Paul Lange

All three ways in

A self-assessment for owners who want the business to run without them

A month without you.

The honest question is whether the place could run for a month without you, and what stops first if it can't.

Answer 31 questions and see your business the way someone standing in for you would: a score out of 100, the seven things that would have to hold, and the three answers to deal with first. The full report adds the next six months, in order.

Allow 45 minutes to an hour, most of it looking things up.

You can usually tell how much of a business still runs through its owner by what follows them on holiday: the calls, the approvals, the numbers nobody else can produce.

Stepping back is the easy part. Stepping out is when none of that follows you.

The assessment reads your business as somebody standing in for you would, and shows you the parts that would still pull you back in.

What comes back

Choose one: the full report or the summary report

Where I'd start

The full report on your business

USD $200

USD $200 until the end of 31 December 2026, UTC. From 1 January 2027, USD $500.

  • What someone standing in for you would see, and the answers that decide it
  • Where your score comes from, area by area
  • The next six months, each action in order, and what done looks like
  • Something in writing at the end of each action, the kind of paper a buyer or a bank asks to see
  • Read by Paul Lange before it is sent, within 72 hours
  • Your summary report in the meantime, on screen the moment you finish, and by email
Full report. What to do about your business. We bake bread and cakes for our own shops and for cafes and delis. Bakery, United Kingdom. GBP 3,100,000 of revenue in the year to March 2026, 52 people, trading since 1998. How far you could step out today: 33.5 out of 100. A job with staff.
A sample front page, for a made-up business.

Click below to pay by card or crypto (BTC or XMR). Then start the assessment. Your answers save as you go.

Buy the full report

Your summary report and score

Nothing to buy

Until the end of 31 December 2026, UTC. From 1 January 2027, USD $97.

  • Your score out of 100, and the seven readings behind it
  • The three answers somebody is most likely to press on
  • On screen the moment you finish, and emailed if you'd like
  • The full report can still be ordered from your score's page
Ready to step out? How much of this business still runs through you. How far you could step out today: 33.5 out of 100. A job with staff.
A sample front page, for a made-up business.
Start the free report

One action from a sample full report, for a made-up business

Every action in the full report is set out this way, starting from one of your answers. They're ordered across the next 30, 90 and 180 days, with the ones a buyer would mark you down for first at the front.

Action 1. Let your team handle the next problem without you

When the last serious thing went wrong, you fixed it yourself.

What it costs you. You're the one who fixes things. That looks like competence, and it's why the last serious problem found you.

Before you step back. You'd want your team to find, decide on, and fix problems without you.

The move. Next time something goes wrong, don't touch it. Let whoever owns it handle it, and hold the debrief afterwards instead. One incident will tell you more than a year of guessing.

Who does itYour team. Your part is staying out of it
How longOne incident
What it costsNothing, except the discomfort
Done whensomething has gone wrong, you found out afterwards, and it was already handled
You end up holdingA written account of the last problem your team fixed without you

Both take the same 31 questions and the same 45 minutes to an hour.

If it's for someone else, give them the full report as a gift.

The seven things that would have to hold without you

Every owner answers the same 31 questions. Coming in this way, the report reads your answers as somebody standing in for you would, and each of these seven comes back with a reading. The line under each is the reading you'd want, word for word as the report puts it. Each one starts where it would need to be for a month without you. Move it to where you think your business stands today, and see how much of it would run without you.

  1. How much of it is you

    The business runs without you, and it's evident.

    Not set yet

  2. What exists outside people's heads

    Most of how the business works is written down, not carried in your head.

    Not set yet

  3. What survives you leaving

    What makes the business work would survive you stepping out of it.

    Not set yet

  4. Whether anyone but you can read your numbers

    Somebody who is not you could check your figures in a week.

    Not set yet

  5. How solid next year's income is

    Most of next year's income is already secure, whoever is here to service it.

    Not set yet

  6. Whether it grows without you

    Growth doesn't depend on you, and the trend backs it.

    Not set yet

  7. Whether the earnings hold

    You can show what the business earns, and that it will last.

    Not set yet

Your guess

Move any of the seven to where your business stands, and your guess appears here.

100Out of 100

A business

This runs without you. What's left to do is the difference between stepping back and stepping out.

