Problems

Solve The Big Problems Better

Solve The Big Problems Better

Garth Beyer

Often times we dig to find a new problem, an issue someone else missed. If our business or product isn’t getting talked about, if our profits aren’t rising, then there’s a problem we’re just not seeing. Right?

Perhaps we see it that way because it’s easier to turn rocks over, searching for little issues than it is to tackle a current problem in a new way. Why? Because trying something new, doing things differently is risky, especially when it comes to existing problems.

What if the solution you try worsens the brand experience? What if you execute it poorly and lose customers? What if you’re unable to fulfill your new promise? Risky. Risky.

But worth it.

You can keep searching for small problems and come up with simple solutions or you can get innovative with the solutions for problems you’re already facing, the problems that matter, the problems that convert.

 

Stay Positive & Focus On The Work That Matters

What It Takes For Ideas To Spread

Garth Beyer

Ideas That Spread

As I’m ironing out speech ideas and book ideas, I’m ruminating on the difficulty of introducing an idea that spreads.

We no longer need a book or a speech or a consultation to tell us how to solve a problem we have. Google and YouTube is there for that. If you’re searching for a “How to,” the Internet is your friend.

But the “Why do” …that might be worthy of print media or a Ted talk or a podcast.

Instead of producing something that shares a solution to someone’s problem, we have the opportunity to share something we are passionate about with someone who might not know they had a problem with their “why,” which, may in turn alter the “how to” they seek.

Our goal, then, ought to be to find those who don’t know they need help and proceed to inspire them with an idea worth spreading.

For a spreadable idea, you few things must fall into place:

1) You must be passionate about an idea that is, at minimum, different from what has been done before. The cue here is often the saying, “We’re doing things just a bit different.” For an idea to spread, there must be both a sense of security (doing things that we know already works) and a little adventure (but doing them a bit differently).

2) The audience must understand the basics of your idea, which you typically don’t need to go in depth about. Recall, Google has you covered as well as bookstores when it comes to the basics. Ideas that spread aren’t sent out to beginners, they are given as a gift to those who 1) understand the foundation of your idea already and 2) trust you. Which leads us to the third and final variable.

3) Ideas spread as quickly as the path established for them allows; that is, the relationship you have, the connection you have built determines the speed at which an idea can spread. The stronger the relationship, the easier it is for an idea to go viral. This goes further than just making a connection between you and someone in your target audience; it requires you to connect your target audience to each other, ultimately creating multiple pathways for the idea to spread.

Lastly, ideas don’t spread simply by throwing them out there. Ideas spread when they are remarkable, as in, worth making remarks about, worth talking to others about, worth sharing.

For an idea to resonate, the idea must focus on the part of doing or thinking about things differently.

 

Stay Positive & Go Spread Something Remarkable

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The Biggest Lesson Blogging Has Taught Me

The Biggest Lesson Blogging Has Taught Me

Garth Beyer

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People grow at a phenomenal rate.

That’s my nice way of saying people change, goals change, hopes change, circumstances change, problems change, purposes change.

The way I wrote is way different from how I write now. When I started blogging I wrote longer posts and made them more personal because I knew no one would be reading them and I was finding my way. Now I write shorter, more to-the-point posts in a way that is, quite frankly, safe. This will change in the coming year, the coming week, the coming few days.

Blogging is my business, it’s my foundation for acquiring social capital, and any successful business reinvests in itself.

My blog is the best place to see where I’ve been and to find patterns to see where I’m going. Right now, I’ve been about equally satisfied with my blog posts as I have been dissatisfied. To most readers, they may question why I bother blogging if I’m not satisfied with half the material I produce.

It goes back to what I said was my biggest lesson from blogging. Things change, and if we document, reflect, imagine different executions to past events, we can change for the better.

The only way to go once you blog is up.

Consider blogging for the new year that is fast approaching. And feel free to reach out to me to get set up, to get accountability, to get motivated about writing. thegarthbox@gmail.com or @thegarthbox

 

Stay Positive & Words Make Actions Powerful

Movement Tells A Story

Garth Beyer

Story Ladder

What you’re passionate about doesn’t necessarily come easy. No matter if you’re doing what you love or not, you’re still climbing a ladder, trying to reach the top, trying to make progress.

Creating art is a method of taking on problems from an outer level with complete focus and forming them into an almost subconscious solution process that allows you to then focus on the next problem. Each step of the ladder presents a new problem to solve. At face value, it’s not enjoyable, not fun, but what sets an artist apart from others who climb is that they find a way to love the process, to enjoy the struggle.

