WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.500 Welcome back to Vision Pros. I'm very excited 00:00:02.500 --> 00:00:05.559 to introduce to you John Ostenson, and he's calling 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:08.279 in from Atlanta. Got a really cool business going. 00:00:08.380 --> 00:00:11.179 So, John, welcome to the show. Tell me a little 00:00:11.179 --> 00:00:12.699 bit more about you, and then we'll dive right 00:00:12.699 --> 00:00:14.910 in. well thanks for having me sue yeah excited 00:00:14.910 --> 00:00:17.390 to be here and uh yeah based here in atlanta 00:00:17.390 --> 00:00:20.429 wife three young kids and uh you know we we love 00:00:20.429 --> 00:00:22.949 being active here in the community and uh you're 00:00:22.949 --> 00:00:25.129 very very thankful for um the life that we get 00:00:25.129 --> 00:00:28.390 to lead but um no my background spent many years 00:00:28.390 --> 00:00:29.949 in the corporate world like many of your listeners 00:00:29.949 --> 00:00:31.850 and always had that dream of business ownership 00:00:31.850 --> 00:00:34.310 didn't know what it looked like and it was very 00:00:34.310 --> 00:00:36.229 thankful for the time that i had in the corporate 00:00:36.229 --> 00:00:38.759 world is a really good run but uh It was about 00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:41.000 nine years ago that I saw the light and kind 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:44.179 of tiptoed into franchising. I hadn't been on 00:00:44.179 --> 00:00:46.340 my radar previously, so I know we'll jump into 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:48.960 it here, but that's kind of the backstory, and 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:51.539 now I get to help others do the same. That's 00:00:51.539 --> 00:00:53.500 really cool. I love that. This is what entrepreneurs 00:00:53.500 --> 00:00:56.079 do. You had a problem. You solved it for yourself. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:58.920 Now you help other people with that same problem. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:01.359 You can hold them by the hand and walk them past 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:05.060 the pitfalls. Absolutely. Fantastic. Well, let's 00:01:05.060 --> 00:01:07.480 dive right in. Tell me all about your vision. 00:01:08.370 --> 00:01:10.109 Yeah, you know, my vision, I mean, at the end 00:01:10.109 --> 00:01:13.109 of the day, it's about creating freedom, flexibility. 00:01:13.629 --> 00:01:15.489 It's about living life on your own terms. And 00:01:15.489 --> 00:01:17.109 we've all heard this. I mean, it's become cliche 00:01:17.109 --> 00:01:19.170 these days, but, you know, doing what you want, 00:01:19.209 --> 00:01:20.989 when you want, with who you want, all those different 00:01:20.989 --> 00:01:25.069 lines. I heard it quoted actually this morning. 00:01:25.109 --> 00:01:27.469 So Hill Bloom said, you know, in the past, the 00:01:27.469 --> 00:01:29.989 ultimate flex was, you know, you had a luxury 00:01:29.989 --> 00:01:32.890 watch, a luxury car. You had a $200 bottle of 00:01:32.890 --> 00:01:35.459 wine. He said. today's flex is being able to 00:01:35.459 --> 00:01:37.480 take your kids swimming at 1 p .m on a wednesday 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:39.760 and that is just so true and so i surround myself 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:41.939 with business owners they're all living out the 00:01:41.939 --> 00:01:44.519 same thing and like i said it's my desire to 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:47.319 help others see what i saw you know for the longest 00:01:47.319 --> 00:01:48.819 time i was helping others build their empire 00:01:48.819 --> 00:01:53.019 and now i'm building my own but now i'm giving 00:01:53.019 --> 00:01:56.299 back by helping our clients begin to build their 00:01:56.299 --> 00:01:57.859 empire so i don't have to work for the man forever 00:01:57.859 --> 00:02:00.310 so that's kind of a long way of getting around 00:02:00.310 --> 00:02:02.849 to to my why but it's uh freedom independence 00:02:02.849 --> 00:02:06.090 and uh you know living your best life oh that's 00:02:06.090 --> 00:02:08.069 so great and then tell me you know a little bit 00:02:08.069 --> 00:02:10.870 more you know how did this come about where did 00:02:10.870 --> 00:02:12.669 this vision come from one day you're sitting 00:02:12.669 --> 00:02:15.530 in corporate and then what happened yeah you 00:02:15.530 --> 00:02:18.050 know i i had the stock options i'd gotten the 00:02:18.050 --> 00:02:19.789 mba i could have done the corporate thing forever 00:02:19.789 --> 00:02:22.889 you know i enjoyed it but you know you only live 00:02:22.889 --> 00:02:26.770 once and as kardashians say yellow right um i 00:02:26.770 --> 00:02:28.909 always have that desire to to build my own thing 00:02:28.909 --> 00:02:30.889 there's and i think that's the desire that