Do You Want A Bigger Company Or A Better Life

We talk with franchise expert Jon Ostenson about why high-performing professionals are moving into franchise ownership to escape quotas, uncertainty, and life on someone else’s terms. We dig into semi-involved models, realistic returns, and the mindset shifts that turn “someday” into a plan. 
• why AI fears and burnout push people toward franchising 
• what “semi-involved” ownership actually means and why the operator matters 
• what a good franchisor provides: training, marketing, tech stack, coaching, community 
• why buying an existing business can stall and how franchising gets you building faster 
• choosing lean models with fewer employees and smart contractor use 
• non-food franchising opportunities beyond restaurants and trends 
• leveraging virtual assistants, fractional leaders, and AI tools to protect your time 
• who franchising fits best and how SBA loans change affordability 
• cash-flow investing versus chasing one big exit 
• using life pillars to guide decisions across health, family, service, and purpose 
Come out to our website, Franbridgeconsulting.com. If you share your email address, we’ll send you a free downloadable copy of our book, Non Food Franchising, and we’ll also send you a link to my calendar. 

How to Reach Out Jon Ostenson:

Website: https://franbridgeconsulting.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/franbridge

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Email: Jordan@Edwards.Consulting

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ejFXH1_BjdnxG4J8u93Zw

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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanedwards5/

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Complimentary Edwards Consulting Session: https://calendly.com/jordan-edwardsconsulting/30min 

Transcript

Why High Earners Choose Franchising

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Hey, what's going on, guys? I got a special guest in here today. We have John Austinson. He's a leading franchise expert and consultant with access to hundreds of brands and helping individuals step into business ownership without starting from scratch. After years of consulting and building on both the franchise or and franchisee side, including scaling a business, recognized in the Inc. 5000, he saw that many high performers weren't lacking ambition, just the right vehicle. So today he helps professionals break out of the golden handcuffs, as we say, by building scalable, often semi-passive income streams through strategic franchising. So, John, welcome to Hashtag Clocked In. And before we get started, I want to ask you a quick question. Why are so many high-performing professionals, people that are already making good money, quietly moving into franchising right now?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes it's not even quiet, right? There, it's I think it's getting noisier out there. But no, excited to be with you, Jordan. And you're exactly right. I mean, we see more and more individuals for a variety of reasons jumping into business ownership via franchising. It's franchising it's not right for everyone, but for many, it's the better path to business ownership, at least for that next season of life. And you know, what I love is you know, it's entirely free to work with us. I'll I'll just mention that, get it out of the way. And we what we do is we help our clients all across the country identify the top 10 or 12 opportunities in their market that are looking to expand there. We hold their hand as they go through the discovery process, identifying the right opportunity for them. But no, I think for a variety of reasons, people are jumping in, whether it be, you know, every day there's an article in the Wall Street Journal about another company, you know, talking about AI and how it's going to impact job losses in the future. And I mean, we're uh other, you know, we see clients reaching out as a result of that, or maybe they've been in consulting or in sales and they're tired of being on the road, they're tired of hitting quotas, tired of living life on someone else's term, helping another company build their empire. They want to build their own and you know, be able to control their destiny. So I'd say a lot of people have been thinking about business ownership, talking about it, dreaming about it for years, but at a very fast pace, we're seeing people just start to really ramp up the efforts of getting in the game now.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Oh, absolutely. And that's why I'm excited to have John on, because there's a few variables that are really happening here that make him really interesting. Is one, a lot of people are starting to move away from these one income streams. So they're looking at different ways of making money. And then later in the podcast, we're actually going to talk about some opportunities where you only need one employee. So, because most of us think, oh, I got a franchise, I got a new job. And is that the case? Or is it a little bit different than that?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Yeah, you know, franchising is spoken about in general terms, but end of the day, it's several thousand different types of companies and models out there. So, end of the day, and not every franchise is created equal. You've got great ones that provide great support, you've got others that that don't, but no, a lot of them do provide that opportunity for what they call an executive model or semi-passive, semi-absentee is another term you'll use. I like the term semi-involved, but the idea is there you put an operator in place, and then that franchise org provides a lot of support to the operator. So it takes some of that burden off of you. So you can keep your day job or you can keep your current business focus. Now, I never want to sugarcoat it. It still takes work. If you don't have the right operator, you're going to find yourself leaning in. But if you do have the right operator, like I do on you know several of my businesses, it can be pretty hands-off. I mean, because that franchise org carries a lot of the daily support water for you, but it just involves having the right person in that seat.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

So, what, in your per opinion and kind of perspective, what makes a good franchise or? Because I know there's so many different franchises, it's kind of becoming a buzz where like a lot of people are talking about it, especially with what ended up happening on social media where people are like, just buy a business, replace your income. And it's like, how does one even do that?

