Become The Dumpster King Without Flipping Burgers

Most people say they want a franchise, but what they really mean is “I want a proven path to business ownership without living inside a restaurant.” That’s exactly why we brought on Jon Ostenson of FranBridge Consulting to unpack the world of non-food franchising and show how broad the franchise landscape really is. We talk about why so many great opportunities are hidden in plain sight, and why the businesses that sound the least exciting can be the ones with the steadiest demand.

We get practical about money and structure. Jon breaks down typical all-in investment ranges for retail-style concepts versus service-based franchises, plus the real-world funding paths buyers use, including SBA loans and ROBS retirement rollovers. We also dig into the “semi-involved” model people call semi-absentee, what it takes to make it work, and why having the right operator and incentives matters more than chasing a brand name.

Then we go deeper on diligence and fit. Jon explains how to vet a franchise beyond glossy rankings, what to look for in leadership teams and support, and how talking to existing franchisees and reviewing the franchise disclosure document helps you see the full picture. Along the way, we explore categories like home services, seniors, B2B services, and even offbeat concepts that thrive because people love to outsource what they hate.

If you’re curious about franchise opportunities that are not fast food, listen through to the end, share this with a friend who’s ready to leave corporate, and subscribe, share, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome, Community, And Housekeeping

Dwan Bent-Twyford 0:47

Hey everybody, welcome to the most Dwanderful real estate podcast ever. I'm your hDwan Bent-Twyford, America's most fun after real estate investor. And I am really excited to have you here with us today. I have a super great guest, and we have to be extra, extra, extra nice to him today because I actually stood him up yesterday. So I'm feeling like shame and regret. So you guys gotta like give me extra watches and share this around and do some extra. Because poor Jon just waited for me yesterday. So but you know what? We're real estate investors, we just have to roll with the blow. That's how it goes. If you're new to my show, um, my name is Dwan. And I took the uh name Dwan and Wonderful, and I made Dwanderful. So you are now a part of the Dwanderful universe. Um like, subscribe, share, write reviews. If you want to wait till the end and make sure you can write a review, that's fine. You're gonna love today's show. I'm available at all things Dwanderful, D-W-A-N-D-E-R-F-U-L. Everywhere, social media, YouTube, anything, just type in Dwanderful. And I'm there. I make it real easy for you. Just do Wonderful. So with that, I have uh Jon. Oh, I shouldn't ask you how to say, is it Ostenson? Okay, okay. . I usually actually say the name first just to make sure I got it. So Ostenson. Uh, and we're gonna find out about Jon today. So, first of all, welcome to the show.

Jon Ostenson 2:14

Hey Dwan, excited to be here.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 2:16

I am really happy that you're here, and again, I still apologize for yesterday. I just left him hanging and I hate it.

Jon Ostenson 2:21

I've kind of stood up, I've been stood up before in my life. It's been a little while, but no, it it's good. It keeps you humble. I like it.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 2:28

I'm like I am such an on-time, don't miss a beat person. I was like wrapped with guilt last night. I was like, I think I'm the biggest blank in the world. So thank you for giving me another chance. I'm happy that you're here. So basically, with my guests, I'd like to just kind of throw you to the walls. I just want you to tell us your name, how to find you on social media, and like in one sentence, what you do. It sounds better coming from you than me reading some big long scripted thing. And uh then we're gonna just talk and get to know each other. I've got questions to ask you. And so we just want to know over to one of the phone, what's your deal?

Jon Ostenson 3:06

Absolutely. John Austinson, based here in Atlanta, Georgia. I've got a wife and three kids, very active here in the community. Uh, you know, in short, what I do is what I call non-food franchising. So uh we'll unpack that. But yeah, to answer your question, come out and find us online, Franbridgeconsulting.com. Follow me on LinkedIn. I put a lot of content out there. Um Franbridge Consulting.com would be your main spot. I wrote a book a few years ago called Nonfood Franchising. And uh, you know, after many years in the corporate world, I had that desire to step into business ownership, didn't know what it looked like, like so many out there, um, you know, didn't have that million, or in the case of Elon Musk, a trillion dollar idea.

What Non-Food Franchising Really Is

Jon Ostenson 3:45

Uh instead, really was fortunate to fall into franchising and realized that franchising is so much more than just fast food. And so uh long story short, uh became the president of a national franchise system. Then that spring boarded me into buying franchises myself as a franchisee and had a lot of partnerships over the years on that front. And I started my consulting firm about seven years ago, Freebridge Consulting.com, where we've helped hundreds of people step into business ownership all around the country, helping them identify the top opportunities in their market across a variety of different industries, which I look forward to unpacking with you. Um but we've it's been a great run. We've been an Inc. 5000 company several years in a row here, and uh it's just a testimony to the clients that we've been able to help.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 4:29

So I love that when you said I because now I when I uh had wrote written back to um whoever books your podcast, I don't know if it's you personally or do you have someone that does that? I was like, oh, someone that says non-food franchising. Like that's something different. Because you know, I get emails like 20 a day. I'm gonna be on your show, and everyone's like syndicated. Like, like how many people can you have for that? Or everyone's just like there's just so many of the same things. So I was like, okay, non-food franchising. That is a good topic. That's an interesting topic. I've never had anybody on my show in the whole eight years that does non-food franchising. So that I want to talk to this guy and see what people can do. Because I am not opposed to franchising. I mean, I know when they were doing those ones, um, the we buy ugly houses was a big maybe it still is. I should know that. It was a huge franchise. I don't know since COVID if it's still huge, but for real estate investing, that was a huge nationwide franchise for real estate investing. I was like, well, good. It's good to see stuff out there.

