Problem-Solving Power Tips with Josh Mellicker

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like DTC Pod. Today, we'll be breaking down problem-solving power tips. To drop these value bombs, I brought Josh Melker into EO Fire Studios. Josh is a serial entrepreneur, lifelong student of life, technology revolutionist, problem solver, and is always trying to become more aware of the obvious and a decent jazz guitarist. In today's foundation, we'll talk about problem-solving, the first step, the second step, the third step, and oh, so much more.

0:36And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Josh and our sponsors. DTC Pod, hosted by Ramon Berrios and Blaine Bolas, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. DTC Pod is a podcast about all things direct to consumer. Ramon and Blaine cover everything from starting, growing, and optimizing e-commerce stores and DTC brands. If you're interested in the stories behind your favorite consumer brands, this podcast is for you. One recent episode on how the best brands are built is a must listen. Listen to DTC pod wherever you get your podcasts.

1:10Are you looking to start or grow a successful business? Attend the world's highest rated and most reviewed business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and football great Tim Tebow at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. Again, request life-changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO Fire. Josh, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. I would have to say it's that most people are not very good at problem solving, even entrepreneurs, better than average, and that a 20 % improvement in problem solving skill would equate to a doubling or tripling of value.

1:54Well, Fire Nation, after this episode, you will be a better problem solver because we'll be talking about problem solving power tips all day today. And you believe, Josh, that problem solving is not just the most important aspect of business and life, but that it is life itself. Tell us more. Well, you know, when I was thinking about what to talk about in this interview, you, I was thinking, you know, what is the high order bit in life? What is all human activity basically doing? And just like you can swap out lenses on a camera, you can also swap out mental lenses. And so I put on the lens of viewing everything we do as problem solving.

2:37And it was really interesting and valuable. And for example, you know, you're hungry, that's a problem. So get something to eat, problem solved. You know, you're sleepy, get some sleep. In fact, even your lungs breathing brings oxygen into your body and your heart beats to distribute that oxygen. So even your involuntary processes are solving problems. And when you solve problems for other people, and they solve problems for you, the world becomes a better place. And that's what you do in this podcast. And so over the last, you know, decades, I guess I have a process and some tips for problem solving that hopefully will be interesting and valuable for your listeners.

3:18Oh, it'll be very interesting. It'll be very valuable. I mean, one thing that we hear pretty often on Entrepreneurs on Fire is that everybody's in sales. Everybody's a salesman. Everybody's a saleswoman. You're always sell, sell, selling. If you're convincing somebody to do this, you're selling them to do that. but man when I hear you talk it's like it's so obvious to me that this is just a much more fundamental truth is that everybody's a problem solver I mean that's literally what we do from the time we wake up until the time we go to sleep is we solve problems and by the way while we're sleeping to your point we're solving problems we're breathing you know we're coming out of deep sleep into REM sleep back into light sleep and and we're waking up and then we're rolling over.

4:01And I mean, we are doing nothing but going from one problem to another solving it. So what is the first step, Josh? First of all, realizing problem solving is a skill, just like tennis or classical piano or JavaScript programming. And it's a skill that you maybe are not very good at at the beginning, but you can learn techniques and processes and you can get better and better and better. And the better you get, it just translates better, I think, than any other skill to all parts of your life. Certainly being an entrepreneur and being successful in business, but also marriage, raising kids, relationships with friends and family, neighbors.

4:42If you can get really good at solving other people's problems, you're going to be not only successful, but popular. And so the first power tip I have, and I wanted to say that some of these power tips, when people hear them, they're going to go, duh, like that's obvious. But you know what? Being aware of the obvious is a key entrepreneurial trait and understanding that, hey, this is a deep thing. You can't just say something and like, yeah, put it on a bumper sticker. Some of these things are profound. And the first tip, power tip that I have is don't waste time trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

5:17Now, of course, duh, of course you don't. But that's what a lot of people spend most of their days doing. And we, as a software development firm, our clients say, hey, can you add this feature? And I started asking, what problem is this solving? And just getting crickets a lot of the time. Sometimes, obviously, they have really good ideas, solve huge problems. But other times, they ask us to do things that go sideways or even worse, go backwards and create new problems. All of a sudden, now it's four clicks to do this instead of one. and now your interface is more clunky and user experience just got worse.

