Problem Solving - Draw From Your Entire Experience

Entrepreneurs are often trying to solve so lots of issues simultaneously that it is difficult to identify the root causes and simplify the task of issue solving. The sheer volume of solutions that are needed  guarantees a fire-fighting approach. It is simple to forget that you got yourself in to this mess because you are an issue solver and you are nice at it. Your whole business began because you saw an issue and knew you had a solution. You  certainly did that without having been a business owner before.

So, now that you are a business owner and have multiplied by lots of times the number of issues that need your attention ever day, every hour, perhaps even every minute, it seems impossible to react in any way but reaction. Return to who you were before. What experiences did you have that brought you to the point where that light bulb went off over your head and you knew that you had a viable solution to an issue? You knew you had a solution that people would pay money for. Where did the solution come from? In case you weren't already a business owner or an inventor, it probably came as an application of a principle you understood from a non-business related part of your life.

For example, in an interview for the first "computer job" I ever had, the hiring manager asked me what made me think I would be nice at documenting application and systems. I replied that being a brother qualified me since babies (when they are still at the age where they require to you) don't have the same information base you have and are likely to do exactly what you say, not what you meant for them to do. Having a pleasant vegetable garden and telling your kid that they can have a snack in the yard whenever they require doesn't keep them from eating the tomato worm that is the first thing they see. Computers are the same. They do what you say, not what you meant for them to do so you require to say what you require to say clearly, concisely, and . Based on my understanding of that basic principle and the hiring manager's understanding of parenthood, I got the job.

Entrepreneurs have gotten ideas while playing a game, practicing a skill, achieving a objective. The source of that preliminary inspiration could be the continued source of your problem-solving genius throughout your career. Return to the place that inspired you in the beginning. Give yourself a context that you are familiar with. Relate your current issues to the principles you know well in that other context.