Today’s most motivated business owners build for what comes next
By Kristie Kalinowski
Ask most people to describe the American Dream and they will reach for the language of independence and financial security. These are real motivations, and they have driven business ownership for generations. But spend time with the people entering service-based business ownership today, and a different answer surfaces more often than those.
They are building for their children.
This is not a new aspiration. Anyone who has spent time in the hospitality industry understands it deeply. Multi-generational ownership has been a defining feature of hotel franchising for decades, particularly among first- and second-generation American families who built portfolios property by property, often with the explicit goal of creating something their children could inherit, operate, and grow.
The American Dream, in that tradition, was never really about the individual. It was always about the generation that comes next.
What is changing today is that this motivation is showing up more broadly, across more industries, among a more diverse cross-section of ownership candidates than at any previous point. And the service businesses best positioned for the next decade are the ones paying attention to what is driving these owners.
For ownership groups thinking about long-term strength, a diversified portfolio of operators – across background, community, and perspective – is not just a reflection of who the customer base is; it is a strategy for building something that lasts.
The Ownership Pipeline Is Changing
The data on who is pursuing business ownership today tells part of the story. The International Franchise Association reports women now own approximately 30 percent of service-based businesses, up from just over 20 percent a decade ago. Immigrants and their children, who represent roughly 14 percent of the U.S. population, own nearly one in five U.S. businesses, according to Gusto’s 2024 Immigrant Entrepreneur Report. Millennial business ownership rose 49 percent between 2023 and 2024.
These are not marginal shifts. They represent a fundamental broadening of who sees themselves as a business owner.
But the more revealing data point is not demographic. It is motivational. Gusto’s research found that 85 percent of second-generation entrepreneurs list creating a business that supports their families far into the future as their top priority.
For anyone who has watched a family pass a business to the next generation, that motivation is instantly recognizable.
What Legacy-Driven Owners Bring to the Table
Owners motivated by legacy tend to operate differently than those motivated primarily by income or independence. They invest in their teams because they understand that the business must be able to run without them. They are more likely to pursue growth, weather difficult periods, and stay engaged with the systems and support structures available to them.
This is the profile increasingly showing up in wellness franchise ownership pipelines, and it is exactly the profile that structured business systems were built to support.
Wellness attracts owners motivated by more than return on investment. The nature of the business – helping people feel better, building community around self-care, creating a place people return to month after month – resonates deeply with owners building for the long term.
A transferable business requires documented processes, consistent training, and reliable operational infrastructure. The owner who wants to hand something meaningful to their children needs all of those things in place.
They also bring a community orientation and culture-building instinct that makes service businesses stronger over time. A parent opening a business with the intention of eventually handing it to their child is not thinking in quarters. They are thinking in decades.
That time horizon shapes how they hire, invest in their team, and deliberately build the kind of culture that becomes the business’s identity. In service businesses, that culture is often the most valuable thing passed down.
The Industry’s Responsibility to This Moment
The systems designed to support legacy-driven owners need to be built with that motivation in mind. That means treating owners as long-term partners, acknowledging that first-generation entrepreneurs and career changers bring enormous capability alongside real knowledge gaps, and removing financial barriers that disproportionately affect immigrant and underrepresented owners who are statistically less likely to receive traditional financing despite strong fundamentals.
Most importantly, it means understanding that the people building for legacy need something specific from the organizations they partner with: Confidence that the system they are investing in will still be worth inheriting. That the brand, the support structure, and the operational model will hold up not just for the person who opens the doors, but for whoever walks through them next.
Bigger Than One Generation
The conversation around the American Dream in business tends to center on the moment of ownership – the leap, the risk, the independence. What gets less attention is what comes after. The years of building. The decisions made with the next generation in mind. The quiet, deliberate work of creating something worth passing down.
The hotel industry has understood this for a long time. The most enduring ownership stories in hospitality are not about individuals who bet on themselves. They are about families who bet on each other, across generations, and built something that outlasted the founder.
That story is being written in service industries across the country right now, by a new and broader group of owners who share the same fundamental motivation. The businesses and systems that earn their trust will not just benefit from their investment. They will become part of the legacy itself.
Kristie Kalinowski is vice president of franchise development at Allied Member Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa, a membership-based spa concept with more than 650 locations across North America. She can be reached at kkalinowski@handandstone.com.
Image: rudall30/stock.adobe.com
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