think some people are so entrepreneurial, they want to put their thumb prints all over it. But franchising from the very beginning, one, you’re more likely to get funded because banks love franchises and are very open to lending through SBA loans. That’s common. But no, the franchise model and not every franchise is created equal just like every industry. There are ones that provide great support and there are ones that don’t provide the support that they should. That’s where we come in to try to help people.

know, with the franchise model, end of the day, you’ve got the product market fit. It’s been proven in like kind markets. It’s, you’re able to start on third base in a way because you’ve got a playbook. It’s all about going out and executing. You’re not having to test everything, you know, first time around. So you’re able to ramp up faster. you know, oftentimes this gets overlooked, but we talk about, you know, masterminds. You have a built-in mastermind of other people running the same business day in, day out, these other franchisees, and you’re constantly exchanging best practices.

I’ve seen that when I was a franchisor as well as a franchisee. mean, that’s a huge, oftentimes overlooked benefit. Certainly there’s economies of scale, whether it be bulk buying of services or products, because you have the buying power of a large franchise system versus small entity. You’ve got this franchisor acting as a coach on the sideline. The better you do, the better they do. So, you know, there’s a lot of benefits and oftentimes when you go to sell the business, you know, you’ve got a built-in customer base of…

potential buyers in the other franchisees that internal &A is extremely common. Most franchise resales never even hit the open market because another franchisee will buy them. and I personally been on both sides of that transaction. So if it does hit the open market, you typically have a higher multiple as well versus just a traditional business. And again, I’m not comparing to, you know, a tech startup. That’s totally different. I’m comparing to, you know, an installation business versus an initial installation business that’s in the franchise world, just as an example.

Stephen Schmidt (11:27.436)
What are some of the most unique franchises that you’ve come across?

Jon Ostenson (11:28.56)
What are some of the most unique?

Yeah, I’ll mention some of the ones I’m invested in. think that’s a good example. You know, lot of real estate minded background individuals really like the property services space. You know, they come and say, I don’t want trendy, I want non sexy. And I joke that non sexy is the new sexy when it comes to business ownership. It’s, you know, it’s those things that are understandable, cash flowing, not going out of style type businesses. And so, you know, some of the ones I’m invested in, I’ve got an asphalt paving a line striping business. So think parking lots, I’ve got one.

Stephen Schmidt (11:35.86)
Sure.

Stephen Schmidt (11:41.996)
Hmm.

Stephen Schmidt (11:48.876)
for sure.

Stephen Schmidt (12:00.364)
Yeah.

Jon Ostenson (12:01.114)
I’ve got one that provides temporary walls like containment walls around renovation projects and construction sites. It’s like an equipment rental business. I’ve got one, you know, in the health and wellness arena, this is more of a retail based business, but we provide a 3D printed inserts that you have very custom inserts, you know, for your shoes. And we sell some footwear as well. But no, some of the franchises out there, mean, people love dumpsters or flooring, recoding, or, you know, different roof.

type companies, things that cabinet based businesses, things that people are always going to spend on, but then they also love health and wellness, know, anything related to infrared saunas and red lighting, cryo and IVs, you know, that’s huge. And it’s really become mainstream, the whole health and wellness movement. Yeah. But then they drop back. I’ve had clients do extremely well in in-home senior care, had clients do well in youth soccer, know, pets, pet grooming.

Again, things that regardless of the economy, people are always going to be spending on these things.

Stephen Schmidt (13:03.062)
Sure. How did you go about picking the franchises that you invested in for yourself?

Jon Ostenson (13:03.91)
How did you go about picking?

Yeah, the two in the property services arena, I do have partners on the one in the health and wellness is just me directly. But yeah, and end of the day, it comes down to people. And it’s the same thing for me with any operating business, any private equity that I do. I’m investing in the people at the top. And so in the case of the property services businesses, we had good operating partners lined up that I believe in. And that was a big piece of it. But I also, I love niches. I love the property services genre. I mean, that’s more of my background, know, shelf genie.

So I’d say the star is kind of aligned, end of the day, it’s the people. And I say the same thing to our clients when they’re looking at franchise systems. That franchise or is essentially going to be your business partner. I want to see that they’ve had good industry experience, but also franchise experience represented on that team because end of the day, you know, you know, the culture, everything else has to align, you know, to make it a good fit.

Stephen Schmidt (13:59.981)
How important has leadership been in investing in the leadership of your companies, but also the leadership that you’ve experienced from corporate America where you’ve been at to where you’re at now? How important does that play into a successful business?

Jon Ostenson (14:01.415)
leadership then and investing in the leadership.

leadership that you’ve experienced from corporate America where you’ve been at.

