For more than 17 years, Randy Rudasics has guided, educated and inspired future business owners in his role as manager of the Yampa Valley Entrepreneurship Center.

“I’ve really enjoyed meeting the individual entrepreneurs and listening to their dreams,” Rudasics said Thursday. “I enjoyed helping them get a little focus on making that dream a reality.”

Earlier in the week, the longtime Steamboat Spring resident announced that he is retiring as manager of the center, which is run through the Routt County Economic Development Partnership. Rudasics said he is excited and plans to spend more time on the slopes this winter and more time pursuing his own personal interests.

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“I am pushing 67, so you can do the math,” Rudasics said. “I’m fit and healthy, but there are some things that I want to get done before my body starts to slow down a bit. I also want to ski my (butt) off as well.”

Rudasics’ run will end Dec. 15, but he plans to continue to work about 10 hours a week doing one-on-one business counseling, and will host a seminar this winter.

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“What he has brought to the community is incalculable,” said John Bristol, executive director of the Routt County Economic Development Partnership. “He has been there to advise, help and counsel entrepreneurs and existing business owners along their journey in launching and growing their businesses.”

Bristol said he has also been there with the hard truth, when needed.

“In some cases, he was there kind of encouraging people to go in other directions because when people put their life savings, or credit, on the line to start a business, they need to have a good plan,” Bristol said. “Sometimes those are hard conversations.”

Rudasics said the center got started in 1999 after Rob Dick, a Colorado Mountain College trustee, saw a need for a business center and got things rolling inside Bogue Hall, which was not being used. The center moved to a business incubator a few years later when Bogue was torn down as the college expanded, and then spent a year inside the Honey Stinger headquarters when the college grew its nursing program.

Last year, when the program joined the Routt County Economic Development Partnership, the two moved into the same building. Rudasics followed longtime local Scott Ford, who was the first full-time manager of the center and ran it for six years before handing it over to Rudasics.

“I look at the woman that runs 10th Street Barber Shop, or the owner of Drunken Onion, who both have had long runs in the community, and are very successful businesses … these are people that, back in the day, we helped with a budget and helped figure out how to write a plan,” Rudasics said. “That doesn’t include all the hundreds of people that have submitted plans as part of our (business plan) competition.”

Rudasics said the Yampa Valley Entrepreneurship Center plays an important role in the Steamboat Springs community.

“Nobody’s moving here with a business, it’s too expensive,” Rudasics said. “People don’t have housing or can’t come here from Aurora or Fort Collins to start a business because the threshold for housing is too high. But if you live here already, there’s a path to provide services that we need. Most businesses in this community are less than 20 employees. They are small contracting firms, small hair salons and small restaurants. That’s the meat-and-potatoes of who we provide services to — those micro businesses, and, excuse the expression, those mom-and-pops — that are helping us meet our needs week to week.”

Through November of this year, Rudasics has provided 63 counseling sessions through the center, and Bristol said he expects him to complete 70 by year-end. Those business counseling sessions are just part of what Rudasics offered. He also invited the community in for business seminars aimed to teach entrepreneurs.

In addition, he organized the annual business pitch competitions that have launched a number of local efforts including Chill Angel, Grass Sticks, Mountain Pine Manufacturing, Hive 180, Town Hall Outdoor and Steamboat Social Club.

Bristol said the center has played a key role in launching these businesses that have added to the economic diversity of our community.

“It is a cornerstone program,” Bristol said. “Certainly, we will take time to make sure we have the right structure, but I would say that those three core elements that Randy brought — business counseling, business seminars and the business plan competition — are the foundation and will continue. It’s more of a question of what else do we want to add.”

Rudasics has set a goal to be on the mountain 30 days this winter, but he can also see what he is leaving behind.

“I can drive up and down Lincoln Avenue and point to the businesses here and there that we had a small hand in helping get started,” Rudasics said. “Maybe it was an hour discussion, maybe they came back for help with a budget, but it’s fun to look around and see successful business people that are starting to retire themselves.”