The day I learned my business could survive without me
Five years ago this week, I got news that changed my life. Not just personally - but professionally. It forced me to answer a question most business owners avoid: What happens if you suddenly vanish?
Today, I want to share that story - not for sympathy, but because it taught me the most valuable lesson of my entrepreneurial journey: the difference between planning for disaster and hoping it never comes.
When Life Throws You a Curveball
The spring of 2020 was magical. While the world dealt with lockdowns, my family and I took to the mountains. Daily walks with my wife and son, evening hikes with my brother. I'd never been fitter or more at peace.
Then a weird exhaustion crept in. Not the usual business owner tiredness - something deeper. Sweats, dizziness, and finally the unmistakable symptom that sent me straight to the doctor.
Wednesday night, July 29th, 2020: Stage 3 bowel cancer.
Thursday morning: Back at my desk, conducting job interviews.
That might sound crazy, but here's the thing - life doesn't pause for personal crises. My co-founders knew immediately, but we had candidates booked in, projects in motion, and a business to run. The show had to go on.
The Ultimate Test of Business Independence
What I didn't know that Wednesday night was whether I had months or years ahead of me. Surgery was immediate, followed by months of chemotherapy that would completely floor me.
But here's what's remarkable: during those six months when I was barely functioning, our SaaS business didn't just survive - it grew.
Not because I'm irreplaceable (quite the opposite), but because we'd spent years building something that could function without any single person - including me.
Why Most Businesses Would Have Collapsed
Let me be blunt: if this had happened five years earlier, my business could well have died on its feet.
Back then, I was the classic "indispensable" owner:
Key client relationships lived in my head
Critical passwords were "somewhere" on my laptop
Important processes existed only as "the way Diarmid does it"
Financial access was limited to me
Team members constantly needed my approval
One health crisis would have been a business crisis.
The Systems That Saved Everything
But by 2020, we'd systematically eliminated these vulnerabilities:
Three-Level Documentation: Every aspect of our software had documentation for customers, support agents, and developers. When I couldn't answer technical questions, the answers existed independently.
Centralised Everything: Customer data in our CRM, projects in management software, passwords in a secure manager, support tickets in our helpdesk. Information wasn't trapped in anyone's head.
Clear Decision Authorities: The team knew exactly who could approve what, when to escalate, and how to keep operations moving without me.
Shared Calendars and Organised Files: Nothing was hidden on personal devices or in private folders.
Updated Legal Framework: Insurance policies and shareholder agreements were current, protecting both the business and my family.
The crucial point? None of this could have been implemented after my diagnosis. You don’t build a lifeboat in the middle of a storm.
The Unexpected Business Growth
Here's what's fascinating: 2020 became our best year yet.
The pandemic created the perfect storm for cloud-based software. Businesses suddenly needed remote solutions, and we were perfectly positioned. But more importantly, we were perfectly prepared.
While I was fighting cancer, my team was:
Onboarding new clients seamlessly
Resolving support issues independently
Developing new features according to our roadmap
Managing finances and operations without interruption
Brian (my co-founder) even had to chase me off a customer Zoom call one day because I looked so unwell. The business was protecting me, rather than depending on me.
The Lesson That Changed Everything
That experience taught me something profound: true business success isn't measured by how much you're needed, but by how well things work when you're not there.
Every hour I'd spent documenting processes, every system I'd implemented, every team member I'd trained to think independently - it all paid off when it mattered most.
The business didn't just survive my absence; it thrived because of the independence we'd built into it.
From Crisis to Mission
I recovered fully (five years cancer-free and counting), but that experience fundamentally changed how I think about business resilience.
A year later, I sold that business for a life-changing seven-figure sum. But more importantly, that crisis gave birth to my current mission.
You see, I've spent 20 years as an on-call firefighter alongside my business career. I've responded to countless incidents where lives are snuffed out or catastrophically changed in an instant - car crashes, house fires, workplace accidents. Faced with such trauma and tragedy, I always wonder: how prepared were they? How ready were their businesses? Their families?
I know intimately that any one of us could face what I faced - or worse - without warning. And I know how many business owners are living one crisis away from losing everything they've built.
That's why I'm so passionate about helping others build businesses that can run without them. Because I've seen firsthand what happens when preparation meets crisis, and what happens when it doesn't.
Your Doomsday Plan Starts Today
The question isn't whether something unexpected will happen to you - it's whether your business will survive when it does.
Here's an uncomfortable truth to ponder: If you disappeared tomorrow, would your business be fine in a week? A month? Six months?
If the answer is no, you're not just risking your business - you're risking everyone who depends on it.
Take Action Now
You can't prepare for a crisis during the crisis. The time to build your business's independence is while you're healthy, present, and thinking clearly.
Take my free 2-minute 30-Day Survival Quiz. It’ll show you where your business is most at risk - and what to fix first.
It just takes 2 minutes and could save your business, your team's livelihoods, and your family's financial security.
The Best Insurance Policy You'll Never Use
Building a business that can run without you isn't pessimistic - it's the most optimistic thing you can do.
It says: "This business matters too much to depend on any single person." It says: "My team is capable of greatness." It says: "I'm building something that will outlast me."
Five years later, I'm grateful not just for my health, but for learning this lesson when I did.
Because sometimes the best business advice comes from the worst moments.
Your future self - and everyone who depends on your business - will thank you for building this independence now, while you still can.
P.S. When I returned to full health in 2021, we lost three team members out of seven in just three weeks. But that's a story for another newsletter - and another example of why business resilience matters more than you think.
Don’t wait for a crisis to force your hand. Take the quiz now - and get ahead of it.
This special edition newsletter marks five years since my cancer diagnosis. While the personal journey was challenging, the business lessons were invaluable. I hope sharing this story helps you build the independence and resilience your business deserves.