# Owner-operator

An owner who does the work of the business as well as owning it.

Most businesses at this size sell to somebody who will run them, and the word matters most for what it commits a buyer to. An owner-operator inherits the seller's job along with their [balance sheet](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/balance-sheet): the hours, the customer relationships that live in one person's phone, and the tasks nobody ever wrote down. That is why diligence has to cover the transition period, the key-employee list and an accurate account of the seller's week; none of the three is a courtesy question. It also sets the floor under the price, since earnings that include unpaid owner labor are earnings the buyer either performs or pays somebody else to perform.

In numbers: A $90,000 manager hired to do the work the seller did takes $315,000 off what the business is worth paying for at a 3.5x multiple.

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/owner-operator
Not dated: A definition is editorial: what a term means, why it matters, and an example. None of it reads a source that can go stale, so there is no date to take and a stamped one would be the build time wearing a costume.

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt