For many retirees, retiring is more about time freedom rather than not working. This is why so many people decide to become entrepreneurs and enjoy a pretirement phase of life. My guest on episode 237 is author Mike Michalowicz who helps entrepreneurs learn how to step away from their business. He is the author of three fantastic entrepreneurial books and he has a new book that just released called Clockwork. Clockwork is a book that helps entrepreneurs design a business that runs itself. If you are thinking of starting your own business or are already in your pretirement phase, you’ll want to hear this interview. Listen now to hear Michael explain why you should be able to step away from your company by designing a business that runs itself. How to automate your business To run a business on automatic you first need to train your mindset. Without the proper mindset, you won’t be able to spark the idea of automating your business. To get the business to move forward to where you really want it to be you have to get other people to do work in the business. Running a business on automatic doesn’t necessarily mean that there are robots involved, although there are many automated systems that can help achieve this. An automated business means that there is a consistent, predictable outcome without effort from the owner. Listen to this episode to hear why the entrepreneur’s job should be to achieve the predictable outcome achieved by automating the business Why do entrepreneurs end up working harder than if they just had a job? Many entrepreneurs start a business with everything they’ve got. They work so hard to get their business off the ground that they think they must continue to do everything on their own. This isn’t true. Oftentimes, the owner’s way of doing things isn’t even the best way. As your business grows it is important to be able to hire people to specialize in certain areas so that you don’t have to be the one doing everything all the time. Being able to remove yourself from your business for a period of time is a great way to determine just how successful the business really is. Listen to this episode to hear Michael Michalowicz describe why it is important to learn how to step away and create a business that runs itself. The 4-week vacation Just about every element of most businesses happens during a 4-week period of time. This is why Mike suggests that preparing your business for a 4-week break from you is a great way to judge if you really have freedom from the business. This means there are several aspects to your company that must become automated. If an owner can remove him or herself for this amount of time then it is a business that can run itself. While you are taking this vacation, the time off can give you a completely different perspective on your business. Listen to this episode to hear how Michael Michalowicz describes why a 4-week vacation is exactly what an entrepreneur needs. Your business is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it Many entrepreneurs are so involved in their business that there is no way to extract the owner from the business itself. This makes the company worthless from a sales standpoint. By making the company all about the owner, you are actually making it impossible to sell. When entrepreneurs go to sell their business they often think of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it and base their sale price on that. But this is not the true value of the business. The only amount a business is worth is the amount that someone is willing to pay for it. Listen to this episode to hear how Michael Michalowicz explains how to increase the value of your business. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN [2:22] The earlier you start getting your business processes in place the better off your business will be [6:28] Mike Michalowicz discusses his new book, Clockwork [8:10] Why do entrepreneurs end up working harder than if they just had a job? [10:08] Mike define