5:53It's because you did a bunch of work that didn't actually solve a problem or you didn't know what problem you were solving. My sister, who's a graphic designer, really put it well when she said, a client would say, can you move this section over here or change the font? And she said, don't give me the solution, give me the problem. And that was a really good way of saying, you know, changing the font, what are we solving? How are we improving the lives of people looking at this or reading this? Now, before we move on to the next power tip, I really want to just step back and make sure you, Fire Nation, are really understanding this.

6:28Don't waste time solving problems that don't exist. I mean, that's so key. I wrote a book now three years ago. It's called The Common Path to One Common Success. It's a 300-page book. It's very in-depth about a lot of things. but honestly, it can be summed up in one sentence. And I've done it many times on this podcast and others where I'm just like, what you need to understand about this book if you wanted to just understand the essence, the core of it that I've learned from now over 4 ,000 interviews from successful entrepreneurs, it's become the number one solution to a real problem. Every single word in that sentence needs to be there.

7:12you don't want to become the number two solution to the real problem because they're going to go to the number one solution for that problem you don't want to become the number one solution to a problem that doesn't really exist as josh is talking about here because who cares if it's not a really painful i need to solve this problem you're going to have issues so fire nation don't waste time solving problems that don't exist become the number one solution to a real problem josh Go ahead. Problem solving power tip number two, don't confuse problems with symptoms. And the way I think of that is identifying the problem is a skill.

7:52It's an art form and you can definitely improve. And a mistake I see people making and myself making is when you see a problem, you might see a few problems. And rather than thinking, is there a root? Are these secondary problems? Is there a primary problem that's causing these things? Because if you just go after symptoms, you know, curing symptoms, it's like whack-a-mole. You spend your day putting out fires and you spend your day just jumping on this and that. And while you are, you know, might become good at putting out fires without solving the primary problem, that's all you're going to do.

8:29And that's really hard to make progress. And so it's often good to think, is this problem a symptom of a bigger problem or a deeper problem, or is it just a problem in itself? Give us an example of this. Okay, let's say you have a trial period in software, and people are going through the trial period, and they're canceling. So you think, okay, well, that's a problem we need to solve. We want people to continue to use our software. And so you have to identify why. Is it that they don't understand the value that this software is bringing to their life or their business? Is it because they know there's value, but they don't understand how to operate?

9:12It's confusing. Is it that they're too busy? And so being able to correctly identify that requires some steps, like asking them for one thing. Some people might solve that problem just by, we need to pour more money into advertising. You know, maybe we need to do a nurture sequence of emails. Well, unless you understand what the real problem is, the nurture sequence may not help because it may not be that they're not excited about it. They may be excited about it and just can't figure out how to use it. And they're looking for something simpler, for example. In that case, a nurture series should really contain educational content and training rather than just, you know, trying to get them hyped up.

9:52Or like you said, everybody's a salesperson, you know, concentrating on, you know, we just need to push people to continue to be paying customers. So identifying the problem is certainly a skill that I think everyone can improve. So I love this. Don't confuse problems with symptoms. And Fire Nation, if you think we're even close to done talking about problem solving power tips, you are wrong. So chill out, relax, take a deep breath, and we'll be right back as soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors. Marketers have never been spread so thin. Trust me, I feel it too. Between creating content, launching campaigns, generating leads, nurturing your prospects, and more, you barely have a second to breathe, let alone do your best marketing.

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12:35Josh, we're back. Problem solving power tip. Keep them going, brother. Next tips have to do with the process of problem solving. And just like learning to serve in tennis, you know, just like learning openings in chess, there is, uh, there are people on a bell curve. Some are really good at the process of problem solving. And this is a process that, you know, I've kind of fine tuned and honed and obviously I'm always working on it. I'm always improving it, but it works pretty well. And currently, uh, my wife and I are just bought a house and is completely gutted. And we're using this process to choose and design every room in the house.

13:18And it has been really helpful. And so the first process of problem solving is the brainstorm phase. You can brainstorm by yourself, but it's always more fun to brainstorm with other people. And the brainstorming phase is just making a list of solutions, making a list of ideas of options. And one power tip for brainstorming is, of course, there's no criticizing and brainstorming, which is very common. You know, we throw out some ideas and I say, oh, no, we can't do that because of this. No, the brainstorming is just making a list of no matter how ridiculous or absurd or stupid an idea is, it gets added to the list.

