What would it cost to replace me?

Usually more than you pay yourself, because you do more than one job. Most owners are the general manager, the senior salesperson, the estimator and the bank relationship at once. A buyer has to pay someone to do each of those, and he works that cost out before he makes an offer.

A buyer takes your earnings and adjusts them to what they would be with a hired team in your place. If you pay yourself less than the jobs would cost to fill, his version of your earnings is lower than yours. If you pay yourself more, it may be higher. Either way, he does the arithmetic, and he does it with his own assumptions.

The cost is not only salary. Some of what you do cannot be hired quickly: the customer who only deals with you, the supplier who gives you terms on a handshake. A buyer will want time to move those across, often with you staying on for a period after the sale, and he will factor that time into what he offers.

Knowing the answer before a buyer asks lets you do two things: decide which roles to fill now, and show the buyer that the business already carries its own management cost.

What you can look at this week: write down every job you do in a normal week. Next to each, write what you would pay someone else to do it, and whether anyone in the business could step into it today.