The Comeback Generation

As a business and CRE strategist, I have an opportunity to work with businesses in many disciplines and of various sizes. Over the past couple of years, no matter where I’ve traveled, I have come in contact with young entrepreneurs in the 28 – 45 range that are building some amazing businesses. From multi-chain restaurants, daycares and multi-family units to tech companies, food trucks, and hair salons.

What has become very obvious is this group is the key to our nations economic comeback. The primary thought being they are well educated (street or school) and fearless. They understand risk taking and are willing to fail and learn to get to the next level. To put it plainly, “they get it! “I’ll refer to this group as the “Young Turks” for the remainder of our conversation.

The Young Turks I have met span the full range of ethnicities and race and are 55% women. They have really studied the market space they want to invade and understand the importance of social engagement. They have worked for companies in the same space, figured out what their employers are doing wrong and are willing to take the risk themselves.

However, I have also noticed many Young Turks are operating their businesses on talent and intelligence, which invariably runs into problems when life interrupts. They don’t always have a foundation built around core values, standard operating procedures, or strategic planning.

Fortunately, this can be taught, and the Young Turks are willing to learn. I mentor more than 20 Young Turks from nascent entrepreneurs to those looking to open their second location. Some are already millionaires and others are under-employed and looking for a way out.

So why do I think they are the keys to our comeback?

When you think about the current state of our economy, it’s not only the lack of affordable housing, inflation, or crime that is causing the problems, but sustainable growth.?COVID change consumer behavior and as a result consumers are driven more by the emotive parts of life. This has been translated into more remote workers and an unwillingness on the part of employees to work in toxic environments.

The result of this change is slowed consumption for companies who have not adjusted to changes in their employees and customer’s values and expectations. This has opened doors for the Young Turks who understand consumer behaviors, and many have been able to use their skills with social engagement to keep a steady flow of business.

It is this business smarts and determination that will prove to be the saving grace across many segments of our economy, but we (Baby Boomers & Gen X) need to do our part. We need to work together to support the Young Turks with mentorship and funding.

I really enjoy working with young visionaries because their minds are so expansive and without fear of failure they are constantly challenging the norms. However, many times the Young Turk’s visions are so large, the details of what is necessary to actually bring it to fruition are not considered. They get snagged by the day-to-day aspects of building, growing, and sustaining a successful company. ?

What do I want you to do about it?

What I want you to do is the same thing I am doing, find Young Turks in your market and support them both from your years of experience and investment. If you are above the age of 50, your best way of retiring the way you envisioned is to have at least six revenue streams. Let the Young Turks provide the vision and the energy, and you supply structure and capital.

I have partnerships where I have provided capital for equity in their companies and I’m there to make sure their stumbles aren’t fatal. It’s not my job to tell them how to run their company, but to allow them to work out issues through planning, research, and analysis.

When life throws a curve ball, I ask them to walk me through what went wrong, if they cannot, we take the time to write out a course correction strategy with KPIs, a timeline, and periodic check-ins to see how the strategy is progressing. Those that work are put into standard operating procedures and the others are reworked for other scenarios or dropped all together.

Once they have worked through a couple of problems and built the resulting adjustments, they begin to understand the value of planning, processes, and systems and our check-ins are less frequent. Since I helped them realize the solution themselves, there is never a reluctance to come to me when there is an issue. We just go to the whiteboard and work it out.

Finally, we need more nontraditional forms of raising capital, whether it’s family funds, opportunity zone funding, or groups of individuals who have discretionary funds to lend. Access to capital will fuel the growing number of Young Turks who want to make money solving social issues. Whether its building tiny houses to offer a solution to homelessness or building state-of-the-art learning centers in underrepresented neighborhoods, these Young Turks are poised to have generational impact on our nation if they are given the proper opportunities and support.