A Better Way to Solve Your Biggest Problems

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1:33There's no safe like SimpliSafe. From Entrepreneur Media, this is Problem Solvers, a show in which entrepreneurs do what entrepreneurs do best, solve unexpected problems in their business. We were completely wrong. And I'm just like, it's not selling. It was like, we have to start from scratch. I'm Jason Pfeiffer, the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine.

1:58I was recently talking to a founder whose company is very new, like maybe six months old, and doing very well. Quick, simple, straightforward market traction. Didn't have to do a whole lot of pivots, just entered into the market. People got it, people started buying. In fact, on Black Friday, she sold out of her best-selling product. It's fantastic. And so I was surprised when this founder said to me, is it time for me to sell? Should I sell this company? Should I just get out? And I said, that's unexpected because you're doing so right now and there's so much more growth to be had. Why sell now?

2:37And as we talked about it, she just kept coming up with different answers to that. She would talk about how maybe this is just the right opportunity because she's in a hot space and she doesn't want to miss the moment. but then she would also just talk about how exhausted she is as a founder and a couple other things that came up. And eventually I realized, and I said to her, I don't know that what you wanna do here is sell the company. I think that what you wanna do here is solve a problem and you're not exactly sure what that problem is. Sometimes we just know something's wrong and we don't know why it's wrong.

3:14We don't even know what is wrong. And we wanna do something to fix it. So we come up with some kind of solution, but that's not to say that the solution makes sense. That's not to say that the solution will solve our problem, because we don't know what problem we have. And so what I did is I sent her a link to a problem solving framework that I had written a couple of years ago. And I have heard over the years that people have found it incredibly valuable, just incredibly useful in clarifying what problem they actually have. Today on Problem Solvers, I'm going to read you that framework. I'm going to read you, it's something that came from my newsletter a number of years ago called One Thing Better.

3:58Each week, one way to be more successful and satisfied, build a career or company you love. You can find it at onethingbetter.email. That's a web address, just onethingbetter.email. Plug it into a browser. Anyway, I'm going to read you that. And then at the end, I'm going to tell you what this founder realized after going through this exercise. Today's episode of Problem Solvers is really just helping you clarify the problem that you have. Because just because you know there's a problem doesn't mean you know how to solve it, because it doesn't mean that you know what it is. Coming up after the break.

4:33All right, we're back. So I'm going to start by reading to you this thing that I wrote in my newsletter a number of years ago. It's called How to Solve Your Big Problems by Finding Your Real Problem. Here it is. You've got a problem. Something isn't working. Something seems broken. You're frustrated and you have no idea how to fix it. In times like this, I like to step back and ask a question. What problem do I actually have? Because here's the thing. When we can't find a solution, it's often because we're trying to solve the wrong problem. Today, I will help you find the problem you actually have by distilling it down into one simple word.

5:15Then we can find a solution that actually works. So let's start with an example. A young professional recently came to me with a problem. He works at an advertising agency and his ideas are always getting shot down. He's really frustrated and he's demoralized and he can't figure out what's wrong. Should I just start executing my ideas without asking permission, he asked me? This would be an act of desperation, but he sees no other choice. He believes in his ideas. Nobody is giving him a chance. So maybe he just spends some time and money and proves himself that way? To which I said to him, hold up there.

5:53The problem is, this guy doesn't actually know what problem he has, which means that he cannot find the right solution. And that is the most common problem of all. So what's the fix? You need a one-word problem. Consider it. Even if your problems feel very big, what if your problem is actually very small? That's not to say it's simple or unimportant. It's just to say it's specific. Problems often feel big and abstract, and they radiate outward. We spend a lot of time trying to solve for the symptom of a problem rather than locating the actual problem itself. So let's focus. You should be able to take your problem and fit it into this Mad Libs style sentence.

6:38Ready? I don't have a blank problem. I actually have a blank problem. I don't have a blank problem. I actually have a blank problem. I don't have one kind of problem. I actually have another kind of problem. So how do you do that? How do you fill this out? Let's go back to the young man at the advertising agency. Nobody is accepting this guy's ideas. So right now, we might say he has an acceptance problem. Now, an acceptance problem is a big abstract problem to solve. Why do people not accept him? But wait a second. He has never actually tested whether acceptance is his problem. It's time to go through a process to figure out what problem he actually has.

7:18Step one of that process looks like this. You have to create some hypotheses. Okay, so you have a big problem. You're not exactly sure how to solve the problem, but also you haven't really defined and narrowed in on what problem you have because you're probably defining the problem by the symptom of the problem. So when we talk about the advertising agency guy and his acceptance problem, acceptance is a symptom. Acceptance is something isn't getting accepted. We don't know why. We just see that as a thing that's not happening. What we need to do is we need to create some hypotheses of what the actual problem could be.

7:54A concrete hypothesis of what could be causing the problem. And I want you to come up with as many of these as you possibly can for any problem that you have and give each a simple one word name. Here's what that sounds like. The advertising agency guy could have all sorts of problems. I'm going to list five possible versions. He could have, number one, an ideas problem. He thinks his ideas are good, but they are bad. That's a problem. Number two, he could have a seniority problem. His team doesn't value junior people's ideas. That would be a problem, right? That's the seniority problem. He's too junior to be taken seriously.

