The Ultimate Problem Solving Technique

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!)

Top 3 Lessons from 2009

These are the top three things I learned in 2009 (let me know if you can relate):

1. I Am NOT My Business!
This conclusion hit me pretty hard when I realized that I had put A LOT of time, energy, and resources into my businesses. I started to identify myself and who I am with my business. Then I had the thought, if I didn’t have these businesses, who would I be? To my great joy, I remembered that I am much more than my businesses and WHO I AM is the foundation in my businesses. It’s the energy behind and through it and it’s what people are drawn to. To lose myself in my businesses meant that I would lose the “umph,” the energy, and what made my businesses unique.
The Lesson:
The good news is I recommitted to ME. It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day operations and goals of business. What will make my business thrive is ME. If I’m burned out and have forgotten my true identity, it will most certainly appear in my business. I dedicated the last little bit of 2009 to re-focusing on me so I can show up more powerfully than ever before in all aspects of my life including my businesses.

2. What Are My Priorities?
As a solo-preneur (for the most part) I spent part of 2009 keeping myself really busy. Being busy I though meant I was producing results. WRONG. Being busy is just being busy. I learned to first, identify what my goals are. Second, identify the activities that would create the results I desired. Third, focus on those activities that are directly related to reaching my goals. Anything else got to be delegated or it was simply not that important so it got deleted.
The Lesson:
Not everything is an urgent priority. By identifying what the goals were and action steps to get to the goal, I Be 100% committed to my success and don’t allow myself to get distracted by what I call “bright shiny, sparkly things,” which are opportunities, however they are not opportunities that serve my goals or serve my focus at the time. So pass the opportunities to someone else so I then have the space in my life to create what I truly want. This means saying no to things that don’t serve my highest vision for myself.

3. Having Clear Boundaries.
I experienced my business life spilling over into my personal life and relationships a lot in 2009. I justified it by telling myself that ANYONE who has created change on the planet has had to focus and sacrifice. While this is true, it can also be done with balance and boundaries. This relates to #1 about focusing on what makes me, me so I can show up in all areas of my life clear, confident, healthy and with LOVE.
The Lesson:
Plan my time and stick to a schedule. Make sure I have time for me. The results so far are: I have at least one bubble bath a week. I go to bed early (before 10 p.m.) with a glass of tea and a good book. My husband and I have started having weekly date nights (no excuses) and we plan our lives around these dates rather than having them happen when we don’t have anything else going on that night. I make plans with friends that are not focused on business goals. I’m excited to carry this fairly new schedule into the rest of 2010.

Email Etiquette Part #1

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:

• Sending a personal email to just one person
• Sending an email to a specific group of several people who all know each other, especially when you want them to “reply all” so everyone can get their reply.

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:

• Sending an email to a mass group and they don’t know each other, put everyone’s email addresses in the BCCTo field and your own email address in the field.
• Sending an email to a primary person and you may want to copy someone on the email but you don’t want the primary recipient to know you are copying anyone on the email. Use extreme caution with this. Why would you email someone and not want them to know you were copying anyone on it? Sounds a bit sneaky to me. When I want to keep someone in the loop of communication with someone else I will either CC them on the email or forward the email to the second person.

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.

Be Clear About Where You Are to Find Out Where To Go

In order to find out where you want to go, you must first find out where you are. It’s like when someone is lost and they call to get directions. In order for them to be directed on where to go, they must first find out where they are.

For example, personally I am recommitting to my vibrant health and releasing some extra weight I’ve “attracted” for the the past two years. I was gauging my results from how I was feeling and how my clothes fit. I was consciously avoiding the scale.

I don’t believe in having my scale rule my life and I admire some health mentors who have thrown out their scale because they are so in tune with their bodies that they don’t need to even look at the numbers.

Let’s be honest. I’m not there yet. So I did a brave thing and I stepped on the scale. When I saw the number I was immediately clear of where I’m at and where I get to go on this weight release and vibrant health journey.  It propelled me into action because it wasn’t as easy to justify the current results I was creating. Taking ownership of where I am at empowered me to create my desired results.

The same goes for owning the numbers in your business. When you look at the bottom line in your business there is no more justifying or “waiting” for things to improve by themselves. Looking at the numbers is the only way to know where to cut back, add more resources or maintain.

Now here is the tricky part for many entrepreneurs. We are often right-brained, visionary folks who cringe at the thought of bookkeeping, filing and financial projections. Here is the good news: When we stop trying to do everything ourselves, we outsource what we don’t want. There is always a win/win. There is someone who loves to do what you hate to do.

When you educate ourselves on the numbers then you are empowered to find the perfect solutions and people to assist you in building the financial foundation of your business.

So whether it’s looking at the numbers on the scale or the numbers in your business, just bite the bullet and do it. It’s freeing and absolutely necessary for you to build your dreams. Without knowing where you are, it’s impossible to find a new direction to get you where you want to go.

Resources:

Free Biz Divas Accounting 101 workshop on Tuesday, November 3 in Draper, UT.

• Are you getting the most out of your deductions?
• Do you know what you can write off and what you can’t?
• How do you easily track it, especially when numbers and bookkeeping are just not your thing?

Endyo Group and The Accredited Network: The Accredited Network was started by Garret Gunderson who is revolutionizing wealth education. If you are ready for  paradigm shift and to take ownership of your wealth and financial freedom, I highly recommend Nate Guggia and Ryan O’Shea. (Endyo Group is a division of The Accredited Network.)

Nate and Ryan are incredible and because of my association with them, they are offering their introductory process complimentary (normally starts at $1,500) to people I know. Contact them at:  (801) 304-7797 or at nate [@]theaccreditednetwork [.] com

Marketing Doesn't Work Like it Used To

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:

• TiVo
  
• Facebook
  
• Twitter
• GenX and GenY are growing in their purchasing power, yet don’t communicate through traditional marketing.
• The Economy – While it’s true that we all create our own personal economy, the psychology of our society is being affected.
  

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.”