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah. Yeah, what makes it a good franchise or it's one that sets the right expectations up front and then follows through on them. And it's, you know, they're providing the basics. They've got optimized marketing for you to step into day one. They've got a technology stack so you don't have to recreate the wheel. They've got a good training system and program for you. They're bringing together franchisees into different, you know, forums to, you know, exchange best practices and learn from each other. It's like a built-in mastermind. So, you know, and then they're providing ongoing coaching from the sideline and innovation, you know, to your business. But you know, the great thing about franchising is, you know, there's product market fit. You've, you know, you're stepping into a model that's been proven out in similar markets before. Uh, so then it just comes down to executing. You know, you mentioned the idea of buying an existing business. A lot of people reach out to us and say, hey, we'd love to buy an existing franchise. I say, well, you know, like I just did a pool cleaning franchise in Denver a couple of weeks ago, but every now and then we'll do one. But for the most part, the good opportunities on the resale side get bought by other franchisees in the system before they hit the open market. So it does give you the potential once you get into a franchise system, you get first line of sight into anyone that could be selling. So that's another way to kind of scale your business uh over time. But no, a lot of people are out there, they're they call themselves ETA entrepreneurship through acquisition or searchers. I have these conversations every day. And buying an existing business can be a good proposition, but for many of them, they've been looking for years for the business for the right business. And they've been under LOI, due diligence, didn't shake out, like for a variety of reasons. And it's just a lot of time that they could have spent building a business. That's why I love franchising. It lets you get in the game and start building, and you can still acquire a business down the road.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Well, it's quite interesting because it's not so much the same, right? Like, so if you have your employee, most of us have this employee mindset of like, we need to do the work, we're gonna get the work done, and that's gonna be the result. And especially a lot of the people, as they get higher and higher, they manage bigger and bigger teams. So that's why a franchising is kind of a seamless transition because you're just managing a different team, right? When a lot of us think about it, it we think about it so much as, hey, did I flex my muscle? And we do the things that we're good at. And like, so when we get really good at that, that's why I'm not surprised that you're like, yeah, people will look to buy businesses for years and not do anything. It's that's not because they don't want to, it's because there's a fear. I don't know how to do this, I don't know what I'm doing, I need help.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Like, yeah, and they're typically paying a premium for that business. And there's risk to buying a business because you may lose key employees when you have a change in ownership. You may lose key customers. And that's why, again, I'm biased towards the franchise model because you can take an existing system, put your thumbprint on it with your people, your culture, and again, you're not in business all by yourself. You've got a franchise or you've got a team supporting you on the sideline and a mastermind of other franchisees that you can learn from. So it's cliche, but you're in business for yourself but not by yourself.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, John, how did you get involved in this? How did you start to open up to franchising? How'd you get involved? Like, yeah.

John’s Path Into Franchises

SPEAKER_00 7:36

I stumbled into it. It was not on my radar. I spent many years in the corporate world and had, you know, very thankful for the experiences there, had a good run, but had the opportunity through a series of events to step away and step into the role of president of Shelf Jamie franchise system, which is a large franchise system, custom pull-out shelving if your kitchens and pantries is the business. Uh, but I had the opportunity to step in and run the home office supporting all of our franchisees across North America. And for me, that was the experience where had that light bulb moment. I fell in love with the franchise model. I just saw how all these diverse backgrounds could come together under a shared system of support and uh become business owners. And so uh loved doing that. And since then the founder and I spun off, we invested in other franchises ourselves. So I've got a handful of franchises that I'm invested in. And I also started my consulting practice seven years ago, and it's just been amazing, you know, being able to help others identify the top opportunities, help them understand franchising, how it works, and whether it's a good fit for them. So yeah, I've been able to help a couple hundred people step into franchise ownership, and it's incredibly rewarding.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Well, that starts to change the perspective because you go from I'm the franchise or to the franchisee to the consultant. So you just have so many different angles where you can see this. And I had a mentor of mine, and he's still here, but 80 years old, and he always told me, dude, the more perspectives you can get, your whole goal is to get a holistic perspective. So you're definitely someone who's got a holistic perspective on franchising.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I can also see it through my client's eyes, right? Because I have all these case studies.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Absolutely. So for you, when you're building out these businesses and kind of moving on to, hey, I'm looking at this. Do you think, hey, I want to hire a bunch of people? Or do you think I want to figure out different ways of working with them?