so 00:02:30.889 --> 00:02:33.349 many people have probably you know a lot of people 00:02:33.349 --> 00:02:35.189 are sitting on sidelines today they talk about 00:02:35.189 --> 00:02:37.210 business ownership they dream about entrepreneurship 00:02:37.210 --> 00:02:39.949 you know maybe they consume some contents they 00:02:39.949 --> 00:02:42.229 kind of feel like they're in the game but they 00:02:42.229 --> 00:02:44.310 haven't actually stepped in and so uh you know 00:02:44.310 --> 00:02:46.789 through a lot of praying a lot of networking 00:02:46.789 --> 00:02:50.189 had the opportunity to step in as president of 00:02:50.189 --> 00:02:52.490 shelf genie franchise system so i went for me 00:02:52.490 --> 00:02:54.129 this was a big step i went from a large public 00:02:54.129 --> 00:02:56.629 company managing earnings calls every quarter 00:02:56.629 --> 00:03:00.009 to running a private company it was a company 00:03:00.009 --> 00:03:02.090 where it was large we had about 100 franchisees 00:03:02.090 --> 00:03:04.270 across north america and i came in i ran the 00:03:04.270 --> 00:03:06.469 home office supported all of our franchisees 00:03:07.129 --> 00:03:08.810 And for me, that was a light bulb moment where 00:03:08.810 --> 00:03:11.210 I realized franchising is so much more than fast 00:03:11.210 --> 00:03:12.949 food. You know, there's so many other industries 00:03:12.949 --> 00:03:15.870 that were never on my radar. And I just saw how 00:03:15.870 --> 00:03:18.810 all these diverse backgrounds all across the 00:03:18.810 --> 00:03:20.870 country could come together under a shared system 00:03:20.870 --> 00:03:23.210 of support. So all the things that we were doing 00:03:23.210 --> 00:03:26.650 for them to set them up for success and how they 00:03:26.650 --> 00:03:29.030 would interact with each other is kind of this 00:03:29.030 --> 00:03:32.169 built in mastermind. And really, we were, like 00:03:32.169 --> 00:03:35.030 I said, setting them up for success and supporting 00:03:35.030 --> 00:03:37.069 them along the way, allowing them to live out 00:03:37.069 --> 00:03:39.909 their dreams. And so fast forward, I ended up 00:03:39.909 --> 00:03:41.710 partnering with the founder. We spun off. We've 00:03:41.710 --> 00:03:43.969 invested in franchises ourselves on the franchisee 00:03:43.969 --> 00:03:46.430 side. Had multiple partners over the years on 00:03:46.430 --> 00:03:49.009 that piece. Always had good operating partners, 00:03:49.110 --> 00:03:51.770 which allows me to spend my time consulting, 00:03:52.050 --> 00:03:55.210 which I started about seven years ago. You know, 00:03:55.210 --> 00:03:57.289 it's been an Inc. 5000 company a couple of years. 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:00.240 growth here. And that's a testimony to the good 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:01.740 work that we've done on behalf of our clients, 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:04.259 helping them identify the top opportunities in 00:04:04.259 --> 00:04:06.439 their markets, and then holding their hand as 00:04:06.439 --> 00:04:09.060 they go through the exploration process, talking 00:04:09.060 --> 00:04:11.719 to franchises. That's really cool. What kinds 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:13.759 of fields? Because of course, everybody thinks 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:17.300 fast food or a big box store or something, you 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:19.300 know, I'm not even quite sure, right? But definitely, 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:23.060 fast food is probably the most common. What kinds 00:04:23.060 --> 00:04:25.240 of other industries are you involved with? No, 00:04:25.300 --> 00:04:26.939 certainly when I say the F word franchise, people 00:04:26.939 --> 00:04:29.040 think fast food and we've got nothing against 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:31.120 the food guys. We need them. We support them. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:33.540 But my humble belief is they're easier ways to 00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:35.800 make money. You know, opportunities that may 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:38.100 require fewer operating hours or less hourly 00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:40.839 employees or less susceptible to the consumer 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:43.800 whims changing. Right. So the general theme that 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:46.579 we see out there right now, Sue, is understandable 00:04:46.579 --> 00:04:49.220 cash flowing businesses, things that aren't trendy, 00:04:49.379 --> 00:04:51.500 aren't going out of style. You know, some of 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:52.980 them are a little more fashion forward than others, 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.259 but for the most part, it's. understandable things 00:04:55.259 --> 00:04:59.639 that AI is not going to displace, but only benefit 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:02.360 and maybe help you differentiate from your competition. 