Jon Ostenson 5:31

Yeah, no, home investors and we buy ugly homes. Yeah, home investors in business, hundreds of owners out there. But no, what I found Dwan over the years is when I say the F-word franchise, people think fast food. They think Subway, McDonald's, and um, you know, what they often yeah, they don't realize there's a world of opportunities out there. And we've got nothing against the food guys. I mean, some of the biggest food guys are good friends of mine. Um, you know, but my humble belief is there are opportunities out there that may require less operating hours, fewer hourly employees, less susceptible to consumer whims, uh changing. You know, frozen yogurt was big till it wasn't, right? You know, and and here people are investing heavy oftentimes in those food businesses. And instead, they're gravitating towards a world of other types of opportunities and other industries, things that you definitely didn't have on your bingo card when I said franchise, and um probably 90% of our clients end up going into an industry that was never even on their radar. So it's a lot of fun to expose people to what's out there.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 6:26

Yeah, that's what I'm super excited to talk about because I think people do automatically think food, you know. I mean, I did. If you said, hey, I have a franchise, they'd be like, no, I'm good. Because I'm like, I don't want anything to do with food, running food, managing all those people. It's like definitely not for me. Um, but there's so many other things that are out there. You're right. So let's talk about that. So, how did you personally start enfranchising? Yeah, you know, had spent many years, and then you're like, hey, I'm gonna get more.

Jon Ostenson 6:55

So the way I started had spent many years in the corporate world and had a good run, had the golden handcuffs, you know, kind of the stereotypical, had risen up youngest vice president of the company at the time, um, big public company. And uh, you know, we got put in touch with someone that said, Hey, you you you really ought to check out this opportunity. They knew I was open to new opportunities. So, anyway, long story short, had the opportunity to step in as president of Shelf Genie franchise system, large national franchise system that focuses in pull out shelving, so shelving for kitchens and pantries. And we had about a hundred franchisees across the country. And I I stepped in and ran our home office team that supported all of these owners. And for me, that was a light bulb moment where I fell in love with the franchise model. I just

John’s Path From Corporate To Franchises

Jon Ostenson 7:35

saw how all these diverse backgrounds coming together under a shared system of support. And we're allowing them to become business owners and own in their local communities, and we were supporting them. And um, so no, that was my entry into franchising. And you know, shortly after that, started investing in franchises myself on the franchisee side. And, you know, oftentimes that's been through different partnerships. So I actually have one where I don't have any partners down in Del Rey, which is in your backyard, one of your two backyards. Um, and uh, you know, I've got a business down there, but you know, by and large, I've gravitated business down there. Yeah, a business called Foot Solutions down in Del Rey Marketplace.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 8:09

Okay, Foot Solutions, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I love Delray. So I'm gonna go check it out the next time. Say, hey, I know something.

Jon Ostenson 8:16

Yeah, please do. Please do. We'll we'll create some 3D printed inserts for you. Um no, but outside of that, yeah, invested in different franchises primarily on the property services side. I kind of like those non-trendy, non-sexy type businesses. Um, but started my consulting practice about seven years ago, just recognizing there's a need in the market, you know, that to help educate and help others identify. So the way that we worked one is very similar to a real estate broker. If you were going to buy a house, yeah, then you would use a broker. And that's the role that we play where we simply get a referral fee from the brands on the back end, and none of that's passed on to our clients. So very similar to the real estate model.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 8:53

I like it. So I know just to ask like randomly, how many franchises did you have? That's probably like a uh a loaded kind uh type of a question. Let's just say someone like me, I came to you and I'm like, you know what, I don't want to work for corporate America, I want to do my own thing. I'm open-minded to anything really. Um, but I don't I don't even really care. I've got, I don't know, 50 grand. Is that even enough? Is that enough to even come and have a conversation with you?

