In his late twenties, Matt Stevens built a portfolio of fourteen real estate properties. Within about eight months of each other, two of them burned down. One turned into a drawn out fight with an insurance company and a half finished rebuild that he eventually let slide into foreclosure. By the time he sold his last property in 2017, he was roughly $50,000 in the red.
On From Adversity to Abundance with host Jamie Bateman, Matt walks through the fires, the foreclosure, and the one decision, subtraction, that changed how he shows up for the candidates he works with today.
Key Takeaways from This Episode
- Matt built a portfolio of 14 real estate properties in his late 20s. Two burned down within eight months, and he ended up roughly $50,000 in the red when he sold his final property in 2017.
- The turning point was subtraction, not addition. Selling his last property and stepping off advisory boards let him put his full attention into franchise consulting.
- What changed with that focus wasn’t just his schedule. He moved from a transactional style to deeper, honest conversations, and he now treats an honest no from a candidate as just as valuable as a yes.
- Matt narrows a field of roughly 4,300 franchise brands across 80 industries down to a short list based on each candidate’s own goals and criteria.
- He has helped more than 3,000 people explore franchising and now aims to work with about 100 people a year, free to the candidate.
- Matt sees the strongest opportunity in service businesses with recurring revenue, including health, wellness, and senior care as the population ages.
- His daily philosophy comes from three books: Atomic Habits, The Four Agreements, and Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play.
Small-Town Roots and a College Painting Franchise
Matt grew up the youngest of four in a small New Hampshire town, at the end of a dirt road, in what he describes as a close and loving family. His first taste of running a business came at 19, when a campus flyer advertising summer work turned out to be an offer to operate a painting franchise. In a season of life defined by saying yes to everything, he took it. With established systems already in place behind him, he ran a large operation in his first three months and learned early that disciplined behavior, not luck, produces results.
Knocking on Doors and Learning the Numbers
Long before digital marketing, Matt generated his own leads the hard way. He cold-called door to door across rural New Hampshire, where houses could sit a third of a mile apart, and tracked his conversion rate street by street on a county map, booking roughly one estimate an hour through hours of rejection. The persistence paid off. He earned rookie of the year, then franchisee-of-the-year runner up, and the experience gave him a lasting blueprint for what franchise success actually takes.
Hard Lessons in Real Estate
In his late 20s, inspired by the late night real estate gurus of the era, Matt built a portfolio of 14 properties. Two of them burned within about eight months of each other. One turned into a drawn out insurance and rebuilding ordeal, since the builder walked off the job unfinished, insurance rent payments ran out, and Matt let the half finished property slide into foreclosure. The other fire ended in a court fight the insurer was positioned to win. He sold his final property in 2017 for a few thousand dollars less than he had paid in 1998, landing roughly $50,000 in the red across the whole portfolio. His takeaway was not that real estate is a bad investment, but that it demanded a different approach than the one that actually fit him.
The Turning Point: Focus
The inflection point was subtraction. Matt realized his energy was scattered across real estate and several advisory boards, none of them bad on their own, but collectively pulling him away from what he did best. So he ended the distractions. He sold his last property, stepped off the boards, and put his full attention into his franchise consultancy. The change was not incremental. He didn’t just do more, he did it differently: fewer distractions, more attention on each conversation, and a business that finally reflected the way he actually wanted to work.
“I love helping people. I love being even the smallest part of their story.”
Matt Stevens, From Adversity to Abundance podcastA Relationship-First Approach to Franchising
What changed most was the nature of the work itself. Matt moved away from a transactional style toward deeper, more honest conversations about consequences and goals. He tells candidates there is no subject off-limits, and he sees his own job as forcing people to think through questions no one else has asked them, from how long they can go at zero income to how ownership will affect their family. As an independent franchise consultant, Matt has helped more than 3,000 people explore franchise ownership. He now aims to work with about 100 people a year, knowing only a portion will move forward, and he treats an honest no as just as valuable as a yes.
What It Takes to Own a Franchise
On the practical side, Matt narrows a field of roughly 4,300 brands across 80 industries down to a short list that fits each person, evaluating candidates against dozens of ownership criteria. As rough guideposts, he looks for meaningful liquidity, net worth, and a solid credit score, with total investment ranges that surprise many people on the low end. Time commitment varies widely too. Leverage more capital and some models can run in a handful of hours a week. Invest more of your own time and the hours climb accordingly. His consulting is free to the candidate, the same arrangement from the first conversation through the final decision.
Where Matt Sees Opportunity
Looking ahead, Matt leans toward businesses with recurring revenue or a steady stream of one-off service needs, the trades and services that solve real problems for property and people. He points to health, wellness, and senior care as growing markets as the population ages, and notes that the winners will typically be businesses that use technology and AI to run better, rather than pure-tech plays that still need someone who can sell. His frustration with the modern culture is simpler and more human: people who schedule his time and then disappear. The quiet edge, in his view, belongs to anyone who simply does what they say they will do.
Books Matt Recommends
Matt sends Atomic Habits by James Clear to every person he places into a franchise, believing that success is a reflection of the systems and habits a person puts in place, not a single big decision. He also points to The Four Agreements as a short book that resets his head when he needs it, and closes the episode by recommending Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play, a fitting choice for someone whose whole philosophy is dealing in reality and putting the cards on the table. Candidates ready to have that same honest conversation can reach out to Matt directly to talk through whether franchise ownership fits their goals.
Matt Stevens Independent Franchise Consultant, The Franchise Guy
Nearly 40 Years in Franchising | 4 Businesses Owned | Nearly 1,000 Franchisees Placed | heisthefranchiseguy.com
Matt Stevens has spent nearly 40 years in franchising. He’s helped more than 3,000 people explore franchise ownership and placed nearly 1,000 of them as franchisees across more than 40 states. He has owned four businesses and served as Vice President and Partner in a $2 billion international franchise holding company. He works as an independent franchise consultant based in Dublin, Ohio, and his consulting is free to the candidate. Learn more about Matt
Published: | Last Updated: | LinkedIn
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Matt’s consulting is free to the candidate. His fees are paid by the franchise brand if and when a placement is made, so you get his full process, guidance, and access to thousands of brands without paying anything out of pocket.
Matt narrows a field of roughly 4,300 brands across 80 industries down to a short list based on your goals, budget, lifestyle, and ownership criteria. He describes his role as forcing candidates to think through questions no one else has asked them, from income runway to how ownership will affect family life.
Matt has helped more than 3,000 people explore franchising and placed nearly 1,000 of them as franchisees, across more than 40 states. He now aims to work with about 100 people a year, and he considers surfacing an honest no early to be just as valuable to a candidate as a yes.
A franchise consultant is a guide who helps candidates find brands that fit their goals, financial profile, and lifestyle, free to the candidate. Matt’s version of the role is built around depth: an in-depth, honest process centered on the candidate, not a quick match to whichever brand pays the highest fee.
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