Jon Ostenson (14:14.535)
No, it’s everything. It’s everything. It starts with the people and you know, I, business ownership’s not right for everyone, but I do believe it’s right for more people than are currently business owners. I think a lot of people, you know, let fear hold them back. And once they understand franchising, they say, you know, maybe those training wheels is just what I needed, right? To get comfortable with the idea of entrepreneurship. But no, I’d say I personally still pinch myself every day. I mean,

leadership wise, mean, we still have challenges. There are things we deal with every day. If business ownership is easy, everyone would be a business owner, right? I mean, you know this personally, like there are things you deal with, but I would so much rather be dealing with the things that I deal with now and don’t have to ask permission because I’m calling the shots versus the corporate environment where I had to ask off for vacation, where I had to work my schedule around others. I can never go back.

Stephen Schmidt (15:10.124)
What’s a business basic? Because you’re obviously incredibly experienced in that. Can I ask you, what’s your actual professional background? I’m assuming degree, like probably something business. I see a lot of accounting in this space, but like, what’s your actual original professional background of what you kind of expected to do in corporate America, if you don’t mind me asking. So then I can ask the next question.

Jon Ostenson (15:11.035)
What’s a business basic? Because you’re obviously incredibly experienced in that. Can I ask you, what’s your actual professional background? I’m assuming degree, like probably something business. I see a lot of accounting in this space. like, what’s your actual original professional background of what you kind of expected to do in corporate America? If what I mean. absolutely.

Absolutely. Undergrad was at the University of Georgia. I had a business degree in finance, got out, worked for Accenture and consulting. So I got to spend a few years, including internationally, which was pretty neat. Went back to grad school, got my MBA, and then I spent about 10 years with Carter’s Oshkosh B’Gosh. Never thought I’d be in the children’s apparel space, but had the opportunity to work for the president of a public company and get, and got to do some neat things. But ultimately I managed about 300 million in annual sales to some of the larger retailers in the country.

Stephen Schmidt (15:55.532)
That’s awesome.

Jon Ostenson (16:05.325)
Love doing it, had a great experience, but wanted to be my own boss. Sure. So that’s great. I just want to point out that I called that. It was business and I said accounting, but it’s still financial related. So I’m like, okay, sweet. I was pretty good with my sniffer there. obviously huge extensive business background. What is a mistake that you see non-franchised businesses make that’s

Stephen Schmidt (16:10.739)
Sure. So that’s great. just I just want to point out that I called that I was business and I said accounting but it’s still financial related. So I’m like OK sweet. I was pretty pretty good with my sniffer there. So obviously huge extensive business background. What is a mistake that you see non-franchised businesses make that’s super easily avoidable or just like a basic building block and building culture.

Jon Ostenson (16:34.471)
super easily avoidable or just like a basic building block and building culture. Yeah, you know, I think, I think there’s just so much more work involved and people anticipate with getting something off the ground, especially outside of outside of franchising. You know, you’re testing your marketing, like you’re trying to optimize that at the same time you’re trying to hire and retain and build a culture and build a team. There’s just so many moving parts and you know, that and that’s why I’m so biased towards franchising at least.

for the next season. It’s not that it’s the only thing you’ll ever do. I mean, you could still start businesses and own franchises. You know, it can be in all of the above. The challenge we see, and I think this parlay is in the non-franchises as well, but certainly the franchisees that struggle are the ones that come in and think they’re the smartest guy in the room and act like it. You know, no matter what room they’re in, they’re the smartest guy and they come in and say, instead of following the playbook, I’m going to try to reinvent it and do everything my own way. And it’s like, why’d you buy into a franchise system? But those are the ones.

that typically struggle the most. so there’s some degree of humility involved in franchising where you’ve got to be willing to follow the system. Good franchises are still going to let you test different things and try new ideas. That’s where a lot of the innovative ideas come from. But if you’re not submitting that core playbook, just go do your own thing and good luck.

Stephen Schmidt (17:56.608)
Hmm. Outside of, this is going to be an interesting question, it sparked outside of Bezos, Buffett or Jobs, who would you say is the most underrated entrepreneur that you’ve gotten the most from in your self-education?

Jon Ostenson (17:58.568)
outside of, this is going to be an interesting question, it sparked, outside of Bezos, Buffett, or Jobs, who would you say is the most underrated entrepreneur?

Jon Ostenson (18:14.033)
is a great one. I’ve been very fortunate to be in a lot of masterminds. And there are a lot of folks that are fairly well-known, but not household names. I’ll mention one, Justin Donald. I’ve been following him closely. He’s a friend of mine. He’s one of my masterminds. Wrote a book called The Lifestyle Investor. And it’s all about getting your passive income to cover your expenses and then some, and what true financial freedom is. And he invests in a lot of real estate mobile home

parks are kind of his sweet spot, but he also invested in active businesses. I just love his philosophies around, you know, it’s just the mindset of how you’re going about building wealth. It’s not just net worth on paper, but really what matters is the cashflow behind it. you know, as I evolve in my thinking, I have these types of conversations multiple times every day with others that are saying, I don’t want to trade money for time or time for money forever. A lot of doctors work with us. say, Hey, we’re making a million bucks a year.

