Tiger By The Tail Tool
Secret 2: Twenty Times The Problems
Running a company involves twenty times the problems than most people experience in their workday. The insurance clerk dealing with accident paperwork deals with the same issues day in and day out. It’s like the movie Groundhog Day, every day looks the same. A receiving clerk may complain about a shipment that didn’t arrive, and that he had to call the client to tell them their order was going to be late. That’s it? That’s not a problem, that’s a phone call.
The problems on a regular job pale before the problems that face an entrepreneur. If you feel overwhelmed by the number of problems you have on your plate, you are in the sweet spot of entrepreneurship.
The shipping clerk has his problems and the finance manager has her problems, but the entrepreneur gets them all. On any given day, the business owner is dealing with an issue of sale price, inventory shortage, a sick staff person, rent due, a marketing deadline, and operations. Tomorrow it’s another set of problems. And it’s just Tuesday! When your expertise needs to span every aspect of the business, your issues also span every aspect of the business.
All problems force you to expand your knowledge and skills in all areas NOW! It is seriously challenging, but can also be rewarding as you grow in skills and knowledge. One of the keys is to embrace all of these situations that make you feel ill-equipped, because they force you to learn. It’s important to consciously decide to recognize the pace of change and growth required of the entrepreneur, and learn to enjoy it.
Any day that you are struggling with some customer issue, a finance issue, a sales issue, a staff or production issue is a normal day. It takes a great deal of skill and determination (and persistence) to get up each day, knowing the level of headache you will face.
- Recognize that this is the adventure of running a company. You are doing it right.
- While most people panic about issues, your success will come when you realize that no issue is resulting in the death of people or total calamity. (My slogan is, “Folks, we aren’t curing cancer here, so let’s relax.”)
- Recognize that a problem or issue is external to you. Although the tendency is to internalize a problem and allow it to create festering stress, remind yourself that the issue is outside yourself.
- Look to see where you can not only solve an issue, but start to systemize how you can solve the problem in the future. If it happens more than two or three times, it is likely a system problem. Develop a standard response or process that your whole team can manage.
- Look at who you can pull into the solution; who else in the company should be and can be part of the solution? Too often, owners assume all problems are theirs to fix. As soon as staff can be empowered to solve a problem the way you want, it instantly takes the pressure off you and starts to create a team of problem solvers. (Note: Your staff will take a BandAid solution over a good solution about 85 percent of the time. Therefore, make sure that your staff understands the difference between a superficial solution and a real solution).
A very successful entrepreneur I know, Peter Thomas, faced bankruptcy, potentially owing $100 million from a real estate deal gone wrong. Now, that is a problem! He got through that period of his life, and after that, he didn’t find any issue as daunting as what he’d already been through. His slogan became, “This will be easy,” and he’d say it every time some bump in the road came up. It set the tone for him and the people around him.
Finding solutions to challenges became a lot easier. He has been exceptionally successful in business and life. Such a profound change in mindset can reframe problems and set a can-do attitude that fosters appropriate actions and solutions.
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