Stop Admiring Problems and Shift to Embracing Solutions

The Small Business show episode 361 for Wednesday, January 5th. Happy New Year 2022. Greetings folks and welcome to the Small Business Show 2022 edition here at BusinessShow Co where where we are still small businessing every single week. Sponsors for this episode are not someone new. It's an extension, a renewal. We talked about that in the last episode. Shopify.comSBS they're still here with us in 2022 and you gotta go check it out. You get your 14 day trial. We'll talk more about the details in a minute. Fantastic service though, if that's the only part of it you hear. But hopefully it's not because there's more fantastic service. So. Yeah. But yeah, here in still in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton.

In Lafayette, California, I'm Shannon Jean. Happy New Year, man.

Happy New Year. Yeah, absolutely. Of course we're recording this in December so, you know, we're predicting the future, which is a dangerous game, folks.

It is, it is going to be happy. It's going to be great. I'm a firm believer that our best years are always ahead of us and it's going to be a great, very productive, profitable and awesome year.

Yeah, I think so. I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's good stuff.

Hey, it is good stuff.

I, I was a friend of mine reached out to me the other day and, and told me about this company that he's involved with and as soon as I learned about it, I pinged you on our Slack channel and was like, dude, you have to know about this. It's called 401 play. And I'm not telling you about it because a friend started this. I don't know if a friend started it. I think he's just a consultant on it or whatever. I'm telling you about it because as soon as I found out about it, I needed people about this thing. So we all know what a 401k is. A retirement plan where you contribute a certain amount, your employer contributes a certain amount and then it goes into your retirement account. You can spend it when you're older. Yep, that's how it works.

Yep, that's right.

401 play is a twist on that for vacations. So it's this whole thing that 401 play will administer for you, of course, because that's what they're in business for. But just the concept is enabling companies to offer travel as a benefit and the company can do a, you know, matching account. We were talking the reason a Friend reached out to me is we were talking recently about encouraging or perhaps even demanding that your employees take vacation time. Right. We had that whole episode about it, and he was like, hey, this might fit in with that. And he's totally right. Right. Because by doing it this way, everybody, it's. It's part of the conversation. It's not, you know, I've. I was going to say I've worked places. I'm not all that proud to say that I've managed places and run businesses where when someone came to me for, you know, saying, oh, I want to take this time off, my initial reaction was that of frustration, of like, oh, crap, now I got to figure out how to do that.

Yeah, how are we going to run this?

And that's. And I, and I always apologize if I feel like it's come across that way because a. Like, I, I don't actually like to feel that way, but it is just a byproduct of a small company when someone is going to be gone for a significant period of time. It is a logistical headache that appeared by surprise one day. Right. Like, that's what it is. But I don't want to discourage people from taking vacations and taking their time off. It is a good thing for all the reasons we talked about in whatever that was, I think was episode. Was it 356 or something like that? Yeah, but, but this idea of making the company part of this, you know, you're helping to fund the employees vacation a little bit, but you're also just making it a part of the culture. And that's really smart. It was. It's a really, really cool thing. I was stoked about it and, and what they're doing. I don't know if there are other companies administering things like this. This is the only one I know about, but there might be others. But what they're doing is, you know, keeping it really simple. The company match. Company can even bonus things that way. Like, that's a nice way to take somebody's bonus and say, oh, hey, we've put, you know, an X amount into your vacation fund. Like, that's a nice thing because giving people cash is awesome. But I would argue that if you give people, let's say, $1,000 in cash and then you give people an Apple Watch or, you know, something that costs quite a bit less than $1,000, they're gonna remember that Apple Watch came from you. Most of the times that they look at it 100%, that thousand dollars, 100%, they will forget they remember it the first time and then they spend it on whatever they spent it on. And they don't think about it as hey, whatever I got with that. And it might just be that, you know, they paid off their credit card balances, which is not a terrible thing to do with a thousand bucks. Yeah. But you know, it's not, it's a different mindset. And so by contributing, you know, even just a little bit to your employees vacation accounts, like, oh, yeah, I got to take an even better vacation because my company matched this stuff. And then, you know, they've got, because they do this for lots of different companies, they have ins with various, you know, travel liquidators and things like that so they can get you some member only travel deals and help help your employees coordinate their vacations and you know, serve as that travel agent or at least hook them up with the right travel agent, things like that. So I agree. I like it. I'm. I'm not sure if it makes sense for us to include here at Backbeat, but it might, like.