Jon Ostenson 9:22

Yeah, so from an investment standpoint, if we look at the franchise fee and the startup cost and several months of working capital all built in. So you're all in investment range. You know, if it's more of a retail style brick and mortar location business, you know, you know, you're you're probably more in the 300 to 700,000 ballpark in that range. But if you're it's a service-based business, which is about two-thirds of what our clients are getting into where you don't have a physical location, um, you know, think home services and home senior care consulting businesses that can be run remotely. You know, your all-one investment oftentimes it's more like 100,000 to 200,000, kind of in that ballpark. And Dwan, most people are not using all cash to fund it. So, yeah, if you had 50,000, in a lot of cases you could then use an SBA loan to complement that. Most people will go that path. Banks love you know, franchises, so those loans are pretty easy to come by. Some will use for retirement rollover through what's called the Robbs program and purchase the business with a retirement plan, then you can pay yourself a salary. You have to set things up the right way, but uh, that's another common path.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 10:21

Nice. So I'm gonna ask some questions, and I'm gonna probably sound stupid asking some of these questions, but I really don't know. And I feel like this is what I would want to know if I was talking to you. So I've got a bunch of money in the bank. I don't really want to work, but I want to invest in something, I don't want to do syndications, I'm gonna get a franchise. Are there franchises that you can buy and like just be off? You don't have to like own or operate. Can I buy something and let it run for me? And also, on top of that question, how many locations does the business have to have to be able to be a franchise? Like I because if I'm gonna buy a franchise, I'm gonna put it on a brand, I'm gonna make sure it's not gonna fall if there's COVID or housing crisis or something. I want to make sure it's gonna be there. That's kind of true.

Jon Ostenson 11:09

Great question. So the first one, franchising does have a model that's very common out there, and probably half of our clients will go down this road. Half will do owner-operator where they're running the business, usually with the eye on eventually replacing themselves. But the other half will get into what franchises oftentimes term as uh semi-passive

Costs, SBA Loans, And ROBS Funding

Jon Ostenson 11:25

or semi-absentee or executive model. You'll you'll hear this term. I prefer the term semi-involved. I think that's a better term. You're still going to be involved. Really, there's nothing that's truly passive, but there are a lot of models that can be pretty close to passive. What it comes down to, and I never want to sugarcoat it, you have to have a good operator running that day-to-day business, right? And if you do have a good operator and you set them up and incentivize them correctly, then that franchise or can carry a lot of the support water for you and really be a resource for that day-to-day operator. However, if you don't have the right person, you'll lean in until you do. So I just, you know, always want to make sure I'm careful how I say that. Um so that is a very common approach, and a lot of our clients would go that path. Um, as far as vetting the franchise or to your uh question on number of locations. We work with some franchises that have hundreds of locations. We work with some that have just a couple of locations. Every franchise has to start somewhere, right? Now, those that have just a couple locations. Obviously, we're looking very carefully at, you know, the financial model has got to be really strong because you don't have a large sample size to look at. You have to have some true competitive advantages and uniques about the business. Um, the uh, you know, the franchise or you know, we're looking at that leadership team. You know, that's very important to see not only industry experience, but also uh, you know, franchise experience on that team, people that have been there, done that, supported successful franchisees in their background stuff. There's a little bit of art, a little bit of science to how we think about it. I mean, candidly, this day and age, there's so much interest in franchising. That good opportunities are selling incredibly fast in good markets. So we do find ourselves oftentimes working with these emerging brands, if you will. And a lot of people like emerging brands because, you know, you're one of the early movers, maybe you get a seat at the table, you get the better territory that hasn't been spoken for yet. Yeah. Um, so we do work with quite a few of those.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 13:49

Yeah, that's what as well, that's what I would want. I would want to make sure I got in early, I got like a good territory, I got a good space, and be like a founding member, you know, or something like that. Because I I am a founding member in a couple of just different things I belong to. And it's like, oh yeah, I got in, you know, when it was still like good to get in on some things like that. You know, so um, so I like all of that. So talking about types of franchises, where on earth would a person start?

Jon Ostenson 14:19

Well, certainly you can Google around, but if you do, you're gonna see a lot of noise out there, and every company's putting their best foot forward. And even if you see a top 100 franchise list from a publication, yeah, most of those companies are actually paying to be on that list. So it's a PR move. So again, just a lot of noise. And that's where we come in, where we really go deep in the industry. We've got the relationships again, entirely free to work with us. Um, you know, but we would help our clients understand what are the industries that are, you know, that are attracting people with similar backgrounds to them that, you know, based on what they're looking to do, based on their situation. Here's the types of industries we would recommend. And then we bring opportunities to them that are open in their market, looking to expand in their market. I try not to get too prescriptive because what I found, Dwan, is uh I'm not very good at guessing what people will end up going with. Instead, I want them to be exposed to everything. And so we'll look at a dozen or so opportunities that are open in their market for them to get in the game and start talking to a couple of these companies, and then we can compare and contrast, and they start to have those moments in their mind where it starts to come together and they prioritize the characteristics they like or don't like in a business. And we can always iterate off of that, but it kind of gets us in the game, gets us going, and um you know, serve as a sounding board and resources as we go through that process together.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 15:33

But I'm sure a lot of people come to you and say, hey, I'm interested in this or I'm interested in that. Like what do you have available for me?

