Spotting Problems Worth Solving

Welcome to Lesson 2 of 4 in Enterprise Building Foundations. It takes about 15 minutes.

Every lasting business solves a problem that real people have. Many failed ones started instead with a product the owner liked. In this lesson you will learn to hear problems in everyday complaints, to look for them where you already live, work and worship, and to test whether a problem is worth solving. You will finish by naming one problem and who has it, the second piece of your Idea Capture Sheet.

Scripture comes from the King James Version. This is general education, not business advice, and it cannot promise particular results.

Since last time

Last time you chose a small action: answering the three questions (who pays, for what, at what cost) for a business you use, working out what one sale would cost you, or describing an offer in one completely true sentence.

Look back at the week. What did you try, and what did you notice? If you did not manage it, say so honestly and carry it into this week.

In this lesson you will

• Hear problems in everyday complaints and find them in your own home, church, workplace and community.
• Explain how naming a need and looking at things from other people's side, as Scripture describes them, help us spot problems worth solving.
• Name one problem worth solving and the people who have it, written from their side.

Before you start

How true is each of these for you today, from 1 (not true) to 5 (very true)?

• I notice problems people complain about and think about how they could be solved.
• I can tell a problem worth solving from an idea I simply like.
• I can describe a problem from the other person's side, not mine.

1. Complaints are clues

Problems often hide in plain sight, in the things people complain about. A group of prophets' students had one.

2 Kings 6:1–2 (KJV) 1 And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. 2 Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.

The place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. They named the problem plainly: not enough room. Then they went further: let us… take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place. They proposed a solution and offered to do the work.

Listen for sentences like these:

• "I wish someone would…"
• "It takes so long to…"
• "I can never find a good…"
• "Every month I have to…"

Each one is a problem someone lives with. Some are small annoyances. Some are worth building a business around.

Imagine a young woman who keeps hearing mothers at church say there is nowhere reliable to leave their children for two hours on a Saturday. Many people have heard that complaint. She is the one who writes it down.

Think about it: What complaint have you heard several times this month, at work, at church or at home?

Try this week: For one week, note every complaint you hear that starts with "I wish", "It takes so long" or "I can never find". Aim for ten.

2. Start close to home

The best problems to start with are usually the ones you meet every day. Look in four places:

• Your home and street: what wastes your family's time or money?
• Your church: what do members keep asking for help with?
• Your workplace or school: what goes wrong in the same way every week?
• Your own daily frustrations: what annoys you that probably annoys others too?

A problem in front of you has three advantages. You already understand it, you know the people who have it, and you can test an answer quickly.

Then ask whether it fits you. A problem is a better fit when:

• You meet it often.
• You have something to start with: a skill, some time each week, tools you already own (even a phone), or people who trust you.
• You can reach the people who have it.
• You care about it enough to keep going when it is hard.

This works even if you never start a business. Spotting problems and offering to solve them makes you valuable at work, in church and in your community.

Think about it: Of the four places, where do you notice the most problems? Which of them could you do something about?

Try this week: Ask one person at home, at church or at work: "What is the most annoying thing about…?" Write down their exact words.

3. Look from their side

The most common mistake is to describe a problem from the seller's side: "People need my cakes." Customers think about their own lives.

Philippians 2:4 (KJV) 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Paul is describing the humble mind of Christ among believers. The same attitude makes for better work: look at the problem as the other person lives it.

A problem worth solving usually passes five tests:

• Real: people you have spoken to actually have it.
• Frequent: it comes up often.
• Painful: it costs them time, money or worry.
• Already spent on: they already try to solve it somehow.
• Reachable: you can get to these people.

Then say it from their side, in one sentence: who struggles with what, and what it costs them. "Working parents at my church struggle to find safe care for a few hours on Saturday, which keeps them from errands and rest."

Think about it: When you describe an idea, do you start with what you want to sell, or with what the other person struggles with?

Try this week: Say your problem in one sentence from their side. Read it to someone who has the problem and ask, "Is that right?"

Activities

Reflection

• Is there a problem around you that you have been treating as someone else's job? What would it look like to take it seriously?

Key takeaways

• Lasting businesses solve problems real people have. Start with the problem, not the product.
• Complaints are clues. Write them down.
• Start close to home: your street, church, workplace and daily frustrations.
• Test a problem (real, frequent, painful, already spent on, reachable) and say it from their side.

Your next step

You have finished Lesson 2. You are on the path of growth: you have named a problem and the people who have it, from their side.

These lessons give you the everyday basics. To keep growing, KMA offers two next steps:

Mentorship. Work on your own idea with a KMA mentor who helps you talk to real people, shape a first offer and follows up with you on what you tried. See KMA's mentorship packages. See the mentorship packages

Or: the Enterprise Building Track (monthly Learning membership). Prefer to learn on your own first? The Enterprise Building Track takes these basics further: a full one-page business model, a research plan with a small paid test, honest pricing and finding your first customers. See the Enterprise Building Track