Run It Like You’re Selling It

Most workshop owners aren’t thinking about selling.

They’re too busy quoting, delivering, chasing materials, or jumping on the tools.

But here’s the thing: even if you’re not planning to sell your business, you should still run it like you are.

Because when you run it like it’s being prepared for sale - clean, systemised, and self-sufficient - you unlock three powerful things:

• A better business today
  
  
• More freedom as the owner
  
  
• And yes, a higher valuation if you ever do decide to exit
  
  

1. Pretend a Buyer Is Walking Through Tomorrow

Would they see a business that runs without you, or one that relies entirely on you?

Ask yourself:

• Could someone else take over the quoting if needed?
  
  
• Is your job tracking system visible and up to date?
  
  
• Do your numbers tell a story without needing you to explain it?
  
  

If the answer is no, that’s where your focus should be.

Even if no buyer is coming, the exercise forces you to build something more robust and less reliant on you.

2. Make Yourself Less Essential

This one sounds backwards, but it’s critical.

If everything depends on you, pricing, chasing suppliers, checking quality, final signoff, you don’t have a business. You have a job with overhead.

Great businesses have owners who can step away without everything grinding to a halt.

Start by building systems for:

• Quoting and margin targets
  
  
• Scheduling and job tracking
  
  
• Communication and change approvals
  
  

Then train others to use them.

You’re still the captain, but the ship should sail without you on deck every minute.

3. Clean Up the Back End

When a business is for sale, buyers want clean books, solid systems, and clarity.

That’s also exactly what you should want if you’re trying to grow, hire, or take time off.

So treat your financials like someone else is going to audit them.

Get clear on job costing.

Track time properly.

Keep your quotes, invoices, and POs in one place, not across spreadsheets, emails, and memory.

You don’t need to be fancy. You just need to be consistent.

4. Build for Value, Not Just Output

A workshop that’s doing $2 million in sales but bleeding margin is less valuable than one doing $1.2 million with strong profits and happy repeat clients.

Don’t chase volume for the sake of it. Chase control.

Margins, systems, relationships - that’s what builds value.

And whether you ever sell or not, it’s also what builds a business that’s less stressful to run and easier to grow.

Final Word

Running it like you’re selling it doesn’t mean letting go. It means levelling up.

It means building a business that works without chaos, without guesswork, and without needing you in every decision.

It means creating something that’s actually worth something, even if the only person who ever owns it is you.