Jon Ostenson 15:41

Yeah, most people end up in an industry that was never on their radar. So, you know, some of the industries where we're seeing a lot of attention today, we see a lot of smart money flowing into things like home

Semi-Involved Ownership And Brand Vetting

Jon Ostenson 15:49

services and property services, everything from flooring to insulation to cabinets to restoration uh to dumpsters, you know, kind of the sometimes the non-sexy. I joke the non-sexy is the new sexy when it comes to business ownership. You know, people want those non-trendy businesses that AI is not going to replace tomorrow, right? But understandable understandable cash flowing businesses. I've done a couple of pool cleaning deals in the past month. You know, recurring revenue is attractive. You know, industries like health and wellness or or categories like kids, pets, you know, a big one has been seniors. You know, that's a huge demographic that's a large addressable market, and there are different ways to kind of play the senior market uh, so many seniors right now.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 16:30

There's like 70 million baby boomers.

Jon Ostenson 16:32

Yeah, a lot of them have the the uh the wealth right to to spend as well. Um there are a lot of opportunities in B2B services, you know, business to business, and that's everything from insurance adjusting to freight brokerage to uh cost consulting to industrial hoses to I I've got one uh that I own that's uh asphalt paving and line striping, so you know, parking lots. Um again, I like those kind of dirty businesses, dirty industries. Yeah, yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 17:04

Remember that micro show, Dirty Jobs? And I do you ever watch that?

Jon Ostenson 17:08

Absolutely.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 17:09

I was like, oh my gosh, I would never want to do that job, but like that job, like the trash pickup guys. I don't want to pick up the trash and be in all that, but like we we can't live without that service. So we have rats and mice and stuff everywhere. Like you got to have those kind of services. So I kind of feel that way too. Like if you're willing to get into like a service people don't want, you're gonna do better because people don't want to do stuff that they get dirty and mucky.

Jon Ostenson 17:35

Yeah, yeah. And you know, franchises want to attract people that want to be business owners, not business doers, right? We're not exactly yeah, our clients for the most part, I mean, still will get it pretty involved and hands-on early on, but end of the day, they want to have people that can go out and attract talent and you know, incentivize them, retain them, coach them, you know, go out and build referral partners in the community. And, you know, it is interesting. Everyone's wired a little bit different. We have some clients that say, hey, we are passionate about health and wellness. We want a business that's all about longevity and recovery modalities. And others say, Hey, I'm passionate about health and wellness, but I'm okay with buying a business that focuses on dumpsters, and I'm okay with going to the cocktail party and being the dumpster king if I'm making a million bucks a year. So everyone's kind of got their different list of priorities of what's important to them. Um, quite a few fall into that latter category. They they would say, hey, if I'm making a good income and I believe it's a sustainable business in my community, I'm okay doing just about anything.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 18:30

I know I was watching one of those. Uh do you ever watch that show, Undercover Boss?

Jon Ostenson 18:36

Yes. I love that show.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 18:38

Somebody, I can't remember off the top of my head, but they were like in the sanitation business or something. And that's like a billion-dollar business. And I was like, I would never even think to do that. When you look at the money, you're like, holy cow. But somebody's gotta do those things. So I love shows like that because you know, you just you see things that they're common food, you know, whatever, restaurants and common things. And then I see the other things, and I'm like, oh, what a good idea. I would never thought of that to do that for myself, but that's a really necessary thing. I would be one of those. I'd want to be in something that's like dirty and people don't want to do it because people don't want to do it. They need it more because people don't want to do it themselves.

Jon Ostenson 19:23

Exactly. Exactly.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 19:25

I love that. I would love something like that. That sounds like so much fun. So if someone was like, so what's your favorite thing? What do you like the best about franchises? Or do you have like your favorite franchise or your favorite one that you're promoting?

Jon Ostenson 19:39

Yeah, you know, at any given time, I mean, it it's kind of like picking your favorite kid, right? I mean, there's uh, you know, there are quite a few I like at any given time. You know, and let me say this, Duan, franchising's like every other industry. I mean, we we group franchising together. End of the day, it's hundreds of different business models, right, within the franchise world. And you know, just like any industry, you're gonna have really strong players, you know, in this case, ones that provide great support, and you've got some that don't, right? And that's very important to mention, and that's where we come in again to try to help. Um, you know, there's one that I'm pretty excited about at the moment. I was out in Utah two weeks ago at a franchise event and got to spend some time with the founders of this business, but it's a truck that carries over 200 gallons of diesel and will go around and fuel up uh fleets of vehicles and you know, whether it be construction sites or companies that have large fleets of vehicles, um, you know, reducing the downtime that those business owners would have, you know, with all these vehicles. You know, great business, all a franchise in that space, um, you know, incredible financials around it. Um, but got to spend some time with the founders, get to know them. I think this one's gonna sell out in the U.S. pretty quickly. I mean, every now and then we'll have what we call a runner, and that's where like the US sells out in like 12 months. Um so I've been trying to position our clients ahead of the other candidates in the pipeline for this opportunity as well as other opportunities I think are going to go really fast. So that's just an example.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 20:57

You have a bunch of trucks and fleets and stuff, it's forever. You gotta either have your own gas or right there, or you can't have all of our country, you gotta have someone doing that. So, yeah, I mean they all serve a need for sure.