Well, you know, I kind of look at it. We talk about as business owners being able to live a charmed life and we talk about affinity points, credit card mileage, you know, how to upgrade your lifestyle. And this is kind of a way to bring in your employees, your team into that, that, that charmed life, if you will, and share it with them. I like that.

Yeah, I like it. It's cool. Now an interesting thing happened, Shannon. So they, they have a, you know, they have their website and then There was a YouTube video that my friend also sent me that was just like this little two minute long thing that you know, sort of walked through with like stick figures and stuff. It was, it was cute. It was really well done. It explained the concept very adequately, in fact, more than adequately. So I watched it and then I texted you. And then I wound up doing something else. And then as YouTube is want to do it started playing another video in the background because that's what YouTube does. And this video was like some webinar or something. The sound wasn't great. Like, you know, I'm a podcaster, right. You know, and so I immediately hear that like there's this woman talking. She's got a great accent, she's Australian. So that was great. And I was saying to myself, this is interesting. It was like some webinar about the construction industry or something. I had zero interest in the content. I barely know what she was saying, but I was laughing to myself. We often say in the podcasting world. Audio quality matters a ton. But your audience will forgive you if there is something else about, like the content or the delivery or something that is captivating, where they can get past any, you know, idiosyncrasies with the audio quality. Right. But generally you don't want to have bad audio. But she did. This woman did. It was like she was just in a bouncy room, which, you know, happens. Everybody's office is kind of bouncy unless you think about it. And she was far away from her mic. So, you know, it was a lot of this kind of sound and that thing going on. And so I just let it play because I liked her accent and I was laughing at myself about this. And then I heard her say something. She said. And that's when they taught me to stop admiring the problem. And I thought, yeah, it was like light bulbs went off, Shannon. It was like, wait a minute, that phrase. And then I think their whole webinar was about this. You know, they were like, what she was saying was, you know, this is great. We've identified the problem, whatever the problem was, and now we're talking all about the problem, but we're not actually talking about how to solve it. And so that is what we want to talk about here today. I think I like it. All right. Yeah.

And when you gave me that, I was like, yeah, that's really good because we talk about action all the time. And so, you know, the, the title for the show, you know, stop admiring problems and shift to embracing solutions. So I think it's great. I think it's a good topic to, to dig deep into.

I agree and I am eager to do it. You know what else I'm eager to do though?

Shannon? I have an idea.

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These guys are awesome.

They are. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

They figured it out.

They did. They, that's, that's it. They figured it out. And so there's no reason for the rest of us have to have to. It's great.

I agree. I agree. So cool. So admiring problems. We're going to talk about how to kill those today, right?

Yeah, stop, stop, stop doing that. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. And you know, I did, I'm doing some research on this topic and what's interesting is you find, you know, there's definitely some, lots of business studies about this, but it's also goes into the realm of just social concepts and politics that people do this as well. Big groups do this. And so we're gonna, we're gonna jump in here and I, I think it's just really, it's a fascinating topic that, that we're gonna dig into.

Yeah, no, I'm looking forward to. It's a it. Like, yeah, like I said in the intro, it's it. I, I, it resonates with me because I am someone who, I love to dissect things and you know, I mean, I love to get to the core of why did this happen? And postmorteming things is a great, can be a great exercise, but it can also feel productive without actually being productive. That's right. Yeah.

And I think that the first thing to do is identify it. You know, are you or your employees, your team, whatever your consultants, are you guys stuck at just admiring the problem and I think the best way to identify it is be self aware of this. And if you're just talking about the same problem repeatedly over and over, you've stopped coming up with solutions and trying new things. And you are just admiring that problem. And I think it's especially inherent in big problems that just seem insurmountable at first glance that how are we going to get past this? And it's just so easy to table it. Okay, we'll come back and address that later because we've got these little things we got to deal with. But things just keep coming up over and over and over again, and you're going to have to figure out a way to get through it. I think one of the first steps in getting through it and not admiring that problem is to break it down into smaller pieces so it's not so intimidating to try new things because maybe you just can't. I mean, it just may be, you know, seem very. Just impossible to come up with a solution for this one giant issue that you've got. But can you break out smaller pieces of them and identify how you can solve those parts of it? Right, by taking action.

