Blog-1

"There's No Use Talking About The Problem Unless You Talk About The Solution". - Betty Williams

SOLVE A PROBLEM to CHASE YOUR BUSINESS DREAM

This blog is part of a series to encourage the entrepreneurial ambiance in the country by helping you ‘kick-start your own enterprise to succeed in your business dreams’ - especially during this pandemic. Just my way of contributing back to society

Welcome To

The Grand Story of Kavitha Shenoi

This Blog is about

Setting Your Thoughts in the Right Direction
Finding People Who Need That Solution
Engaging In Creative Discussions

This Blog says you Setting Your Thoughts in the Right Direction .Thank You

I am a big fan of ‘Yelay Oota’ and wouldn’t miss an occasion to gorge on the scrumptious lunch on the banana leaf. Even if I had to stand in long queues to get to the table, guess I simply will; drawn by those delicious curries and ‘payasam’; especially beckoning me all through the wait. I don’t have to spell out, that I am a great foodie, now do I?

But then, food is primary and gets our attention all the time. If the long queue becomes a daily affair crawling at a snail’s pace especially after the morning’s crunch, it can get you mad and raging, ruining the rest of the day. It is a pain that most working professionals feel in their bones.

The very situation, that gave birth to great companies like Zomato and Swiggy.

While there are different ways to ideate, empathising with someone’s pain and prodding your mind for a solution is a definite technique that can lead to an idea for a start-up. It is not essential that you have to experience such a situation; you can always ‘feel the pain’ that your friends, family or anyone undergoes.

All it takes is to pursue this pain and find a way out. If your solution to the pain makes several people happy, you perhaps are in the right direction of making a business out of it.

Several businesses have been successful because it has addressed the problem several people face. This pandemic in itself has resulted in many start-ups with widely different ideas and will help you get the drift of how powerful this technique is for a venture.

Consider the surge in the manufacturing of masks and sanitisers during these troubled times.

The increase in production of oxygen, ventilators, Oximeters, and several other devices all pinpoint to businesses that sprung up in our efforts to triumph over the virus – a la solution to our health problem.

To think a little deeper, a lot of businesses associated with health have sprung up in large numbers. Homemade foods have abounded in the cities to cater to Covid patients- healthy and hygienic and a necessity when someone is sick. Going by the transmission waves of the virus, these eateries may as well stay and flourish. If today we opt for natural and organic products like never before, health has a major role to play. Apart from health businesses, a cash-based economy like India moving over to digital financial transactions in a quick period signals a great shift, which in normal times may have been extremely difficult.

Problems, after all, are wake-up calls for creativity, invariably leading to business opportunities.

So, what does it take primarily to come out with such solutions?

Setting Your Thoughts in the Right Direction

You need to be alert in the first place and recognise a problem. Better still define it well. You will need to ask yourself, what can I do to overcome this problem and how can I make the solution into a business.

Since most of us typically do not respond to problems that don’t concern us, there is a good chance we always brush aside a potential business opportunity that comes our way in the garb of a problem and unfortunately wouldn’t bother at all.

Therefore developing an empathising mindset will help a lot. Feeling someone else’s pain in our everyday life will gradually habituate us to recognise problems in others and help us to feel their pain. Eventually, being sensitive to other people’s problems will slowly but surely orient us towards finding a solution for them.

This is easier said than done. To be empathetic, you first need to observe yourself and your own emotions.

You will need to slowly get yourself familiarised with say for example what triggers your anger? Or even happiness or any other emotion? As you get slowly familiar with your own emotions and their characteristics, it becomes easy for you to recognise them in others. You will begin to feel their pain. As you begin to feel the pain in others, you will recognise their problems in all shades and colours that can in turn give dimensions to your solutions. Also, coming up with solutions for several problems that other people face, can give you several choices and therefore several business opportunities. The power of having options is that it gives you backup ideas that even if you face challenges in one, you still have other options to pursue. It helps you learn and grow.

Therefore, there is more merit in solving other people’s problems – several options to choose from, easy and quick solutions and a better perspective.

However, would like to caution you that all solutions to a problem need not become a business opportunity.

Finding People Who Need That Solution.

Once you have identified a problem and have a solution, check if that solution benefits several people. What categories of people can benefit from this solution? Is it the young, the elderly? Will the teens fancy the solution? Or is it something the babies may need? How about people in other regions/countries? How many such people require it? How badly do they need it? What will it take for them to buy that from you?

As you have already guessed, the answers to all these questions help you find your potential customers.

Engaging In Creative Discussions

A problem or rather its solution is but only a beginning. You will need to explore and research what it takes to implement this solution. It is quite possible you may not know many aspects of the solution and may require someone to discuss the pros and cons of this idea. Running the solution through several people, you trust will bring out different perspectives to the solution…

A discussion is extremely critical at this juncture because discussions bring out various perspectives and perspectives are fundamental for efficient operations.

Some thoughts that need attention include – This solution has worked for one person, will it be appropriate for several others? If not, is it essential to rethink and come up with a different or better solution to the same problem? What expertise should you build to make it into a business? Or, is it possible to partner with someone who already has this expertise? What else is required to build this business? Where do I get the capital from? How do I create awareness of my business? How do I sell my service/product? How can I instil enough interest and need in my potential customers to buy my solution? This list is not exhaustive and there is a lot more to it than just this set of questions. We can only set you thinking even as we urge you to take action.

You will need to test the waters, take up challenges that come your way, and summon the courage to take step after step, as you implement the solution and progress in your venture. Thinking creatively at every stage can most often expedite your progress. It is best to begin small, understand the ropes of every stage in the business and gradually grow big as you deftly make the solution stick to your business.

To sum up, a solution to a problem that benefits innumerable people can indeed lead to a business opportunity fulfilling your business dreams

Before we close, here is SOMETHING FOR YOU TO PONDER…and ACTION Thereof ?

Kolhapur’s organic jaggery is awesome. If anyone has used it, you will see the stark difference from that of its other counterparts available aplenty in the market. A news headline sometime back pointed to how these jaggery makers are struggling to sell and are on the verge of closing down their business. What can you and I as ordinary citizens do to solve this problem and help sustain their business?

We trust this blog has added value in using problem-solving as an ideation technique leading to business opportunities. If you feel it has, we urge you to share this with everyone you think will benefit.

We are more powerful when we empower each other.

Watch This Space For More…

Come, Explore,

Signing off,

KAVITHA SHENOI is an internationally certified Trainer, Speaker & Author

She is an electronics engineer and a management professional with over 20 years in the IT industry in various leadership roles. She is an accomplished manager with outstanding business acumen, technical leadership, and big-picture thinking. She has since moved on from the IT industry and has now rendered her rich industry experience and learning to design various training programs making them insightful and effective. Her well-received workshops have benefitted more than 5000 participants, across the country. She believes “experimenting to excel” alone, drives us to the pinnacle of our potential.

Kick-Start Your Own Enterprise,

Succeed In Your Business Dreams!

Krishika School

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