I Need Someone to Run My Business Day to Day: Options and Costs

Operations coordinator, general manager, full-time COO, fractional COO, or Operating Partner. What each costs, what each fixes, and how to hand off daily operations without losing control.

If admin fills your day, hire an operations coordinator at $55K to $85K. If decisions, people, and revenue fill your day, you need an operator. A general manager costs $120K to $200K and takes 90 days to hire. An Operating Partner takes the seat now at $10,000 a month, month to month, and builds the role a general manager later inherits.

Written by Michael Schuerman, Operating Partner in Atlanta, for owner-led businesses doing $5M to $30M. Updated September 2026.

How stepping back actually works

Numbers, calendar, and top three people. What only you can decide gets written down.

One owner, one number, one weekly meeting where results are read out loud.

Decision boundaries set: what the operator owns, what comes to you, what stays yours.

You miss a week on purpose. What breaks is the next thing we fix.

signs your business can't run without you

what a fractional COO costs

Handing off the day to day

Everything routes through you

Bring the three decisions only you can make. I will tell you which seat takes them off your desk.

An office manager or operations coordinator

Runs the tasks: scheduling, vendors, paperwork, follow-through. $55K to $85K. The right hire when your calendar is full of admin, not decisions.

Runs the place day to day and owns the P&L. $120K to $200K plus bonus, 90 days to hire, six months to trust. The right hire when the business is stable and you want out of daily operations permanently.

$250K to $400K fully loaded. Justified above roughly $20M or with multiple locations and real complexity. Below that, most owners buy more overhead than leverage.

$8K to $25K a month. Builds systems, reporting, and process. Strong when operations are the gap and revenue is already stable.

Starts at $10,000 a month, month to month, 30 days notice. Takes the decisions, the revenue targets, the weekly rhythm, and the hiring calls, then builds the seat your future GM steps into.

I need someone to run my business day to day. Who should I hire?

It depends on what is actually filling your day. If it is admin and coordination, hire an operations coordinator at $55K to $85K. If it is decisions, people, and revenue, you need an operator, not an assistant. A general manager runs $120K to $200K and takes 90 days to hire plus six months to trust. An Operating Partner takes the seat now at $10,000 a month, month to month, and builds the role your GM later inherits.

Can I hire someone to run my business while I stay the owner?

Yes, and most owners keep vision, key relationships, and capital decisions while handing over daily operations, targets, and the weekly rhythm. The handoff fails when the boundaries are vague. Write down which decisions the operator owns outright, which they bring to you, and which stay yours. That single page prevents most of the friction.

How do I know I am ready to hand off daily operations?

Three signals: you are the bottleneck on decisions your team could make, revenue is flat while your hours are not, and a week away would create a mess. If all three are true you are past ready. If your revenue is under roughly $3M, the honest answer is usually a first strong producer, not a second leader.

What does it cost to have someone run my business?

Operations coordinator $55K to $85K. General manager $120K to $200K plus bonus. Full-time COO $250K to $400K fully loaded. Fractional COO $8K to $25K a month. My seat starts at $10,000 a month with no long-term contract, and begins with a $5,000 90-Day Scorecard that credits toward month one.

How long before I can actually step back?

Expect 30 days to see the numbers and the calendar clearly, 60 to 90 days for the weekly rhythm to hold without you, and two full quarters before the business runs a normal week while you are unavailable. Anyone promising faster has not run a real handoff.

What if I do not want to give up control?

You are not giving up control, you are giving up daily execution. The rhythm makes the business more visible to you, not less: one weekly meeting where the numbers get read out loud, an owner on every target, and a short list of decisions that still come to you. Most owners see more of the business after the handoff than before.

I Need Someone to Run My Business Day to Day: Options and Costs

Five ways to hand off daily operations, what each costs, how long each takes to work, and how to tell which one your business needs.

Michael Schuerman is an Operating Partner for founder-led businesses doing $5M to $30M in revenue, based in Atlanta, Georgia. He takes a seat inside the business, runs the revenue moves the owner has been deferring, and leaves a team that runs without them. Book a 30-minute call at michaelschuerman.co.