Lessons Learned from the Trenches: Strategies for Business Succession Planning
November 11, 2024
According to the State of Small Business survey, 54% of U.S. business owners are over the age of 50. In rural areas, this is a concerning statistic. In communities where there are numerous restaurants and hardware stores, losing one to an owner retiring is not a significant challenge. If they happen to own the only hardware store, it’s a different story.
Roger Hrabe, Director of Rooks County Economic Development, is diligently working to ensure his community doesn’t lose any more businesses to retirement. He shared stories of businesses that have suddenly closed due to owners' health issues or other outside factors that make closing quickly necessary. Business closure is difficult for a community that depends on that particular service, store, etc. Closing quickly also creates a financial loss since owners can lose out on the business equity they have established, leaving them with a commercial building as the only tangible asset.