What happens when life takes away everything you thought was secure and gives you an opportunity to rebuild on your own terms?

In January 2025, Matt Dorband and his wife lost their home and nearly everything they owned in the devastating Palisades fire in California.

That loss forced them to reevaluate what really mattered.

Matt was working in financial services, in a job he hated, handling difficult client conversations every day and questioning the future of the company he worked for.

Being forced to change gave Matt the courage to choose change and rebuild his life on his own terms.

That's when Matt discovered franchise consultant Kim Daly through YouTube at KimDaly.tv.

Together, they explored franchise ownership opportunities that aligned with his priorities: geographic flexibility, a manageable investment during an uncertain financial time, and the ability to leverage his consultative B2B sales experience.

Matt didn't immediately recognize The ERA Group as his ideal franchise. But through the franchise discovery process, comparing multiple business models and meeting different franchisors, the right opportunity became clear.

Approximately 18 months after working with Kim, Matt shares that building his franchise hasn't been easy, but investing in his business has been the best decision of his life.

What You'll Hear:

- How the Palisades fire changed Matt's life and priorities
- Why he left a career in financial services to pursue freedom and control
- How he found Kim Daly through YouTube
- What he wanted in a franchise: flexibility, affordability, and transferable skills
- Why exploring multiple franchise opportunities helped him find the right fit
- How his B2B sales experience translated into business ownership
- Why The ERA Group became his choice
- The realities of building a franchise business
- Why Matt calls franchise ownership the best decision of his life
- His full-circle journey from watching KimDaly.tv to becoming a guest on the show!

Approximate Chapters
00:00 – Life Happens in the Middle of Living Life
02:30 – Losing Everything in the Palisades Fire
05:30 – Rethinking Career, Family, and Freedom
08:00 – Finding Kim Daly on YouTube
10:30 – What Matt Wanted in a Franchise Business
13:30 – Exploring Different Franchise Opportunities
17:00 – Why The ERA Group Became the Right Fit
20:00 – Transferring His B2B Sales Skills
23:00 – The Realities of Building His Franchise
26:00 – Why It Was the Best Decision of His Life
29:00 – From YouTube Viewer to Franchise Owner and Podcast Guest

Life isn't always about what happens to us. It's what we choose to do with what happens to us that matters.

If you're considering a career change, exploring franchise ownership, or wondering whether it's time to take control of your future, Matt's story is one you won't want to miss.

Explore franchise ownership and connect with Kim:
https://thezeesuite.com/start

What if you could prepare yourself for the challenges of franchise ownership BEFORE you ever opened your doors?

Brittany Tryon is an Air Force veteran, athlete, and first-time franchise owner who left a career she wasn't passionate about to pursue more freedom, purpose, and control through Alloy Personal Training.

While exploring franchise opportunities with Kim Daly, Brittany discovered something unexpected: Choosing the right franchise is only part of the equation. Developing yourself as the business owner is just as important.

That's why Brittany became the first franchisee to join The Zee Suite® BEFORE opening her business.

Now that her Alloy Personal Training location is open, she's facing the challenges every new business owner must navigate. But instead of letting temporary setbacks shake her confidence, she's applying months of personal development, leaning on her community, and maintaining belief in herself, her team, and her future.

She's even sharing what she's learning with her manager and her brother, who owns a business of his own.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Brittany's journey from the Air Force to franchise ownership
• Why she chose Alloy Personal Training
• The challenges of being a first-time franchise owner
• Why she invested in personal development before opening
• How to maintain confidence when business results aren't meeting expectations
• Why two franchisees following the same system can experience different results
• How The Zee Suite® is influencing her leadership and life

Anyone can feel successful when business is good. The real test is who you become when business challenges your expectations.

Franchisors provide the system, training, and support. But how you think, respond, lead, and make decisions determines how effectively you use those tools.

That's the missing link we develop inside The Zee Suite®.

If you're buying a franchise, preparing for your grand opening, or navigating your first year of franchise ownership, this episode is for you

Approximate Chapters:
00:00 – Meet Brittany Tryon, Alloy Personal Training Franchisee
00:47 – Why Brittany Chose Franchise Ownership
05:10 – Balancing a Corporate Job with Franchise Ownership
08:36 – Why Brittany Joined The Zee Suite® Before Opening Her Franchise
11:56 – Preparing Your Mindset for Business Success
22:40 – How Mindset Impacts Customers, Teams and Business Growth
26:11 – Why Referrals Are Key to Growing a Franchise

Learn more about The Zee Suite®:
https://thezeesuite.com/start

What if the goals you’ve given up on weren’t impossible and you simply stopped believing they could happen?

When I started The Zee Suite®, Trisha Evans Bertelson was in career transition and became one of my original eight students. One of the first things we studied was Earl Nightingale’s The Strangest Secret and the simple goal-card exercise I had practiced for years.

Trisha took it seriously.

She wrote down goals that seemed almost impossible. She read them morning and night, recorded herself saying them, and listened before she went to sleep.

Over the next year, four of those seemingly impossible goals began becoming her reality.

She landed a VP role in franchise development within six months. She found a way to create more meaningful experiences with her family without waiting for “more time.” And an unexpected connection between her new career and her health helped her sustainably lose 30 pounds.

In this conversation, we talk about why so many people roll their eyes at goal setting, why the goal card itself isn't the magic, and why we often give up on our desires simply because we can't see HOW they could possibly happen.

We also talk about the one goal Trisha hasn't achieved yet, why “not yet” doesn't mean “never,” and my own dream at 15 of becoming a person of influence a dream I didn't fully understand until decades later.

And because Trisha now works in franchise development, we explore why personal development matters for the people inside the franchise industry, too. As we become better versions of ourselves, we have more to give the candidates, franchisees and people we serve.

What You’ll Hear:

• Why people stop believing in goals
• The Strangest Secret goal-card exercise
• Trisha’s four seemingly impossible goals
• Why you don't need to know HOW before deciding what you want
• Why timing doesn't determine whether a dream is possible
• How personal development impacts the way we serve others
• Why Trisha believes this work belongs inside the franchise industry
  

  Approximate Chapters

  00:00 – Meet Tricia Bertelsen and The Strangest Secret
  05:21 – Writing Down Impossible Goals
  08:13 – How the VP Role Started to Appear
  10:24 – Why You Have to Want What You Really Want
  15:34 – The Goal Tricia Hasn’t Achieved Yet
  21:58 – Why the Goal Card Itself Isn’t the Magic

Learn more about The Zee Suite®:
https://thezeesuite.com/start