Business owners can ditch the work they don’t enjoy, cut their workload dramatically, and keep their income in Half-Retirement.

Inevitably, the first place business owner’s minds go when trying to create a plan to Half-Retire is, “Ah ha, I need to delegate more.”

Delegation can be a mirage. In the Half-Retire world, delegation sounds wonderful in theory, but in reality, would you not have delegated your work already if you could have?

If you haven’t delegated the work you can’t stand anymore, it’s for a reason; that work cannot be delegated. Watch the video below for one business owner’s ah-ha moment.

There are plenty of reasons why delegating an owner’s work is so complicated.

• Delegation costs money many don’t want to spend. Your helper needs to be paid. Many times the cost of the delegee gives business owners pause.
• Delegation can potentially slow down the organization and cost profits. We’ve all seen it happen; you delegate work, and it makes the situation worse, not better. Time is lost training and supporting the delegee only to have less than optimal work completed.
• Delegating can ruin your Half-Retire bliss. I’ve seen business owners jump headlong into delegating their entire workload and calling themselves Half-Retired, only to be yanked back into the business a few months later when the business is near the edge of the cliff. We ban the word delegation in the Half-Retire world for a reason. It’s dangerous thinking. Most business owners lack the team talent, time, patience, and money to make traditional delegation work. There’s a better way to become Half-Retired than delegation.
• Delegation is more than “throwing a body at it.” It goes something like this, a. I have work I don’t want to do anymore, b. I hire someone to do it on my behalf. The new delegee does not have your experience, skill, positional power, and more. The Throwing a Body at it Plan won’t solve anything other than frustrating you and draining your wallet.

If delegation isn’t the answer, what is? To radically reduce the owner’s workload, we use a multi-pronged approach that is radically different from traditional delegation. I’ve seen owners go from a 20-hour-a-month task down to a one-hour task. I’ve seen Half-Retirees reduce travel from 80% of their work time to 20%. We’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of business owners cut out the work they don’t like…just not via delegation.

If you’d like to discuss your specific situation, schedule a 15-minute complimentary call.

The post Can delegation be the enemy of Half-Retirement? appeared first on Half Retire.

Inevitably, the first place business owner’s minds go when trying to plot their course toward Half-Retirement is, “Ah ha, I need to delegate more.”

Delegation is a red herring, a mirage, in the Half-Retire world. It sounds great conceptually, but in reality, if you could have delegated your work, you would have already, right?

If you haven’t delegated the work you dislike, it’s for a reason; it cannot be delegated.  Watch the video for one business owner’s ah-ha moment regarding delegation.

There are plenty of reasons why delegating the owner’s work is so tricky.

• Delegation costs money. You have to pay someone to do the work you delegate. Many times the cost of the delegee gives business owners pause.
• Done wrong, delegation can slow the organization down and drain profits. We’ve all had it happen, you delegate some work, and it makes the situation worse, not better. You lose time training and supporting the delegee only to have substandard work output.
• Done wrong, delegation can destroy your Half-Retirement. I’ve seen business owners jump headlong into delegating their entire workload and calling it Half-Retired, only to be pulled back into the business six months later when the business is near death. We ban the word delegation in the Half-Retire world for a reason – it’s dangerous thinking. Most business owners lack the team talent, time, patience, and money to make traditional delegation work. There’s a better way to become Half-Retired than delegation.
• Delegation can turn into “throwing a body at it.” It goes something like this, a. I have work I don’t want to do anymore, b. I will hire someone to do it for me. The new person/delegee lacks your experience, skill, positional power, and more. Throwing a body at your work won’t solve anything other than frustrating you and draining your wallet.

If delegation isn’t the answer, then what is? To radically cut owner’s workloads, we use a multi-pronged approach that is counterintuitive vs. traditional delegation. We’ve seen business owners take a 20-hour-a-month task down to one hour. We’ve seen Half-Retirees reduce business travel from 80% of their time to 20%. We’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of business owners cut out the work they don’t like…just not by delegating.

If you’d like to discuss your specific situation, schedule a 15-minute complimentary call

The post Delegation won’t help you Half-Retire appeared first on Half Retire.

You are supposed to enjoy your business. You are in control of every aspect of the business and have the ability to do only those things you like to do.

Sometimes our patience level for general BS is really just a desire for a task or project to be easier than it is. This is understandable. Every business owner has 35 to-dos at all times, so a frustrating 36th task can raise your ire.ou enjoy, right?

If you really think about it, frustration grows from feeling overwhelmed or believing a task is just too much of a stretch or even seemingly impossible. When something doesn’t seem doable, that’s how we feel.

Sometimes moving from your current state to a Half-Retired state feels the same. Where do you start? How will you be able to cut your work in half when you can’t finish your current load?

That’s why we created a blueprint. There’s a six-step process that breaks things down into bite-sized steps, so you won’t feel frustrated.

The post What’s the difference between difficult work and frustrating work? appeared first on Half Retire.

• Stop trying to control everything.
• If someone takes more time than you to do the work, don’t worry about it.
• You don’t have a key person and need one – just hire the right individual.
• If you know you aren’t good at delegating, try this simple step-by-step “how to.”

The pervasive theme seemed to be that the reason for not delegating effectively is YOU; if you do more or less of something, you would be better at it. I say, “NONSENSE.”  The way you manage is not the reason you are not delegating as effectively as you’d like. The reason you probably aren’t delegating effectively is that it’s impossible to delegate the myriad of minutia you do.

