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1851: What was it that drew you into franchising?&nbsp; 

Dustin Distefano, CEO and Head of Franchise Development for <a href="http://www.aplaceathomefranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=young-ones-to-watch-dustin-distefano-of-a-place-at-home-2705094" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Place at Home</a>: My background is in Management and Employee Development.&nbsp; My passion is to find peoples strengths and then utilize them to develop them into something better.&nbsp; To me; that is franchising.&nbsp; You get a franchise owner that has skills of some facet and want a business but do not want to reinvent the wheel.&nbsp; It is now my job to take them and mold them into a powerhouse franchise owner.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

1851: How did you get in the role you&rsquo;re in now?&nbsp;

Distefano:&nbsp;I started the original location and grew the revenue and service lines, along with my partner Jerod Evanich, and now I oversee franchise development for A Place at Home and he oversees on-boarding and training.

1851: What advice would you give to other young up-and-comers?&nbsp; 

Distefano:&nbsp;Stick with it, you will go through so many highs and lows and you might not award a franchise in the timeline that you think.&nbsp; Keeping pushing yourself and you will start to gain some momentum and then suddenly you accomplish your first franchise.&nbsp; Then reflect, look back at what you built from scratch.&nbsp; You had a vision, you built that vision, and now you just sold that vision to someone else to use in their market.&nbsp; It is very humbling

1851: What advice would you give to your younger self?&nbsp; 

Distefano:&nbsp;Be patient and don&rsquo;t get discouraged.&nbsp; Focus on helping enough people and you will achieve what you want to achieve.

1851: What advice would you give to someone deciding to own a franchise?&nbsp;

Distefano:&nbsp;Find what fits you and your passion.&nbsp; Stay away from the numbers and getting bogged down with what you can earn.&nbsp; Although you see an item 19 and think this is great, if you do not have a passion to do home care there is no way in hell you are going to hit those numbers.&nbsp;

A growth plan is great, but do not let that determine the franchise you are going to buy in too.&nbsp; They may have wide open territory in your state today, and you may say to yourself that is great I can buy this one and then this one etc.&nbsp; There are zero guarantees that that territory won&rsquo;t be sold next week.

Find a franchise that fits you and your passion that is it.&nbsp; Everything else will fall into place because you are going to be doing something you want to do.

Young Ones to Watch: Dustin Distefano of A Place at Home

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A Place at Home's CEO and Head of Franchise Development provides advice for professionals in the franchising industry.

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