In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO and Partner of FranBridge Consulting, Jon Ostenson.

FranBridge Consulting is a franchise matchmaker. They match investors and entrepreneurs with great non-food franchising opportunities. Jon shares that there are thousands of opportunities to franchise in industries beyond food. Josh and Jon also discuss some of the advantages of avoiding food franchises. Jon shares that in his experience, he found that most of his clients didn’t want to work with franchises that dealt in food service. Between needing to be available 24/7 for issues and needing a heavy amount of staff members, many investors want to pursue easier methods of generating profit through the franchising model. 

Jon shares that the level of interest in investing in franchises is unprecedented. With record levels of opportunities and cash on the sidelines, business owners and budding entrepreneurs are looking for new ways to work for themselves. Many of his clients are entrepreneurs who have already built a couple of businesses but didn’t want to reinvent the wheel each time they started a new venture. Franchising gives an entrepreneur an eyes-wide-open perspective when it comes to starting a new business. They have the roadmap completely laid out and they know what to expect from day one. Jon explains that over 85% of franchise businesses will stay in business after five years – a much higher success rate than traditional start-ups. 

Franchising lends itself to easier exits for a few reasons, Jon explains. For one thing, you have other franchisees that might be interested in buying your business. Also, franchisors usually have a pipeline of interested, high-level leads that you can access as a franchisee. Another win? Private equity loves franchising. Private equity firms are very interested in franchises, especially now. 

Josh and Jon explore what types of franchises might be ideal for busy business owners who want to break into franchising. Most franchises allow for the room you need to run your other businesses, Jon says. He shares a case study where a very successful business owner he worked with entered the home and property services franchise when he wanted to diversify his businesses. He also came back to diversify further after he went on to hire a competent, trustworthy team to run each of his businesses after they were built. Being a good business owner means having great teams and operators. This is the only way franchising can be executed well for serial business owners. 

Want to learn more? Check out FranBridge Consulting’s website at https://franbridgeconsulting.com/. 

Check out FranBridge Consulting on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/franbridge-capital/. 

Check out Jon Ostenson on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonostenson/. 

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