One not-so-pleasant aspect of having your own business is what happens when you are ill or have an accident and cannot make it to work? Work is money when you are in business for yourself, so this question is one that needs some attention. Even when you are temporarily down and out you need to have a backup plan to keep your business going. 

Ideally, we would all have someone who could just step in and take over should the situation arise. However, when you are used to doing everything yourself, it can be difficult to take help when you need it or delegate tasks that someone else can do. After all, no one is as passionate about your business as you are. 

A central theme in Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It is that most businesses fail or never reach full potential because owners spend too much time doing the work that the business does, rather than managing and growing it. And if the owner should become incapacitated for a period of time, the business literally cannot function.

Three important steps to creating a back-up plan for your business are:

1. Develop systems for everything that happens in the business
    
2. Pass on your responsibilities to a person you feel is qualified, deserving and trustworthy
    
3. Empower other team members to solve problems on their own