Many businesses look profitable from the outside yet rely too heavily on memory, improvisation, and the owner being present. They produce income, but they are fragile, and fragility becomes expensive the moment a buyer starts asking hard questions.
A serious buyer is not merely purchasing revenue. They are purchasing continuity, transferability, and the probability that the business will keep working after ownership changes hands. If too much of the value lives in the owner head, what should have been an attractive opportunity starts to look like a rescue mission, and buyers do not pay premium prices for rescue missions.
Preparing before you go to market is value creation, not cosmetics. See What buyers actually pay for and How to make your business transferable.