Few books have had as much impact on me—and my business—as Built to Sell by John Warrillow. What started out as casual reading quickly turned into a turning point for how we operate at Friing Digital. It didn’t just shift my thinking; it catalysed real, tangible changes in how we approach our work, our offering, and our future.
From the very first few chapters, I felt like I was reading my own story. I was Alex Stapleton. I was running a wishy-washy, service-based agency with no clear product offering. The language we used—“clients,” “services,” “custom work”—reflected just how reactive and undefined our model really was. Like Alex, we were over-reliant on a single customer, and that customer dictated everything: what we worked on, how we worked, and when we worked.
We had no structured systems in place, no consistent processes, and very little potential for scale. Worst of all, I was the business. If I stepped away, everything stopped. Nothing could run without me, which meant that even if someone was interested in buying Friing, I would be locked into staying on, bound to the success of the business long after the sale—just like the scenario Ted, Alex’s mentor, warned him about.
Plot Summary of Built to Sell by John Warrillow
The book follows Alex Stapleton, the owner of a small creative agency who finds himself burnt out, frustrated, and desperate to exit his business. He’s built something that looks successful from the outside, but behind the scenes, it’s chaotic, overly dependent on him, and not even close to being a sellable asset. Alex’s story isn’t unique—his agency, like many service-based businesses (Friing included), is built around custom solutions, inconsistent cash flow, and a founder who’s stuck in every part of the operation.
Realising he wants out, Alex turns to Ted, a seasoned entrepreneur and mentor who sold his own business years earlier. Ted quickly becomes the voice of reason, walking Alex through the painful truth: you can’t sell a business that depends on you to function. Through their conversations, Ted challenges Alex to rethink everything—from the language he uses with clients, to how services are packaged, to how recurring revenue is built and scaled.
“Once you’ve isolated what is teachable, what your customers value, and what they need most often, document your process for delivering this type of product or service.”
Ted’s advice is systematic, practical, and at times brutally honest. He teaches Alex how to turn his service into a product, create repeatable systems, and build a business that can run without him. The goal is no longer just to grow revenue—it’s to build a company that is valuable and transferable. By the end of the book, Alex is no longer just running a business—he’s building an asset.
Cash Suck vs. Cash Flow
One of the most relatable and stressful moments in Built to Sell is right at the beginning, when Alex is anxiously waiting for a large payment from his biggest client. Over the years, he’s become far too reliant on this one account, and worse, the client knows it. They call the shots, dictate the terms, and delay payments—knowing full well that Alex doesn’t have the power to say no. Meanwhile, Alex has staff salaries to pay, bills piling up, and mounting pressure with every day that cheque doesn’t clear. It’s a situation every service-based business owner knows all too well.
This is what the book refers to as a cash suck—a business that’s constantly bleeding, waiting on overdue invoices, and stuck in a cycle of financial uncertainty. It’s stressful, unsustainable, and completely unattractive to potential buyers or investors. The solution, as Ted explains to Alex, is to transition the business from a cash suck to a cash flow model. And the key to that? Charging upfront.
Think about it: you’d never walk into a sporting goods store, pick up a product, and walk out saying, “I’ll get you back later.” Yet for some reason, service businesses are expected to work first and hope for timely payment later. Why should your business—and more importantly, your team—suffer because a client decides to pay late? To build a stable, investable, and ultimately valuable business, you need predictable cash flow. That means setting clear payment terms, billing upfront, and treating your services with the same transactional structure and confidence as any retail product. Not only does this ease your cash stress, it transforms how your business is perceived—from reactive and dependent, to proactive and scalable.
What language does your business use?
Another powerful lesson Built to Sell drives home is the importance of language and clarity in how you define your business. It’s not just about how you talk to clients—it’s about how you see yourself as a business owner. Early on, Ted challenges Alex’s use of vague language like “custom services” and “tailored solutions.” These are the kinds of phrases that sound polished but ultimately say nothing specific. They communicate that your business is reactive, undefined, and built around doing whatever the client wants. And that’s not a business that scales. That’s a business stuck in the weeds.
“Stop using the language of a service firm and start using the language of a sellable business.”
To build something valuable, you have to define exactly what you do—and do it well. What is your product? What do you sell? What do your customers care about the most? Which service do you pitch most confidently? What gets the best results and the strongest feedback? When you have that answer, that’s your product—and it’s time to double down on it.
This is where the real shift happens: you start saying no. You stop bending to whatever new request comes your way, and instead, you stick to what you’re great at. If you’re an SEO agency, do SEO. Don’t take on social media management because a client asked nicely. Don’t start building websites if that’s not your core product. As Ted puts it, “You can’t be kind of a specialist. Either you specialize or you don’t.” And in the eyes of potential buyers, partners, and even clients, that distinction makes all the difference.
“Don’t be afraid to say no to projects. Prove that you’re serious about specialization by turning down work that falls outside your area of expertise. The more people you say no to, the more referrals you’ll get to people who need your product or service.”
When you define your offering clearly, everything changes. Your messaging becomes stronger. Your sales process becomes simpler. Your delivery becomes more efficient. And most importantly, your business becomes far more attractive—not just to clients, but to anyone who may one day want to buy what you’ve built.
