Half-Retire FAQs
1. Who leads the workshop?
Following the teachings of Jim Mulehausen CPA, JD., the creator of the Half Retire concept, Tom Jordan will be leading all workshops throughout the year. Tom has been in the front lines of Exit Readiness for over 25 years and spends over 1,000 hours a year face to face with business owners helping them develop their exit strategy, which includes Half Retire. About Tom Jordan
2. Who are the other participants?
The workshop has a maximum of twelve businesses, so the interaction remains rich. We have found that the group interaction is just as valuable as the content presented. Expect 80% B2B businesses, with most having 5-75 employees.
3. How long are the sessions?
Each of the six Zoom sessions runs ninety minutes to two hours.
4. What if I can't make a session?
It’s not a problem if you miss a session. All Zooms are recorded and we maintain a video library of each session’s lesson for review or make-up.
5. What results can I expect?
If you do your part, you can expect:
- Cut 4-10 hours of workload per week
- Learn the mindsets and process that can free you from half or more of your total workload • Unlearn traditional delegation and replace it with strategic business planning.
6. What if it doesn’t work for me?
Frankly, it’s pretty easy to deliver at least one big idea/concept/change that’s worth every penny. Some attendees have dramatically changed their net worth, lifestyle, and business as a result of the workshop. It’s literally been worth millions of dollars in financial and emotional payoff.
However, the workshop is just knowledge. You have to apply it and be willing to make the changes to benefit from Half-Retirement. If you don’t your benefits will be less.
7. I’m busy, this makes more sense later.
When you are a busy business owner, everything makes more sense later. We get it. There’s no time for one more thing to do. You already feel overloaded.
If you do Half-Retirement right, you should put in an initial burst of effort that cuts your ongoing schedule. This plan works much better than continuing to stay on the merry-go-round.
Ask yourself, if you keep going like you are for a few more years, what will it cost you financially, mentally, and physically. Time is running out on your ability to gracefully exit your business. Don’t make excuses. Take the Half-Retire Assessment.
8. My business is different from the examples and case studies you show on your site. Does this work in my industry or specific business situation?
The short answer is yes if you want it to work. We have successfully helped a wide range of business owners in a very diverse range of business categories to get back their freedom without selling the business or working themselves to death.
Even if you think your business is different or that you have built it in a way that only you can properly run it, we can assume the following: businesses are more the same than different. All businesses have vendors, customers, and employees. That makes high-level principles like Half-Retire work for any business as long as you can adjust principles to meet the needs of your specific situation.
9: My business is too big/too complex for me to realistically Half-Retire.
The concepts and frameworks in the Half-Retire program can work for any business size or any CEO. Of course, every business is different, and every CEO has a unique situation. However, Half-Retire is not about the business; it’s about you.
It is changing the way you CEO the business that allows you to Half-Retire, not the nature of the business and its operational idiosyncrasies.
10: Is my business too small?
If you are a just one-person business, some of the strategies found in the Half-Retire playbook may not be applicable. However, most of the training in the program applies to any CEO, not just those with lots of people to whom to delegate.
Half-Retire is not just about delegation. Saying, “I am going to Half-Retire, so I’m going to delegate more,” is like saying, ”I’m going to create a successful business; I opened the bank account.” Half-Retirement requires you to change the way you CEO the business; it doesn’t just push your work onto others. It’s a comprehensive master plan to harvest the value you have already created without selling your business, no matter the size.
11: What if I run a family business?
You are not alone. Family tends to make business issues more complicated, but that’s alright. We have dealt with many family business situations, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how well Half-Retirement suits family businesses. It offers an additional exit option that may be better than an outright sale or passing the business to the kids.
12: How long does it take to Half-Retire?
Like most things in life, there is no “easy” button to Half-Retire. The good news is that we’ve already made Half-Retirement a step-by-step process that you can check off the boxes as you accomplish the goals.
