The scorecard · 10 questions · 3 minutes
Free business health check: does your business pay off for you?
Ten questions an owner of an established business should be able to answer. Five areas, scored out of 30, with a straight reading of each one and what to do first. Your email at the end gets you the result on screen and the written breakdown by email.
- Depends on you
- Structure and accountability
- Cash and profit
- Your payoff
- Time and life
Depends on you · Question 1 of 10
If you took four weeks off, completely off, what would happen to the business?
Depends on you · Question 2 of 10
How many decisions come to you each day that someone else in the business could make?
Structure and accountability · Question 3 of 10
Does every area of the business (sales, operations, finance, people) have a named person who owns its numbers?
Structure and accountability · Question 4 of 10
When something that was agreed last month hasn’t been done, what happens?
Cash and profit · Question 5 of 10
Do you know this month’s profit and cash position without asking anyone?
Cash and profit · Question 6 of 10
Turnover has grown over the last three years. Has profit grown with it?
Your payoff · Question 7 of 10
Does the business pay you a market salary for running it, plus a return for owning it?
Your payoff · Question 8 of 10
If you sold the business tomorrow, what would a buyer be buying?
Time and life · Question 9 of 10
How many hours a week do you spend on work that someone else in the business should be doing?
Time and life · Question 10 of 10
When you’re at home, are you at home?
Last step
Your result is ready. Where shall I send the breakdown?
Enter your details to see your score now and get the written breakdown for each area by email. You’ll also get my letter for owners; leave any time.
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Your result
0/30
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How the scoring works
Five areas, three readings each
Each question scores 0 to 3. Each area is out of 6; the whole scorecard is out of 30. Here is what each score means, so you can read your own result.
Depends on you
0–2: The business works because of you, not without you. Every week you’re away costs it, and a buyer would be buying you. This is the first thing to fix, and it’s fixable: management structure, then delegation, then accountability.
3–4: Parts of the business run without you, but the important decisions still queue at your desk. The next step is handing over whole areas with their own numbers, not tasks.
5–6: The business runs without you for weeks at a time. That’s the foundation for scaling it, stepping up to lead it, or selling it on your terms.
Structure and accountability
0–2: Nobody but you owns the numbers, and what was agreed last month quietly doesn’t happen. Growth on this base turns into chaos. Start with one named owner per area and one monthly meeting where the numbers are read out.
3–4: You have managers and some structure, but accountability is patchy: things get done when you chase. The fix is a rhythm (weekly numbers, monthly review) and consequences that don’t depend on you being in the room.
5–6: Every area has a named owner with their own numbers, and missed commitments get dealt with. Your job now is to keep the rhythm and raise the bar.
Cash and profit
0–2: You find out about profit at the year end and cash when the bank says no. Turnover has grown; profit hasn’t followed. Monthly management accounts and a 13-week cash forecast come before anything else.
3–4: You know the numbers, but late, and profit lags turnover. Pricing, margin by product or customer, and debtor days are usually where the money is.
5–6: You know this month’s profit and cash without asking, and profit has grown with turnover. Now the question is what the business should pay you for it.
Your payoff
0–2: The business doesn’t pay you a market salary, let alone a return on what you own and the risk you carry. You’re working for the business instead of the other way round. Decide what it should pay you, then work the plan back from there.
3–4: You’re paid, but not properly for both jobs: running it and owning it. The business is worth something, but it would be worth more with you out of the day-to-day.
5–6: The business pays you a proper salary and a return on owning it, and it would be worth buying without you. That’s what payoff looks like. Protect it.
Time and life
0–2: Most of your week is work someone else should be doing, and the business comes home with you. The cost isn’t only money; it’s the years. Every answer above is also the answer here.
3–4: You’ve got some of your time back, but the business is still in your head at the dinner table. Fewer hours comes from structure, not from working faster.
5–6: You spend your week on an owner’s work, and you’re present at home. Keep it that way as you scale; this is the part most owners lose first.
Your total
0–10, It pays off for the business, not for you. You’ve built something that works because of you, and it’s paying everyone except its owner. That’s where most owners who come to me start. The order of work is the same every time: management structure, then delegation and accountability, then cash and profit, then what the business pays you. None of it needs you to work harder; it needs you to work on different things. If you’d rather learn first, the premium mentors on MentorBusiness.com teach the foundations.
11–20, It pays, but it depends on you. The business pays you, and parts of it run without you, but the important decisions still come to your desk and the payoff isn’t what the turnover says it should be. This is the stage where owners either put the structure in and scale, or stay here for ten years. The next step is the one or two areas you scored lowest on.
21–30, It’s paying off. Now scale it, or sell it, on your terms. The business runs without you, pays you properly, and would be worth buying. The questions now are about the next stage: growth that doesn’t drag you back into the day-to-day, a managing director, an exit, or bringing in investment. Look at your lowest area; that’s what would hold the next stage back.
Questions people ask
What is a business health check?
A short, structured set of questions that shows where an established business is strong and where it depends on its owner: structure, accountability, cash and profit, what it pays the owner, and the owner’s time. This one takes about three minutes and scores you out of 30 across five areas.
Who is it for?
Owners of established businesses from about £250k turnover, scaling to £1m and on to £20m, who want the business to pay off for them and run without them. It isn’t for start-ups.
Is it free, and what happens to my answers?
Free. Your answers stay in your browser; they aren’t sent anywhere. At the end you enter your email to see your result and get the written breakdown, and you join my mailing list for owners, which you can leave any time.
What do I do with my score?
Start with your lowest area; that is what is holding the others back. The breakdown says what to do first in each one. If you want to work through it with someone who owns businesses, book a virtual coffee.
Written by Dr Lewis Haydon, a business coach and mentor in Birmingham, UK, who owns and invests in businesses. The areas and readings come from the problems owners bring to him: a business that depends on them, no accountability, profit that doesn’t follow turnover, and an owner who isn’t paid for owning it.
“If you’re the bottleneck in your own business, give him a call.”
Next step
Ready for a business that pays off for you, and runs without you?
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