5 Essential Probem Solving Skills
It’s a common fact that online marketers have a keen ability to recognize situations beyond their current surroundings. The ability to ask hard questions (a popular topic here at Meta Fever), and that not all things are what they seem to be on paper.
Everyone from military tacticians, wedding planners and the milk man should have some level of problem solving skills. Each day, no matter what your profession is, you are faced with difficulties…small and great. It doesn’t matter. Being creatures of nature, we are all given the ability to solve things at a given level.
More specifically…what problem solving skills are necessary to making money on the internet? Let’s take a look:
# 1 – Minimal Facts…Maximum Information: Whenever something goes wrong, there is no guarantee you’ll have all of the facts about the situation. This may be due to technology problems or key people failing to gather correct information. Learn how to start with a simple “known.” For example….Fact: Tonight the IT people will be running scheduled maintenance on the site. And? The site will be down for two hours. And? Users won’t be able to access their accounts? And? If users can’t access accounts we run a risk of losing customers. And? If possible, send out an e-mail ahead of time to alert users of the situation…avoiding any assumptions of down time. The ability to start with one fact and extract maximum information from it, is imperative to success.
# 2 – See the Forest From the Trees: In the event of having access to a large amount of details, don’t run the risk of hyper-focusing on one thing…and miss the big picture. Avoid taking action off of one detail. Especially in running an online business, always take into account the economical, social and technological effects of your decision. However, when faced with an emergency crisis, sometimes just making a decision is the “big decision.” Don’t spend too much time analyzing and lose the opportunity to act.
# 3 – Fix What’s Wrong..With What’s Right: If you’re stranded on an island with five other people after a plane crash just killed 200 other peers…it would be a wise decision to focus on what can be accomplished with the five of you..vs. concentrating on: the plane crash, how you almost died, the 200 deceased, you’re on a 100-ft wide piece of earth in the middle of the ocean…you name it. This is an extreme case…and I used it on purpose. Whenever you feel like it’s all crashing around you…look at what you DO have. This is a game changing perspective.
# 4 – Get to the Root of the Problem: It’s been said, “whys” give birth to “whys.” Sort of like the example in the case of the IT team running site maintenance. To quote author Henry David Thoreau, “A problem is never solved on the level of which it was created.” Take this to heart. In dealing with an issue of customer service: Why is Client A unhappy? Because it took two weeks longer to fulfill his / her order…Why did it take so long? Because shipping ran out of boxes…Why did shipping run out of boxes? Because funds weren’t allocated in time to the shipping department…Why weren’t funds allocated in time? (Right here someone may assume it was an Accounting department problem…but maybe shipping didn’t have their budget in on time.) Keep in mind..problems aren’t always black and white. You get the idea.
# 5 – Organize Your Plan of Attack: Sometimes, once all the facts are in, all the “whys” have been asked, you know who and what to target…this triggers the influx of ideas. Let’s bang these heads together, re-distribute resources here, fire Tom and change protocol B. Sometimes, one solution will fix everything. Instead of shooting from the hip, be sure an organize HOW you will solve the problem. A good idea can turn bad when not executed right. Keep in mind, the person who discovered the problem is not always the best to solve it. Of course not all of us have 18 project mangers lined up and ready to go. If you’re a one man operation, take a little extra time and get it right the first time.
Of course there are a number skills needed to solving problems online…however, take these and build on them. Most of the time, making money on the internet is not about making one grand decision. It has more to do with putting out small fires whenever they arise. Trust me; they always do.