14:02And so you never critique, you just offer an alternate option. And that's something I see all the time. People critiquing an option, it's like, well, do you have a better alternative? because if not, maybe this option has a downside, like all of them do, all options, all solutions are gonna have downsides. And so by saying something has a downside doesn't eliminate it. The only thing that eliminates it is saying that it's inferior to another option or another solution. So that's the brainstorming. So I love that, Fire Nation. I mean, think about that. Brainstorming options. You're gonna add all the options to a list, no matter how crazy, it doesn't matter.

14:38don't critique, just offer alternate options. That's the process. Josh, keep it going. During brainstorming, I should add collaborative text editors like Google Docs or Notion, really handy. We use Notion. We have a little format for problem solving where you have a header with the option and a letter. And then we have pros and cons. People list pros and cons. And it's actually, it sounds complicated, but it makes the process very quick. You know, we can decide something in five minutes that in what I would say, a typical meeting might take half an hour. And so that's the brainstorming. So the next step after brainstorming are the playoffs.

15:17And in the playoffs, you pick any option. It doesn't matter which one it is. Just the first one. It doesn't matter how, if it's the best, you put it up on a hill. Then you take the next option and you run it up the hill and let them duke it out. and you know both options have pros and cons you can even talk about the options like they're little people you know arguing and what what is this you know option arguing and a very important power tip for this for the playoffs uh phase of problem solving is the playoffs are idea versus idea not person versus person too often people take it personally when someone criticizes their idea.

15:57No, once you put your idea on the hill, it's not yours anymore. It's out there on its own and it's duking it out with other ideas. May the best idea win. And your focus should be choosing the best idea and really doing an unbiased assessment of two ideas against each other. It's also a lot easier to compare two ideas than 10. Like, oh my gosh, there's 10 ideas. What are we going to do? We'll just pick two of them, which is better between these two. That's a lot easier than saying what's the best one out of these 10. Another power tip for the playoffs is that you never want the hill empty. Too often I've seen people try to solve a problem and they're just like, what are we going to do?

16:42We don't have any options. We'll pick an option no matter how dumb and put it up there. And when everybody says, well, that's stupid, we'll say, okay, we'll beat it. But right now that's our best option. Would you agree? And everybody's like, no, it's not our best option. Oh, what is? What is up there? So make sure there's always something on the hill. Keep running other stuff up. During the playoffs, you can also come up with new options. Often, that's the point where you come up with the best option is actually during the playoffs. Fire Nation, I love this. I mean, I'm a huge college basketball fan.

17:14So for me, Marsh Madness, it's the best. You know, it's single elimination. You get 64 teams, the seeds, they play against each other, single elimination, all the way down to the champion. And hey, if you can beat the champion, if you can dethrone the champion with an idea, with a solving of a problem, then you can and you will. May the best team win. May the best idea win. May the best problem solver win. Think about it in that manner. So Josh, we talked about a lot of things today, a lot of ways to have problem solving techniques to the best of our ability. What would you say of everything we talked about is the one key takeaway that you really want to make sure our listeners get from our conversation today?

17:57That problem solving is the key to success in entrepreneurship, in a marriage, in raising kids, in friendships, family relationships, neighbor relationships, and really every other part of life. Josh, if Fire Nation wanted to learn more from you, wanted to connect with you, what would be their best call to action that you could give to them? Well, I'm glad you asked. I'm actually looking for a couple of CEOs to launch two new brands this year. And my email address is josh at purple.is. so purple.is and if any of your listeners are interested in being co-founders and handling sales and marketing while we handle technology and investment and other aspects of a business then we are excited to talk to you Fire Nation you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with you've been hanging out with JM and JLD today so keep up the heat for links to everything we talked about visit eofire.com Type Josh in the search bar and the show notes page, it'll pop right up.

19:02And Josh, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. All right. Thanks for having me on. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Josh for sponsoring today's episode. Fire Nation, what can 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? How about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment? My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, is a revolutionary 17-step roadmap that will lead you to the lifestyle you've been dreaming about. This book took me 10 years of accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs.

19:38And you can get it all in one place when you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com. I will catch you there or on the flip side. DTC Pod, hosted by Ramon Berrios and Blaine Bolas, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. DTC Pod is a podcast about all things direct to consumer. Ramon and Blaine cover everything from starting, growing, and optimizing e-commerce stores and DTC brands. If you're interested in the stories behind your favorite consumer brands, this podcast is for you. One recent episode on how the best brands are built is a must listen.

20:13Listen to DTC Pod wherever you get your podcasts. Are you looking to start or grow a successful business? Attend the world's highest rated and most reviewed business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and football great Tim Tebow at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. Again, request life changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire.

20:43Thank you.