If you have owned a business for more than a week, you know that every business has an unending list of problems to be solved. It’s just part of business ownership. So how do you know if problems that pop up during Half-Retirement are “normal” problems or impediments to successfully Half-Retiring?
If you are having these types of issues, your Half-Retirement may be in the danger zone:
- You have to prepare to be away from the office
- Your stress level is the same as pre-Half-Retirement
- You are thinking about selling to wash your hands of it
- You’re not feeling uncomfortable being out of the office
- Everything seems to be status quo
- Half-Retirement is a radical change to the business. Some things will change. When a business owner tells us, “nothing has changed,” we worry. Usually, the owner has their head in the sand and is ignoring the changes/issues.
- The things you are looking forward to are work-related vs. personal
- Your family is nagging you to take time off
If the events below are occurring, you are probably on track:
- Your employees pleasantly surprise you
- You are spending less time at the office
- When you are away from the office, less goes wrong. Caveat: There is a difference between things not going wrong and ignoring warning signs.
- You have created a periodic (quarterly or monthly) milestone. We create random milestone checks for our Half-Retire members so they can gauge their performance, but you can create your own to stay on track.
Don’t worry if you are experiencing some of the danger signs. You are moving. Every day you put in some work towards Half-Retirement is a useful day. The worst thing a business owner can do is say, “I want to Half-Retire,” and then not do any of the work to get there.
