When you're running a business, you run into challenges. Frequently. Some are easy to handle, while others leave you stuck with no solution in sight. But with every obstacle, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel—and it may be easier to reach than you might think.
That’s why we asked seven entrepreneurs from FounderSociety (FS) the following question:
Q. What’s one creative “hack” you use to delve deeper into a business challenge and uncover a solution?
1. Ask for Advice
It's easy to get caught up in a problem that seems like it has no answer. When we're stumped, we bring in colleagues, mentors, and potential customers to brainstorm. It can be extremely helpful to have input from individuals outside your organization or industry to see a problem in a new light. –Laura Johnson, Salty Girl Seafood
2. Go Outside
There are so many studies that show you think more creatively in nature. If it's a challenge I need to solve with one other person, we'll often go for a walk. If it's a group challenge, I'll schedule a team retreat. By getting outside of the office and into a more relaxed environment, we find that we're able to think much more creatively. –Lisa Curtis, Kuli Kuli
3. Study Your Competition
My best "hack" and solution for finding continual success is to always examine my competition and see who the new players are in my space. It's not just about providing the best content or services—it's also about doing it better than your competition. Check out your competitor's press coverage, backlinks, content promotions, social media activity, and everything in between. –Zac Johnson, How to Create a Blog
4. Keep Learning
A culture of learning and sharing is imperative to the development of a business. Recently, I asked my CTO to help me prioritize over 100 features and data points within our platform. He's an expert at programming, but not as comfortable with "the business side." As my CTO and his team became more adept to the business aspect, the resulting feature sets became even better. –Brian Chiou, Enigma Systems LLC
5. Explore Outside the Box
Whenever I encounter a business challenge, I look outside of my industry and see who has solved a similar challenge, and then I dissect how they were able to do it. As far as I see, even if the challenge has never been done in my industry, if someone else has solved it, so can I. –Thomas Edwards, The Professional Wingman
6. Try 'Rubber Duck Debugging'
There’s this tactic some programmers do called "rubber duck debugging," where a programmer debugs code by giving a line-by-line explanation to a rubber duck. By pretending to explain the situation to an outsider, they gain a fresh perspective on what went wrong. As a lawyer, I've used a similar approach facing legal puzzles—it works. –Steven Buchwald, Buchwald & Associates
7. Grab a Whiteboard and an Audience
Standing in front of a whiteboard, drawing the problem, and explaining it to my colleagues helps immensely. When we're working on a challenging new design or exploring a new business opportunity, I always grab the nearest team members and go to a huge whiteboard. I'll kick things off by drawing a visual representation of the problem and then others jump in with their views by drawing as well. –Coy Yonce, Mantis Digital Arts
