How To Turn Problems Into Opportunities

Being a founder or CEO of a growing company means you are always stressed to do more.

There is too much to do, too many problems to solve, and too little time to do it all.

Yet, on top of all that stress, you have issues that crop up almost daily.

So, how can you turn problems into opportunities and move forward?

Anyone can turn problems into opportunities using problem-solving techniques, and you don’t have to be a genius to do it.

However, you have to learn a little about the different kinds of problem-solving strategies and techniques.

20+ Problem-Solving Techniques

We are working on creating a series of over 20 ways anyone can turn problems into opportunities.

We explain how each one works. You can’t simply read one after another and understand that technique well enough.

You need to know if that technique works for you or if a different one would be better.

We encourage you to try each one. Some methods you can do quickly, and others take more time.

But, each one will teach you how to become a better problem-solver.

Your Mind Is Pre-Wired To Solve Problems

According to Danial Kahneman’s book: “Thinking Fast And Slow,” Your mind is pre-wired to go problem-solving.

It can switch your thoughts from thinking fast (having an instant answer or a Eureka! Moment)

to thinking slow (digging deep into your knowledge base for breakthrough ideas).

For example, Einstein’s theory of relativity. Your mind switches back and forth between the two thought processes as it searches for the answer.

This process lets you see a bigger picture and more problem-solving options.

In addition to fast and slow thinking, you need to have a positive attitude to solve problems.

You can’t focus on the negative (“why are sales slowing down”).

You have to reframe the negative problem into a positive (“how do we get customers to buy more”). That way, you are focusing on a positive solution.

Pretty easy so far, right?

Next, you can begin to look at the many problem-solving techniques that will help you solve your problems.

A good place to start is with Michael Michalko’s books, especially the “Thinkertoys” book with many problem-solving techniques.

He divides the techniques into two groups.

One group focuses on a linear method using words and illustrations to probe your thoughts.

Some people are more comfortable working with word concepts.

The second group of techniques is more intuitive and relies on intuition and insight to arrive at the solution.

People generally prefer one group over the other just based on their individual preferences.

There is no right or wrong technique.

You can use any of the techniques to solve your problem. You do want to become familiar with all of them.

Each has a unique way to structure and process information that leads to a solution.

Some techniques will seem easy, and you will like using them. Others may give you answers, but the process isn’t as comfortable as some others.

Also, some techniques will give you the confidence you need to believe that you will solve the problem.

Never underestimate the power of confidence. You have to believe you can solve the problem.

So you pick the technique that works best for you or try several of them on your problem to see what results you get.

All Problem Solving Techniques Will Be Covered

We will be covering all of these problem-solving techniques on our advisor platform.

But, you can’t simply read about a method and quickly move on to the next one.

You need to go through a problem-solving example so you can get the idea and feel of how that technique works.

Working through an example is the only way you can judge how they work and if you are comfortable with that specific problem-solving technique.

Three Factors That Will Help You Turn Problems Into Opportunities

Brian Tracy, in his book “Creativity and Problem Solving,” offers three factors, among many good ideas. That helps you be creative:

1. How intensely you desire a goal (the more you want to achieve that goal the more ways you will find to achieve that goal).

2. How serious the problem is to your life or business. Once you have identified what is holding you back from an important goal,

your mind will start generating ideas to solve that problem.

3. How do you focus on the question. (the more precise and focused you are on the question, the more rapidly your creative reflexes operate to generate workable answers

Using these problem-solving techniques, you will be able to

1. Generate ideas at will

2. Create new business opportunities

3. Modify ideas until you come up with innovative and powerful ideas

4. Improve old products, services, and processes

5. Develop solutions to complex business problems

6. See problems as opportunities,And much, much more

Conclusion

As an entrepreneur or CEO, our hectic lives are continually being interrupted by challenges and problems that need creative solutions, short-term, and long-term solutions.

And everyone is capable of innovative solutions.

It’s a matter of learning the methods and techniques of creative problem-solving and practicing them.

Remember, the worth of the idea you create will depend to some degree on the way you define your problems.

For example, write down the problem. Translate it into a positive opportunity. It is impossible to be creative if you are focused on a negative.

You have to look at the problem broadly. This broad approach is true for problem-solving techniques as well.

Try all of them and select the ones that work best for you.

We would love to hear your comments about problem-solving, good or bad.

