What problem are you trying to solve?
Understanding your idea and developing your proposition is absolutely vital in the early stages of your business and will in turn help you plan your story and business strategy.
We have put together a series of short blogs, starting with this one, to help you, the business owners out there, to gauge what your proposition really is and to turn any ideas that you have currently into well thought out realities.
The world of business is rarely black and white, so whether you have a successful business already or not, you need to consider your proposition carefully. Maybe you have an established business but want to roll out a new product or service? This needs a lot of the same considerations as someone starting afresh. If you want your idea to really work you have to understand a few things fully:
- Where do you sit in the market?
- Who are you really trying to serve?
- What is your proposition?
You need to be able to picture your ideal customer and really understand a lot about the problem you are trying to solve. Let’s help you do that.
You can do this by splitting your considerations into 4 sections:
- The Problem
- Finding your Solution
- Consider the People
- Your Competition
Let’s look at The Problem
Do you have a deep understanding of the problem your business is trying to solve? Every business solves a problem and it is very important to thoroughly understand the problem that yours solves.
A really good way to start thinking about that is to imagine what it is like to not have your solution. What does the problem look like? How does it feel for that person to have the problem that they have?
Considering these, you will get a better understanding of the motivations of that person and then you can envision them when you’ve got your solution. You can then see how that feels as well, understanding what that gap is and pinpointing what you are really trying to solve. All kinds of businesses have had to take a really deep look at the problem they are genuinely solving rather than the one that they think they are solving.
An infamous example we can use here is with Google. What made Google stand head and shoulders above its competitors was that Google was not a search engine like Lycos or the other ones; it was a relevance engine. Because of this, Google typically turned out better, more relevant results for those using it. People were going online and searching for things, and they were being served the person who had spent the most money to be advertising there, rather than the most relevant results to any particular search. Google did the opposite of this, to their success, because they had a much better understanding of the problem that they were trying to solve. And hasn’t this worked out well for them!
So… understanding your problem is a really important part of having a much deeper understanding of your proposition. All ideas solve a problem. What’s yours? You may think that you have figured out the problem already and that you have your solution too, but have you really taken the time to think it over?
Questions to ask yourself:
Why not take a moment now to answer a few questions with regards to your problem:
- What Problem are YOU trying to solve?
- How does it feel to have that problem?
- What does it feel like to have that problem solved?
Now you’ve considered ‘The Problem’, it’s time to ‘Find Your Solution’