We build value in ourselves when we climb the ladder, when we accomplish goals, when we are moving. When we stop moving up the ladder to say “look at me now,” we tell the wrong story. Humans are inclined to see narratives where there are none because it can afford meaning to our lives, Cody Delistraty at The Atlantic writes. Storytelling when standing still is an oxymoron. It doesn’t resonate well, it doesn’t inspire, it doesn’t tell the message you really want to be telling.

People view you differently when seeing where you’re at now, compared to where you’re going. Sure, saying where you’ve been and what you’ve accomplished and how you got to where you’re at now can be remarkable, but only if people know there is more to come from you; that where you decided to stop and shout down is not the highest you will climb.

Movement tells a story, and people die standing still.

If tasks start seeming easy, if you tackle all your problems subconsciously, if there’s no longer need to focus, no struggle with a problem, it means you’ve stopped climbing, that you’re standing still.

 

Stay Positive & Is That Really The Story You Want To Tell?

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Three Phases Of Trends

Three Phases Of Trends

Garth Beyer

Trends

First, people start a trend. Naturally they don’t know it’s a trend yet. Massive quick adoption of the act makes it a trend. Political blogging only had a trending impact once many others started blogging.

Second, people begin noticing the trend. Journalists start writing about political blogs. People other than the bloggers themselves talk about the impact of political blogging.

Third, people start following the trend. The increase of political blogs, not necessarily the immediate early flood of them, but the later consistent growth of them is a representation of following a trend. Instagram, Toms shoes, #scarystoriesin5words, Apple products – all examples too.

Although it is difficult to predict what action will become a trend, it is not impossible.

I had a dream the other night where I ran into Seth Godin at an eyewear store. Although he was dressed up as if he worked there, he wasn’t working. Instead, he was watching everyone who walked by, everyone who came inside and picked up frames to try on, and everyone who voiced their issues.

He was observing all three phases of trends.

1. He listened to the problems people came in with. After all, most trends are just solutions to a problem.

2. Those who entered the store to try on the frames were the ones noticing the trend. After all, the store pushes and showcases what they see is a recent trend in eyewear design.

3. Lastly, everyone who made the purchase of a showcase item or knew full well what they wanted when they entered the store were followers of a trend. After all, there’s not much convincing needed for followers of a trend.

I see it as this: there are actions taking place, things happening that are waiting to be written about, pointed out, learned from, and shared. We can play a role in any of the three phases of trends. We can start them by creating the solution to a problem or we can jump on the bandwagon.

 

Stay Positive & Do You See These Phases Happening?

if not, perhaps you need new glasses

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When People Come To You With Problems

When People Come To You With Problems

Garth Beyer

Solving Customer Service Problems

Zappos and a few others revolutionized the way to handle problems. It’s not merely about their shipping policy. Nor is it how nice they are when you call them.

Say you’re at Target or Culver’s or some other physically established business, and you have a problem with a product or your meal. You have to go to the customer service desk or they have to phone the manager to get a solution. You’re fighting a battle on enemy territory. Most of the time you win, but does it really feel that way? Do you leave happy?

Where a solution gets hashed out surely is as important as how it gets hashed out, but neither are as important as how the person feels while hashing it out. When you walk up to the customer service desk, you’re on that store’s turf and, perhaps, feeling mad and uncomfortable. Zappos (and so many other online retailers now) do so well because they meet you at your home, where you feel more comfortable. But, we can’t all be online businesses, nor should we.

What if the restaurant resolved your problem in a remarkable way? What if they tried accommodating you in a way that leaves you feeling it wasn’t a big bump in your day? What if they replicated in person the same phone experience you might have with Zappos when you call with a problem?

Sure Zappos and online businesses meet you at home, but what’s stopping other businesses from making you feel the same?

 
Stay Positive & Seems The Best Solution Is To Make Your Home Theirs

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Two Ways To Start A Business

Two Ways To Start A Business

Garth Beyer

Starting A Business
One way is to start with your own idea, build a business plan around it, and shout, shout, shout with hopes people hear you, switch from competitors to you, and give their attention. To be successful with this, you have to change the way people think, act, and feel.

Damn difficult to do.

Another way is to start by searching for a niche, an area that’s been untouched, perhaps listening to more than a million complaints of people until you come up with a solution. The method: you find a small problem and you provide a small solution.*

To be successful with this, you gather a tribe of like-minded people who have the same complaint, the same problem and you give your solution to them. Instead of changing the way people think, act, and feel, you’re listening, understanding and reacting to how people think, act, and feel.

You can shout, advertise and sell or you can connect, gather, and give.

Two ways to start a business. I think you know which way is better.

 

Stay Positive & Either Way, Have Fun With It

*All big problems have been solved with big solutions. Times have really changed. Think the taxi industry. Big solution for big problem. Then think of Uber and Lyft. Small problem. Small solution. Huge success.

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