Alright! Well, thanks everybody for being here. We’re happy to have all of our live viewers with us again today. And if you want to be part of our live audience during our recordings, please feel free to visit our website 2Dwebsolutions.com. And go ahead and click on the schedule [menu item] and you can find out how to join us and ask questions during our actual live broadcast. We want to thank you for being here for episode 15!

Wow!

So what is today’s topic, Arelthia?

So, today’s topic is Pinpointing the Perfect Problem. Um, and I think this came up, Kerry with trying to figure out, “what do our customers need or want?”.

Yeah, as a matter of fact, after reviewing our own businesses and realizing that we all have inadequacies and we want to continually grow and improve, we found out that we needed to really dig deep inside and figure out what it is that we can do to help others through our own business.

“Dig deep inside and figure out what it is that we can do to help others.” ~Kerry Carron

Yes, yes. So, let’s just jump right in, Kerry. The first question that I have for you is how do you identify problems that your business can solve?

For me, the easiest way to identify a problem is if I have that problem myself. But unfortunately, this is a double-edged sword a lot of times because what I find happens is, I find solutions for myself and so I’m constantly trying to stay ahead of the person I’m trying to solve problems for. But basically, I try to solve the problems that are related – in some way, shape, or form – to the type of problems that I’m having. Is that how you identify problems in your business?

You know, that’s one way of identifying problems. Is by things that I find are a problem for me. Problems that I want to solve. So, that’s one way that I do it. Another way is by looking at… um, problems that other people may have. In that… for example, there are people all around us. And sometimes we can sit here and we see problems that other people have. And I’m the type of person… I’m not much of… I know you’re probably going to be like what? – I’m not much of a talker. I’m much more of a listener. So, I like to listen to what other people have to say. And a lot of times I get their problems that way. I learn about problems by listening to other people. Whether it’s listening to other people in person or listening to other people online – to hear the problems that they’re going through, the questions that they’re asking.

And you know, that’s one of the qualities that I love about you Arelthia, that you are really, really good at being able to identify the specific of a problem and not just the surface of the problem. So, um… when you are evaluating or I should say, you’re coming up with problems… um, how do you determine… what are some of the ways that you look at how people – how you find other people who are having problems?

Ok, so –

Who are they?

Ok so – ways to find other people that are having problems… Are like – the places like, that you like to hang out online. Um, that’s a great place to find people with problems. Because, first of all, you like being around those people – I hope. I hope you’re not hanging out in places that you don’t like the people. So, that’s one way. Um, even with like um, in the offline world, you typically hang out with people you like being around and that’s a way that you can identify who’s having a problem. And I think that’s an important point to bring up because you need to think about who is having the problem?. What type of person is having this problem? It helps you to dig deeper into what the real problem is because I might view a problem from one perspective but the person that’s having the problem – they see it in a whole other way. So, and… I think this goes into the… like, we see this a lot in our business. We know someone needs something but is that a real pain for them? Which I think leads us into our next question, Kerry. So if you find a problem, how do you determine if the problem is just an annoyance or real pain for someone?

You know, when we first started talking about having this show on this topic, one of the ways that we tried to put it in perspective for ourselves, was identifying it in comparison to a headache. And so, I wanted to bring that up because I thought it was a great way, you know… there are a lot of people, especially in our line of work it seems, that have headaches. Whether it be from working close to the computer a lot or not moving around enough or maybe they have… have become a freelancer because of medical conditions or they’re migraines sufferers. But the bottom line comes down to, “when does a headache become… is it just an annoyance or is it something that needs to really be addressed as a real pain. And so, looking at it from that perspective, if it’s something that you can just immediately address, and kind of push it to the back of your mind, or work through, then maybe it’s just an annoyance. But if you get to that point where you can’t function anymore or you need to move your location or… or things like that, or need to take medication for it, then it’s a real pain and it’s a real problem. Is that similar to how you identify what is a pain or what is an annoyance?

Um, yeah… I think that’s the point, Kerry. That if it’s something that has to be solved or really needs to be solved, I really want to solve, then that’s a pain. If it’s something like, “oh yeah it will be nice if I have a solution for this”, then that’s just a simple annoyance. Just like you said, that headache, the little headaches that you could work through, that’s just an annoyance. It’s no big deal. I’m not even going to get up and take any aspirin for it. I’m not going to get up and take a nap. I’m not gonna do anything about it. I’m just gonna keep pushing through. That’s an annoyance. That means it’s not even a problem. Just keep going looking for another problem. If it’s a headache where you’re at the point where “ok I have to do something about this right now.” And you’re looking for every solution and nothing is working – Oh yeah, that’s a real problem. That’s a problem that that’s worth solving because it’s a real pain for someone. Um so…

Yeah, I agree. And it totally brings us right into the next aspect that we want to talk about. And that is, once you know that you have pain and you know it needs solving, it’s important to identify what kind of relief a person is going to have by having that problem solved. Or what is that impact? What impact does solving the problem have for the people that are involved? Can you address that for us a little bit?

