Today in 5 minutes or less:

✔️ 1 Giant Lesson From Uncle Eb

✔️ The Man Who Sold His Business For $0

✔️ What You Must Do (3 Steps)

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1 Giant Lesson From Uncle Eb

Years ago, Uncle Eb founded a plumbing business in Phoenix. It made him millions of dollars. For several decades, he and his wife lived the American Dream.

The business let them take boat trips down to Mexico, stay in a cabin in the mountains, and even fly a little two-prop plane. At its height, the business was worth several million. Then Eb got older and sicker.

Suddenly, priorities flipped. The company meant less to him than spending time with his wife and kids. So, what do you think he did with the business? The happy ending would be that he handed it off to a family member or employee. Or at least cashed out with a private equity firm. But that’s not what happened.

He just slowly closed it down. In fact, he had to pay money — and his wife had to do a lot of work — to shut it down compliantly. His customers, his team, his processes. Poof. All gone. This story is more common than you think. It’s playing out all over the world, and it’s coming to your neighborhood soon if it hasn’t already.

We need the next generation to step up, take back Main Street, and get rich doing it. That’s the lesson from Uncle Eb.

The Man Who Sold His Business For $0

Last year, newspapers reported on 73-year-old Hidekazu Yokoyama’s logistics business in the remote north of Japan.

Long story short, this man sold his profitable business for $0. It ran at a 30% profit margin. The sale included 17 employees, all the equipment, and nearly 150 acres of land. What on God’s green earth was he thinking?

Here’s why he gave it all away for free:

Selling your business isn’t so common in Japanese culture. You pass your business over to a family member or a trusted employee. Not a stranger. Certainly not a competitor. But ideal successors are few & far between in Japan today.

The country is facing an economic crisis:

The median age of citizens is headed above 50.

Young people aren’t getting married.

The fertility rate is at an all-time low.

So Mr. Yokoyama was stuck…

• At 73, he knew he couldn’t run the business for much longer
• But his kids didn’t want to run it
• Neither did his employees

To help bridge the gap for owners like him, buyer-seller matching programs have become more common in Japan. In 2021, those matching programs found buyers for 2,413 businesses. Impressive, until you realize 44,000 businesses still shut down. And 55% of them were still profitable when they closed.

On top of all this, Mr. Yokoyama’s business was located in a cold northern area with a declining economy. Most young people were moving to cities. The town’s residents (and the business’s employees) were all in their 50s or older.

So, he did something bold… He listed his business for zero yen. But there was still a cost:

• Move to a frozen, remote town in Japan
• With a slowly shrinking economy
• Learn a brand new business
• Be young & willing to work

Even so, he luckily found a taker. But not everyone will be so lucky. In 2025, Japan will have 2.5 MILLION businesses owned by people in their 70s. Many of them have NO succession plan. It’s a demographic time bomb ticking away at the heart of Japan’s economy. The potential fallout? It's not pretty:

• 630,000 businesses closed
• 6.5 million jobs lost
• $165 billion wiped from the economy
• Generations of craftsmanship, culture, and legacy... gone

Japan isn’t alone. We are worried America is slowly veering toward a similar cliff. By 2030, Baby Boomers will be 65+. That’s thousands of people hitting retirement age DAILY. A good number are business owners with no succession plan.

The numbers are staggering:

• Millions of boomer-owned businesses
• Worth trillions collectively
• Employing tens of millions people

Sound familiar? But it’s not too late to address it, and some already are.

We just need more people to be empowered & educated on HOW to do it.

What Some of You Must Do (3 Steps)

1. Build relationships with older business owners
2. Learn how to build, operate, and maybe one day buy a business
3. Help us build a MOVEMENT of ownership in this country

We’re already revving it up…

…But there’s a long way to go. 2025 is the year we bring Main Street roaring back — because we need to. That’s why we’re building a financial education and media company.

The university system as we know it might collapse in our lifetime. And maybe it should…

We need to uplift teaching again. Push back on the idea that education outside Wharton doesn’t count. We need to teach people how to think, not what. The best business school? Being in business. And yet, they’ve charged us a fortune for less. This isn’t the future.

Khan Academy and YouTube started this revolution — but learning isn’t just online. We need cohorts, accountability, workshops, and forums. Contrarian Thinking is here to be the lever for this change. Real lessons for real builders.

Your minds are our nation’s greatest asset. Let’s put them to use.

1 MORE THING

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