Baby Boomer Entrepreneurs Starting Businesses Later in Life
1. 3/20/2015 McHenry County baby boomer entrepreneurs describe experiences starting off | Northwest Herald
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McHenry County baby boomer
entrepreneurs describe experiences
starting off
Published: Friday, March 20, 2015 5:41 p.m. CDT
In November 2013, 51-year-old Mike Ammer, of Huntley, found himself feeling burned out in an
industry he'd been part of for 32 years.
In the automotive industry, Ammer had been managing two different car dealerships, one in
Chicago and one in Merrillville, Indiana.
"I was gone from the house 14 hours a day," he said. "I was good at what I did, and I did have a
passion for it, but I felt myself losing that passion, and when that happened, I knew it was time
for me to move on."
So in April 2014, he, along with his wife, set out to start their own business, a Mathnasium
learning center in Crystal Lake. In the process, Ammer became part of a more widely
recognized and growing group of entrepreneurs older than 50.
Baby boomers, generally people born between 1946 and 1964, are twice as likely than
millennials to plan their own businesses, according to January Gallup Poll findings.
The poll, from a study of nearly 2,000 American baby boomers, observed the reasons why they
tended to set out on these business endeavors at the time they did.
A majority 32 percent of the boomers said their choice circled around becoming more
independent, which is an idea similar to that of Ammer's at the time of their business' launch.
"The independence was part of it," he said. "You can run a business the way you want to run it
and that was definitely an attraction."
Twenty-seven percent said the pursuit of passion is what prompted their enterprises; 24 percent
said the new business was aimed at bringing in new income; and 10 percent starting a venture
because of an idea for a new product of service.
While success among boomer-aged people isn't necessarily a new phenomenon,
entrepreneurship experts said it's still a newer trend people are starting to pay attention to.
Eric Liguori, vice president of publications for the United States Association for Small Business
and Entrepreneurship, said it's actually quite logical to see people in that age range thrive in
entrepreneurial ventures.