Week Eight

Over Coming Challenges

When challenges come our way and they will come, how should we react? If we are prepared we shall not fear. Challenges make us stronger and well, they challenge us to see what we are made of. Who will we turn to? How will we treat others as we power through them? Will we rely on the Lord? 

Some challenges are personal like death or illness and still affect our business. Some are because of the business, lack of startup funds, employee problems or errors, or legal issues. The reasons for the challenges are endless. How we handle them can be life-changing to us or to those we work with.

As an entrepreneur, we are sure to be challenged. I think expecting challenges helps us be prepared - kind of like the Boy Scouts. Education, determination, faith, and a family and friend support system will also help. 

Because of my lack of inquisitiveness,  The Five Whys are sure to be helpful to me. A problem tracked down from its root will provide a much better outcome than taking care of the surface layer issues.  What are the Five Whys you ask? Here is the example the video gives - When a server doesn't work you ask why and then you are told the programmer uses a special API that tends to break, why does he do that? Well, he is a new engineer and he was never properly trained. Why wasn't he trained? His manager doesn't believe in training. So you thought you had a technical problem but in reality, you have a managerial problem (Eric Ries). It seems there are not really five whys but whatever it takes to get to the root and maybe some whats are in the dialogue as well. None-the-less, it is a masterful way to get to the root cause.

Challenges will come but if we educated ourselves and have an arsenal of problem-solving skills we will be able to make it through whatever comes our way.