8:33Number three, there could be a vibe problem. He's part of a team that simply doesn't value his type of ideas. He's just not meshing with the people that he works with. The vibe is off. That's the vibe problem. Number four, it could be a communication problem. His ideas are good, but he's bad at communicating them. It's certainly a possibility. Number five, he has a collaboration problem. He's going it alone while his colleagues are collaborating and getting more buy-in from the whole team. Okay, so that's five possible problems to test. First thing is just write them all down. Come up with as many hypotheses as possible.

9:12Now, step two, we're going to experiment. We're gonna run tests to see which problem you actually have, because each version of this problem comes with its own unique solution. Some problems are really easy to test. For example, with the ad guy, let's say he has a seniority problem. Okay, that's easily testable. He can think back, are other junior members of his team being rejected, or are their ideas getting through? If they're getting rejected, then maybe there is a seniority problem. But if junior people's ideas are getting through, then clearly it isn't a seniority problem. That's not the issue.

9:47But many of these hypotheses are gonna require effort. The communication problem, for example, is a big one. Maybe his ideas are great, but also complicated. So when he describes them in meetings, nobody understands him, therefore they just reject the ideas. If that's the case, okay, what are solutions? What can he do instead? can he make sketches, quick mock-ups? He should test this out. He should alter his form of communication. Now, perhaps this sounds exhausting, but it should sound liberating. Beforehand, this advertising guy only saw the symptom of a problem. Nobody listens to him. Therefore, he had come up with a high-risk solution to spend time and money executing ideas without permission and probably pissing off his boss.

10:34But now, he has a lot of potential solutions and they are all much more reasonable to test. So one day he could finally fill out the Mad Libs. He goes through all of these experiments. He figures out which problem he actually has. And then he could say something like, I don't have an acceptance problem. I actually have a communication problem. Along the way, of course, he and you should also ask others for input. He could approach his boss and say, hey, I'm having trouble getting my ideas through and I came up with a couple potential solutions. What do you think about these? That will start a helpful conversation.

11:11Now, okay, apply that thinking everywhere. Are you in a struggling relationship? Then step back and ask, do I have a relationship problem or a dot? What is it? Is it a communication problem, lifestyle problem, jealousy problem, something else? Maybe there's something specific to solve for without having to blow up the entire relationship. Are you unhappy at work? Step back and ask, do I have a job problem or a dot, now what is it? Manager problem, responsibilities problem, and so on. I remember once interviewing Jason Robbins, the founder of DraftKings, about an existential problem that his company faced.

11:49Multiple states were threatening to change their gambling laws, which would have put DraftKings out of business. This seemed like an existential problem, but how do you solve for that? Something that big? Well, he stepped back and basically asked, what problem do I actually have? It's really no different than figuring out how to build a product that people want, he told me. It was, this is the problem we've got to solve. And all of a sudden, you know what you're doing. In DraftKings' case, Jason Robbins realized that he had a relationships problem. DraftKings had no relationships with lawmakers, which meant no open dialogue or opportunity to create common ground.

12:28So they invested in lobbyists, started meeting with local officials, and ultimately helped craft laws that made lawmakers happy, but kept DraftKings in business. Your problems are real. They are hard. They drain your energy and your time. But they are not everything, and they are not everywhere. They are contained, identifiable, solvable. But you will not get there unless you can name them, unless you know what you're dealing with, unless you can boil your problem down to a single word, something you can hold in your hand, something you can look at and say, I see this and I can fix it. Okay, so that's the framework that I sent the founder who is thinking about selling her business after just a few months.

13:14And as we started to talk about what problems she actually has, we came up with a couple interesting hypotheses. Number one is she has an exhaustion problem. She is doing this herself and it's just too much. It's just, it's too many things to have to learn and focus on all at the same time. And so we thought, what are solutions to that? Yeah, I guess you could sell the company. That's one solution, but are there others? Sure, there are. She could bring on a co-founder, for example. She could alter her team and so build a team, really. There are all sorts of things that she could do to adjust for an exhaustion problem.

13:50Now, it is possible that she has an opportunity problem. The opportunity problem is that she's in a very hot space right now and she doesn't know how limited that space will be. and maybe it is time to sell right now. That's worth exploring too. Maybe selling is a good solution, but she needs to do more research on that. She should see what the market is for a company like hers and what it could be in a few years if various projections hold true about the industry and if she grows at the pace that she's growing now. And we went through some more. And ultimately what she came to realize was this is not a time to rush into any kind of decisions, but she's not standing there holding a hot potato that she needs to get rid of right now.

14:32Instead, what she needs to do is spend more time figuring out exactly the problem that she has because that is how she will solve it. And that is how you will solve any big problems that you have too. Before you take action, before you come up with some solution, make sure you know the problem you really have. And that's our episode. I would love to hear what you think and maybe even about a problem that you solve. you can find me at my website, jasonfeiffer.com. J-A-S-O-N-F-E-I-F-E-R.com. Also, I have some more useful stuff for you. I write a newsletter about how to future-proof yourself and become more adaptable and optimistic.

15:13I would love for you to sign up. It is at jasonfeiffer.bulletin.com. Also, check out my other podcast. It's called Build for Tomorrow. In each episode, I take on some belief that we have that holds us back from progress and show you why it is not as bad as you think. Problem Solvers is a production of Entrepreneur Media and comes out every Monday morning. So make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss an episode. Thanks to Deepa Shah for production. My name is Jason Pfeiffer. See you next week.