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No news is good news. If I haven’t heard from someone in a while I know all is going well. Then boom, I get an email or a text. Shit got real, life happened, it’s brick wall time. And just when I think I have heard it all: the issues get gnarlier and the brick walls more impassable.
As I have said before, I look for the opportunity in every problem...but no entrepreneur wants to hear that when they have been knocked back in the mud.
The first thing I do is break the problem into pieces. The smaller the better. The worst thing you can do is make an issue bigger than it really is by bundling all the component parts into one big, insolvable ball.
The second thing I do, which sometimes needs to be the first thing I do, is to get perspective on the problem. It’s very easy to feel like a blip in the radar is a fatal blow. I told my husband VERY early in our relationship that “calm down” is about the worst thing you can ever say to someone. He now asks if I want a cup of tea. Obviously I’m not going to suggest either of those to an entrepreneur who has just learned their funding round has collapsed or one of their employees is stealing from them. No joke. But it’s critical to step back from the situation and assess the gravity of the problem. Knee jerk reactions are for bears, mountain lions and snakes. In those moments you should react. Business issues require a non-emotional response.
The third thing I do is walk through the available resources to deal with each of the issues? This is a great time to tap into your network. Think about who might have experienced similar issues; who might have seen these issues play out in other companies; and who might be able to help you through it. This could be anyone from your lawyer to your mentor to a fellow entrepreneur or business person. I like to think broadly when it comes to experience: the commonality across businesses when you get down to the basics is extraordinary. Every business has had IP issues, employee issues, scale issues, legal issues and personal fatigue issues. ‘A problem shared is a problem halved’, true story. It will take a little time but mining your contacts for help will give you invaluable insight into ways you can approach the issue.
The final step is creating your actions steps. I know, I am obsessed with actions but by getting productive on the issue you will put the solution in motion. Against every one of the smaller problem pieces you identified, create one or two actions. Then carve out time in your week to getting that stuff moving. The worst thing you can do with a problem is sweep it into that messy corner of your office where it will fester.
Making time is critical. You don’t want to over-invest in the issue - it will distract you from your business - but you also don’t want to under-resource it. I would create a couple of pockets of time a week to sit down, assess what is in process, see what other actions you need to take and do anything you need to do to solve the problem. Then put it away and get back to your business. Even if it’s a funding crisis; spending all your time chasing investors and re-hashing your pitch deck can be frenetic, distractive and wasted work. Your goal in all of this is to keep the true goal-post in focus. That goal is your business.
The problems will come and go. The size of your problems are just an indication of the size of your business. As you and your business grow, the question is not whether you have problems but how you solve them.