00:05:02.579 --> 00:05:05.040 So it's things like home and property services, 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:08.180 so much smart money flowing into these property 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:12.240 services, health and wellness categories like. 00:05:12.910 --> 00:05:16.930 kids or pets or seniors, so many different businesses 00:05:16.930 --> 00:05:19.029 that roll up under these broad umbrellas that, 00:05:19.029 --> 00:05:21.329 again, people are always going to spend on the 00:05:21.329 --> 00:05:22.689 things they care about. They're going to spend 00:05:22.689 --> 00:05:26.029 on their kids, their aging parents, their pets 00:05:26.029 --> 00:05:29.370 in some cases, their health, their homes, you 00:05:29.370 --> 00:05:31.850 know, B2B services to business to business. You 00:05:31.850 --> 00:05:33.290 know, a lot of people have a background in the 00:05:33.290 --> 00:05:35.129 corporate world and business to business services, 00:05:35.209 --> 00:05:36.810 and they like the idea of selling into businesses. 00:05:37.050 --> 00:05:39.410 You know, so that could be, you know, freight 00:05:39.410 --> 00:05:42.879 brokerage, insurance adjusting, you know restoration 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:47.220 there's just and there's some consulting type 00:05:47.220 --> 00:05:50.120 firms you know cost mitigation uh cost reduction 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:52.639 type analysts so many different opportunities 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:55.079 and most people 90 of those that we work with 00:05:55.079 --> 00:05:58.360 end up going with something in an industry that 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:00.579 was never even on their radar so until it's right 00:06:00.579 --> 00:06:01.959 in front of them and then they look at their 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:03.699 spouse and say gosh i never would have thought 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:05.399 about that but that makes a lot of sense and 00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:07.879 they have their own light bulb moments That's 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:10.660 really, really cool. And then it might even be 00:06:10.660 --> 00:06:13.319 an advantage to them because it wasn't an industry 00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:16.279 that they came up in and they're so used to working 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:19.300 in the business. It must be a lot easier to make 00:06:19.300 --> 00:06:21.899 that leap to we're working on this because they 00:06:21.899 --> 00:06:24.319 don't have the skills necessarily, right? Yeah. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:26.439 Well, in a lot of cases, they have skills that 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:28.160 they're bringing with them, transferable skills 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:30.100 that may be more front end to the house or back 00:06:30.100 --> 00:06:33.019 end. But it's a new industry, right? And so they're 00:06:33.019 --> 00:06:35.139 coming in oftentimes with a fresh perspective. 00:06:35.300 --> 00:06:36.920 They don't have all the baggage, right? And so 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:38.839 they come in with a little more humility, which 00:06:38.839 --> 00:06:40.720 is exactly what you need in franchising because 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:43.360 you're stepping in, running someone else's established 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:46.420 playbook, right? Where I see people fall down 00:06:46.420 --> 00:06:48.560 sometimes is they come in and they think they're 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:50.920 the smartest one in the room and try to do everything 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:52.860 their own way. And it's like, well, why do you 00:06:52.860 --> 00:06:56.120 buy into a franchise system? It sounds cliche, 00:06:56.459 --> 00:06:58.259 but in my experience, when I was running Shelf 00:06:58.259 --> 00:07:00.100 Genie franchise system and I looked across all 00:07:00.100 --> 00:07:03.180 of our owners across North America, our top owners 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:05.899 were halfway decent with people. I mean, end 00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:08.139 of the day, this is business 101, right? And 00:07:08.139 --> 00:07:09.980 then secondly, they're willing to follow the 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:12.720 system. They had the humility to say, hey, I'm 