I work with several mentors and coaches and one of my favorites is James Roche, also known as the Info Product Guy. His newsletters are always packed full of information and this article is from his most recent one. I LOVE this article and it impacted me greatly so I’m sharing it with you.
James Roche "The Info Product Guy"
Get other articles like this from James here.
There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to move forward on a project and getting stuck. It’s frustrating because you may spend days, even weeks, spinning in your head with no solution in sight. Maybe you have to write an article, deal with a high-maintenance vendor or produce an info product, if you feel stuck, don’t worry. There is a proven five step problem solving technique that can get you unstuck and give you fast clarity on the issue you’re facing.
Finding That Eureka! Moment
Last month, I was working with a multi-million dollar client who was stuck trying to fit all the components of her new program into a cohesive whole. She had binders full of great content and even more info spinning in her head. As I stood listening to her on the phone I went into creative problem solving mode – it’s a mini version of the five steps I’m going to show you.
Here’s what I did…
My eyes glazed over as I listened intensely to my client for 20 minutes. Then I asked lots of questions and poked at the problem with her for another 20 minutes. Nothing resolved itself – but that’s okay because I knew one of the five steps was to be confused and overwhelmed.
I then stopped listening. My client kept talking but I was thinking of doing my laundry and what I would make for dinner. (I used to feel guilty about this until I realized how important this step is.)
Then in a flash it struck me! I saw all the pieces fit together in a beautifully laid out map in my mind’s eye. I blurted out the idea. She was silent for a moment. Then she shouted, “That’s it!”
The Myth about Problem Solving
One of the greatest myths about problem solving is that you have to wait for inspiration to hit you. Nonsense! The production of new ideas is as definite a process as getting up in the morning and preparing for work. The key to getting unstuck is following a proven formula that artists, inventors and scientists have used for centuries.
How to Come Up with New Ideas Quickly
Italian sociologist Vilfredo Pareto defined an idea as “nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements.” The secret to problem solving is developing the skill to see relationships between old elements so that new ideas and solutions flow in.
When Picasso combined the flattening of perspective started by his mentor Cézanne and the disjointed shapes of African wooden sculptures he created a completely new style of art – Cubism.
When Einstein solved the greatest problems facing science at the time he said he would work extremely hard on the problem until he exhausted all mathematical possibilities. He would then go to sleep and forget about it. Then in his dreams everything fell into place. When he awoke, all he had to do was translate everything his sub-conscious mind showed him.
Problem solving isn’t hard. Simply follow these five steps:
1. Gather Raw Materials
There are two types of knowledge you want to research – specific and general.
Start by actively researching the specific parts of the problem you’re stuck on. If you want to create a new info product, ask your target market what their greatest challenges are. If you want to write a novel, go to places your characters would hang out. The more you understand the details of a problem the easier a solution will come to you.
You also want to explore areas outside of your main topic or industry. Imagine you’re a painter – you want as diverse a color pallet to draw from as possible. My field of expertise is marketing and information products, but I only spend one-third of my research time on that topic. The rest of the time my “research” consists of reading novels, studying philosophy and psychology, renting classic movies and sitting in coffee shops people watching.
You’d be surprised how effortless problem solving becomes once you pull from sources completely outside of your normal field of knowledge.
2. Think Hard
After you’ve done your research spend time digesting all you’ve seen and learned. If you’re creating a special report for your web site, what are all the possible emotional trigger points that will get a reader to call you for help? If you’re problem solving a title for your info product, write out dozens of possibilities.
As you’re thinking hard, little ideas will start to pop up. Write them down!
Keep processing in your head and keep taking notes until you’re exhausted. You’ll reach a hopeless stage where everything is jumbled in your mind. That’s good! You’re ready for the next step.
3. Stop Thinking!
Drop the issue from your mind. Let it all go and let your subconscious mind work on the issue out. Literally, sleep on it.
After I’ve thought really hard on an issue I’ll blast music and start cleaning my house. Or I’ll get in the car and drive to the beach. I’ll do anything but focus on the problem at hand.
4. Let the Eureka Moment Pop In
If you did the last three steps correctly, the forth step should happen automatically…and even surprise you. Maybe you’ll be putting away groceries or washing your hair when all of a sudden, “POP!” A brilliant solution will flash all of a sudden in your mind. Go write it down!
