From: http://www.bizjournals.com/

Business is so simple even a dummy can be rich.

Business is all about solving problems. Once you get really good at solving problems, the next step is to solve that same problem for as many people as you can.

I challenge you to disagree. If it’s not about solving problems, then what is business really about?

Some would say, you are being a minimalist and too simple. Yes, I am. I don’t know if it is because I am not as smart as the next guy. Maybe it’s because I am not Ivy League trained.

Maybe I am just a dumb jock after all. I don’t know what it is or what the heck is going on, but this business world and making big money seems to have become very confusing for some. It seems to me that leadership teams have become so sophisticated and made everything so confusing and convoluted these days.

Focus your efforts

Yes, you must focus on technology, you must improve your human capital, you must innovate to stay competitive, but the motive for all these relevant business activities should be rooted in solving problems for your clients. Are all your business energies and activities focused on solving your customers’ problems or has your company become distracted by your own problems?

I mean, isn’t that how Southwest Airlines became a player overnight? They have solved a traveling issue for millions who just want to get there as cheaply and affordably as possible. Their clients are not worried about a first-class seat or fancy check-in gates or processes. Southwest focused on solving a problem for a very specific client and it has worked.

How was the fast casual industry birthed? Many Generation Ys and Xs felt too mature, health conscious and informed for Mickey D’s any more, Fast casual restaurants and their explosion in the market was based on solving a problem of fast food for a more mature and health conscious customer concerned about quality food, fast.

Burgerfi out of Jupiter, Florida and other fast casuals are making a serious run in this burger war and are coming on strong. They hired a gourmet chef to develop the menu and hired a global ambassador, Steve Lieber, to protect the golden goose.

Now fast casual has exploded and is here to stay, because they solved a dining problem and a movement was created. The world called out for quality food, fast, not just fast food. Fast casual s now giving fast food a run for their money.

What problem are you solving?

What problem is your company solving? I want to encourage you to get back to the basics of problem solving and your revenue will soar.

If your day or business meetings are not about solving problems for your clients or the market in general, what the heck are you meeting for? I go to business meetings and the conversation gets too bogged down for me and way off course from what business should be about. As I doze off during these meetings, right before they come to an end, I merely stand up and ask the serious question, what problem did we just solve here for our clients?

As the room looks dumbfounded, they realize that they have wasted a good hour of their time and mine.

Many companies are stumbling over their own feet because they have totally lost what business is about: Solving problems. As I peer off into the not-so-distant future, here is what we all need to be afraid of in business: The selfish generations being bred by social media, a narcissistic, self -entered culture that is solely focused on themselves.

Doing business in the selfie world

We are all getting brainwashed by the selfie world that has sucked us all in at some level.

Please remind your workforce and yourself that the only reason any of us are in business in the first place is because we have the ability to solve problems for our clients.

Can you please confirm for me right now, business leaders, that your company is doing this as we speak? You will sound so brilliant at your next business meeting by simply telling your labor force that you are a company focused on serving your clients.

You need to communicate this every day in a variety of ways to make sure you keep your culture strong. Your people have plenty of time for selfies before work, during lunch or after hours, but during the work day we focus on our clients and not ourselves.

Re-commit to serving your clients

Smart companies need to get re-committed and re-focused and stop tripping over their own feet by dwelling on self-imposed and self-involved problems. Trust me on this one, your ability to thrive will depend on the focus returning to what’s most important, that is, your clients’ problems. In order to do that, you must:

1. Care about your clients and not your bottom line
2. Think like your clients and anticipate their needs
3. Listen to your clients; they will tell you what you need to do better.
4. Focus on over-delivering based on their needs.

For example, imagine Southwest as an airline. Imagine all the regulations, the massive work forces, mechanical and logistical challenges. Southwest Airlines has to be mindful of all the policies and procedures that every other airline has but they can never forget that they are in business to solve traveling problems for their customers.

Southwest handles problems one way, Delta handles them differently. The winner will be the one who focuses on their customers the most.

The key to success is to keep it simple

We have all heard this famous cliché: After all is said and done, there is often more said than done.

Please, someone wake me up after the confusion, business people rise up from your Facebook-induced slumber and let’s get one thing straight.

In business the key to your success is to keep it very simple and not make it too complicated. Your job in business as an organization is to solve problems.

That’s it, it’s that simple. If you can solve problems better than your competition, you will beat your competition. So once you get really good at solving problems, your next job is to find people who have the problem that you can solve.

Doesn’t that make so much sense? Just go out and solve problems for as many people as you can find and try to charge as much as they will allow you to charge to solve them. Hire people who can solve problems, promote people who can solve problems, recruit and train employees who can solve problems. Make your clients’ problems go away and they will sing your praises and you will grow organically.

There are problems everywhere to be solved. I believe that problem solving is the key to any successful business.

So if I ask you that question, how well can you answer? What problems does your company solve? Who has the problem you solve? At what price point do you solve your problem? Should you charge more to solve problems? How can you solve the problems better? How can you solve problems faster?

I mean, if you keep it that simple, I just solved all your problems. Just don’t stand there reading this article, get to work solving problems.