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:16.660 going to trust and the process works. And those 00:07:16.660 --> 00:07:19.000 were our top performers. That's really, really 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:21.420 neat. Oh, I mean, humility serves a long way 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:24.139 across any business. And that's something we 00:07:24.139 --> 00:07:26.879 learn, I think. That's cool. Tell me a little 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:29.120 bit about, you know, your personal why, because 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:31.439 you've mentioned freedom and, you know, having, 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:33.860 I love that, the way that you encapsulated it 00:07:33.860 --> 00:07:37.279 with 1pm on a Wednesday, a swim lesson. That's, 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:39.920 I mean, that's fantastic. How has this played 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:42.680 out in your life, this why? I think that why 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:46.459 is maybe more on the business side a little bit. 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:48.759 It's more of how it manifests. Really, if I go 00:07:48.759 --> 00:07:50.839 deeper, it's all about stewardship. I believe 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:52.699 that to whom much is given, much is expected. 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:55.800 I feel I've been very blessed. Nothing's been 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:59.060 easy. I'm the hardest boss I've ever had. I work 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:02.800 hard, but the fruits of the labor are there. 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:07.600 I would say, as far as the why goes, I think 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:10.480 about life through five domains. This time of 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:12.589 year, I'm setting goals for the next year the 00:08:12.589 --> 00:08:15.290 next quarter you know i kind of nerd out on this 00:08:15.290 --> 00:08:19.790 type of stuff uh very uh you know visioning visioneering 00:08:19.790 --> 00:08:22.649 if you will um if i think through in the five 00:08:22.649 --> 00:08:27.509 f's faith family fitness finances and franchising 00:08:27.509 --> 00:08:29.149 some people call it business i would call it 00:08:29.149 --> 00:08:31.550 franchising so i've got five ups um but everything 00:08:31.550 --> 00:08:34.629 i think through from how do i prioritize How 00:08:34.629 --> 00:08:37.190 does it align with my why? And it's kind of in 00:08:37.190 --> 00:08:40.830 that rank order of putting the first things first 00:08:40.830 --> 00:08:44.570 and putting the big rocks in and then the pebbles 00:08:44.570 --> 00:08:47.909 later, right? Oh, that's huge. That's huge. And 00:08:47.909 --> 00:08:52.269 is there a story behind your why? Sometimes this 00:08:52.269 --> 00:08:54.990 evolves as we go. You've been in business, corporate 00:08:54.990 --> 00:08:58.049 for a while, your own thing for a while. I'm 00:08:58.049 --> 00:09:01.370 sure that your why has kind of... shifted over 00:09:01.370 --> 00:09:03.830 the years, I would imagine, as you mature, as 00:09:03.830 --> 00:09:06.409 you figure out what really matters to you. So 00:09:06.409 --> 00:09:08.730 is there a story behind this? Yeah, I would say 00:09:08.730 --> 00:09:11.750 how I was raised, you know, I was very, you know, 00:09:11.809 --> 00:09:14.629 I'm very thankful. I had two great parents. They 00:09:14.629 --> 00:09:17.870 sent us to private school, but here's the thing. 00:09:17.870 --> 00:09:19.769 We were probably the poorest family in the private 00:09:19.769 --> 00:09:23.320 school. You know, we were always having money 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:25.500 conversations in our household. I heard my parents 00:09:25.500 --> 00:09:28.200 talking, and it was very much a scarcity mentality, 00:09:28.340 --> 00:09:30.360 and there was never quite enough. And we're, 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:32.779 you know, so I'm thankful that they made the 00:09:32.779 --> 00:09:35.340 sacrifices to give us a good education. I mean, 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:36.960 I certainly paid my way through college and everything 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:40.320 beyond that. However, you know, they gave us 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.080 a good foundation. So that's something I wanted 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:44.519 to take with me. You know, I built my own family, 00:09:44.539 --> 00:09:47.080 and we've got three young kids today, 14, 10, 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:51.049 and 7. i one thing that i knew i wanted to do 00:09:51.049 --> 00:09:52.950 differently was have very