Yeah, I think – oh my goodness, that is so important – because it’s not just “there’s a problem”, but how will that person’s life change or that person’s life be improved because that problem has been solved. Using our example of the headache… so if the headache is removed, let’s say it’s that “oh my goodness, dire headache, I can’t do anything when I have it.”… if that’s removed from the person, they’re life is changed so much because they’re so much more productive. They’re healthier. Mentally, they’re better prepared. Because they can think better. Um, their mind can process information better. So many things are improved simply by removing that problem. It makes life so much easier.

Right. Yeah, I totally agree. And.. and sometimes um, I would love to say that I could just work through the annoyances and everything is just an annoyance, but it’s obvious that there are some major problems. I mean, everybody has problems. And it’s just a matter of finding out what those problems are and then working through them to find out what the solution is.

Okay. Um yeah, I think so Kerry. You know, and… so… we talked about problems…

How do you find out… what you… If what you think is a problem, really is a problem?

Oh, that’s when you go out and you actually ask people if they have this problem.

LOL, oh ya mean I am just going to ask somebody, “hey, what what’s your problem?”

Well, you can! You know – like, for example… I’m serious. Just walk up to somebody like, you know, and ask them “how would your life be easier if…? You’d just have them complete that statement. “Oh, my life will be easier if… my son was just clean up his room.” You know, little things.

Oh, that’s funny because just over the holiday my husband and I were having this discussion of how nice it would be just to have somebody who would cook and clean for us. That’s all we need. Just somebody to cook all of our meals for us and just clean. They don’t even have to do laundry. We’re okay with doing laundry just do the basic cleaning.

And you know it’s funny that you bring it up because a lot of times there are certain things that are on the top of our mind. The things that we’re thinking about. The things that are keeping us up at night. The things that every time you turn around we’re thinking about it. Those are the problems that people need solving. And so, the whole goal of… the whole thing about finding this perfect problem is to actually get people to talk to you. Get people to tell you their problems. Think about your own problems and things that constantly keep coming back to you. That… ok, “if this was different, how would my life be changed. Because this about improving someone’s quality of life. It’s about making their life easier with solutions.

“Because this is about improving someone’s quality of life.It’s about making their life easier with solutions.” ~Arelthia Phillips

Right. It not hard to… you know, well, if it takes a little bit of time. And putting in your own due diligence to ensure that you’re really evaluating and finding solutions that people can use in order to make their lives better. But it’s it can be as simple as… you know, thinking about… if you look at how Google – when they opened up their Google pages and everything. They opened up and said put people into circles. Well, you can do the same thing in your life and help people solve problems. And, and, and asking the people that are in your life right now – what kind of problems they’re having. It can be as simple as your, your family and your relatives… just ask them in conversation. Bring it up and, and find out what kind of pains they’re having in their life. And then you can go to, you know – your, your friends, your local friends, people who live in the area, and that you hang out with. Um… wherever you hang out or whatever activities you’re doing. You can ask people who go to church with you. You can ask people who you work with or even ask your friends online. All… look at all the connections. Thousands and thousands of people that people are connected with online through social media. You can go through that list and even ask on there you know, “how can I make your life better?” Or like you said earlier, if you know… “my life would be easier if…” complete the sentence.

Yeah. Wow, Kerry so, you said a lot there. Can I just get you to break that down into our simple action plan.

Yeah, I sure can. So, our action plan would be to, identify and validate your customer’s pain and begin their solution process.

Ok… so… (sigh) What do I need to do next?

Exactly. Exactly… Well, I want to know from you, everybody who’s listening, and even you Arelthia, if you want to take a moment to answer this – are there any other tools or methods that you’ve used in the past or know of, that help you get results in identifying your customers problems?

Oh great. Alright, Kerry. So, there’s a little process that follow, where I identify the problem. So, I like to write. Especially when I’m thinking through things. So, I write down what the problem is, who’s having the problem, and then also I write down how will how… will it impact their life if that problem is solved. So, I mean… and that works because it gets you thinking. It gets you outside of yourself and to reach out and help other people. Another thing you can do is… especially if you’re dealing with people online… set up a simple survey and share the link. Have people complete your survey and just let them answer that question. I like open-ended questions such as the complete the sentence of, “my life would be easier if…” That’s a great thing that you can do. Um… do we have something for our listeners Kerry?

You know what? I think that… I think that as you were saying that I was thinking about, “wow, this would be a great opportunity for us to give that to our, our listeners, our readers, and our people who visit.” So, if you want to come on over to our website will make sure that when, in our show notes, we include some of these resources that are just a simple process to get you started. So, let’s add that to their, to our wrap-up questions, Arelthia. What can we… um, can we have them… Let’s ask them how will the tools that we share with you…uh how did they help you?

Ok.

Or how do you think the tools that we’re going to share with you will help you?

Yeah. And I’d like to know, were you actually able to complete all the steps? Were you actually able to identify the problems? And identify who’s having that problem? And actually to identify how their lives would be impacted if their problems were removed. Um and… Did you get stuck at any point? How can we help you to complete the process? Because our goal is to help you create your plan, take action, and experience your success!

That’s exactly right. Thank you guys so much for being here. We’ll see you next time.

Thank you.