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Yeah. You know, people reach out to us all the time and say, hey, I want the highest return on investment with the fewest number of employees. You know, that's definitely a it's I take that as a given out there. Yeah, they we do have people that we worked with that love building a large team and the culture and you know, some of those dynamics. I've for me personally, I've been there, done that. What I love most is being lean and flexible and being able to, you know, be strategic and working with face to face with clients. That's how I've set up my consulting business is that I'm client-facing. You know, I've got a very lean team here, and then we have a lot of strategic partnerships that come together to give our clients that holistic support. But no, for me, what I enjoy doing is being out there on the front lines working with clients rather than back end supporting a large team.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

And how'd you how'd you figure that out?

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Yeah, you you learn by doing it. I once had a company where I had 35 employees and you know, it was not a franchise, but we I built it up. We had a good team, had a good thing going, but we weren't highly profitable for the effort that was being put in. And I had to make the tough call to wind the business down. I didn't sell it, but I found homes for our clients, homes for our, you know, for our employees, you know, very proud of how we handled a tough situation. But for me, that gave me all the more appreciation, again, for the franchise model, the fact that it's been proven out. Here, I was trying to prove something out on my own, but you know, so I've been there, done that. And again, one more perspective, right? That I'm able to bring to the table. But through that experience, I just remember when I had 35 employees, I was dealing with HR issues and dealing with so-and-so's feelings were hurt and culture meetings. And I'm like, I want to be out there, I want to be front lines talking with clients.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

That so the reason I asked that is because I wanted you, I want everyone here listening to realize that bigger more isn't always better, bigger isn't always the best. And the best is whatever you want it to be. So we all got to take a moment and kind of reflect on that. And for us to realize, and that's why I'm grateful John's here is for us to sit there and go, wait, do I even enjoy what I'm doing? Like, is this where I need to be or want to be? Yeah, and that's where, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

I, you know, everyone's path is different. I hang out with a lot of business owners, but most of my friends these days are business owners, diverse industries, you know, that they represent, and a lot of them are you know, reinvesting in their companies. You know, it's all about growing that company towards a future exit. Well, that's what you think of, right? And that can be a great path. For me, my approach is a little bit smaller. I've got a very healthy business, you know, like you said, we've been on the Inc. 5000 a couple years in a row, very thankful, but I'm not looking to grow it incredibly massive. Instead, I take the profits and I reinvest them and I reinvest in private credit and real estate funds and syndications and you know, public markets, and oil and gas and all these different things, including franchising. I think it's an all of the above strategy to have a diverse portfolio, but that's my my path. I like cash flowing investments rather than working towards one big exit. So again, uh it's just a different approach. One size doesn't fit all. Can you explain?

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah, can you explain the cash flowing assets? Because I don't know if everyone fully understands versus the one exit what you mean by that.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah, so you know, if I have a, you know, my company does a couple million a year and then, you know, we're cash flowing, you know, a couple hundred thousand, whatever to the bottom line. Instead of putting that back into marketing and into trying to grow my business, I'm instead saying, hey, you know, let's put$100,000 in this private credit fund that returns 12% a year, you know, so that's$12,000 here, another$100,000 in this oil and gas one that returns 15%. That's$15,000 here. You start stacking those up and building that passive income on top of the franchise investments that I have and what those returns are. And so it creates this diverse passive revenue stream that's coming in. Whereas, again, a lot of business owners I know would take every nickel of profit, reinvest it in the company, in hiring, and marketing, and trying to grow their business so that one day they can sell it. For me, I'm all about the cash flow along the way. And you know, we're going to have exits on these different things, but instead, I'm playing kind of the diversity game. So it's just a contrarian view approach to a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Yeah. I mean, there's just too many people that you've also seen go, hey, I went all in, I went all in for so many years, and now I went bankrupt and now I don't know what to do now, which is a challenging thing. Yeah. Because you know what I mean? Like we're all trying here, we're all trying to make business the best experience for us. And but a lot of us don't take the moment to lift our heads up. And that's why I'm a big advocate on coaching, is because to lift your head up and go around and be like, do I even want to do this? Like, do I like where I'm going? Do I like the direction I'm heading?