How To Find Out If Your New Idea Will Sell And For How Much

Most entrepreneurs are confident their new product or service idea will be a big winner. But you would like to find out if your new idea will sell and for how much before you invest lots of time and money. So, to be safe, you tell your Mom or wife about the idea and ask what she thinks. Guess what? She says it could be a great idea. She may not be sure, but she doesn’t want to hurt your feelings or dampen your enthusiasm.

Still not sure, you decide to ask more people and get additional “facts.” Again you tell them your idea and ask if they think it’s a good idea? Do they think people will buy this product or service? Not surprisingly, almost everyone agrees with your Mom. Great. Now you have the facts to validate your hypothesis.

Not All “Facts” Are True

But, there is a big problem, you don’t have real facts. The “facts” you have are only “opinions” from people who don’t want to hurt your feelings or dampen your enthusiasm. Just like your Mom, people want to be nice. Besides, they are not committed to buying it, so there is no downside for them.

If you start your business using these false facts, your chances of succeeding are slim. But, there is an answer. Rob Fitzpatrick, author, and entrepreneur, started several companies that failed using this traditional customer research. He finally realized what the problem was, and here is what he found.

Talking to potential prospects is critical, but you have to speak to them in a way that they will give you real facts, not just opinions. So the first step to getting real facts is not to tell them what your product idea is.

Don’t Talk, Listen

Set up a casual meeting or coffee, so they are comfortable. And remember, you are there to listen, not talk.

Ask them about themselves and their job. People love to talk about themselves.

During that conversation, find a way to bring up a question related to the problem you want to solve.

For example, here are some opening questions, “that part of your job sounds difficult.

Is that a big problem?” or “I’ve been told that X is a problem. Do you have that problem?”

Then based on their answer, keep probing about the problem and how they dealt with it.

This explanation is experience talking about their problem and how they handled it — this is how you get factual information rather than just opinions.

They verify if the problem exists, how painful it is, and how they dealt with the problem.

Maybe it’s a minor problem, and they have a way to deal with it now. Perhaps it’s a significant problem that is costing the company time and money.

This approach will verify if there’s a problem and if the pain is severe.

You get facts, not opinions, which will give you actionable insights.

Here are some of the problems with the traditional approach:

1. We spend too much time collecting data that’s too unreliable for important decisions.

2. Sometimes we don’t realize the data we are collecting is worthless (even misleading)

3. Asking customers what they think of your idea almost always leads to bad data.

4. We assume customer feedback is scientific, and whatever they tell us is scientific and counts as learning.

5. But, it’s easy to bias the people we are talking to. Once you tell them you have an idea, they are already biased beyond repair because they don’t want to crush your dreams,

6. If people tell you your idea is terrible, that may not be useful data either. Why? People are bad at predicting both: which ideas are good and what they,

as customers are going to do, buy, use in the future,

7. Even Venture Capital firms credited with being the best predictors are wrong more often than right.

And If their judgment is worse than a coin toss, how seriously can you take anyone’s opinion?

8. If you are going to get your “facts” faster (e.g., focus groups, surveys, etc.), it could be a big mistake.

The problem is this information is not robust enough to bet your company on it.

Get them to talk about costs

During your questioning, you will ask how they solved the problem and how expensive it is to solve the problem.

Now, you have an idea of the cost parameters to determine if the product will be profitable.

This approach does take some time as you will want to interview people until you begin to get repeated information.

However, it is less expensive than starting development and having to end the project later.

Get facts, not opinions

You can get broad industry views and some facts and figures from Google information,

but the insights you need only come from face-to-face conversations with prospects.

It’s the insights into your customers’ worldview and decision-making that tell you to build it or not.

You need real insight into what customers want.

There is also a problem if you put together a small group of people to do these interviews.

You will end up with several opinions as to what they heard and what is essential.

These variations in view make defining the most critical problems difficult.

You do need to keep everyone informed of the information.

Conclusion

You can get the real facts you need if you don’t bias the potential customer by telling them your idea.

Ask questions about a problem they might have and what they did to solve the problem.

Get them to say to you, based on their experience, the problem, and how they solve it or don’t solve it.

Also, what they currently pay to get it solved now.

At this point, you are only trying to verify that the problem you want to solve is a real problem, and the customer would be willing to pay to get it solved.

Once you have your product concept designed, the second step is to follow up with customer interviews

with your product or service design to determine your solution’s validity.

You will also ask for some commitment, not necessarily money, maybe a referral to another user in the company

to determine if the person’s positive response is factual or just being friendly.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this blog or this topic. Or a topic you would like us to discuss. You can reach us HERE.

Jim Zitek

P.S. If you know someone else that would like this information, pass it on.