Lesson 6.1: Self-Assessment — Where Are Your Gaps?
Module: What to Do Monday Morning (Module 6)
Course: The Four Levers of Business Growth
Est. read time: 4 minutes
The 5-Minute Diagnostic
You've now been through the full Four Lever System. Before you take any action, spend 5 minutes assessing where your business (or your client's business) stands today.
Rate each statement 1-5. Be honest — nobody sees this but you.
1 = Strongly disagree / Not at all
5 = Strongly agree / Completely
Tax Optimization
- I know the maximum I could defer to my retirement plan under the optimal plan design for my situation. ___
- My business pays the plan expenses directly (not deducted from participant accounts). ___
- I've explored plan designs beyond my current setup (safe harbor, new comparability, cash balance). ___
- My CPA and I regularly discuss retirement plan strategy as part of tax planning. ___
Tax Optimization score: ___ / 20
Lower Turnover
- I know my annual turnover rate and the approximate cost per departure. ___
- My employees have access to financial wellness resources beyond a basic 401(k). ___
- Employees understand their benefits package in detail — not just that they have one. ___
- I have a system for ongoing employee engagement (not just annual surveys or pizza parties). ___
Lower Turnover score: ___ / 20
Operational Excellence
- Every role in my company has a written function definition with 3-5 clear KPIs. ___
- We have documented SOPs for our top 10 critical processes. ___
- If my most important non-owner employee left today, someone could step in within a week using documented procedures. ___
- We actively use AI or automation to reduce dependence on individual employees. ___
Operational Excellence score: ___ / 20
Transferable Value
- My business could operate at 80% capacity for 30 days without me present. ___
- No single customer represents more than 20% of our revenue. ___
- At least 30% of our revenue is recurring (retainers, subscriptions, contracts). ___
- I have a clear picture of what my business would be worth if I needed to sell it tomorrow. ___
Transferable Value score: ___ / 20
Scoring
Total score: ___ / 80
| Score | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 65-80 | Strong across all levers. You're ahead of most businesses your size. Focus on optimization and the 1-2 areas where you scored lowest. |
| 45-64 | Solid foundation with clear gaps. Pick the lever with the lowest score and start there — the improvement will ripple into the other levers. |
| 25-44 | Significant opportunities. The good news: the biggest improvements come from this range. Small changes will have outsized impact. Start with the lever that's easiest to improve (not necessarily the weakest). |
| Under 25 | Early stage. Don't try to fix everything. Pick ONE lever — the one where a quick win would create the most momentum — and focus there for 90 days. |
Where to Start (Based on Your Lowest Score)
Lowest score is Tax Optimization:
→ Run the free 401Grow calculator. See what plan design options exist for your specific situation. Then have a conversation with your CPA about the results.
Lowest score is Lower Turnover:
→ Calculate your actual turnover cost (Lesson 2.1 formula). Then deploy the 21-Day Challenge to a pilot group of employees. 21 days, no cost, immediate engagement signal.
Lowest score is Operational Excellence:
→ Pick your 5 most critical roles. Use the Role/KPI Builder to define each one (15 minutes per role). Then document your 3 most important processes using the SOP Starter. This is a one-week project that changes the trajectory of your business.
Lowest score is Transferable Value:
→ Run the free Exit Readiness assessment. It will identify the specific dimensions where your business is most vulnerable. Then connect those gaps to the specific lessons in Modules 3 and 4.
The Pattern You'll Notice
Most businesses score lowest on Operational Excellence. That's normal. It's the lever that requires the most deliberate effort — nobody accidentally creates documented processes and defined KPIs.
The encouraging part: Operational Excellence improvements are the easiest to start and the fastest to show results. Defining five roles takes a day. Documenting three processes takes a week. And the impact on turnover, owner dependence, and team performance shows up within the first month.
What This Means
This assessment isn't a test. It's a map. It shows you where the gaps are so you can be deliberate about which lever to pull first.
If you're a business owner, use it yourself and share it with your leadership team. Different perspectives will reveal gaps you didn't see.
If you're a CPA or financial professional, run this with 2-3 clients and bring the results to your next meeting. You don't need to be the expert on every lever. You just need to be the person who brought the framework — and that changes the relationship.