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Yeah. And everyone's not getting younger, right? I mean, it's kind of like I just meet so many folks, Jordan, that have been dreaming about business ownership and thinking about it and talking about it. And maybe they've had a couple of conversations along the way, but it's like, get off the sidelines, like get in the game. I I mean, for me at least, again, I spent years in corporate America very thankful for that experience. But my God, now I joke I'm the hardest boss I've ever had, but I am living life on my terms. You know, I coach my kids get you know sports, I you know, volunteer at church and other activities here in the community. I'm my my family and I have taken multiple international trips already here in the first couple months of the year. Like I have designed my business around my the life that I want to live, and I pinch myself every day. And is it easy? No, but is it rewarding incredibly? And so I can't imagine working for someone else again. And it just hurts me sometimes, Jordan. I had a client today, and gosh, you know, he's in MBA school, you know, getting to MBA business school. And I he just there's something deep-seated inside of him. He doesn't have the self-confidence to make the jump. He thinks about it, he has the conversations, he wants to, he's a smart guy. He could totally do it. But there's some inner belief in him that he doesn't have what it takes. And I can only play psychology just so much, and I'm never gonna be sales. I I just you know support him, wish him well. But man, it just hurts me on back because I feel like he's selling himself self-shall.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

100%. And that mostly happens with a lot of people who end up getting indoctrinated into the system of like, hey, we gotta go to school, then we gotta do more school, and then we gotta do more school, and they're like, I'm gonna get an MBA and that's gonna help me start a business. And it's like, I've only talked to one guy, like one guy who was like, dude, I went to MBA at Stanford. Yeah, I mean, I started a business, like it helped. Like I found my co-founders, and that was amazing, but that's a different mindset because he's like my first semester, it was very school, school, school oriented, and then I started to realize I was allocating too much time to that and not networking enough. So it's and business school isn't always great optional, but I mean he also had this awareness, he's in his like late 30s, early 40s, and he had this awareness of like, hey, I gotta like capitalize on this. Like, I'm here, I gotta make something of this.

Beyond Fast Food Franchise Picks

SPEAKER_00 16:08

I've got five different clients right now that are Harvard MBAs. Of course. Yeah, like it's again you're what you're to your point though, like franchising is becoming more mainstream, and more people are waking up to hey, there's so much opportunity outside of food and all these other types of industries.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Yeah, and what why would people when most people I guess when I think of franchising, you think of like Taco Bell, McDonald's, maybe Wendy's Burger King, I don't know. Was food the normal thing that everyone was into and then didn't realize?

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Food can be a great path. You know, when I say the F-word franchise, you know, people think fast food, Taco Bill, Subway, uh McDonald's. But end of the day, my humble belief is they're easier ways to make money. Now, I've got nothing against the food guys. We need them, but end of the day, if you're going to be a business owner, wouldn't you rather have a business that requires less capital investment, that requires fewer hourly employees, less operating hours? Restaurants' margin, also not supposed to be margins tend to be lower. They're susceptible to consumer whims. I mean, frozen yogurt was big until it wasn't right. Like, and so for me, I like industries that are not going out of style, things that aren't trendy, things that you know, home services, property services, things around health and wellness or categories like seniors, kids, pets, things that people will always spend on, regardless of the economy, that AI is not going to replace, but only enhance over time. Those are that's where we see people in the smart money flowing these days.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Yeah. No, I mean, because it's, hey, I don't want to cut my own grass. Like I don't even want to wash my own car. Like these are the places to go on a lot of these things because you're absolutely right. Like most people just don't want to do these things. But then I also sit there and go, I don't really want to have a team of 27 employees that I'm managing, like you were saying 35. Are there one employee franchises? Like, are these opportunities even out there?

SPEAKER_00 17:57

There are. There are some where you don't even need an employee. And so, you know, some examples of these, you know, would be you call it a solopreneur type enterprise, right? And so business coaching, cost mitigation, uh, cost reduction consulting for small and medium-sized companies, you know, I'm just naming different ones. We've had clients get involved in, you know, insurance adjusting, you know, like for property and casual adjusters. You know, there's another one where it's advertising, you're selling like essentially screens and doctor's offices and oil changes and selling local advertising to companies to be on the screens, you know, in waiting rooms. You know, another one where you become the subject matter expert on all things senior facility related in your community, and you're able to help families in their time of need when they're trying to figure out where do we put our aging parent, because we've never been through this process before. You're able to guide them to the right, you know, fit for them. You know, these are just a few of the examples. I mean, certainly you can get into one like a golf simulator that only requires one employee. Uh, you know, there are different types of models out there, but yeah, I'd say the vast majority of opportunities, you know, you need one or two employees. But even one like we just had a client get into one that provides uh floor recoding. It's really cool. They've got proprietary products and procedures where you don't have to re-scan the floors, but instead you can provide that same look into the day. Yeah, it's really cool. No dust, 24-hour turnaround. But anyway, it's a business where you know you can run it really with hire some contractors. And a lot of those types of property services businesses, you bring in some contractors, you know, if they do a good job, you keep bringing work to them, it kind of keeps them honest that way, but you don't have to have them on your W-2 payroll.

