In this episode, we sit down with Jon Ostenson, founder of FranBridge Consulting and author of Non-Food Franchising, to explore how entrepreneurs and investors can use service-based franchising as a strategic path to scalable income, diversification, and long-term freedom. Jon shares how applying a private-equity-style underwriting approach helps identify recession-resistant, semi-absentee, and executive-style franchise models—cutting through hype to focus on real fundamentals, unit economics, and management depth.
We also discuss how franchising fits alongside real estate and other alternative investments, especially for business owners navigating liquidity events or planning their next chapter. From evaluating franchise brands and avoiding common pitfalls to aligning franchising with exit planning and capital preservation strategies, this conversation delivers practical insights for investors seeking predictable cash flow, operational leverage, and a smarter way to deploy capital with intention and impact.
Episode Highlights Here:
Brett
Before we jump into this episode, I want to invite you to join our community to help you become a better steward scale to billions and ultimately give more or all of it away. All I want you to do is to click the subscribe button right now. I love your support. It’s incredible to see your comments, and we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you. Thank you so much for subscribing. It means the world to me. Welcome to the build to billions podcast where we got successful entrepreneurs and investors on the journey from millions to billions. We believe the key to scaling and compounding your wealth and life starts every single day with the mindset and practice of stewardship, of ownership and applying billionaire biblical principles. Our ultimate goal is to help you scale your wealth and your life, so we give more all of it away to help MVPs. My name is Brett Swarts. Each and every episode, we’re joined by some of the world’s top entrepreneurs, millionaires or billionaires, and they share their secrets, wisdom and story with us, so we can all level up in all of these areas and make a bigger impact. I’m excited about our next guest. Not only is he a friend of mine and a mastermind, but more than that, he is the founder and top a top 1% franchise consultant in the US, and he’s founder of Franbridge, and he’s a freaking contributor of franchising across a variety of outlets and publications. He’s built a multi brand franchise himself, along with his business partners, he has great operators leading these ventures. As a result, he is able to commit over 90% of his time to helping others achieve their own dreams of freedom and wealth generation through business ownership. And today, we’re gonna be talking about nonfood franchising, and basically how to build wealth with non-food franchising. Please welcome the show with me. Mr. John Austin, John, how about him?
Jon
Brett, doing great. Excited to be with you, my friend.
Brett
Grateful to have you for our listeners. tonight, for the first time, would you give us just a little bit more about your story? Just a little bit more about your story and your current focus?
Jon
Yeah, absolutely. You know, like so many of your listeners, I spent many years in the corporate world and had a great run and very thankful for it, but always had that desire to do something more entrepreneurial, and didn’t know what it looked like, and I always associated franchising with fast food, and really didn’t realize there was more to it, and had the opportunity about a decade ago to step in and serve as president of Shelf Genie franchise system and support all of our franchisees across North America, and really fell in love with the franchise model through that experience. So I’ve since invested in franchises myself and helped hundreds of others step into business ownership as well. And yeah, essentially what we do, you can think of me as a real estate broker, but for franchises. And we work with over 600 different franchise brands that are looking to
expand across the US, and love connecting our clients with the top opportunities as we see it in their markets.
Brett
Fantastic. And before we dive into you know how to build wealth with non-food franchising and all those cool secrets, I do want to take one other step back, John, I believe that all begin with certain gifts in this life. These gifts have been given us to be blessing help to others. Us to be blessing, help to others. Jon, growing up like, what was the one or two, you know, God given gifts you believe you were given? And how does it help? How you help and bless people today?
Jon
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think, you know, was very fortunate. You know, grew up in a middle income family, but I’d say we’re kind of on the lower end of the middle income. You we went to a private school, but we’re probably the poorest family in the private school. So, it kind of created a little bit of an inner desire in me to have different types of money conversations in my household one day. And so that certainly inspired me to work hard in school and, you know, in my career. And I think I’ve been able to encourage other people in their career paths. You know, all throughout I’ve always been one that’s been giving advice even when I was in a different capacity, and also just be able to give. You know, I love what you’re doing, Brett, and we talk a lot about this offline, but, you know, I believe to whom much is given, much is expected, and so it comes from the book of Matthew, and that whole idea around stewardship is something that’s very important to me. So, we’re able to our family supports a lot of nonprofits. We were down in Nicaragua on a mission trip this summer, which was great. And I just love finding ways to give back. So, I think that’s ultimately what it comes
Brett
down to. Awesome, fantastic. Well, with that, man, let’s dive right into the topic, which is the top secrets to building a non-food franchising wealth. So, Jon, take it away.
Jon
Yeah, absolutely. You know, we’ve never seen so much interest in franchising from where I sit. And I think for a variety of reasons, there people are looking to get into business ownership, to have a Little more freedom, flexibility live life on their terms. And Brett, I always want to point out, if business ownership was easy, everyone would be a business owner. It’s not easy, but you’re trading your current set of situation challenges for a whole new set. And a lot of people just want to have that control, and they want to have someone something they can pass on to their kids. And oftentimes people don’t have that million-dollar idea, and so they say, maybe franchising makes sense. Essentially, have training wheels, if you will. You’ve got a proven model, you’ve got a coach on the sidelines in that franchise, or you’ve got a community of other franchisees that are living the same thing, day in day out, almost like a mastermind, like you mentioned, exchanging best practices. And there’s just so many benefits. And a lot of our clients will come back and buy additional franchises over time. It’s what I call franchise stacking, and they build this portfolio.
Brett
So, if you like this little, short clip of the interview I just did, click over here to watch the full interview, and please don’t forget to subscribe. Brett, thanks so much, everybody.
Watch the episode here:
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About Jon Ostenson
Jon Ostenson is the founder and CEO of FranBridge Consulting, an independent franchise advisory firm that helps entrepreneurs, executives, and investors identify and evaluate high-quality, service-based franchise opportunities. With a background in private equity, Jon brings an investor-grade underwriting mindset to franchising—focusing on fundamentals such as unit economics, scalability, management strength, and long-term durability rather than hype-driven brand marketing.
Jon is also the author of Non-Food Franchising, where he educates business owners and investors on semi-absentee and executive-style franchise models that offer predictable cash flow and lifestyle flexibility. A frequent podcast guest, speaker, and thought leader in the alternative investment space, Jon is known for helping post-exit entrepreneurs and high-income professionals strategically deploy capital into recession-resistant businesses that align with their financial goals, time availability, and desire for freedom.
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