Owner Dependency Score
Find out how much of the business only works because you're standing in it — and what that costs you.
Your numbers
Your result
- Owner dependency
- 69/100
- Independence rating
- Critical
- Your effective hourly rateWhat you pay yourself divided by hours actually worked (48 working weeks).
- $45.45
- Estimated value at riskRough drag on sale value from owner dependency. Buyers discount a business that can't run without you.
- $154,750
You don't own a business yet. You own a job.
Almost nothing here survives your absence. Start with the two highest-dependency bars: usually sales and decisions. Document how you do it, hand one piece to one person, and hold them to a standard instead of taking it back.
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What this number actually tells you
There's a difference between being self-employed and owning a company, and this is the number that tells you which one you have. Owner dependency measures how much of the business exists only inside your head, your calendar and your relationships.
It matters for three reasons. It caps your growth at your personal capacity. It makes time off genuinely risky instead of merely inconvenient. And it destroys what the business is worth — a buyer isn't purchasing a company that requires you, they're purchasing your job, and they'll pay accordingly.
The score weighs the things that actually keep owners trapped: who closes the sales, who makes the decisions, whether the process is written down, whether anyone else can run a day, and whether you're still doing the production work yourself.
How the math works
- 01Seven factors are scored 0–100 for independence: hours worked (12), sales closed by others (20), decisions made without you (20), documented processes (16), management bench (14), two-week absence test (12), owner off production work (6).
- 02Independence = sum(factor × weight) ÷ sum(weights). Dependency = 100 − independence.
- 03Effective hourly rate = owner pay ÷ (hours per week × 48 weeks).
- 04Value at risk ≈ annual revenue × dependency % × 0.15 — a rough estimate of the sale-value discount buyers apply to owner-dependent businesses.
What to do with the answer
- Pick the single highest-dependency area and remove yourself from one piece of it this month. Not all of it — one piece.
- Write the process down while you're doing it. Documentation created after the fact never gets finished.
- Give someone decision authority with a dollar limit instead of asking them to check with you. Checking with you is the dependency.
- Take four consecutive days off within 90 days as a test. Whatever breaks is your next project.
Want someone to read these numbers with you?
The Growth Assessment is a 30-minute conversation about what your numbers are telling you and what to fix first. No pitch deck, no PDF.
Schedule Your Growth Assessment Or call (737) 888-0415Questions owners ask about this
What is a good owner dependency score?
Under 30 means the business can operate and sell without you. 30–50 means it runs but you're still the backstop. Above 50 means you're the product, and above 65 means you own a job with employees attached.
How does owner dependency affect what my business is worth?
Heavily. Buyers and lenders discount businesses where the owner holds the customer relationships, the pricing knowledge and the decisions, because that value walks out the door at closing. Reducing dependency is one of the highest-return projects available before a sale.
I can't afford a manager. How do I reduce dependency?
Start with documentation and decision limits, both free. Write down how estimates get priced and how the schedule gets built, then give an existing employee authority up to a dollar amount. Most owners don't need a manager first — they need to stop being the only source of answers.
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