Outsourcing And AI To Stay Lean

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Yeah, and that that seems to be the big thing here, which is a completely different thought process of I'm trying to keep payments low, I'm trying to keep the team low. And I think that's also another way to be more resourceful about how we think about our lives. Kind of how you were saying, you're like, it's me and I got a couple employees, but mostly I have a lot of partnerships. And how can someone start to think about that? Because you've obviously gone through the corporate route, and then you've gone through the business owner route, and then you've gone through the franchisee, franchise or you've gone through all these different routes. How does someone change their mindset of I have to do everything to I can get people to help me, but I also don't have to hire everyone I meet?

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Yeah. You know, there's so many different levers depending on the type of business. I mean, you can use virtual assistants in the Philippines, right? You can use virtual assistants here in the US, you can use a fractional CMO or CFO, depending on the you know, business. There's a lot of fractional, you know, type support opportunities other fractional bookkeepers or CPAs, you know, certainly AI agents. I mean, gosh, I mean, by the time this is published, you know, agents will probably even be even more advanced. I've talked to some friends that are pretty deep into all that, and I'm starting to toy with that myself. Yeah, but it's fascinating how much can be automated or outsourced, you know, uh these days. So automated, delegated, you know, I always say, or eliminated, doesn't really need to be done. So yeah, it's how do you get the high. I used to have a business coach, Jack Daly, that's say, what you know, he he was always on me about how are you using your time? You know, that's your finite resource. And what's your highest payoff activities or HPAs, he called them? How can you maximize something that only you can do and unload everything else? And so I've got a friend that runs a virtual assistant program in the Philippines, over 500 VAs supporting people. And he goes through an exercise where it's like list out everything that you do on a day-to-day basis on a regular basis, and pretty much how can all of this be offloaded? What are the things that only you can do, and that's all you should do?

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Yeah, and it becomes quite interesting. I I created a I was bored one day and I was sitting there and I was like, What can I do? And I'm like, Well, I create content, and I'm like, is content-centric only to me? And then I took like Claude, 11 Labs, which does your voice, and then because I have a bunch of podcasts, and then I took Hey Gen, which is H-E-Y-G-E-E-N, and I made a clip of myself and I posted on Instagram, and I'm like, this is AI, but like it's me talking, and no one noticed. And I was I was blown away. In which case, then we don't even have to do these podcasts. Like, I mean, the podcasts are learning oriented, but it's very an interesting model where it's how much stuff are we doing that's a complete waste of time? Like, and that's the complete opposite as an employee, because as an employee, it's like, dude, everything's important because if they don't think I'm working, then they're gonna fire me. And it's like it's a complete opposite framework, so it's really challenging for a lot of people to think through that.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

So, for you, how did you start thinking about AI and where are you seeing maybe where you could pull some levers and maybe in regards to a franchise you have, or maybe in regards to your own consulting business, or how are you thinking about it?

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Yeah, I'd say I'm in the early innings, but I'm starting to surround myself with the people that are that are you know more advanced than me, so I'm learning from them. But um, so I'd say you know, a lot of Dapbling. I mean, obviously Chat GPT, I'm in the process of moving everything over to Cloud now, which I think is where the world's moving. So, you know, I've got a whole laundry line. List of things that I'm going to be doing with it. But early on, you know, a lot of it's just some content creation. It's you know kind of your low-hanging fruit.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

And you know, but I mean that's the biggest challenge is that half the time you don't even know what it is.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

You're just like I've got a business coach set up, I've got a health coach, I've got anything my financial advisor says I run through there. You know, it's really helpful on the investment side, running like PPMs, you know, memorandums through there and just saying, hey, what questions should I be asking the sponsor? Uh stuff like that.

Ideal Buyer Profiles And SBA Funding

SPEAKER_01 23:29

No, of course, because you you don't no one's gonna read anything anymore. Just send this. These are the 10 questions I want. Please have the answers. Because I mean the truth is, like, there's so many things we can be doing, like there's so many different ways to think about things and to see the world. And that's why I think bringing you on is kind of interesting, is because with franchising, it's a completely different model and space. So who's your ideal client that you usually work with or find is someone that's kind of leading towards this?