How To Choose The Right Franchise

Dwan Bent-Twyford 21:09

Have a front now opened. Um, I can't I can't think of the name of it, but it's a dry cleaner in Boston, and it's mostly they do men's suits and you go in while you they do your suit while you wait, and you can get like a manicure and a pedicure and uh a fresh shave and some stuff, like while you wait for your dry cleaning. I shouldn't know the name, but he was on one of those magazines like top 1000 entrepreneurs or something like that. And I was like, Oh, that's Kevin. Because like he's a friend of my he's a son of my friend. So I still think it's like a little boy. He's on there, you know, like top 1,000 entrepreneurs with franchise ideas. And I was like, What a good idea! You know, if you're a guy, you know, guys don't take the time, like go to the nail salon, drop off your suit, get it clean, get nails, get it shaved, you know, look good, leave. It's like good idea.

Jon Ostenson 21:58

Yeah, it's all about multitasking. I like it.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 22:00

Yeah, and I was like, huh. See, now I wouldn't think of that because as a woman, I want to go sit at the nail salon, I want to have a glass of wine, I want to get it all scrubbed, and you know, I want all the things. I wouldn't that would never occur to me. But for the businessmen, it's a great thing.

Jon Ostenson 22:14

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 22:16

But what's your most like random uh franchise? It's just so out there. You're like, I can't even believe that this is an amazing business. Do you have like just a super random one?

Jon Ostenson 22:27

Oh, there's so many random ones. Uh I had a client a few weeks ago, and you know, the guy's net worth is right around four or five million and does pretty well in Dallas, which actually probably doesn't go very far in Dallas, but um, you know, corporate executive, and this is a good example of I can never guess what direction someone's going to go. He ended up going multi-territory, big purchase of a franchise that does um dog poop scooping. And so um, again, talk about things that people are willing to outsource that they don't want to take care of themselves. And he said, here in my area of Dallas, this is going to do incredibly well. And so he got so excited, got to know the people behind the brand, really like them a lot. Uh, all there's a lot of technology and you know, an app and everything else around it. Um, but really just said, hey, this is a high margin business. I see the opportunity, and I'm okay being the guy that runs a business in this space. So there's a random one.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 23:17

That is only random. So normally uh we're we have no dogs right now, but normally. Normally we have four dogs, and we usually have uh Pyrenees and Newfoundland. I don't know if you know, like Newfoundlands are like 150 pounds a dog, and Pyrenees are like 125. So unfortunately, our last two died last year, and I was like, listen, let's just we've been married 25 years, we've had four to six dogs the entire time, 150 pounds of dogs. Let's just take a breakout dog. But we have 10 acres. Now, when I go to Florida, sometimes I'll drive, I'll take all my dogs, and I'm in a gauge community down there. So when you walk a dog, you have to scoop, but their poop's like this big. So I have one of those like a shovel thing that's go together and it's like a shovel scooper. And even when I do it, I'm just gagging, I'm like, and but you can't I can't not do it because people come and put a note on my door, like, hey, your dog. I know it's your dog because it looks like a human pooping. So I have to scoop, and it's like I hate doing it because it gags me. And I've got a big old shovel thing, it's huge, and just come together and put it in the back when you got four dogs like that. I mean, it and at the dog park too, you have to scoop at the dog park. I'm like, oh my God, let's just leave the dogs at home because 10 acres is fine. They don't poop in the courtyard, but I can't stand doing it. So I would pay for a service like that all day.

Jon Ostenson 24:40

We live in an outsourcing economy. And uh, you know, and let me say this too. We not every you know company out there is in these non-sexy industries. I mean, you've got some really cool ones in the health and wellness space and the beauty space, different salon concepts. Um, you know, a lot of real estate folks are getting into ones where, you know, it's it's kind of like you know, the salon rentals, right? It's a real estate game for them where they're very hands-off and they've got you know, essentially rent out these uh, you know, salon seats.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 25:08

Um yeah, I go to a salon like that.

Jon Ostenson 25:10

Yeah, yeah. So there are a lot of different models.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 25:13

I like those because you rent out your space and you have your girl, and if she moves, you can go with her or

Unsexy Businesses With Real Demand

Dwan Bent-Twyford 25:19

whatever. So I actually um have a salon I go to like that, not just like a terror salon where everyone's just in there where they rent their own space.

unknown 25:28

Yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 25:28

And I like that as a person that's you know, like that's what means. I'm getting my roots done tomorrow. I was like, oh my god, my roots, I gotta do a podcast with these big great roots. But I like that because if she leaves, I can just go with her and not feel like I'm like betraying the salon.

