By on May 28, 2007

Can Your Business Exist Without You?

10



What would happen to your business if you suddenly died in an accident? Would if fall apart or run smoothly in another persons hands?

Being Memorial Day I was thinking about our troops when it it dawned on me that out of the thousands of reservists who are now active duty, many own their own businesses and some probably own online businesses. What did they do when called up?

Whether it’s in relation to death or just incapacity to oversee day to day operations, we all need a plan to make sure our businesses are self sufficient and can provide for our families future. Here’s a good start for such a plan.

  1. Create a will and a living will outlining my desires for the business.
  2. Put everything under an LLC/Corportation so I am only a stock holder and not an owner. Should I die, the only thing that must be willed to a family member is my stock. Domains, Adsense, etc do not have to be transfered to a new owner.
  3. Create a living document that is updated quarterly with all the companies assets like domains, hosting accounts, revenue accounts, both business and personal email accounts, etc (with logins for each) laid out in plain english. This document will remain in both the hands of my family lawyer and a safety deposit box.
  4. Create another document outlining the day to day operations of all websites and future plans. Describe how they operate, what systems they are built upon, and and detailed technical specifications whether obvious or not.
  5. Slowly wean myself off doing the day to day operations such as content creation, link building, user moderation, server maintenance, etc by hiring freelancers or in house employees if money permits. Start to work “on” my business and not “in” my business.

I think #5 is the most important aspect and actually just good business. As a business owner, you should be the ambassador for my company and not it’s manual labor. I know many people are not in the position yet to make such a move, but the sooner you can start hiring help, the faster your revenue will grow. SEOBlackHat puts it better than I can with “You are the CEO“.

What’s easier to take over, down and dirty webmaster work or management of workers who are familiar with their duties? So act like a CEO and keep good documentation on how to run the business and it’s workers. Your bank account and your family will thank you for it.


Similar Stories in: General, Legal | Forward: Email This Post

Similar posts you may like...

10 comments on “Can Your Business Exist Without You?”

  1. Who’s The Boss? YOU. Says:

    May 28th, 2007 at 6:17 pm

    [...] I’m sitting here scanning through my feedreader on this lovely Memorial Day (waiting for the grill to get cleaned up and ready to use) and I found this post by Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim about preparing your business to be able to survive without you. In it, Andy points to a super inspiring post by QuadsZilla over at Black Hat SEO. (Don’t worry, I’m not changing hats…) [...]

  2. Lara Kulpa Says:

    May 28th, 2007 at 6:36 pm

    Wow – thanks for posting this, and the link to BHSEO’s post as well.

    Color me inspired. :)

    Happy Memorial Day, Andy!

  3. Lara Kulpa Says:

    May 28th, 2007 at 6:36 pm

    Oops – SEO Black Hat that is… *off to correct*

  4. Jeremy Luebke Says:

    May 28th, 2007 at 6:42 pm

    Do Andy and I look that much alike? ;)

  5. Lara Kulpa Says:

    May 28th, 2007 at 6:45 pm

    I changed that too!!
    I think the Memorial Day beverages have made me less observant… I’m so sorry Jeremy!

    Happy Memorial Day to YOU too, Jeremy!

  6. Jeremy Luebke Says:

    May 28th, 2007 at 6:48 pm

    Haha just poking fun. People are so used to it being the Andy blog and Feedburner shows all blogs by Andy that it happens a lot.

    Glad to hear someone will be acting on this. :D

  7. Lara Kulpa Says:

    May 28th, 2007 at 6:50 pm

    Absolutely – I’m definitely inspired by it. Likely posting a call for freelancers myself very soon! :D

  8. Owen Says:

    May 29th, 2007 at 6:57 am

    Great post. I always take great pains to make sure my clients are self-sufficient and I don’t become indispensable to their business. Don’t think I’ve ever looked inward at my operation though! Maybe it’s because I only do this part-time as a hobby, but if I ever intend to grow, your advice will be invaluable.

  9. Tim L. Walker Says:

    June 24th, 2007 at 12:59 am

    Thanks for this post… I’ve been meaning to do this. Got a site recommendation for someone on how to get the ball rolling for something like this?

  10. Who’s The Boss? YOU. Says:

    October 16th, 2008 at 8:03 am

    [...] ready to use) and I found this post by Andy Beal (oops!) Jeremy Luebke of Marketing Pilgrim about preparing your business to be able to survive without you. In it, Jeremy points to a super inspiring post by QuadsZilla over at SEO Black Hat. (Don’t [...]