5. Put the Idea to Work
This is a fun step. Once you “see the light” take your idea out into the real world for some testing and tweaking. Show your idea to people you trust and get their feedback. They’ll see things you missed, which you can integrate so the solution becomes even stronger.
Practice these five steps over and over for any problem solving challenge you face. Once you get in the habit of problem solving like this the whole process can happen very quickly.
Take action now and pick a problem you are currently dealing with. Ask yourself, “What do I need to research regarding this problem?” Analyze the problem from many different angles. Once your brain is saturated – let it all go. The flash of inspiration will happen soon enough. And finally, test the solution in the real world and adjust as needed.
Get other tips and articles from James Roche here. You will love his newsletters. (With the hundreds of emails I get every week, I make time to read his newsletters because they are that good!)
The holiday season is typically a time of family, friends, gifts, parties and giving service. When you are an entrepreneur, there is another layer to the holiday season.
Among the holiday parties and gift giving, entrepreneurs are also focused on their year end numbers and goals. This alone is a massive focus and we can’t do it without support. Suddenly your 2010 goals are more real and require more focus.
Can you keep going as a solo-preneur?
One question I get consistently is “How do I build a teamwhen I can’t afford a full-time salary for someone?” This is an excellent question and the best ways to do this are:
When you give to others through mentoring, masterminding, giving referrals, sharing ideas and tools and simply making an effort to assist someone else in their business, the door swings wide open for you to receive the same support. Solo-preneurs wear a lot of hats and the biggest mistake I’ve made is to do tasks that take up time from me actually receiving the hourly rate that I am worth. I have utilized masterminds and people who can contribute a few hours here and there in exchange for trade, money or simply service.
Always remember there is a win/win. When you are truly committed to creating something in your business there is always someone who is willing to give you a hand, to a beneficial trade or cut you a break. And never underestimate resources coming into your space so you can make things happen like #2 below.
Ali Brown has excellent tips to know if you are ready to hire an assistant.
Having participated in many masterminds, I’m continually amazed at the power they bring to my life and business. This is the best way you can create a team without capital!
A mastermind is a group of 3-8 people (I prefer no more than 8 and they may be a little big) that meets on a regular basis and you discuss ideas, challenges about your business. Everyone in the group focuses on your business and provides ideas, feedback and support to break through the barriers holding you back. My preference is to have a mastermind that includes a variety of expertise and people who will be HONEST with their feedback. If you are in a mastermind where everyone thinks just like you, you will NEVER grow. Wouldn’t you rather know sooner than later that a business idea you have needs an adjustment? Having people in your mastermind who will give you honest feedback is ESSENTIAL to making sure you continue to grow.
Ideally masterminds, meet at least monthly and I like to give each person in the group at least 10 minutes to get feedback from the group. The key to having a successful mastermind is you have to meet regularly and consistently. All members get to participate and be committed to attending for a mastermind to be effective.
When you manage your time, you will literally have physical, mental and emotional room for people to join your team. When you don’t make time to come up for air, it will be impossible to manage one other person let alone a team.You have to first make the “space” in your life before you an add more to it.
Rene Johnson, The Power Zone Coach, teaches the 4-D Decision making process, which I use every day and has saved me a ton of time and worry. This puts me back into control over my time and what I focus on. Separate your tasks into Delegate, Delete, Do It or Defer. Have a file folder that you review regularly with each set of tasks in each category. If something has been in your defer file for two weeks or more, considering just dumping it. One of the reasons entrepreneurs feel so overwhelmed is because everything feels like it’s urgent.
When I feel like everything is important, I ask myself “What will make me money today?, What will take me closer to the biggest goal I have right now?”
More Time Management Tips:
James Roche, the Info Product Guy, who is a coach to Ali Brown and very successful (and a really great guy), gave me these tips:Focus Time: plan long-term projects. This is where you work ON your business not IN your business. Get away from your office or home to do this so you can truly focus and plan. When you are in Focus time, turn off your phone, close your email and shut your door. Give yourself allotted time to work on something. Work on a project for 30 minutes and set a timer. Then take a five-minute break and move onto the next project.
Flex Time: This is when you are actually making money, when you are working with clients, making calls, emails, managing your team, etc.
Free Time: This is when you do everything else.
Overall, the key to creating a team to support and assist you is you have to first believe in your value of what you are offering. When you work on yourself, you start seeing results in your business, relationships, health and your entire life.