But I have to put in these hours, I need to get something going on the side that allows me to pull back my hours. And so everyone’s kind of moving towards that direction, but few articulated as well as Justin does.

Stephen Schmidt (19:24.203)
That’s great. Everybody go check that out. That’s for sure. So let me ask you this because for the average investor, I had to do a quick Google. So I had at least something to throw out there that was semi accurate. according to Google AI, approximately 60 % of American households have credit card debt. So when you invest in real estate, obviously there’s

Jon Ostenson (19:25.831)
to go check that out, that’s for sure. So let me ask you this, because for the average investor, had to do a quick Google, so I had at least some…

Jon Ostenson (19:36.04)
But according to Google AI, approximately 60 % of American households have credit card debt, right? So when you invest in real estate, obviously there’s almost an infinite amount of strategies that you could go about it. But I think the biggest thing that holds a lot of people back is they think that they’ve got to have their own money or they’re already swallowed in consumer debt to where, well, that sounds great, Jon. But for me to go and build passive income is not even possible because I can barely afford

Stephen Schmidt (19:46.827)
and almost an infinite amount of strategies that you could go about it. But I think the biggest thing that holds a lot of people back is they think that they’ve got to have their own money or they’re already swallowed in consumer debt to where, well, that sounds great, Jon, but for me to go and build passive income is not even possible because I can barely afford to pay down the debts that I already have. So like for somebody that’s like getting started, what are some ways that you would suggest?

Jon Ostenson (20:05.8)
pay down the debts that I already have. So like for somebody that’s like getting started, what are some ways that you would suggest, and maybe not giving financial advice of course, but for them to raise the income at first, the active income and tap that out.

Stephen Schmidt (20:14.642)
And maybe not giving financial advice, of course, but for them to raise the income at first, the active income and tap that out. Is there an importance there before the passive comes into play?

Jon Ostenson (20:25.564)
Yeah. Is there an importance there before the passive comes into play? Yeah, I’m a big believer in don’t overextend yourself and try to go wide. I you have to go deep first and start generating consistent cash flow that’s more than covering your expenses before you start looking externally, because that’s not going to be the solve. So yeah, I would certainly give that advice. But no, you know, business ownership through franchising can be very similar to real estate and using OPM, other people’s money. you know, again, banks.

Stephen Schmidt (20:33.226)
Hmm.

Jon Ostenson (20:50.578)
prefer lending to franchises versus startups. so oftentimes you can get SBA loans. Most of our clients use SBA loans, even if they’re sitting on cash, but they’ll put in maybe 20 % cash. So that may be like 50,000 that they put in the business. And then they use another 150 to 200,000 SBA loan to actually fund the operations. Of course, all that’s tax deductible, the interest is, you can pay it back early. So, no, I think business ownership is accessible to a lot more people than may, a lot of people that may not think it is.

However, yeah, there’s a season of life where you need to be building your credit score, building your core income and at least have a financial base. You we don’t want to see people overextend themselves. If you’ve got a young family and you’re single income family and you don’t have a lot of savings, then it’s probably not the right time. Right. But it could be something that you move towards. And I’m more than happy to share a free downloadable copy of our book, Nonfood Franchising. think, you know, I talked with a lot of clients that maybe it’s not the right season just yet.

But they’ll read the book, they’ll start understanding what I need to work towards, how the pieces come together. And then that creates inspiration for them to set goals and really have a plan to move forward.

Stephen Schmidt (22:00.33)
Great answer. If you had to go back to the beginning of either your business or your corporate career, I’ll give you either way that you can answer this question. But you could take everything you’ve learned along the way with you. What would you do different and what would you do the same?

Jon Ostenson (22:02.396)
go back to the beginning of either your business or your corporate career. I’ll give you either

Jon Ostenson (22:10.344)
but you could take everything you’ve learned along the way with you. What would you do different and what would you do the same? Yeah, I feel very blessed that there a lot of things I would do the same. You know, I did have one business and I probably glossed over this, you when I was giving you my answer earlier about my career. There was one business that I started after Shelf G &E with a business partner and it was a non-franchised business, but it was serving franchises as our client base. And so it was a marketing agency and a call center.

We built it up. We’re doing a couple million a year in revenue. We had about 40 employees and I thought the model was there. Again, it was a non-franchise. So it was all my idea, but the model was not there. And we became too custom. End of the day, we had a great team, but we really weren’t making money. It was a flat line P and L some, some months were even down and we were putting a lot of effort in. And I ultimately saw the writing on the wall, made a tough call, said we’ve, we’ve got to wind this down.

