How do I get my business ready to run without me, or to sell?

Write down how the business works, and move the things only you can do onto paper, into systems, or onto other people. A business that can run without you is the same business a buyer can take over. The work is identical; selling is just the version with a deadline.

Plain-language guide by E.L. Johnsdotter, founder of LEUX Design. · Published 8 October 2026

What makes a small business sellable?

A business is sellable when it keeps earning after the owner leaves. That means customers who belong to the business rather than to you, work written down so someone else can do it, records a stranger can check, and accounts and tools the business itself owns.

• Transferable customers: a client list the business owns and can export, not relationships that exist only with you. → link: R4
• Documented work: the steps written down in enough detail that a competent new person could follow them.
• Clean records: books, contracts, licences and prices that agree with each other.
• Owned accounts: domain, hosting, website, Business Profile, booking and payments, all in the business’s name. An account in a former contractor’s name is a problem discovered at the worst moment. → link: R3
• We publish no valuation figures and make no claim about what documentation does to a sale price. Treat any number you are shown as marketing until you have seen the method behind it.

What do buyers look at during due diligence?

Buyers check whether what you told them is true. Expect questions about the money, the customers, the contracts, the people, the systems and the legal basics — and expect them to ask for evidence rather than answers. Anything you cannot show in a document slows the process or costs you trust.

• Money: accounts, tax filings, bank statements, and who owes what.
• Customers: how many, how concentrated, how they were won, and whether they stay.
• Contracts and commitments: clients, suppliers, leases, subscriptions, and anything that renews.
• People: who does what, and on what terms.
• Systems and access: what the business runs on, who owns each account, and what happens when you hand over the keys.
• Legal: the entity, licences, insurance, and who owns the brand and the website files. → link: R8
• Get professional advice on the money and legal parts. We work on the systems, documentation and ownership side.

What operations documentation does a business need before it sells?

Three documents carry most of it: a map of every system the business runs on and who owns each account, a map of how each main service is actually delivered, and written procedures for the work that repeats. Together they let someone else run the business without asking you.

• A systems map: every tool, what data lives in it, who owns the account, and where information is copied by hand. → link: R6
• A service blueprint: one service end to end, with the hand-offs and the waiting marked. → link: R6
• Procedures: the repeating tasks, written as steps.
• An access and ownership record: who owns each account and how it is recovered. Not the passwords themselves.
• Write it for a stranger, not for yourself. If it only makes sense to someone who already knows, it is notes, not documentation.
• We produce operations documentation as a deliverable, with a walkthrough. → link: services page

What is an SOP, and which processes should be documented first?

An SOP is a standard operating procedure: one repeating task, written as steps someone else can follow. Document the work that happens most often and costs most when it goes wrong — how an enquiry is answered, how a job is quoted, how it is delivered, and how you get paid.

• Start with the four that touch money: enquiry, quote, delivery, payment.
• One page each. A procedure nobody reads is worse than none, because it is trusted and wrong.
• Write it while doing the task, not from memory afterwards.
• Include what to do when it goes wrong. That is the part people actually need.
• Have someone else follow it once without help. Whatever they have to ask you is the missing step.

Can my business run without me, and how do I find out?

Test it rather than guess. Take a week off and answer nothing, or hand one whole service to someone else and watch what happens. Every question you get asked, and everything that stops, is a list of what only exists in your head. That list is your work plan.

• Start smaller if a week is impossible: one day, one service, or one part of the week.
• Count the interruptions. Each one names a decision that needs a written rule.
• Watch for accounts and logins. If nobody else can get into something, the business stops when you do. → link: R3
• Then work the list in order: write the rule, put it in a system, or give it to a person.
• This is the same work whether you sell, hire, or simply want a holiday.

How far ahead should I start preparing to sell?

Start before you want to, because the slowest things cannot be done quickly: clean records over a full year or more, customers who do not depend on you, and documentation written while the work is happening. The earlier you start, the fewer decisions get made under pressure.

• Documentation is the part you can start today, and the part that helps even if you never sell.
• Ownership is cheapest to fix early and most painful to fix in a hurry. → link: R3
• Talk to an accountant and a broker about timing and value. We advise on neither. → link: services page · → link: resource center

Common questions

Do I have to want to sell for this to be worth doing?

No. The same work makes the business easier to run, easier to hire into, and easier to leave for a week. Selling is one use of it, not the reason for it.

What if everything is in my head?

That is the normal starting point. Pick one service and write down what happens as you do it. A week of that produces more than a month of planning.

Who should write the documentation?

Whoever does the work should describe it, and someone else should write it down and then try to follow it. The person who already knows cannot see the missing steps.

Will you value my business?

No. We do not value businesses and we publish no valuation figures. We build the systems documentation that a valuation or a sale relies on, and we recommend you take the financial side to an accountant.

About the author: E.L. Johnsdotter is the founder of LEUX Design, in Burlingame, California. → link: R5 founder bio