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Yeah, certainly we have all ages, all different backgrounds, but I'd say sweet spot where most people would fall is probably mid-30s to mid-50s. And either they're, you know, they're done with the corporate world, you know, they they're saying, hey, I'm ready to jump in. I want to be a business owner, I see the path forward, or they or they're trying to keep the day job and they're saying, let's get something going on the side that I'll eventually just step into. You know, quite a few are taking an earlier retirement and saying, hey, I still have fire in the belly, you know, I want to build something, I want to show my kids what it means to, you know, to launch a business, maybe something I can pass on to my kids. Some are actually partnering with their kids, which is really cool. They're the capital partner, kids are the operating partner. So you see a lot of different setups. I'm in my mid-40s. I'd say that's kind of a sweet spot as well. You know, folks that have built up a little bit of capital. And again, SBA loans are very common. Typically, you can get into a franchise with only 50 or 60,000 of cash and then leverage the rest, you know, with an SBA loan or a retirement rollover. That's also very common. So I think franchising is much more realistic and achievable than people realize. I mean, if you get into a brick and mortar business, you know, you're probably looking at four or five hundred thousand all-in investment, including working capital. But if you're looking at a service-based business that's not where you don't have a physical location and build out, you know, you could get into in-home senior care, property services, you know, a lot of these for 150,000, maybe 200,000, all in, including working capital. And, you know, you look at the return potential and it's pretty attractive. Now, it's because it does take effort, right? Even if you put a manager in place, you're still going to be involved to some degree. It's not a totally passive investment. But the beautiful thing that oftentimes people overlook is not only are you building cash flow in a future exit potential, but you also get tax benefits. The government incentivizes this, like it opens up your tax payload in a significant way. Oh, there's so many things you could do as a business owner tax-wise that you couldn't as a W-2.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Absolutely. So it just even entering that world of like, hey, you're making a couple hundred grand and you're like, I want to lower the tax bill, I can buy a franchise. Now we're having the Augusta rule we're having, business dinners, even if it's and it's how how do you start to think about these things a different way?

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Yeah, your cell phone goes in, your internet goes in, your car is a business expense. You can pay your kids in the business, and then they have earned income, they can roll into Roth IRAs. Like, there's so many, so many things you can do that are within the law, but it's because the government incentivizes, they want business owners, they want entrepreneurs. That's why they give these tax breaks.

Die With Zero And Memory Dividends

SPEAKER_01 26:27

And when did you start thinking about like your own life and thinking about how you wanted to frame it? Because even when you were talking about it earlier, you're like, yeah, we've done some cool trips, life on my terms. When did that all start to pick up for you? When did you start to see that and start to apply that?

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Yeah, I'd say last couple of years, it's been gaining more and more momentum. Our kids are 14, 10, and 7. And I think uh, you know, reading books like Die With Zero that really get you thinking around, hey, you only have your kids, you know, at this age for a certain time. Let's go make memories. And so we've done Mexico and Costa Rica, and we've done Europe, and we've gone on mission trips to Nicaragua. Like, you know, it's all about exposing them, getting them out there, making memories. And yeah, that is probably one of the reasons why people reach out to us, why they want to become business owners. It's not so they can say they're a business owner. I mean, something like that. It's not, you know, but I think they're trying to prove something in themselves, but they also want to show their family, you know, they've got, you know, they'll take a calculator risk. They'll do the research and then take a calculator risk because that's what they want to ingrain in their kids as well. And they want to be able to design their life, to live it on their terms, to be able to be at home for family dinner. And, you know, again, it takes work, especially in the early days, but it leads to the potential life that I think a lot of people dream of.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

And that's what I think a lot of people miss is the compounding, like, right? So you sit there and you're like, oh, the business made however much in the first year, and we made a little bit, but what you don't realize is, oh, those people are gonna come back again and again and again and again. And now you have a reoccurring business model and it completely changes. And what where did you end up? What did the Die with Zero book kind of give you? Because that was a book that completely changed my life as well.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

Yeah, I I'd say, you know, nothing was rocket science, but it was really helpful reminders how things were framed. I'd say it encouraged us to take bigger trips, kind of like we talked about. It, you know, it the idea of investing in memories, I think is really important. And, you know, you're not promised your health one day. I mean, I've been struggling with some shoulder stuff and like I can't ski this winter, right? As a result, like you you don't know you know what's going to come. And so I think living in the moment, which is helpful for me because I'm a future thinker. You know, I I invest, I save, I think about the future, but it's like, you know, opening things up a little more to say, hey, let's invest in the in the moment.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Yeah. And the the biggest thing that helped me with that was I'll just share with you really quick. But the book I read Die with Zero, and I was at a corporate job, and what ended up happening was they had the somatical moment where you could take three months off. And that's when I kind of got the book. And I started to realize I was like, hey, what would make these three months epic? And I was like, you know what would be really cool? Like doing them in Europe. Like I'm in Tampa, Florida, so I was like, that would be fun. Like, let's do it in Europe. And my wife was like, I don't know if I can do that. I'm like, you're already kind of working remote. Like, just ask them, it'll be fine. It was a little bit of peer pressure, but then we ended up doing it. It was incredible. We did seven weeks in Europe in 2024, then we did seven weeks in 2025. This year I think it's off the table just because we've been, we literally have something every single month, but it causes you to think about this whole idea of the memory dividend where you're like, I'm getting paid again because I already talked about this, and this is an exciting thing. And then it also gives you the courage to go, yeah, I did this. And the thing that helped really help me with that, and I'm just sharing this for the audience and yourself, is I started me and my wife started to take out a certain amount each month and put it towards a travel fund. So it's still a savings account. Don't get me wrong, it's infidelity and it just saves. But you take it every single month and you're supposed to allocate it to travel.

unknown 29:55

Yeah.