  1. A job
  2. A job with staff
  3. A business that still depends on you
  4. A business with things to fix
  5. A business

Worked out on this page from where you set the seven. Nothing you set is saved or sent.

A month away will test every one of these, whatever you set them to.

The 31 questions find out before you go, and the report reads each of the seven from your answers. It also checks two things these can't: whether the business still makes money once you're paid properly for your work, and how much rests on your biggest customer. Either can hold the number down, whatever the seven say.

Buy the full reportStart the free report

Being straight about what it is not

It's not a valuation, and it's not financial, accounting, or legal advice.

It shows you what would still pull you back in, so you can hand it over before you go. Only the month itself proves the business can do without you.

It scores what you tell it, so it's only as accurate as your answers. Where you're not sure, look it up rather than guess.

Every finding in the full report starts from one of your own answers, set out under its heading, so you can see exactly where it came from.

I read every full report before it's sent. That read isn't an audit: nobody checks your answers against your records.

No self-assessment can tell you how your own month away will go. Use it to prepare, not to predict.

The full report goes further, and nothing is held back from your summary report to sell it.

What it actually asks

31 questions about how the business really runs, plus five about the business itself, in eight parts. Allow 45 minutes to an hour, most of it looking things up.

None of it is difficult. A few of them will annoy you, and those are the ones I would pay most attention to.

What comes back is a number out of 100, the seven readings behind it, what somebody from outside is likely to notice, and the three answers they're most likely to press on. You can read it on screen the moment you finish, and have it emailed if you'd rather read it later.

Before you start

How long does it take?
Allow 45 minutes to an hour for the 31 questions, most of it finding figures. Your answers save as you go, so it doesn't have to be one sitting.
Does this cover handing over for good?
Not directly. It reads the business for a month without you. Much of the same ground comes up in a succession, but the assessment doesn't plan one.
What should I have to hand?
Last year's revenue and your most recent accounts. If your accounts are more than two years old, or you have fewer than three months of monthly profit and loss figures, your summary report will say a buyer couldn't read the business yet, and show you what's missing, instead of giving a number.
Do I have to give you my email address?
Not to see your summary report: it's on screen the moment you finish. Leave one if you'd like it sent to you, and we'll also send you two short emails about the full report, which you can stop at any time. You can have a link back to an unfinished sitting sent to you, too. The full report is sent by email, so it needs one.
When does the full report arrive?
Within 72 hours of you finishing the questions, or of paying if you buy it after your score is on screen. It comes to your email address with a link to its own private page. If you buy it before you start, your summary report comes first, on screen the moment you finish and by email.
Is there a shorter way to start?
Yes. The short version asks 15 questions you can answer from memory, and shows you roughly where you stand on three of the seven things that would have to hold without you, as a range rather than a score. You don't have to tell us who you are. If you go on to the 31 questions, your answers carry over, so you won't have to answer anything twice. Start the short version
What changes on 1 January 2027?
The full report goes from USD $200 to USD $500. The summary report, which has nothing to buy until then, becomes USD $97, paid before you start. If you start before then, there's nothing to buy for your summary report, whenever you finish.
Can I get my money back?
We don't refund a payment because you didn't finish the questions or changed your mind. If you're buying as a consumer and the law gives you a right to cancel, you keep it: write to us within 14 days of paying and before your report is sent, and we refund what we haven't yet provided.
What currency, and how do I pay?
US dollars, by card, or by Bitcoin or Monero.
Who sees my answers?
Your answers are yours. We do not sell them. We do use anonymised data, aggregated, to establish industry, regional and other statistics. Your report goes to you alone; anyone you give its link or code to can open it. Investability Special Terms

If you would like to know

Before you take the month, you'll already know the three answers to deal with first.

With the full report, you'll also know what to do about them: the next six months, each action in order, read by a person before it's sent. Pay by card or crypto (BTC or XMR) and start straight away.

Buy the full reportStart the free report

There's nothing to buy to see your summary report, and nobody is going to ring you about it. Your answers save as you go, and the sheet will email you a link back if you'd prefer to finish another time.

If it's for someone else, give them the full report as a gift.

If you'd rather go through it with someone, that's the work I do with the firm: Manolutions.

Before you go

See your business the way a buyer, an investor, or someone standing in for you would

Answer 15 questions and get the short report: an indicator of where your business stands today.

Show me where I stand