Reduce owner dependence before you sell

This is educational. It is not a management consulting engagement, and it does not say what your business is worth.

Buyers pay less, or walk, when the earnings are the owner. The valuation estimator on this site lowers the multiple when the owner works full time, and it says so on the page. That adjustment is NewHands's teaching band, not a market statistic.

Write the week

For two weeks, write what you actually do: who calls you, which prices you set, which vendor you are the only one who can reach. Do not edit it into a job description. The list is the business.

Name the second person

Someone besides you has to run a week. If that person exists, write their name and what they already decide. If they do not, the 1-year plan is a hire or a promotion, with a wage a buyer can see in the payroll. A title without a wage is not a manager.

Price the replacement

If a buyer will have to hire your replacement, that wage is a subtraction from the earnings you are selling, not an add-back. Put the number on the add-back worksheet as a subtraction and keep the receipt or the job posting.

Move the relationships

Customers, the landlord, and the largest vendor should meet the second person before a buyer does. One introduction a week is enough. Do not announce a sale while you do this. The confidentiality guide is the order for telling people.

Ninety days of not being the estimator

Pick the job you are the bottleneck for — often estimating, scheduling, or the bank relationship — and stop doing it for a season while you are still the owner. If the week falls apart, you learned that before a buyer did.

SCORE mentors and Small Business Development Centers can sit with you while you write this down. They do not certify that the business runs without you. Turnkey Ready's transition-plan box is your statement that a plan exists. NewHands does not audit it.