BRIEFING / 001 — CONTINUITY

When the Business Depends on You

A profitable business can still be financially fragile if too much depends on one person.

The Question

If you stepped away from the business for six months, what would stop first?

The obvious answer may be your own work. The more important answer is everything else that relies on you indirectly: client relationships, approvals, revenue, borrowing capacity, employee confidence and family income.

Why It Matters

Owner dependency creates a concentration of risk. The business and the household can be exposed to the same event at the same time.

Planning is not only about replacing income. It is about identifying which obligations remain, how much time the business has, and where liquidity would come from.

What Owners Often Miss

The same owner may be the key employee, shareholder, guarantor, salesperson and family breadwinner. Treating those roles separately can hide the real exposure.

STRATEGIST’S QUESTION

Which part of the business would feel your absence first — and how long before it became a financial problem?

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