How Many Problems Have You Got?

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Not Everyone Thinks in Systems

TBH, I am not a systems thinker. When I have an idea or a plan, my instinct is to start running towards the end state as fast as I can and just ASSUME that I am going to figure it out along the way. My ADHD brains tends to remember, in exquisite detail, the 17.5 times that has worked in my life. (It, quite inconveniently, forgets the 1,118,873 times where that approach has been nothing but a total trainwreck…but that is a story for another day…)

But I have learned, after many years of leading teams & 24 years of being married to a planner, that very few people like to work in the “Welp, we’ve already started, no time for planning now!” universe that my brain lives in.

I am not very good at what I call “blank page planning”, which is a linear plan that takes you from where you are to where you want to be in a smooth narrative motion. That doesn’t work for me…I see the start, I see the end, and there are a couple of notable landmarks in between that I can keep my thoughts focused on…

I Am A Problem Thinker

Take that any way that you wish…but what I mean is that I am much more tuned in and can be more creative when I am trying to fix a problem, rather than “creating a plan”. My “plans” are all sunshine and rainbows and what could go wrong kind of bullshit thinking.

But, the way that I can really dig into the details is to start with a problem…because problems have edges and sharp pointy bits and if you are lucky, some kind of rusty look that makes you sure that you are gonna get tetanus. “Blank sheet planning” is too wide open for me…it’s too, I dunno, sanitized…

So, my approach to planning is this…”Where is the worst possible spot for this (Idea, process, plan, sequence of events) to break?”

I start my plans THERE.

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Wait, Tim, You Start Fixing a Problem Before There Is One?

Yeah - and trust me, I know how stupid that sounds. I feel dumb even writing it. But yes, I try to fix a problem before I even know that there is going to be one. If I imagine that the problem is at the most difficult or treacherous point, where it would cause the most frustration and confusion (or cost the most money), I start asking myself, “WTF is going on there?” I don’t really know why that is the case - but it allows me to see everything more clearly.

OK…uh Tim… Thanks For That Look Inside Your Stupid Brain…This Does Not Apply To Me…

Oh dear reader, that is where you are wrong! This is, perhaps the best lesson I can ever teach you…because there is no freakin’ manual for building a successful business for you. Sure, there are structures & frameworks & methodologies that are applicable, but the essential key to success is fixing shit before it kills your business.

By starting with problems (real or imagined) at critical juncture in your business forces you to fix the big systemic things first. If you are an agency under $50K/mo, there are two big things that are likely broken - and if you don’t fix them, they will, without a doubt kill your business. Those two problems are:

1. Client acquisition

2. Client delivery

Those are two HUGELY critical processes in your business that are the most frustrating, complex and expensive to fix. So, assume that both are broken. But since you only have 1 brain, you can only think about one of them at a time.

Pick whichever one makes you feel the least competent…that’s your brain telling you that there is stuff it is afraid of in there.

Editor’s Note: If you are over $50K/mo in revenue, those are likely problem areas for you too, but you have a more extensive “most ouch-y problem” menu to choose from - it could be management, hiring, finance, client retention, talent retention, technical debt, etc. So, you can play along, too.

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Um…OK…So I Picked One…and TBH, I Don’t Like This Game

Suck it up, buttercup. Now that you are looking at this big, ugly, rusty & crusty, sharp-edged thing, you are probably noticing that there isn’t just one issue that jumps out at you…

Find the sharpest, most jagged & nasty-looking problem - the problem that you know you are gonna scratch yourself on. Yup. That one.

You might be feeling queasy, or like you want to run away - but that’s how we know you are in the right spot. Now start looking really closely at that nasty bit…go on - get close enough to really see it. Maybe even closer. Scooch up - I want you to see every small detail…

It’s kind of cool looking at this problem through a magnifying glass, isn’t it.

There’s Sharp Nasty Bits On Top Of Sharp Nasty Bits…

What happens though, when you move back away from the 10x magnified view? Those high-resolution, really sharp problems start to fade away…

Did you feel that?

It’s relief. It is your brain realizing that those horrendously sharp slivers that you saw way up close are actually pretty small. Now you have your problem to solve.

Go attack that nasty bit in all its glory - and remember - it’s tiny. So you’ll make that edge smooth in no time.

Now do it again.

2 nasty bits made smooth.

And again.

And again.

There Might Be 10 Nasty Bits To Smooth Out, or 10,000

It doesn’t really matter - that big, hairy, scary problem that seems unsolvable, unworkable, undoable - it’s the aggregate of all those micro-nasty bits that aren’t so hard to fix.

As your grow, believe it or not, there are MORE problems and more nasty bits. And, you aren’t going to have the time or the patience or the eyesight to look at all of them in microscopic detail…but that’s why you hire and empower a team to smooth out those nasty bits.

I like being a problem thinker - how about you?

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