Right.

Which is what we talk about all the time.

This is you. I always, I often say, not always, I say other things too. I often say, and I like saying that I use calculus every day and people think I'm crazy, because who uses calculus every day? Unless you're in one of the sciences where that's something that would be required to actually get you through. But what I learned in calculus was exactly what you just described. Take a problem that on the surface looks completely insurmountable. And what you do in calculus is you start breaking it down into smaller and smaller problems until you get to a point where it's so small that you can solve them. And then you start putting those little solutions together and they raw, ratchet and roll back up into solving the big problem that appeared insurmountable. So, yeah, I use calculus every day.

That's great. And then, you know, once you've broken this down into chunks, use your calculus. And you have to recognize that process of coming up with the solution and really celebrate it. I mean, you may even have to go over the top. But remember that you may not even be focused on what the problem is and solving it. You're trying to solve the problem of how your people think and the framing that they use. So you're putting a system in place to recognize even small incremental solutions. I mean, remember, if you solve 1% of the problem each week, 25 weeks from now, you're gonna have a 25% improvement. So it's the little things that you can grind out every day. Get your team away from thinking this grand gesture is gonna fix this thing or some brilliant light bulb moment. No, we're gonna break it down into little chunks. We're gonna solve it, and when we do, man, we're all gonna high five, go to lunch, whatever, and really get recognized, because then you'll get them going on their own or breaking out little small chunks and say, hey, I can't solve all of this, but I've got. I think I've got this little piece figured out.

Yeah.

And it'll. It'll just happen for you when you get together with your group.

Yeah. Makes sense. Yeah, I like it.

Yeah, yeah, it's good. And you're getting used to them. You know, they're probably not listening to the small business show and hearing us just ram the concept of action, action, action down your throat. Right. They're meetings have a way. They take on a life of their own. They're talking, they're this, they're that. And, you know, the thing is, everybody likes to complain. It's just part of the human condition. And it often brings people closer together.

Right.

Because they're sharing the same complaints. Oh, this guy's on my team. Whatever. You know, I mean, look at politics. I mean, don't look at politics, please. But that's just one example, you know, that we. They're bonding over the complaints. Point that out, bring that up to your team, and instead, by celebrating it and really recognizing it, you want them to bond over solutions that's way more powerful and it'll bring them closer because they're actually figuring these things out together and they're going to share in this success instead of just, you know, complaining about everything. Each time you guys get together, I like it.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And then one thing I realized as I was putting together these notes and when I hit that, I used that political analogy, is that it can help you if you realize, or at least be aware that there's some people that maybe they work for you. Maybe they're a partner, maybe they're a consultant that don't want to solve the problem because it is the very reason for their existence. Right. Look at it. Okay.

Yeah.

It's different if they're. If solving the problem puts them out of a job, well, they're not. Mentally, they're not going to be focused. I mean, look at a government again. This is my last political comment. Look at government programs.

Sure.

They often become self serving in that everyone would be out of a job if they solve the problem because they're done. So it's important that if you, you're looking at this big problem and you're breaking it down into chunks, if you're trying to identify resistance is, think about this. Are there people in the group, on the team or people I've hired that if, if we solve this particular issue, they're going to be, you know, it's going to impact them in a negative way. You need to consider that and you have to then frame it different to them or maybe not include them in, in this process where you're trying to find a solution.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think, I think it's important.

Yeah. I remember when Apple, you know, in like whatever it was 2008, let's say when there was the big, you know, financial downturn and you know, banks were having problems and recession and all of that. And I remember and maybe it was earlier than that, maybe it was the one prior to that, but I think it, I think it was that one where Steve Jobs took the stage and said, you know, we're all experiencing this, we here at Apple are going to innovate our way through it. And I really like that idea. Like, okay, we're all just going to work to solve this, not work to own it. And to your point, you know, those employees whose jobs depended on the problem existing sort of got their, their notice that you need to change your job to depend upon the problem getting solved. Which is scary because the problem existing is the current state of things. The problem being solved is change. Right? Yep, yep. It's something new. Yeah. And it's scary and you might not do it right, but you have to do it so well.