There is a lot of information that states if you want to determine what needs to be delegated, find a capable person, train them thoroughly, have them be accountable, and overcome your personal issues. That sounds like an executable plan. Wonder why I never thought of that? Hold on! It did!

BUT . . .

• If it was possible to create a full-time job consisting of some of my responsibilities, I probably would have done that by now.
• How does someone delegate a task which takes less than 10 minutes and is done once a week?
• I have hundreds of less-than-10-minute, once-a-week tasks which are combined and are what I label “my job.”
• Sharing my experience, knowledge, and tools in order to enable someone to take over a 10-minute job doesn’t offer a good effort-reward ratio.
• Multitasking comes with the turf for me, but my employees either can’t or are unwilling to.

Delegation isn’t as simple as “be less of a control freak” or “find some help” for entrepreneurs. Their job tasks are extremely varied, and there can be a good deal of detail involved with each task. It is rarely as simplistic as “be less controlling” or “recruit someone to help.” Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying here; the fact is you can offload quite a bit of your work, but not by delegating it in the “traditional” way.

Here’s the Half-Retire way to cut your workload:

1st Step: When it comes to delegating, avoid the trap of thinking “WHO” instead of “WHAT.” Believing you can find just the right person and delegation to them will be fairly effortless is not only unrealistic, it’s “lazy thinking.” Many employees perform well, and some don’t. Some of these individuals may already be working at your company. Begin by defining WHAT you want done, and then find WHO can do it.

2^nd Step: Start by ensuring there is enough time involved in a task to make delegating it worthwhile. Forget trying to delegate tasks that do not have “time scale.” Determine the minimal amount of time that makes a task worth the effort of delegating, say 5 hours a week, and focus on those.

3^rd Step: Take a fresh look at what you do and unbundle. Most work involves a sequence of tasks. Good example: replacing a light bulb takes 15 steps – not one. When you unbundle your job tasks, you will discover portions that can be delegated easily and others that cannot be – your “Picasso Work.” Offload what you can and keep the rest. This will permit your unique genius to shine through the work without the full-time demand.

4^th Step: Think similarities or themes rather than specifics to create scale. Invoicing, Accounts Payable and Receivable, Data Entry all are easily identifiable as “accounting” functions but look more closely to see if fragments of Job A have similarities to fragments of Job B. If you are diligent in finding skill commonalities, you will be able to create the economies of scale effective delegation requires.

5^th Step: Set up the person you will be delegating to for success by ensuring objectives and the processes used to achieve them are clear. Invest in training. It’s challenging to take the time, but it’s worth it. I had a firestorm a few years back. We had to quickly train 20 telemarketers in the Philippines or risk project failure. There was no time for an extended learning curve. I pulled an all-nighter but was able to create a video-based training program that not only resulted in project success but helped train all new staff for the next ten years. It always feels like you are making an excessive investment in order to train people, but if you institutionalize the knowledge, you are building training systems you can use for a long time to come.

Hopefully, this helps clear the air on the topic of delegation. Some of the smartest, most industrious people I have met are business owners. The theory that they are not effective at delegating because of some personal lack is absurd. Many owners have given up on delegating and keep accepting more and more work. Is it any wonder that owners are stressing out, giving up, or worse?

The post Hey You – Delegate More! appeared first on Half Retire.

What do business owners do?

Business owners, Directors and CEOs come in a variety of shapes and forms. Some are quiet and assertive, others are culture focused or results driven.

Whatever type of business owner you are, you like to think you know what you’re spending your time on, right?

But do you actually know what you are spending your time on?

Business owners can sometimes get swept away,  pulled from pillar to post with arduous tasks, so it’s reasonable to suggest that you may not be spending your time on what you think you are.

How to identify where you spend your time

Identifying where you spend your time doesn’t have to be difficult or stressful.

The best way to do this is to simply keep a list of the tasks  you do.

• Not what you need to do
• Not what you want to do
• What you actually have done only!

You could also go as far as allocating the time you spend on tasks to gain a deeper insight into your day. There are a range of free online timer tools that can help you with this, or you can simply do it the old-fashioned way – pen, paper and a clock –whatever is comfortable for you.

Why you should identify where you spend your time when thinking about Half-Retirement

Half-Retirement is a great option for business owners who still want to be involved in their company but who also want some more free time to spend with their family. Identifying where you spend your time is the first step toward achieving this dream.

You need to know where you are at the moment in order to be able to  make a positive step towards Half-Retirement without causing your business problems.

Your list of tasks will be the starting point that determines how you advance towards your Half- Retirement. From this list you will discover what you do, what you like to do and what areas of your business require a little extra “you-time.”

You can then take these tasks and begin to figure out how to dispose of, delegate and distribute them, so  you are able to free up more spare time for doing what you love.

Learn about how to begin your Half-Retirement

If you are a business owner who is considering retirement, but are not sure what to do about it, we have the answers for you.

Get in touch with our team today to learn more about techniques on how to make your escape plan and begin enjoying your spare time again.

We have a range of useful resources, tutorials and information for you to take advantage of, so don’t delay. Half-Retirement needs careful consideration and planning, and there is absolutely no need for you to do it alone.

Allow our experts to teach you how to achieve your Half-Retirement goals and reap the benefits for yourself and your family.

It all starts with discovering what YOU DO. Grab your notepad!

The post Business Owners: How To Identify Where You Are Spending Your Time appeared first on Half Retire.