Written by Chris SchwabFour exits, all run from Japan- Featured in
- TIME
- The Penny Hoarder
- Side Hustle School
- Side Hustle Nation
- 100 Side Hustles
What if your business could run without you? Most weeks, I write one letter on how to build one that can. I’m Chris Schwab, and I’ve been running U.S. companies from about 7,000 miles away for the past ten years.
You’re in, and I’m glad you’re here. The next letter will find you.
More than 1,500 people already read it, and I’ll never sell your email.
Written by Chris SchwabFour exits, all run from JapanI usually write it from Japan, after a run. There are no sponsors, and I rarely have anything to sell you.
The systems, hiring and delegation that let a business run without its owner, taken from my own companies rather than from theory.
What things cost, what went wrong, and what buyers looked at when I sold. I share the mistakes as well as the wins.
The part most business writing skips: what the time and the freedom are actually for, once the business stops needing you.
“For a decade I had been chasing freedom from: from the phone, the schedule, the business needing me. That turns out to be only half of it. The other half is freedom to. … To take a Tuesday afternoon. To start something new because you want to, not because you have to.”
Start with the next letter.
You’re in, and I’m glad you’re here. The next letter will find you.
It’s free, it arrives most weeks, and it’s easy to leave. Here’s my privacy policy.
Owner independence is freedom from: the business doesn’t need you. It’s valuable and hard to build, and it’s where most advice stops. I’m more interested in what comes next, because once the business doesn’t need you, you get to decide what part it plays in your life.
Build it. Systemise it. Step back from it. That’s what I mean by making ownership optional.
The cohort is for owners who have already built something that works and now want it to work without them. Together we hand over the day to day, so you can run the business from wherever you like and show up because you choose to.
Who it’s for · four things need to be true
Customers come, invoices get paid, and there’s some kind of team. If you’re still at zero, the Local Business MBA is the place to start.
You’re the phone only you answer, the decisions queue behind you, and customers ask for you by name. You can point at exactly where it happens.
Some owners want their evenings back. Some want to run it from another country. Some want to sell it one day without the buyer needing them. All of those are the same work, done in the same order.
You do the handing over, and I help at every step. If you’d rather keep the keys, the work won’t take, and I’d rather say so now.
We start by measuring where the business really needs you, rather than guessing. You’ll map the decisions, knowledge and work that still route through you, decide the order to move them in, and write your 90-day roadmap.
Next, we turn your knowledge into documents, your decisions into rules and your work into other people’s jobs. It happens one handover at a time, on your real business, alongside owners doing the same.
Then come the absence tests. You leave parts of the business on purpose, and we watch what holds. Whatever breaks gets fixed, and whatever holds becomes permanent. After that, you go somewhere nice.
What owners said when the business stopped needing them.
“Then I don’t have to choose between my family and my business. I can still be there for my family without sacrificing my business.”
“It’s been a huge relief to see how well you have handled things, and to know that when we’re gone and unreachable you genuinely have everything under control.”
“A lot of it came down to delegation.”
“My family has started to dream about moving to London once my business can be run remotely.”
These were said over the years by Inova Local clients and Local Business MBA students. The cohort itself is new, but the work behind it isn’t. Their results are their own, and they aren’t a promise of yours. More in the disclaimers.
There are five questions, and I read every answer myself. If it looks like a fit, I’ll send you the details and we’ll have a short call. You won’t pay anything before either.
Thank you, I’ve got it. You’ll hear from me within the week, and if it looks like a fit, the details and a short call will follow.
Still building the foundation? Start with the Local Business MBA, or simply get the letter.
I’m a British-American entrepreneur based in Japan. I started Think Maids in my final semester at university with $700 and ran it from Japan for eight years. I never met a single customer, and the buyer didn’t seem to mind. Then I built Inova Local, the first virtual staffing agency dedicated to home services, which served national franchises and Inc. 5000 operators until private equity acquired it in 2025.
Four exits later, the question I care about has changed. It’s no longer how big a business can get, but how little it can need its owner. The Optional Owner is my answer, and the letter is where I keep working it out.
Nothing. It’s free, there are no sponsors, and I rarely have anything to sell you.
Most weeks. I write from Japan, usually after a run, and every letter has a one-click unsubscribe link at the bottom.
Yes. Eighteen letters so far have been about the first ninety days, from pricing to the first customer and the first hire. If you want the full method, that’s what the Local Business MBA is for.
It’s for owners with a working business that still runs through them: customers, invoices and some kind of team. If you’re still at zero, start with the letter and the MBA.
Pricing is coming soon. I’ll share it when we talk, and I’ll confirm it in writing before you pay anything.
It’s planned for early November 2026, and I confirm the date to everyone who enquires.
You’re in, and I’m glad you’re here. The next letter will find you.
Join more than 1,500 readers in over ten countries. You can leave whenever you like, and I’ll never sell your email. Here’s my privacy policy.
Ready to step back from a business you already run? Enquire about the cohort.