How does a 20-year-old running a college painting franchise turn a $50,000 real estate loss into a franchise consulting career that later grew sixfold? On From Adversity to Abundance with host Jamie Bateman, Matt Stevens walks through the fires, the foreclosure, and the single decision, focus, that changed everything.
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 full attention into franchise consulting.
- After that shift, his consulting revenue tripled, held, then doubled again, reaching roughly six times what it had been in 2016.
- 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 guided nearly 3,000 candidates through the franchise exploration process and now aims to help about 100 people a year, at no cost to the buyer.
- 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 requires.
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 in isolation, 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 results were not incremental. Over the following years his revenue tripled, held at that level, and then doubled again, reaching roughly six times what it had been in 2016.
“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 alongside the numbers 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 guided nearly 3,000 candidates and now aims to help about 100 people a year, knowing only a portion will move forward, and treating an honest no 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 offered at no cost to the buyer, the same model used across the full franchise buying process.
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. Buyers ready to have that same honest conversation can reach out to Matt directly to talk through whether franchise ownership fits their goals.
Matt Stevens — The Franchise Guy
Independent Franchise Consultant · 30+ Years Industry Experience · 4 Businesses Owned · 500+ Franchisees Placed Nationally
Matt Stevens is one of the most experienced independent franchise consultants in the United States, based in Dublin, Ohio. Since the mid-1990s he has guided hundreds of buyers into franchise ownership across nearly all 50 states — at no cost to the buyer. Learn more about Matt →
Published: | Last Updated: | LinkedIn
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Matt’s consulting is offered at no cost to the buyer. His fees are paid by the franchise brand if and when a placement is made, which means 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 guided nearly 3,000 candidates through the franchise exploration process. He now aims to help 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, sometimes called a franchise broker, acts as a guide who helps buyers find brands that fit their goals, financial profile, and lifestyle, at no cost to the buyer. The distinction Matt emphasizes is depth: an honest, in-depth process built around the candidate, rather than simply connecting buyers with whichever brand pays the highest referral fee.
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