Jon Ostenson 25:41

Yeah, absolutely. No, and you know, in the businesses, you know, whether it be in like Pilates, whether it be um, you know, again, a lot in the health and wellness space, we see a lot of interest. Most people come to us and say, hey, we want a business that requires very few employees, if any, and has a huge return on investment. I'm like, all right, so few employees, high ROI. Uh, and oftentimes you can find these in these remote businesses or like consulting, uh, you know, where you're reducing costs for small and medium-sized companies, or uh, you know, where you become like the the freight and shipping expert, uh, you know, outsource for companies. Um, and we've had some get into like insurance adjusting recently. Um there's just so many, so many models out there.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 26:25

What's your sexiest one? And I know you can't like pick favorites, but you know, because it's like picking your favorite child, although we all know we have a favorite.

Jon Ostenson 26:33

Well, I was down in Miami in December.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 26:35

What's the sexy? Go ahead. I'm sorry, go ahead. But what's a sexy like health and beauty? But tell me about Miami first.

Jon Ostenson 26:41

Well, I I I will name drop here, unashamed uh to to name drop. I I was in Miami at Gary Breckett's house in December when he signed off on the Ultimate Longevity Center. And that is a business that's going to provide all things health and wellness around um, you know, recovery modalities, whether it be sauna, coal plunge, uh, you know, red light, uh all of that piece, but then combined with peptide injections and hormone replacements and all under one roof. So kind of a one-stop shop partner with SQL brands, Anthony Geisler, and with a Tony Robbins group, uh like the Tony Robbins uh group. Tony was not there at the dinner, but um, anyway, that that's one that's on fire, selling out across most markets here in the US pretty quickly. So that's one that I would call a sexy fashion forward franchise.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 27:28

It is. So I'm actually a Gary Brecket fan. I did the thing where you spend like $700 and they do all your blood work and they tell you all the things. And so I did that, and I I take their supplements and do their stuff like that. Because, you know, with the autoimmune, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis like seven years ago and fibromyalgia this year. And so I'm gonna start doing those uh IVs and those different things like that because there's gotta be a way if if a switch turned on to make like rheumatoid arthritis active, there's gotta be a switch that'll turn it off. I think the only way it's through like the supplements and the peptides and all the things that you were talking about. So I actually am a Gary Brecker girl.

Jon Ostenson 28:11

Yeah. Oh, he and he's the real deal. I'll give a shout out to him. You know, I was very impressed the time I got to spend with him. He gave us a tour of his home and we were with him for a couple hours and just all the time in the world, even though he just landed coming back from Dubai circle. Yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 28:26

Yeah, I'm glad to hear you say, because I spent a lot of money there, and I'm like, you know, you never really know. And so I'm really happy to hear you actually say that because I started taking some of the things and I do feel better. But I'm gonna like try to dig deeper and see if I can't like get rid of these things. There just has to be a way. Nothing could just be forever. Except my marriage to my husband. Absolutely. Except for my husband, my marriage to my husband. That's forever. So all right. So let me ask you. So I want you to give me like three actionable tips. Like, if someone's listening to the podcast today, like I'm gonna get a hold of John, and they say, tell me the first three things I need to do to work with you. What would you say they would have to do? Like, first three things.

Jon Ostenson 29:14

Yeah, low-hanging fruit would be to come out to our website, share your email address. My assistant will then reach out with downloadable links. Uh so you can download our book, Non-Food Franchising. 90 pages. I mean, we've sold thousands of copies of this and probably given out 10 times more than that. Um, it's been a great resource for people to understand franchising, very readable, very understandable. Um, so I would say that's the easiest uh first step. Secondly, you know, take what you've learned in the book and start thinking about, you know, what does business ownership look like for you? Are there industries that could be of interest? Um, you know, if you're looking to partner and you want to keep your day job, you know, is there an operator that could potentially step in uh for you within your network? Um start having, you know, how would you fund the business? Again, in the book, I get into that. So I'd say start thinking through those things. And then the third thing would be, you know, let's set up a call. Again, you can do that. Uh, you know, come out to the website, share your email out. My system will send a link to my calendar. Again, it's entirely free to work with us. So uh, you know, we'd love to get on a call, get to know you, and um, you know, give you some thoughts and and uh kind of take you through a very refined uh process where we expose you to the top opportunities in your market and help you identify what could be a good fit. So those would be the things that I would recommend.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 30:26

So it's just simple. They just come, they start talking, you know, we'll guide them down the path. That's what I do with uh real estate investors. I I train, I've been training people for like I've been about thing 35 years, I've been training for like 30. And I'm always just like, well, what are you interested in? You want a wholesale, do you want to fix and flip? Do you want to own buildings? Do you want storage? Do you want to build? Like, what are you interested in? And then I'll just guide you down the path that you need. But when I got to know just anything, it's like too big. I can't teach you just anything. Like, what do you what are you interested in? But then I had to do the same thing, like you think about what you want. Because some people are like, hey, I want to fix and flip, I want to own rentals, I want to own BNB's. It's like, you have an experience. You know, what is it? Are you gonna do it yourself? Are you gonna hire? Like, I think I

Wellness Franchises And Longevity Trends

Dwan Bent-Twyford 31:09

probably asked some of the same type of questions. It's surprising how many people don't have like any clue, which is fine because you're there to help them pick something that's gonna suit them. But I'm sure when they pick something, like say they want to do something in health and wellness, I'm sure you go through and talk to them about the pros, the cons, what they need to be prepared for to really make this happen. Like you can give them a good solid talk like that.