Alright folks. Let’s talk about something that happens to be one of my pet peeves. I know that sometimes we just don’t know certain things or do THIS by accident…
I love (not really) getting an email and there are dozens and dozens of recipients that the email was sent to and the sender did not use the BCC option. So now I scroll through all of the email addresses (I just got one that probably had 200 names in it) and finally get to the message.
This is the problem with sending a mass email to your list and NOT using the BCC option. My email address just got sent to your other contacts and well, it’s not polite to send a mass email so generically (see below for the exceptions). If you really want to make a connection to your email recipients and want a response from them, send them a personal email when possible.
Okay, so let’s go over the rules:
When you compose an email there are three fields: To, CC and BCC
Use the To field when you are:
Now, CC stands for Carbon Copy. Use the CC field when you are:
Sending an email to a primary recipient and want someone else to simply be aware of the information on the email but there is no call to action for the CC person. For example, when I send an email to a speaker to my events, I will CC their assistant so their assistant knows they have the information or vice versa.
BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. Use the BCC field when you are:
Overall, sending a mass email and putting everyone in the To field is unprofessional and a little annoying to your recipients for the above-mentioned reasons.
Email Etiquette #2 coming soon. We’ll talk about subject lines, signatures, images in your signatures and more. Stay tuned. Thanks for letting me rant a little bit.
Use email managers like Aweber to manage your email campaigns. This is the ideal way to manage your emails.
I’m really excited to share some information with you regarding some new trends in marketing.
First, traditional marketing and advertising does not work like it used to. With the changing times, consumers are demanding more from businesses including yours. Consider the following:
How do you market your business when people are more selective to what they hear and pay attention to? The great news is rather than having to pay an advertising agency a large monthly retainer, you have the power to market yourself. It’s called relationship marketing.
This term has been around since the 80′s and is making a comeback with the popularity of social media.
Relationship marketing is perfect for conscious women-preneurs like us. Why? Because it’s what we do naturally. We naturally like to connect authentically with our clients. When this is the foundation and intention of our business, the clients are a natural result.
With relationship marketing you can increase your sales by 50%. Check out this article: Customer Relationships Are Key to Your Marketing Strategy
How to Start Your Relationship Marketing
One way to get on the Relationship Marketing tidal wave is to get going on your social media. At the social media workshop this month, guru Jack Hadley of Lava 7, in Orem, UT advised that Social media is not a fad. It’s literally a revolution and it’s changing the way we interact with each other. Therefor it’s changing the way we market and advertise. Social media is often the start of the relationships we create.
Another favorite resource is Christine Comaford and this is what she has to say:
“The bottom line is that Social Networking is NOT going away, and Facebook is a popular network. And remember, “social” networking is fine, but the REALLY big deals are done face to face.”
Ever wonder what to post, tweet and write about with your social media efforts?
The last Biz Divas workshop was on Social Media and it was incredible. I learned that social media is a revolution, not a fad and it’s completely changing the way we market. I feel like for the first time, new companies can create awesome marketing momentum through cost-effective efforts. No longer do companies have to have a $10,000+ retainer with an ad or marketing agency to be successful.
First, check out this awesome article that one of my favorite social media and marketing experts (Jack Hadley @jack_hadley from Lava 7) passed along to me:
http://blog.listpipe.com/2009/frequency-seo-and-wasting-time
Now, do you follow the 70-20-10 rule?
70% is sharing resources
20% is spent in conversations with people
10% is about promoting yourself
Here are a couple of articles I liked about this:
http://www.fwrenaissance.com/do-you-comply-with-the-70-20-10-rule-for-twitter/
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2009/02/06/creating-social-media-rituals/
Now what to write about:
Do you have a product or service that helps people? Talk about what results you are co-creating with your clients?
How have you gotten where you are? Share the resources that support you (books, articles, blogs, mentors, etc.)
Share tips. For example, an event planner can share tips on how to throw an amazing holiday party. Or share party etiquette.
Are you a massage therapist or other type of healer? Share tips on what people can do to minimize stress.
Share the inspiration behind your art if you are an artist of any kind.
What are your amitions and state of mind today? Share that, people will relate and you will create authentic relationships.
My personal philosophy is that social media is thriving because we are more interested in relationship marketing than “being sold to.” Social media engages you in relationship marketing and it works.
Do you want some feedback on what you can write about in your social media? Reply to this post with a very brief description of your company and I, along with my readers, will respond and give you some insight. This is the first step in making your social media successful. It’s about supporting each other. When we give, we receive everything we are looking for.
