Keynotes
Your audience is good at being needed.
Give owners and leaders a different measure of success: what continues when they step away.
A movement. A book. A different way to build.Stop renting.
You built something people count on. Then you take a day away, and discover how much of it still depends on you.
Stop renting.
Build what survives
your absence.
Stop Renting Your Business by David Runnels asks what you actually own when the person, platform, provider, or circumstance carrying it changes.
For owners, leaders, and people building something worth handing on.
The Stop Renting movementThe person leaves.
The person leaves.
The platform changes.
What still belongs to you?
A key employee resigns. A provider changes the terms. A system you rely on disappears. The question is whether the work can move to another carrier, or whether it leaves with the one you lost.
Stop Renting is a practice of ownership: moving knowledge, authority, and responsibility into people and systems that can carry the work through change.
Read the movement →The promise
We help people stop renting their lives and businesses so they can build people, systems, and opportunities that survive their absence.
Ownership becomes visible when the work can change hands.
The book · David Runnels
Stop Renting Your Business
Build What Survives Changes in People, Platforms, Providers, and Circumstances
The process is in your head. The client calls your number. The team waits for your decision. You can own the company on paper and still carry its ability to function in your body.
This book gives you a way to examine those dependencies, decide what must be transferred, and look for evidence that the next person can carry it.
See what you are renting
Name the knowledge, relationships, and decisions that depend on one person or outside carrier.
Build a real handoff
Move the ability to do the work along with the responsibility for it.
Test what you own
Look at what continues when the carrier changes, then strengthen what does not.
Purchases take place on Amazon. See Amazon for current pricing and delivery.
What owners say
What changed for these owners.
“I took a two week vacation for the first time in nine years and nothing caught fire. That sentence used to be impossible.”
“The audit told me in three minutes what two years of being busy had hidden. The whole business was running through my inbox.”
“We finally wrote down the one process that broke every time I traveled. Now my team runs it without a single text to me.”
Paid speaking and advisory engagementsThe room goes quiet.
The room goes quiet.
Someone finally names what everything depends on.
Bring the movement into a room where people can act on it. David works with event organizers, business owners, and leadership teams to turn the question of ownership into work they can begin.
Workshops
Your team knows where the work gets stuck.
Work through a real dependency together and define what a better handoff needs.
Advisory work
The daily decisions keep coming back to you.
Build your right-hand person’s skills, systems, and decision-making confidence so you have room to grow.
Engagements are scoped to your audience, goals, and format. Request a conversation about fit, availability, and fees.
Meet David RunnelsI built my own thing.
I built my own thing.
Then caught myself becoming the wall it leaned on.
Knowing how everything fits can feel like leadership. Until you notice that nobody else can move it without you.
David Runnels is the author of Stop Renting Your Business and the founder of Stories & Systems LLC. His work connects the story an organization wants to tell with the people and systems that can carry it.
Read David’s story →Try the question in your own business
What would stall if you were gone for 30 days?
The free Absence Audit gives you a starting point. Answer 20 questions in about three minutes, see your score, and identify where your business still depends on you.
Your score appears first. Email and consent are required for the full report. This self-assessment helps you choose what to test in real work.
Before you choose your next step
Questions
What is the Stop Renting movement?
Stop Renting is David Runnels’s movement and practice of ownership. It asks whether the people, systems, and opportunities you build can survive a change in the person, platform, provider, or circumstance carrying them. Its core question is: what survives your absence?
What is Stop Renting Your Business about?
Stop Renting Your Business by David Runnels examines the difference between owning a company on paper and owning its ability to function. It focuses on dependencies, transferable knowledge and authority, and evidence that the work can continue when its current carrier changes.
Where can I buy the book?
Use the paperback or hardcover links on this page to visit Amazon. Amazon handles the purchase and displays current pricing, delivery, and available editions.
Can I hire David Runnels to speak at my event?
Yes. David offers paid keynotes and workshops on ownership, leadership, and what survives your absence. Visit the Speaking page to request a conversation about your audience, goals, format, availability, and fees.
What paid advisory work does David offer?
Through Stories & Systems LLC, David works with owners and their right-hand person to build the skills, systems, and decision-making confidence to run daily operations. This is especially relevant for owner-led businesses with a team and roughly $500,000 to $3 million in annual revenue. Visit Work With Me to discuss fit and scope.
Do I need to take an assessment before buying or booking?
No. You can buy the book or inquire about a paid engagement directly. The free Absence Audit is an optional starting point: 20 questions, about three minutes, with your score shown before the email gate for the full report.
How is ownership different from being indispensable?
Being indispensable means the work relies on you staying in place. Ownership means the ability to carry that work can move to someone else and remain accountable to the organization. A useful test is whether another person can handle routine decisions and exceptions during your absence.
What will you build differently?Start with the book.
Start with the book.
Bring the work to your people.
Read the idea at your own pace, or put it in the room where your next decisions will be made.