Jon Ostenson 31:33

Yeah, we really start at 30,000 feet and start getting more granular, understanding kind of the setup, how many hours can they put in, um, you know, at the investment level, why they're looking to do this, uh, you know, kind of what their community may need. You know, we stay away from home cleaning and mosquitoes and businesses that already have a lot of large companies in them where there's very little differentiation. Instead, it's all about the niches. And again, these are things that people don't know they're looking for until it's in front of them. They say, they look for their spouse say that makes a lot of sense. Our community can use that. I think I would enjoy that on a day-to-day basis. So um our the whole discovery process is said to really start at the top and they kind of start narrowing it down. And then as they go through the process, they're going to talk to other franchisees in those brands to hear about their experience and ask them questions. And really, they get all these different pieces of data. They get the information from the franchise disclosure document that every franchise system has. You know, obviously, I'm sharing my feedback and I've seen so many case studies, and I work with people with similar backgrounds. So they're getting all these data points, they can start to formulate uh you know, puzzle pieces to put together that puzzle of what can be the good right fit for them and how to structure it. And uh yeah, we talked about everything about you know entity formation to funding options, to you know, if you want to have the franchise attorney review the agreement, you know, we've got partners that can support you in that front too. So uh really a one-stop shot.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 32:53

And do you ever uh tell anyone, like, listen, based on everything you've said, you are absolutely not a good fit for a franchise. Do you?

Jon Ostenson 33:03

I try to put it in not so blunt terms, but I'm not so blunt, but I mean, I do.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 33:08

Sometimes I tell people listen, this this is absolutely not going to work for you.

Jon Ostenson 33:12

There are certain people, maybe financially, they're not in a spot where it makes sense for them to buying a business would be overextending. There are others that just lack humility, and you have to have humility in franchising to go follow the established playbook. The best performers are usually those that follow closest to the system. I've seen it time and time again as a franchisee, as a franchise or um, you know, Dwan, I just thought of something that I thought would be worth mentioning. You know a lot of our clients invest in real estate as well. Um, I personally invest in real estate syndications, funds, uh, directly Airbnbs. I used to do long-term rules, don't have any of those at the moment. But a lot of our clients do too. I think there's so much synergy between the two. Well, not only from an industry actual standpoint, but from a mindset standpoint. I think, you know, other alternative investments that carry tax benefits, right? The government incentivizes real estate investors. Oh, yeah. Right. And so there we do see a lot of crossover. I I've had two calls today with clients of mine, one that owns 20 uh rental homes, the other that owns over 100 rental units in Arkansas and Pennsylvania. But that's very common to have that overlap.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 34:22

Yeah, we um invest in a town called Clinton, Iowa. That's where my husband's from. And we are actually like basically kind of remodeling uh an entire little town. The downtown is like three blocks this way and three blocks this way. It's right on the river. And they it's an opportunity zone. So you'd have to be owned for 10 years, you don't have to pay taxes, and it's they've got all these grants and all this money and all this stuff. And so I'm like, at this point, I wouldn't buy anything that wasn't in an opportunity zone because they just give you so much to buy it.

Jon Ostenson 34:56

Yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 34:56

So that's good. Yeah. Yeah. Real estate, you know, real

Action Steps, Fit Checks, And Momentum

Dwan Bent-Twyford 34:59

estate's my thing. So I love that you have that too. It's good. I love everything that you guys do. It's super fun.

Jon Ostenson 35:05

Yeah, no, I think it's an all of the above approach. And I think there's a lot of ways to uh to get to where you want to be. And questions, what what's the safest way, what gets you there the fastest, and and what what's going to be the most fun as well.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 35:16

That's right. So let me ask you a couple porcelain questions. Uh, what is your favorite band of all time?

Jon Ostenson 35:22

Favorite band of all time, uh I you know, Journey. It takes me back to college.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 35:27

Oh, Journey's good. Even Perry's voice is like something. I don't think anyone's ever said Journey before. That's really great. I I love them too. Uh what's your favorite food?

Jon Ostenson 35:42

Favorite food. Um it's the smoothies. I make some great smoothies.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 35:48

Smoothies? Okay, you are the first person that answered that ever in my whole eight years. Love it. That's good. I would ask you for your entire smoothie recipe, but I feel like we'd be on here for too long and uh it would run over. But yeah, I I like smoothies. My husband makes really good green smoothies. Oh my God, they're so delicious. I've done the recipe like four or five times, and we meet people like send me a recipe again. It's like, dude, just watch that video. I walked through every time. Yeah, I don't need to send it to you. Watch the video. I'm glad that you have you make those are good and they're healthy for your body too.

