What’s Your Problem?

What’s Your Problem?

We’re a pretty positive bunch as a general rule. We try to avoid the painful and messy. Sales people and coaches the world over are taught to use the word Challenge instead of Problem.

“The 30 Day Problem” doesn’t have quiet the same ring about it…

Yet, right now, this might just be the most important question to ask yourself.

What is your biggest “Problem”? No,not that! What you do with toothpaste and gaffa tape in your own time is totally up to you.

What’s your biggest business problem?

What’s stopping you going from here reading this little article to the promise of an online business paying the bills.

I read somewhere (Was it Anthony Robbins, Steven Covey, Chopper Reid?) if you ask yourself a question your brain is awfully good at delivering the answer.

Trouble is, we don’t like the answer and edit/deny it away.

We have a bunch of new people joining the Immediate Edge at the moment and we have a big problem.

It’s too Awesome.

If I do say so myself!

Seriously, it is awesome and after five years of serving the Internet Marketing community there’s a tonne of great stuff. A small block of chocolate, you can handle.

A boulder size block of chocolate suspended above your head while tied to a table and watching the string being eaten by rats Edgar Allen Poe style is a very different proposition.

Reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica (bless it’s little cotton socks – remember them – I wanted a set so bad but we were way to poor) from A to Z and then reading the yearbooks is not for the faint of heart or right of mind.

An Encyclopaedia is designed for you to dip into it. If you want to look for alternate uses of toothpaste – goto the “T” volume and read about the versatility of toothpaste.

Get Specific

If you don’t get SPECIFIC with your questions, you’ll get the same sense of overwhelm about where you’re at in your online business.

I used the humbly titled “A Magnificent Symphony Of Four Parts” to act as a simple filter.

Your problem is in one or more of four areas (and if it’s more than one – the top one is the priority)

Here’s the list…

1. Market Research
2. Traffic
3. Conversion
4. Product

This system is a pretty good start. Ask yourself, which of these areas do you have an issue in? If you haven’t even picked a niche to test, then fretting about traffic, conversion and product is a bit of a waste of time!! [1]

This is a start, but it’s still nowhere near specific enough. The more specifically you can ask your question (to yourself or others) the more specific answer you’ll get back.

On the Immediate Edge we are encouraging new members to think about their most pressing issue and post it on the forum. We can then refer them to the specific edge lesson or (and perhaps even better) the power of the group ways in.

What’s the specific problem you’re having with your business?

If you’re having trouble answering. I want you to try something. In the Challenge we taught a technique called Free Writing (Click the link to watch and download all the materials)

Grab yourself a timer – I use my iPhone (duh!) and set it for two (you can set it for longer if you’ve done it before) minutes.

And start using the following (or some variation – It doesn’t matter – no one is going to see it)

“I’m going to give myself permission to be really rubbish and just type non-stop for two minutes on the reasons why I seem stuck in my online business. The specific problem Im having…”

And just type and don’t stop until the timer dings.

Did it help?

Do you have a better idea of the issues? Because until you admit and identify the problem. There is nothing you can do (Why do you think “admitting the problem” is the first step of any twelve step program!)

Now, if you still drew a blank (and that’s really a legitimate response) I want to you to go and smack yourself on the head with an item that’s relatively soft but has some heft to it (like a fish – fresh – frozen really hurts)

Kidding.

When this happens (and it happens to everyone) you need to stop, take a break (getting a days space to clear your head is really important) and then get back to basics. Go back to Day 1 of the Challenge and start from scratch.

Stay with me, in any discipline, be it Golf, Guitar Playing or Alternate uses for Guinea Pigs, when you get stuck, you go back to basics. Work on your grip in golf, do slow and deliberate scales on the guitar.

You see – there’s no way you’re going to discover where you are stuck, Sitting around, fretting with your Guinea Pig, saying your stuck is not going to help. There are very few “Road to Damascus” moments in business.

Every really good idea or breakthrough comes about when you’re in the act of doing something. It’s Physics. No Energy = No Movement.

By going back to basics, and doing the exercises, you free your brain to actually work on the problem. [2]

What’s interesting is this fog of indecision is your brain thinks it’s doing you a favour – It doesn’t want you to confront the problems because it thinks you could potentially die from trying to solve it.

Seriously.

But you won’t [3].

The key is to do something, free writing, mindmapping, do SOMETHING! Laying in your bed stressing is not the solution and not helping you.

Yes, even thinking is a process now!

If you define the problem (the more specific the better) you can get a solution (often it comes to you as a function of the process)

If it bleeds, you can kill it…

Ed

PS: If being part of a team of toothpaste using online business problem solvers sounds like you. Why not give the Immediate Edge a try? For the next few days you can road test the Edge for the grand price of $1 for 14 days to see if you like it. You could figure out what your big problem is and them jump into the forum and get a crowd sourced solution. It helps to know others have been stuck too.

Click this link to get the $1 trial offer