Typical Returns And Real Timelines

SPEAKER_01 29:55

The funny thing is, if you don't allocate it, it just keeps building and building and building because it's an auto transfer thing. So now you're sitting there and you're like, whoa, we got a lot of money that we can go on an amazing, amazing trip, or we'll allocate to something else. Ideally, go on the trip, go do something because it's fun. That's what it's about. So I always think that's a really important one. And you mentioned return on investment. What kind of returns are people getting from these franchises?

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Yeah, certainly. I mean, a lot of different types of businesses, different industries, so it varies. I'd say oftentimes we see margins in the 15 to 20 percent. That's 15 to 20 percent of revenue. So let's just play out an example here. Let's say it's a property services business, you buy two territories, all an investment you're in for$200,000. What many of those would yield, you know, and it takes a few months to get to break even. It may even take six to nine months, you know, in some cases. But where that leads is, you know, oftentimes potential revenue of about a million dollars, you know, again, two territories, million dollars in revenue, yielding, let's call it 100, 15%. So 150,000 to the bottom line. So all an investment, 200,000, and then you're making 150,000 per year. I mean, that's obviously a pretty good return percentage, right? But it's taking some effort, right? It's not totally turnkey. So 150,000, and you're building a business that one day you'll probably be able to sell for three or four multiple of that. So let's call it you sell it for 500,000 down the road, right? In that scenario, and you're getting tax benefits along the way. So I'd say that's kind of a basic model. Certainly, there are ones that are higher margin than that, there are ones that are lower. But that's probably a median type one for you. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

That sounds incredible.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Yeah.

Pillars For Health Purpose Relationships

SPEAKER_01 31:39

I mean, because I mean, the tough part is we're always like, oh, the market gives us 7%, or I'm gonna work my job where I know I'm gonna get paid and then I don't know, or you're an entrepreneur where it's like, good luck. I'm in the ocean with the with the wolves. Let's see what happens. Absolutely. Because it becomes quite interesting, and that's why I kind of ask. One of the big things about me is that I have this company Edwards Consulting, and we have five pillars here: mental health, physical health, community service, philanthropy, spirituality, and relationships. The first one, mental health. John, where is your mental health today on a one to ten if you had to pick a number and maybe a couple of reasons why?

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Yeah, I would say an eight. I'd say, you know, pretty grounded. Yeah, I think all those domains kind of support each other. You know, the my framework is I've got five F's faith, faith, family, fitness, finances, and franchising. So it's essentially business, if you will. So I'm always thinking through those lenses as I'm looking at my day, looking at my week, looking at my goals for the year as well. You know, how am I balanced within each of those and making sure that I'm moving the ball forward? So that's how I think about it. But no, if I'm living Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

How has how has having those pillars helped you when thinking about just life and decisions? Because I think having multiple different domains can be very it's challenging, and people are like, oh, you're ADD. And it's like, no, not exactly. However, I want to make sure I allocate time to the things that are actually going to move the needle for me. Because we know you're not gonna be exceptional in all five of them. It's it's absurdity because if the business is going well, then it's like I'm not working out as much. And like, and we try to optimize for how can we do all those in the same way.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

Yeah. Well I I but I think I would challenge people to think about how do you optimize all five? I think it can be done. I mean, I feel I've done that at times, not every moment of every day, but in a lot of ways. And one of the hacks that I've realized is how do you kind of combine some of those? So if I'm staying active athletically with my kids, I'm kind of hitting both family and fitness, right? If I'm, you know, again, using the exercise example, if I'm jogging on the treadmill, but I'm look consuming content on investment strategies, you know, I'm kind of hitting both finances and fitness. So I try to Do you want to hear a good one?

