> You have tons of businesses that are viable (produce enough money to support a family) as long as you never load it with debt; because they do NOT produce enough to support a family and the debt load that would come from buying it.

I've been thinking about this situation as "the bakery trap". The labor dimension here is that the best possible career move for the person you've spent the past n years training is to immediately leave once they've mastered your hot-cross bun recipe.

"The E-Myth" books talk about this (which is the worst name ever because the E is Entrepreneur not E as in email or emachines lol) - many small businesses are NOT small businesses, they're a job you own, and you can't sell a job.