different money conversations 00:09:52.950 --> 00:09:56.409 you know i wanted to be i believe that the debtor 00:09:56.409 --> 00:09:59.610 is slave to the lender right and i wanted to 00:09:59.610 --> 00:10:01.210 be on the other side of the equation than we 00:10:01.210 --> 00:10:04.730 were growing up and so it is great now that we're 00:10:04.730 --> 00:10:06.669 able to help my parents and financially support 00:10:06.669 --> 00:10:10.070 them and come alongside in their older age here 00:10:10.070 --> 00:10:13.230 um so we want to steward that that opportunity 00:10:13.230 --> 00:10:17.809 but no it's you know i try to teach my kids you 00:10:17.809 --> 00:10:19.860 know it's not normal that I have some of the 00:10:19.860 --> 00:10:22.320 time freedom that I do have, but it's because 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.480 I've worked very hard and I've also been very 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:27.980 strategic. Not every investment we've ever made 00:10:27.980 --> 00:10:29.580 has worked, right? I mean, there have been a 00:10:29.580 --> 00:10:31.200 lot of lessons learned. I've lost money on some 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:33.019 things, but by and large, the trajectory has 00:10:33.019 --> 00:10:36.279 been upward and it allows us to now be in a position 00:10:36.279 --> 00:10:38.879 where we can, again, kind of live life on our 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:42.250 terms. You are making some money while you're 00:10:42.250 --> 00:10:44.929 sleeping and provides for that financial independence 00:10:44.929 --> 00:10:47.769 that I know is such a buzzword today and so many 00:10:47.769 --> 00:10:50.190 people are going after. So thankful that we got 00:10:50.190 --> 00:10:52.649 started early. But I would say that's kind of 00:10:52.649 --> 00:10:55.509 the story behind it is a little bit of a drive 00:10:55.509 --> 00:10:58.669 and a decision around what to take from my childhood 00:10:58.669 --> 00:11:01.629 and what I wanted to do differently. That's amazing. 00:11:01.769 --> 00:11:04.889 Have your kids been receptive? It's hard for 00:11:04.889 --> 00:11:06.590 them because they've always lived in the same 00:11:06.590 --> 00:11:08.450 family they've lived in. They haven't seen how 00:11:08.450 --> 00:11:10.850 it might be a little bit different, but are they 00:11:10.850 --> 00:11:12.850 able to kind of... grasp what you're talking 00:11:12.850 --> 00:11:17.090 to them about? It depends on the day. We took 00:11:17.090 --> 00:11:19.629 a family trip to Nicaragua this past summer. 00:11:19.990 --> 00:11:22.230 There's a great nonprofit down there that we 00:11:22.230 --> 00:11:24.389 support financially, and we wanted to show our 00:11:24.389 --> 00:11:26.250 kids firsthand some of the good work that's being 00:11:26.250 --> 00:11:29.190 done. Certainly, they got exposed to how many 00:11:29.190 --> 00:11:32.750 parts of the world operate and live. So we try 00:11:32.750 --> 00:11:34.470 to get them outside the bubble as much as we 00:11:34.470 --> 00:11:36.629 can. I've taken my son also on a mission trip 00:11:36.629 --> 00:11:39.070 to the Dominican. So we're trying to expose them, 00:11:39.129 --> 00:11:43.610 but that is a constant challenge, right? there 00:11:43.610 --> 00:11:45.470 are things that they have now that we did not 00:11:45.470 --> 00:11:47.590 have growing up. And there's probably not that 00:11:47.590 --> 00:11:50.490 same level of appreciation. So it is a constant 00:11:50.490 --> 00:11:53.149 conversation that my wife and I are having of 00:11:53.149 --> 00:11:57.850 how do we steward what we have now? We try to 00:11:57.850 --> 00:11:59.990 show them how we... I mean, we're very active 00:11:59.990 --> 00:12:02.730 in the community supporting causes that we believe 00:12:02.730 --> 00:12:05.309 in. And hopefully that's rubbing off on kids. 00:12:05.950 --> 00:12:08.129 That's beautiful. Thank you so much for being 00:12:08.129 --> 00:12:10.190 here. This has been a fantastic beginning of 00:12:10.190 --> 00:12:11.909 our conversation. I hope you will come back. 00:12:12.210 --> 00:12:14.419 I look forward to it. Thank you for being here 00:12:14.419 --> 00:12:16.320 today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:18.779 Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing 00:12:18.779 --> 00:12:21.820 your reactions as these episodes continue to 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:23.519 move forward. This is going to get more and more 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:25.840 fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. 00:12:25.879 --> 00:12:27.799 We'll invite people to participate in the show. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:29.960 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:32.879 Have an excellent time building out your vision 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:34.240 and becoming a vision pro yourself.