We have had business owners cut their workload significantly (half or more) in a month or so. Others have taken a bit longer, 3 to 5 months or even longer. Just keep in mind that whatever time it takes, every bit of progress you make towards Half-Retirement will lessen your workload and stress. There’s nothing but upside to the process.
How quickly you move towards working only two half-days a week depends upon several factors. How motivated are you? Does your family support your Half-Retirement goal? Are you open to adopting the Half-Retire Mindsets, or will you do things the hard and slow way? How much time can you give Half Retirement?
The more aligned these variables are, the faster you can Half-Retire.
13: Can’t I just find someone to do my job or delegate my work?
Sure, but that will solve only 10% of the problem. Half-Retirement encompasses much more than pushing your job onto someone else. For what it’s worth, haven’t you already tried that?
Half-Retirement involves changing the way you work and the way the business works to harvest the value you have already created. You must adjust your business model, your operational systems, your mindsets, your management systems, your work routine, and, of course, delegate a little.
How much needs to change and what is going well? Get your Value Builder score.
14: Can I sell my business later if I Half-Retire?
Absolutely! Keeping the business income and selling at a later date can be one of the best aspects of Half-Retirement. When you Half-Retire, you make the business less dependent upon you. This makes the business more valuable and more sellable. If you are considering selling your business, you can extract maximum value by Half-Retiring for a few years and then selling the business later. It can be worth millions.
15: Do I have to be over 60 to Half-Retire?
No. The benefits of Half-Retirement may be more pronounced as you approach retirement age, but anyone can Half-Retire. We have clients in their 30’s and 40’s who have Half-Retired. Half-Retirement allows the business owner to untangle themselves from the day-to-day demands and stresses of the business. You don’t have to be 60 to enjoy the benefits of that.
How dependent is your company on your involvement in day-to-day operational duties and functions? Take the Owner Centricity Quiz.
16: The work I do is complicated; I don't think I can delegate it.
Everyone feels this way when they start. Traditional delegation doesn’t work for business owners. Half Retirees learn how to offload their work in a manner quite different from delegation.
Food for thought: If getting rid of your work was as simple as delegating it, wouldn’t you have already done so?
17: I like the idea, but I'm too busy!
We get it. There’s no time for one more thing to do. You already feel overloaded. One of the first lessons in the Half-Retire Program is called “Time Manufacturing.” We are business owners too. We understand that you can’t possibly add another to-do to an already-too-long list of tasks. In this lesson, we show you the system other business owners have used to cut 5-10 hours a week from their task responsibilities. This will break the never-ending cycle of busyness and jumpstart your Half Retirement.
Ask yourself, if you keep going like you are for five more years, what will it cost you financially, mentally, and physically? Time is running out on your ability to gracefully exit your business. The transfer of your business may be the biggest financial transaction of your life. Take the Exit Readiness Assessment.
18: I want my family to be okay with this.
Half-Retirees with supportive family relationships do better than ones without solid support. Please feel free to share the program with your family.
A word of caution: There are two ways to ask your family.
- Method #1: What do you think of this Half-Retire Program?
- Method #2: I found this interesting program called Half-Retire and think it might be a good fit for us. I wanted to show you the program and get your input because I’m inclined to do it.
Method #1 gives the decision power to the wrong person. It’s your business; it’s your stress. Your significant other only gets the side effects of it. Why do they get to decide if you Half-Retire? I know you want to keep them happy, but don’t set up a dynamic where they can make the decision for you.
Method #2 is more CEO-like. You show the facts to your significant others but tell them you are inclined to do it. This is more like veto power than decision-making power. You have all the information; they only have some of it. The person who runs the business should be the one who decides its future.
Half-Retirement is a completely different approach to both exit planning and creating a smoother-running business.
Instead of working to create only better systems, it takes a more holistic approach with the express goal of radically reducing the owner’s work time, and rethinks everything about the business from the ground up. As you can imagine, this requires some investment of time and attention on the owner’s part, but the results are more than worth it.
