The problem with problems.

Ah, problems.

Every money-making business has them.

Not YOUR problems, dearheart.

The problem you solve for your ideal clients.

That’s the standard marketing line, anyway. And up to a certain point, I agree. You need to understand what the urgent problem is that your ideal client has – and connect with that.

But there comes a point when knowing the problem isn’t enough.

I’m seeing this across the board with my clients. Often, it’s one of the reasons they come to work on their message with me. They are clear on the problem…

…and they can describe the problem in vivid Technicolor, 3D, and from 10 different camera angles…

…and they have tuned into the psychological profile of their people…

…and know their hurts, wounds, fears, worries, shames, and inadequacies…

And, knowing all this, they find that they can’t get seem to get any further.

Take my client Amy, a whip smart coach. She’d done a lot of study and research into a problem she called “approval addiction.” Her whole website was geared towards helping other women get over their need to be liked by others. She had a really successful e-course about overcoming approval addiction. She had plenty of clients.

And she was looking to launch her first group program online.

Now, she really understood the problem – and had some fantastic tools and insights to serve her clients in a real and meaningful way.

The trouble was, she’d gotten to a point as a business owner… and frankly, a communicator + messenger…. where talking about the problem wasn’t enough.

Early on, I asked her what was on the other side of approval addiction.

And what was interesting was that she has invested all this time and energy in learning to connect with people at the problem level…

… and she was masterful at helping them move out of it…

…but when it came to expressing her vision of what was on “the other side,” it didn’t come as easily.

I see this all the time. And heck, it happens to me, too. Once you realize that you need to be solving a problem for people in your business, you see their problems everywhere. You’re walking around with your “problem glasses” on.

Which makes sense – because that’s where the connection is. That’s where your content for your newsletter + blog posts come from. That’s where your headlines originate. That’s where your email subject lines spawn.

But again, the problem only carries you so far.

You get to a certain point in your business, and you need to transcend all the problem talk. Use it, yes. But your role shape shifts.

You become the beacon of a new possibility.
A rebel fighter who takes a stand for there being another way.
A figurehead who holds the vision.

This is where sh*t gets real. And you get triggered. And you say, holy buckets, am I actually going to put myself out there and say what I really think?

Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. But just know, there comes a point where you need to articulate your vision of what’s possible – and actually express it in your message. If you want to build your following and fan base and audience and clientele.

In Amy’s case, she eventually decided that the “other side” was to live brazen. Unedited. Unfiltered. Unapologetic.

Can you feel the energy difference between being called “an approval addict” and being called to “live brazen”?

Sit with this. Play with it. Ask yourself, “what’s on the other side of the problem I solve with my people?” And explore that vision in your message + writing projects. Watch what comes back—both within yourself, when you put yourself out there… and from your audience.

Leave a comment – what’s the problem you solve in your business – and what’s on “the other side”?

Mighty thanks to kanegen flickr photostream for the rebel fighter.