What Happens When a Community Collapses?

Last year, newspapers reported on 73-year-old Hidekazu Yokoyama, a business owner in northern Japan who did something unthinkable — he sold his profitable logistics company for $0.

His business wasn’t failing. It had a 30% profit margin, 17 employees, all the necessary equipment, and nearly 150 acres of land. And yet, he gave it away, for free.

Yokoyama had no other choice. In Japan, business sales aren’t the norm. Traditionally, you pass down a company to a family member or a trusted apprentice. But there was no one left to take it. Yokoyama’s children didn’t want it. His employees weren’t interested. His town’s young people had already moved to the cities. So he listed the business for free, on the condition that someone, anyone, move to his small, remote town, learn the trade, and keep it running.

He’s not alone in this struggle. Japan is facing a demographic crisis that threatens the survival of thousands of businesses just like his:

The median age of citizens is headed above 50.

Young people aren’t getting married.

The birth rate is at an all-time low.

To help struggling owners, Japan has expanded buyer-seller matching programs. In 2021, those programs successfully found buyers for 2,413 businesses, but that same year, 44,000 shut down. More than half of them were still profitable when they closed. And the problem is about to get tougher.

This year, Japan will have an estimated 2.5 million businesses owned by people in their 70s, many of whom have no succession plan. In 2019, it was predicted that if nothing changes in Japan by 2025, 630,000 profitable businesses could close, 6.5 million jobs could be lost, and $165 billion could be wiped from the economy.

This Isn’t Just Japan’s Problem

By 2030, Baby Boomers in America will be 65 or older, meaning thousands of business owners will hit retirement age every single day. The good news is there’s a strong demand here for acquiring and owning good businesses. But this crisis isn’t just about money. It’s about something deeper, a collapse in connection.

When connection fades, so do things that come with it. The relationships, the skills, the shared traditions, and the sense of belonging that once made people want to stay, contribute, and build. Craftsmanship disappears. Local knowledge vanishes. The ties that hold a place together unravel. And when that happens, rebuilding isn’t easy. But recently, we’ve noticed something that made us stop and think. Something that suggests the story isn’t fully written yet.

It happened up close, right in our own Contrarian Community…

Just Have a Little Faith

For years, church membership in America has followed a predictable trajectory — down. Fewer people identifying with a religion, fewer people showing up for services, fewer people tied into a local community.

The decline has been so steady that many assume it’s permanent. But lately, we’ve noticed something interesting. The Catholic prayer app Hallow just had its biggest day in history, larger than the year it ran a Super Bowl ad. Nearly half a million people downloaded the app in a single day.

At the same time, conversations around faith and church attendance seem to be surfacing more often, and in circles you might not expect, like in Silicon Valley, where some feared that online platforms — prayer apps, faith-based social media groups, or digital sermons — would replace in-person churchgoing. In some cases, it seems they might be sparking more engagement.

This is worth paying attention to, and here’s why.

One of our own Contrarian Community members recently spent the past year searching for the right business to buy. He spoke with dozens of owners, listened to their stories, and learned from their experiences. None of those conversations immediately led to a deal, but they shaped his thinking and refined his approach.

Then, an unexpected opportunity came from a familiar place — his church.

A fellow church member who owned a pool service company knew our member was looking to get into a service business. He mentioned to the member that he’d been considering launching a pool tile cleaning business, but hadn’t moved forward with it. That conversation sparked an idea, which eventually turned into a partnership between the two of them.

This is REALLY cool, but it actually shouldn’t be surprising. For generations, places like church and Main Street were where these organic connections happened. It was the coffee shop, the barber shop, the local business owner leaning on the counter talking to a regular customer. It was a network built on relationships and neighbors, not followers.

That middle layer, the casual but consistent relationships that form in shared spaces, is disappearing. It’s why we believe the people who understand how to rebuild it through small businesses, local organizations, and tight-knit communities will be the ones who thrive.

Having the right people in the right places creates leverage. When you surround yourself with the right network, opportunities surface in ways that can’t be engineered.

Build on Bedrock, Not on Sand

Businesses that truly endure aren’t built on trends; they’re built on principles. Jeff Bezos understood this when he built Amazon. Instead of predicting what would change, he had his team focus on what wouldn’t.

• People will always want lower prices.
• People will always want faster delivery.
• People will always want more selection.

Read this quote, you won’t regret it:

This is the foundation of a Bedrock Business, one that doesn’t rely on whims or hype. Instead, it operates on fundamental principles, serving needs that are undeniably real, highly valued, and long-term.

Most people don’t think this way. They chase what’s hot. They optimize for short-term returns. They believe they’re betting on the future, when in reality, they’re gambling on variables they can’t control. A smarter path? Build around what’s inevitable.

America’s Bedrock Business

While confidence in media, government, and major institutions has collapsed, small businesses remain THE primary institution that Americans across the spectrum still clearly trust. Guess what? Main Street businesses have operated on the same bedrock principles for generations.

• Many solve real, local problems that don’t disappear overnight.
• They foster real, local relationships that aren’t disrupted by an algorithm change.
• Owners and employees operate in real, local economies where trust truly matters.
• They can serve as centers of community in ways other institutions can’t.

In a world addicted to chasing what’s changing next, a real advantage can come from simply understanding what may not change. We, for one, believe something that won’t change anytime soon is exactly this: Americans’ belief in Main Street.

So, What’s The Most Expensive Thing You’ll Ever Pay For?

Now you know.

It’s isolation. We engineered the world for comfort. No lines, no friction, no small talk, no interaction. Everything you need, delivered in a click. But this comes at a cost.

It costs us the opportunities that didn’t happen because we weren’t in the room. It costs us insights we never heard because we muted the conversation. It costs us the ideas, friendships, and laughs we simply missed out on.

They sold us on isolation, and we bought it. The bill might not be in dollars — but it may damn well be the most expensive thing we ever pay for.

FREE RESOURCE

Here’s How We Can Help YOU...

Now you know, dealmakers aren’t built in isolation.

Spend enough time around the right people, and soon you’ll learn to think like them. A great way to get in the room to start leveling up? Join Codie & team on March 19th for a free, live deal breakdown. We’ll cover:

✅ How to Buy the Right Business for You

→ Build your deal box to find a business that fits your time, profit, and personal goals.

✅ How to Spot Red Flags

→ Avoid costly mistakes well before you ever sign a dotted line.

✅ Live Q&A

→ No fluff. No theory. Just real strategies and direct answers to your biggest questions.

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