SPEAKER_01 33:56

Come on.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Yeah. So I ran the New York City Marathon with my brother, and we raised$8,000 for coal and coal colorectal cancer. So we had the community service, we're raising the money. Then we're doing the running. Like, so it's then it's the mental health relationship. It's me and my brother. And then you push yourself through a challenge. It's kind of mental health and like kind of that stuff. So it's how to use it all aligned. Because I I completely agree. The more pillars you can hit on, the better experience you're gonna have. That's why you like going on a walk with a dog, with your music playing, jamming, like with the kid, like all the stuff because that's when it's best. Like, and then if you're doing it in a foreign country, you're like, oh my god, it's even better. Like, it's cool because you're bringing all those pieces together. So for you, physical health. How how do you think about physical health?

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Yeah, you know, I've got the Whoop, I've had it for years, and so I track all my data. I'm a data-driven guy, and yeah, I've got different sets of friends, and we have different communities on Whoop where we can see each other's numbers every day. And so there's this healthy, healthy leaderboard and competition, which is fun. Yeah, if I go to a trainer a couple times a week, I've got an infrared sauna and red light over here in my office to my right, which you can't see. PEMF Matt. Yeah, I do the peptides. Like, I nerd out on this stuff. I I love it.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Okay, okay, I got it. I love that. And how have you been thinking about the peptides? I'm just curious because I've been obviously I do them interviewing people, I'm here in front of everybody.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

What do you think? So at any given time, I throw a lot of things against the wall, so it's hard for me to isolate variables. I would say I've invested a lot of money in peptides. I haven't seen the return just yet. It's largely been since my shoulder surgery six months ago.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

So you're more focused on the recovery aspect, not just I want to be a superhuman.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Exactly. As far as the peptide piece goes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Of course. No, just because I've seen some people who are like, I want to be a superhuman. And I'm like, okay. And then I got some who like, I do Muay Thai, and some of the people there are like, they're all, I didn't realize that they were all like, hey, we're focusing on peptides. Not in a bad way, but they're like, dude, I got an injured hip, I got an injured shoulder, I got leg. Like, yeah, I want to accelerate this pain that I'm having.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

Yeah, the the older I get as far as health goes, and again, I've tried a lot of things, I do a lot of things, hyperbaric chamber, all that. End of the day, it comes back to how you sleep, how you eat, and are you physically active, getting some zone two, zone four training in there. So it's it's the basics that it all comes back to.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Keep it keep it simple. I completely agree. And then what do we have? We got community service philanthropy. I noticed you said some mission trips and stuff like that. How do you think about community service?

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, for me, it's through a faith lens. You know, we're very active in our church and in the community here, but you know, I've sat on multiple boards for different nonprofit organizations. You know, so there's kind of that level, but then there's also getting the family involved, right? And so, you know, whether we're you know, we've done food banks, we've gone to Nicaragua, you know, working with kind of some impoverished folks. I've taken my son on a mission trip to the Dominican. You know, we can always do better, right? I always feel that obligation or tug. You know, I try to live my life, you know, through the lens of uh stewardship. You know, I think to who much is given, much is expected from a resource standpoint, from a time standpoint. And so, yeah, just trying to be faithful with what we've been given and trusted and the relationships. And so it kind of manifests in a lot of different ways.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

I love that. And then relationships. How do how do you optimize for relationships? Because it seems like you're pretty intentional with that.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

Yeah, I know people have always told me I know a lot of people. So um it just I've always been a part of different groups or you know, different activities, you know, in a lot of different ways, whether whether it be the church or parents from our kids' school or uh different masterminds of entrepreneurs or different groups, even keeping up with old college fraternity brothers or high school friends. I've always been pretty good on that front. I enjoy the relational sex. I mean, that's what life's all about, right? It's all about the relationship. So that that being said, I do enjoy downtime myself as well. My wife and I are each that way where you know we we like some time to ourselves, but I enjoy getting out there as well.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

I love it. And then the last one, spirituality. I know you mentioned a little bit about it, but you can elaborate a little more.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

Yeah, I mean, I believe that you know we're we're here on earth for a very short amount of time, and you know, there are only a few things that truly matter in the end, and it's not about building, you know, just building up our family and our, but it's you know, there's an eternal purpose behind everything. And uh so yeah, faith is important to us. You know, I'm always happy to go deeper on that topic, but you know, try to live my life. I screw up every day, but you know, I'm trying my best, and you know, thankfully it's not all up to me.

Free Book And How To Reach John

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Absolutely. And where can people learn more about you, John?

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Yeah, come out to our website, Franbridgeconsulting.com. It's f R-A-N-Bridgeconsulting.com. If you share your email address, we'll send you a free downloadable copy of our book, Non Food Franchising. It's kind of a first step. And yeah, and we'll also send you a link to my calendar. So if you'd like to take a next step and learn more, again, it's entirely free to work with us. I'd be more than happy to jump on a call and and talk about all things franchising and get to know you and help anyone I can. I love it.