Why It's Good to Create Problems for Your Organisation

You may have heard that entrepreneurs, business leaders, and even church leaders need to be good problem solvers. After all, they have to overcome obstacles in order to survive. But a successful leader also needs to be a good problem creator!

Why on earth would a leader want to create problems? Aren't there enough problems to deal with already?

Well, yes – and no. No matter what you do, your organization is going to have problems. If you move too fast, you can create problems. If you don't move fast enough, you can cause an entirely different set of problems. And even moving at just the right speed can cause its own problems.

So what's a leader to do? The key is to create the right problems. You see, too many leaders wait for problems to come to them. When they do, they end up reacting. The problems end up running the leader instead of the leader managing the problems.

But when a leader has a clear direction for his organization, he can create problems that force the people in his organization to move forward and accomplish the goals. In fact, by their very nature, goals are a form of problem the leader creates to push people toward a desirable destination.

Here's an example. A friend recently wanted to see his real estate company grow, but he wasn't sure how to motivate his employees to take action. So he set up some specific goals for the company and then he shared them with his employees. But he went a step further. He also made some deals that would stretch the company more than it was used to, but not so far that it would break. He essentially kick-started the entire organization to take action toward the goals. He created a problem and then expected his employees to solve it.

The result? Not only did they reach the goals he set for the company, it inspired John to up the ante for the next year, creating even more problems. He found that creating his own problems gave him a lot more control over the destination of the company and made him more successful than he ever thought possible.

The only caveat to creating problems is that you must have a sober view of how far you and your organization can realistically go. Creating too many problems, or problems that are too big, will cause serious damage to your organization and to your reputation. Before you begin, think it through carefully, and have a clear plan of action to solve the problem.

(Steve Kroening writes for Success magazine and publishes www.wisdomsedge.com

Why Now Is the Time to Start a New Business

By Steve Kroening

Fear is gripping the global economy. That means a lot of people are scared to start a new business. Don’t be one of them. History proves that down economies provide an excellent opportunity to start a new business.

Something happens during a recession: People’s needs come front and center. And needs are the basis for a good business (profit and non-profit). When you can meet people’s needs in a way that no one else can, you have a good business idea.

Starting a business in a recession has other benefits. It forces you to be very frugal. Like everyone else, you don’t want to spend too much right now. Cash is hard to come by. So starting now will help you keep costs to a minimum.

In addition, starting your business now will help you identify whether it’s a good idea for good times and bad. If it works now, it most likely will work when the economy picks up.

It’ll also let you start at a much lower cost than when the economy is hot. You can probably find office supplies, equipment, and other necessities at greatly reduced prices right now.

Finally, it gives you a head start over the competition. Other people might have your same idea, but they’re giving in to fear, and waiting. Others who might be in similar business are probably cutting back right now and reducing their business. Gaining momentum and market share now gives you a big jump when the economy turns.

But why start your business on the Internet? Obviously, the Internet has some unique qualities that a normal “brick-and-mortar” business doesn’t offer. First, think of the Internet as real estate. Your website is simply a piece of land in a global marketplace. You can buy a piece of this land (your domain name) for less than $10. You’ll never find actual land for anything close to that price. Yes, you have to pay for hosting (see the banner at the bottom of this email for a great deal on hosting). But that cost is small too.

Second, you can start an Internet business while you still have a regular full-time job. That’s just about impossible with a brick-and-mortar business. It also gives you some stability while getting things going. The big negative here is family time. It’s easy to let work run your life. And for a time, it might be necessary. But always keep this in mind as you get into having a second job.

Third, you have access to an entire global market. For instance, Wisdom’s Edge® is becoming more and more popular overseas. We have a growing international presence that opens up tremendous business and ministry opportunities. We never could have done that with a brick-and-mortar business.

The key to making it on the Internet, though, is this – you have to find a niche. The more specific you can be in your market, the better.

(Steve Kroening writes for Success magazine and publishes www.wisdomsedge.com)

How To Stay On Top Once You've Reached It

By Steve Kroening

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to stay on top once you’ve reached it? Just look at professional or college sports. How many teams do you see win two or more championships in a row? It doesn’t happen very often. Staying on top is often more difficult than reaching the top – in sports and in business.

So how do you stay on top? How do you maintain that edge that will keep you there? And where should you focus your attention?

Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, is famous for starting every training camp by saying, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” These were pro football players who knew what a football was. So he wasn’t telling them anything new. What he was doing though is a major part of how Lombardi led the Packers to five NFL championships and two Super Bowl victories.

Lombardi was simply reminding his team that the secret to success – and staying successful – is to focus hard on the fundamentals. There’s always a temptation to stray from the fundamentals once you’ve reached the top. It’s easy to develop an ego that says, “I don’t need the fundamentals – I’m better than that.” And it’s even easier to become lazy. But the most common reason people (and companies) don’t do the basics is because they simply forget. They get caught up in the busy-ness of business.

When a company loses its focus on the fundamentals, it begins to respond to events in detrimental ways. My good friend Andy Mayfield, vice president of North Highland Company, a major consulting firm working with Fortune 500-type companies, says companies tend to make “a series of urgent, reactionary decisions that can often be more damaging than stabilizing. An everyday analogy is the tendency of a driver to over-correct and jerk a car back into the road after it suddenly veers in a slick patch. As everyone knows, this quick desperation can cause great damage or even complete catastrophe.

“The same can happen in a company. Instead of just one catastrophe, however, many companies develop an environment of endless, urgent crises that must be addressed – immediately. This cycle can be extremely destructive for leadership and the organization.”

Andy says, “Companies stuck in this cycle of under-performing and over-reacting tend to focus on the next big thing that will solve the company’s urgent problems.” They fail to realize that simply returning to the fundamentals of their business will bring far greater success than trying to pull-off an effective “get-rich-quick” scheme. “Get-rich-quick” schemes almost never work for individuals. And they don’t work for companies either.

One reason franchises are so successful is that they have a fundamental approach to business that can be repeated over and over again. John Hewitt (of Jackson-Hewitt and Liberty Tax Services fame) once told me the main reason franchisees fail is because they don’t follow the system. They don’t pay attention to fundamentals. The same is true for any business – regardless of size.

Amazingly, some businesses do succeed – at least initially – even though they don’t follow fundamentals. In our next blog, we’ll look at how they succeed and what fundamentals they must instill before they crash and burn.
(Steve Kroening writes for Success magazine and publishes www.wisdomsedge.co