Episode 105

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Published on:

15th Feb 2024

Ep. 105 Franchising Forward with Scott Abbott, CEO of Five Star Franchising

In this episode of Investors & Operators, Jordan sits down with Scott Abbott, CEO of Five Star Franchising. 

After launching 20 companies, selling 11, and expanding Five Star Franchising from 50 to 800 locations in less than 3 years, Scott has become an expert in all aspects of franchising. In this episode, Scott joins Jordan to discuss the different dynamics of achieving business success while also balancing their roles as CEO and father. Together, they discuss:


  • Emotions from Selling Five Star Painting
  • Pros & Cons of Working with PE
  • Types of Franchise Fees


...and so much more.


Top Takeaways

  • Who am I now? After selling Five Star Painting, Scott struggled to find his purpose outside of being a founder and CEO. “Who am I now? What’s my purpose? Why am I here?”. He shares how this transition period can be very challenging to navigate after putting your heart and soul into something, highlighting the importance of finding your purpose and identity outside your professional roles and titles.


  • No advice allowed. Instead of dictating advice and solutions to your peers, encourage open dialogue where individuals can freely share their experience and insights. Scott emphasizes the importance of peer-to-peer coaching and experience sharing. When providing a collaborative environment, people can make informed decisions tailored to their unique circumstances that works best for them. 


  • Empowering your employees. Scott’s commitment to empowerment extends beyond Five Star’s mission statement and business success; it’s ingrained in his everyday life. By prioritizing empowerment within his organization and family, Scott is able to not only achieve financial success, but can also foster personal growth and fulfillment for him, his children, and his franchise partners.
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About the Podcast

Investors & Operators
A Podcast by 51 Labs
The M&A market can be boring, but everyone has a story. The Investors & Operators podcast is about discovering the stories people were holding back, didn’t know how to tell, or forgot about. The goal is simple: fresh, authentic storytelling to bring people together in the M&A community.

With over 1M organic views and counting on LinkedIn, 51 Labs is disrupting the M&A market through the use of videography and content creation. In a market that longs for authenticity, 51 Labs helps strengthen your brand and tell your story. From concept to distribution, we strategize and produce thoughtful content to be used across a multitude of channels, to help you stand out in an otherwise traditionally boring market.

New episodes every other Thursday at 6:00am Eastern.

About your host

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Jordan Selleck

Founder. Recovering Investment Banker. 3x Entrepreneur. Philz Coffee Enthusiast.

Jordan Selleck is a recovering investment banker turned 3x entrepreneur. While teaching English in China, Jordan met an investment banker in a bar and before he knew it he’d spent six years in cross-border investment banking advising global corporates and private equity firms on M&A deals up to $250 million.

As much as Jordan loved investment banking, he always knew he was meant to do something more. In 2016, Jordan founded Debtmaven, a deal management platform for debt financing in the lower middle market. It was while he was marketing Debtmaven on LinkedIn that Jordan found his true passion: building meaningful relationships in the lower middle market.

Seeing over 50% of Debtmaven’s $450million+ in deals come from LinkedIn, he realized he’d found an untapped market and began his journey with LinkedIn consulting. Dozens of clients and a handful of extraordinarily talented employees later, 51 Labs is a thriving marketing agency for the lower middle market that produces captivating content and generates organic traffic across LinkedIn.

Jordan was born in San Diego, grew up in North Carolina and attended UNC-Chapel Hill. He has traveled to 32 countries, lived in China for 18 months, trains Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, is a fourth-generation private pilot, SCUBA dives, speaks Mandarin Chinese, and is a husband and father of 2.