You know, it wasn’t a sexy exit, but instead I found homes for most of our employees, found homes for our clients. I’m proud of how we handled the situation, but that was a stressful time. mean, was, you know, and there was some pride on the line as well. So, you know, in hindsight, yeah, I probably would have done that differently how I structured that business. I was trying to go at it alone and that gives me all the more appreciation now for franchising where you’ve got the proven model versus a great idea that you run with.

Stephen Schmidt (23:33.99)
really good because ultimately you learn more from the challenges than you do from the wins. So what are some of those like key things that you would have done the same?

Jon Ostenson (23:41.897)
What are some of those key things that you would have done the same? Some of the I would have done the same, there’s a season of life where it’s great to get experience. I don’t think I was ready for business ownership straight out of undergrad. I’m very thankful for the experiences I had and the challenges along the way and building teams and going through the corporate grind. And one, I learned a lot, but also made me appreciate all the more now that I’m able to structure my business around what I’m best at. And it’s really neat.

I don’t know where you are on this journey, Stephen, but as you start to get older and further along in your career, you start to realize what can I do versus what I like to do versus what I’m really gifted at doing. One thing that I realized, I could build a large team, I could build a culture, I could do all the team meetings, run EOS, which I’m a big fan of. End of the day, I wasn’t passionate about that side. What I’m passionate about is working with clients, being strategic.

lead generation, all these other things. And so I’ve really structured my business and how I spend most of my days now around the things that I enjoy and that’s being client facing. I mean, when I had a 40 person team, was dealing with HR issues, know, nonstop. you know, now I’ve structured it. So I mainly have contractors that work with us. I’ve got just a couple of employees, but it’s a very nimble team and we’re able to adjust easily, but we’re able to get leveraged by having all these strategic partners and other relationships that we can pull in to support our clients. So.

It is neat when you start to realize what you enjoy doing, how you want to spend your day versus what you can be doing.

Stephen Schmidt (25:17.386)
Sure. What’s your in-game?

Jon Ostenson (25:18.985)
What’s your end game? Yeah, end game, know, been building up the passive income and you know, very fortunate that now covers most of our expenses, but continue to build there. I don’t want to ever rest on our laurels. And yes, you plan for the rainy day, but we’re also big on giving back and we’re headed to Nicaragua on Saturday as a family for a little mission trip. there’s just a lot of nonprofits that we support. All the proceeds from the book, Nonfood Franchise and Go towards Hope International, which is a great nonprofit as well that we support.

So I believe firmly to whom much is given, much is expected. And that’s something I try to, I fail every day, but I try my best to live by. And so my end game is to continue to provide clients with success, which leads to success for us, which allows me to do more in the community and around us. And I love mentoring. And so just carving out more more time to do those types of activities is my end game.

You open this can of worms on yourself, Jon. You’re welcome to go as deep or as not.

Stephen Schmidt (26:14.842)
You opened this can of worms on yourself, Jon. You’re welcome to go as deep or as not as you’d like on it, but how important has faith been as a pinnacle in your business career and keeping you true north?

Jon Ostenson (26:21.512)
It’s crazy, man.

Jon Ostenson (26:27.025)
Yeah, well, I would say at this point in time, I would absolutely say it’s everything and so important, faith, family, everything else comes behind that. yeah, I mean, my faith drives me. I will say throughout my career, I mean, there have been plenty of times I put God on the shelf and haven’t given it the priority that I should. So, you know, it’s a journey, it’s an evolution. I feel like I’ve made progress and yeah, thankful for the relationships and everything else that goes with it.

Thanks so much for spending some time with us here, Jon. If people want to connect with you for more, learn more about you, where should they go for that? Yeah, come out to our website, FranBridgeConsulting.com, F-R-A-N, BridgeConsulting.com. Share your email address. We’ll send you a free downloadable copy of Non-Food Franchising, different formats you can choose from. If you’d like to jump on a call, I’d be more than happy to help. Again, it’s entirely free to engage with us. We’d be happy to get to know you and help in any way I can. And certainly LinkedIn is our big platform.

Stephen Schmidt (26:55.86)
Thanks so much for spending some time with us here, Jon. If people wanna connect with you for more, learn more about you, where should they go for that?

Jon Ostenson (27:24.632)
If you follow me on LinkedIn, I put out a good bit of content every day. yeah, I would love to help in any way I can. There you go, folks. We’re going to show them some love for the real estate pros and the investor fuel family. And we’ll see you all in the next episode. Thanks so much for listening.

Stephen Schmidt (27:32.074)
There you go folks, we’re gonna show them some love for the real estate pros and the investor fuel family and we’ll see y’all in the next episode. Thanks so much for listening.

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