If the business depends on you, it's not a business — it's a job with extra steps.
Buyers want businesses that run without the owner. Your job between now and the sale is to build the five systems that remove you from the equation.
## 1. Sales system Documented process from lead to close that anyone can follow.
## 2. Operations system How work gets done, measured, and quality-controlled — without you checking it.
## 3. People system How you hire, train, evaluate, and fire. Turnover is a failure of this system.
## 4. Financial system Monthly close, cash flow management, reporting. A bookkeeper and an accountant are not a system.
## 5. Marketing system Predictable customer acquisition that doesn't depend on you networking.
Build these five, and your business becomes worth more than its assets.