Jon Ostenson 36:20

Definitely no, gives you the energy.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 36:23

And then if you could just recommend like one book, any field, anything from when you were a child till now, do you have like a book that you're like, this is a great book?

Jon Ostenson 36:35

Besides my book, um besides yours. Besides my book, besides the Bible, you know, both both top of the list there. I I would say the compound effect by Darren Hardy. Uh it's not rocket science, but it's it was a really helpful reminder. I pick it up every so often that it's all about taking those small incremental steps, no matter what field, right? You know, I think about everything through five domains faith, family, fitness, finances, and franchising, my five F's.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 37:01

Yep.

Jon Ostenson 37:02

It's how I structure my day, it's how I structure my year when I think about goals. Uh, but I love the compound effect because it's those little steps you take in any one of those domains that over time will have that compound effect if you keep moving. So um, yeah, that's the one I would point to.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 37:16

I love that. I could not agree with you more. I do what I call the five pillars of life. And it's spiritual, it's your family, it's your mental health, your physical health, and your financial health. And those make you who you are, and you can't give too much time to one or the other and neglect the others. And balance is, you know, balance is a hard thing to have, especially when you own a business because you want to like work and be a part of it, but you got other things in your life too. So I love that. Okay, two more questions. What is uh your next big goal? And how can we in the Dwandiful world, how can we help you reach your next goal? What is it and how can we help you?

Jon Ostenson 37:55

Thank you for the offer. You know, feel very blessed that good progress has been made in all five domains. Um next big goal would be uh really I've got some passive income goals and I'm getting pretty close to them, um, but really tying the knot around, you know, I'm a part of different masterminds uh on the financial side and just thinking through the investment profiles and allocations, that's something that I'm kind of waist deep in right now. So I look forward to eventually having this all put in place and having it behind me uh where it's just an automatic system. I I'm pretty close, um, but not there just yet.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 38:32

Okay. How can we help you?

Jon Ostenson 38:35

Yeah, I think uh any ideas out there, uh, you know, so uh well I that being said, I I've got a lot of ideas. I I've got a lot of content. Um to anyone that has has been there and done that and how they allocate across private credit real estate funds. Uh certainly I've got my private equity and franchising and then public markets uh would be the biggest pillars, but then there are also many, so many little niches.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 39:00

I would say right, guys. You're hearing this, so you need to get a hold of John. I feel like anyone that works with you would would be making a good move. You're just like such a great person. I like the fact you mentioned the Bible. I was like, I got a little tattoo. Just as I and I know tattoos are probably not even good for the Bible, but it says faith. If I'm gonna put that right just on talking, is we like put a little God out there.

Jon Ostenson 39:23

I love it, I love it.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 39:25

Okay, final question. Um, I want you to give us a word of wisdom, but only one word.

Jon Ostenson 39:33

Momentum.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 39:34

Okay, now don't tell me yet. So what we do is my wonderful family, every week. That may so momentum is gonna be our word of the week. So when your podcast comes out, the word of the week is momentum. And I always tell people take a little sticky, write it on there, put it like where you're brushing your teeth, and and as you're doing that, just say momentum, momentum, momentum, like like embed that word, but we want to know what it means to you.

Jon Ostenson 40:02

Yeah, it's the idea that activity breeds activity, and it's getting off the couch, it's taking steps. You may not know what the right direction is, but instead of sitting on the couch thinking about it, start moving towards option A or option B. And that's when very oftentimes life will bring option C to you, and you know, and doors start to open. So it's all about taking steps, having the compound effect, building the momentum, and that's when doors open and good things happen.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 40:29

I love that. See, that's momentum. So uh activity breeds activity. So that is that's really a great, that's a great thing because you know, different words mean different things to everybody. So um someone may hear that word and think, oh, momentum is I don't know, working out five days in a row. But you know, I like to always hear what you think of that word means. That's a good word. Okay, momentum. It's your word of the week. So I want to thank you so much for being on the show today. You're just such a delightful person. I love every single thing that you do.

Jon Ostenson 40:58

Well, you're very kind. No, uh appreciate you having me on. Glad it worked out. And uh certainly if I can be a resource going forward, would love to help any of your listeners explore business ownership. And uh again, it starts by sharing a free copy of our book. So I look forward to connecting and helping.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 41:13

I want to get a free copy of your book too. So I'm gonna go out, get on your website, and have them send me a free copy. Maybe you could autograph mine.

Jon Ostenson 41:20

Absolutely. Shoot me your address and we'll drop one in the mail. No doubt.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 41:23

I love it. I love it, I love it. All right, everyone. So if you love the show today, which I know you did, I want you to subscribe, leave us a five-star review, write a comment, um, follow John, follow me, just follow us because we can't grow without your help. So we appreciate your time, we appreciate your effort. I know time is our most valuable asset because we're out of time, you know, we're out of time. So I appreciate you spending time with us today. And just remember, we'll be back next week. Same back to time, same back channel. And the truth is in the red letter. All right, everybody, see you next week. Ciao.