The fair market wage concept is the single most important number in your business.
If you replaced yourself with a hired manager, what would you have to pay them? Now subtract that from your take-home. The result is your real profit.
Most owners never do this math. They look at their bank account and call it profit. But that's not profit — that's your salary plus your profit mixed together. When you go to sell, a buyer will pull the two apart immediately, and what's left after your fair market wage is the only number that matters.
Why this breaks businesses
We see it constantly: a business owner pulls $250k out of a business that makes $100k in real profit. They think they're doing well. Then they try to sell and discover the business is barely worth the assets.
The fix
Calculate your fair market wage first. Then calculate your real profit. Then run the business like the two are separate — because they are.