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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Business
Gene Marks

OK boomers, the small business world is ready for you guys to move on

‘'Thanks to our stubbornness, much of our technology is still steeped in the 1970s.’
‘'Thanks to our stubbornness, much of our technology is still steeped in the 1970s.’ Photograph: RapidEye/Getty Images

I’m not exactly a baby boomer, but I’m pretty darn close. The standard definition of this generation is that they were born between the years after the second world war and 1964. I was born in 1965, close, so go ahead, call me a boomer if you want. I’m not ashamed. But there’s one thing I do know: the small business world will be much better off when the boomers ride off into the sunset.

According to data from Wilmington Trust, baby boomers own 2.3m businesses in the country and employ about 25 million people, which means that a third of Americans depend on these businesses for their income and tens of millions more – vendors, suppliers, freelancers – also depend on these businesses for their livelihood.

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