moonmoot
Resources

Learn what your business is worth, and how to grow it.

Guides, free calculators, and a plain-English glossary for owner-operated businesses. Written the way we work: useful, specific, and honest, with no invented numbers.

Free tools
Business valuation calculator

A rough, honest estimate of what an owner-operated business is worth: SDE times a commonly quoted industry multiple range, with the factors that move you inside it.

Exit readiness score

Ten yes-or-no questions that show whether your business could be sold or handed over at full value today, and which factor is capping the price.

No-show cost calculator

What missed appointments really cost you per year, and what each point of no-show improvement is worth in recovered revenue.

Break-even calculator

The sales you need per month, week, and day before anything is profit, from your fixed costs, average ticket, and margin.

Value & exit
What is my business actually worth? A plain-English guide for owner-operated businesses

Most owners either never think about what the business is worth, or carry a number in their head that no buyer would pay. Here is how buyers of small

7 min read
Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE): the profit number buyers actually use

Ask a broker what your business earns and they will not quote your tax return. They will compute SDE. If you plan to sell within a decade, or just wan

6 min read
Why most small businesses listed for sale never sell, and how not to be one of them

The hardest number in small-business ownership: a widely cited Sageworks analysis, reported by Forbes in 2017 and echoed since by the Exit Planning In

6 min read
How to make your business run without you (without letting go of what makes it good)

A business that cannot run a fortnight without its owner has two problems: the owner can never stop, and a buyer has nothing to buy. Both have the sam

7 min read
Your exit options as a small business owner, honestly compared

Every owner exits eventually: by sale, by succession, or by locking the door. The exits differ hugely in money, time, and what happens to your people.

7 min read
Money & books
Clean books: the cheapest thing you can do to raise what your business is worth

In a sale, your profit is worth what you can prove, not what you know. Clean books are dull, cheap to fix, and the fix pays a multiple of every recove

6 min read
The only numbers an owner-operated business needs to watch weekly

Owners drown in numbers that do not change decisions. A working weekly review needs five, maybe six, each answering one question you would act on. Her

6 min read
Operations
No-shows: what they really cost and what actually reduces them

A no-show is not an empty slot, it is paid staff, paid rent, and a turned-away customer stacked on the same half hour. Appointment businesses routinel

6 min read
Staff scheduling that stops losing money: labour cost, the rota, and sales per labour hour

In most owner-operated service businesses, labour is the largest cost you can actually control, and it is controlled in one document: the rota. Most r

7 min read
Hiring and keeping good people in a small service business, and what turnover really costs

Every service-business owner says the same two things: good people are impossible to find, and the ones you train leave. Both problems are real, and b

7 min read
Compliance
The compliance checklist buyers (and inspectors) actually run against small businesses

Compliance paperwork never made anyone excited. But it is the same short list that an inspector can fine you on today and a buyer's lawyer will run in

6 min read
Growth
Recurring revenue for local businesses: memberships, retainers, and why buyers pay extra for them

The same revenue is worth more when it repeats by default. Buyers pay a premium for income that transfers with the business, and owners sleep better o

6 min read
Using ChatGPT for your business vs an AI board on your real numbers: an honest comparison

We build an AI board, so treat this as a comparison from a party with a position, argued in the open. Generic AI chat is genuinely useful for a busine

5 min read
How to raise prices without losing the clients you want to keep

Raising prices is the highest-margin move available to most owner-operated businesses, and the most postponed, because it feels like risking relations

7 min read
Industry playbooks

The complete operating blueprint for each trade: how to structure it, the full tool stack that covers everything, and the order to grow revenue, profit, and value.

cafes playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

restaurants playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

salons playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

barbershops playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

spas and wellness studios playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

aesthetic clinics playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

gyms and studios playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

dental practices playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

retail shops playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

bars and pubs playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

bakeries playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

beauty and nail salons playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

medical practices playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

professional services firms playbook

Structure, stack, and the revenue → profit → value ladder.

Buying guides

Choosing booking software, a POS, or gym management? We integrate with these systems, sell none of them, and take no referral fees, so the comparisons can be honest.

The best booking software for salons, chosen by what the data lets you do later

Fresha, Booksy, Vagaro, Timely, Square Appointments, and Altegio compared for salons, by the criterion most reviews skip

The best POS for cafes and restaurants, judged by the numbers it can give you

Square, Toast, Lightspeed, SumUp, and Clover compared for cafes and restaurants, by what matters at year three: margins

The best gym management software, chosen by what actually fights churn

Mindbody, Glofox, TeamUp, Wodify, and Square compared for gyms and studios, by the criterion that decides the business:

Templates

Copy-ready policies and letters, usable as-is, with honest rollout guidance. Free, no email gate.

No-show policy template: two versions you can copy, and how to introduce them without losing clients

Two copy-ready no-show policy templates, a firm one and a softer one, plus the introduction script and rollout order tha

Price increase letter template: what to send, when, and the one thing never to apologise for

A copy-ready price increase letter and a membership version, with the timing rules and the tone that keeps clients. Dire

Honest comparisons
Moonmoot vs a fractional CFO

A fractional CFO brings senior human judgment for hours a month. Moonmoot watches your real numbers every day for a flat subscript

Moonmoot vs spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are free, flexible, and yours. They are also manual, silent, and only as current as the last evening you sacrificed.

Glossary

24 terms owner-operated businesses meet when they take value and exit seriously, defined in plain English: from SDE and multiples to owner dependence and due diligence.

Browse the glossary

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