You could use your, your two week trial thing. You know, that concept that you, you've talked about so well on the show here is perhaps, you know, in part of these solutions you'd be like, okay, we've got this small chunk of this that we're going to try to fix and come up with something. Let's try this, just try for two weeks and see how it works out. Even if you know in your head you're going to do it forever, just, you know, you get everybody on board with this trial thing and then you can analyze it and see how it works. I think another example that of this that Steve Jobs did was when he came back and remember he was on stage, I think it was in Boston. And he was talking about, we have to get away from this idea that for Apple to succeed, Microsoft has to fail.

Right.

Remember when it was this big Microsoft.

It'S 100% in Boston. Yes, yes, I was there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And me too. I was there too. And I can remember going, oh, he's totally right. And there was lots of boos in the audience and everything but, but he was focusing. We're gonna come up with solutions to work to get this big problem of Microsoft at that time owning the PC industry and just dwarfing Apple. We're gonna do a solution. Not only are we gonna fix it, Microsoft's gonna invest in us and come up with a way. So it's that solution mindset that you, us as business owners and our employees, partners and consultants. Because it's not just the people that work for us that we have to fix, it's other people as well, especially consultants. A lot of consultants don't want to fix the problem.

That's just their job is to maintain status quo. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. If a consultant gives you advice and you follow it, then you might not need that consultant anymore. And it depends. We're using the, the term consultant very specifically here. And there are a lot of different roles that consultants fill that could a long term thing. But if they give you advice and you follow it and it fixes the problem, then, then that's the end of that relationship. If you hired them to help you fix the problem.

Yeah. So if you have those, maybe what you have to do is have that discussion with them. It's like, hey, you know, if, if we can solve this problem, there will certainly be other opportunities for you here.

Right? Yes.

And get their buy in.

Yeah, right.

In the sense that, look, I love, we love working with you. Maybe it, you know, lots of consultants get recruited to come on as, you know, as employees. So it could lead to something else. Getting them on board on a longer vision of their involvement with your company. Even if you're kind of, you know, maybe walking them down the primrose path a little bit, it is important to get their buy in on fixing the problem that they've been brought in to fix. Yeah. So for me, the fix is, you know, it's four steps. Break the problem down into smaller chunks. Number one, you got to get it.

Yeah. You got to calculus that sucker.

Yeah. Calculus it down, Bring it down. Then get your group and you to come up with, you know, one to three solutions that, that you can take quick action on to so you can, you know, start you have to start, implement those solutions and then record the results that you see, adjust as needed. And then I'll add one bonus step here. Celebrate the heck out of what you just achieve and turn it into a cyclical type of system. And you can just grind away at these big problems that seem so insurmountable for you and your team by doing this over and over and over. And you can point it out, it's like, oh, you know, we fixed this problem on whatever it is, the facility problem, the staffing problem, the money problem, we got that one, look how we did that. And you're just gonna do the same thing over and over and put them in that same cycle. This is the solution cycle that we are coming up with.

I think your bonus step might be the most important one because by celebrating the achievement, you are infusing that into your corporate culture that we focus on change, we focus on the wins, on the solution. And so because a solution to anything is change and change is scary. But if you can get everybody to, like you said, if you can get everybody's buy in on this concept of wanting change, seeking change, you won't call it change, you'll call it solutions, but it's the same thing, right? It's a specific example of change, you know, and I think there's, I think that's that, I think that's the money shot there. I think that's the one, man. Yeah, yeah.

So if you know, if you've used this system before or you've come up with a different way, how to get away from admiring the problem, we would love to hear from you. Feedbackusinessshow.co. or come talk to us in our group, BusinessShow Co, Facebook. We'll route you over there and you'll find a lot of like minded folks that are looking for solutions over there.

Absolutely.

Thanks for listening and happy New Year, man.

Yeah, Happy New Year. Happy New Year everybody. And thanks for hanging out with us. Make sure you check out our sponsor, of course, that's Shopify. Com, sbs and keep living that charmed life, will you?