You Don’t Always Have to Start at the Beginning

A tip for problem solving

I have recently started a Mastermind group of coaches. We all coach different things and are in different stages of our business. A wannabe, a startup, a semi-retired, a mature. Some are part time, some want to be full time.

We all had thoughts about what our business would look like at the beginning of the year that, obviously, won’t work now during the pandemic.

So, we all need to pivot.

But, pivot to what?

Background: Our Mastermind Vision

We’re spending some time looking at our work, who we serve, who is our ideal client, who we would love to have as our client, what our problem/solutions/benefit model looks like, what new strategies we might use to attract clients.

Our final goal or outcome in a few weeks of Masterminding is to clearly communicate to each other what our overall vision of what our work might look like in 1 year, 3 years, and/or 5 years.

Because, we may still be social distancing and Zooming in a year. But, in 3 years? Maybe we will all be meeting with others in person.

Attracting clients online in the social distancing world is much different than attracting clients in our regular physical meeting roles, isn’t it?

Tips to Start Your Problem Solving

And, what I see us each doing as we figure out our way forward is that we don’t all need to start in the same place.

We don’t all need to start at the beginning.

This is true whether we are looking at our business, our writing, our projects, our problem solving, our health, our relationships, our way forward in anything.

Sometimes we get stuck at the beginning.

We can begin somewhere else.

Start where you are inspired to start

Where are you inspired to start?

Where does it feel easiest?

The most fun place to start?

Where do you have clarity?

Intuitively, where does it feel is the right place to start?

Start in the middle

If we are comfortable and know what the middle part looks like, great! Let’s start there.

We can brainstorm the core solutions of our business, a project, an article, a book we’re writing, a change we want to make.

And, then, once we are on a role, feel confident, have some clarity, we fill in the beginning and the end parts.

Start with the outcome or conclusion

Or, we have a great conclusion. We are clear about the outcome. We start there. Then, work backwards to fill in the other parts.

Start with what you don’t want

I use this one a lot.

Sometimes we are very clear on our boundaries, what we don’t want, who we don’t want to work with, the types of work we don’t want to do, where we don’t want to live, etc.

When we get clear about what we don’t want, we can more easily transform this into what we do want.

My husband and I have moved around a lot. We use this technique when looking for our new place to live. We don’t want to live on a busy street, we don’t want too big a place, we don’t want multi levels, we don’t want blah, blah, blah. And, voila, we created a clear checklist of what we do want. We use both our do want and don’t want lists to focus in on our solutions.

Start at the beginning

And, sometimes we are inspired to be linear in our approach, to start at the beginning.

So, we can just start, brainstorm, start where we are.

We can always go back to review, revise, rewrite, rethink, redo.

And, we will.

We give ourselves permission to change it.

Because we’ll make mistakes, get better clarity, have ah-ha’s, create new ideas, find new connections between things.

Back to our Mastermind group

This is exactly how we are tackling the same thing, starting in different places.

Someone is starting with her vision, her outcome. Someone else really wants to get clear on her ideal client. Someone else wants to do research on getting into new areas of coaching she’s never done before.

All good stuff. In action, energizing, exciting, inspiring.

We will all share our Vision of our business as an outcome in a few weeks. But, getting clarity about that is evolving in different ways for each of us.

I find this very empowering.

There is no one right way to solve problems, move forward, be successful, live our best, get clarity.

We start where we are. We start where we are inspired to start. We get clarity and then fill in the blanks. We move forward. We are in action.

Yet, even though we approach it in different ways, we each create a solution, an outcome, clarity, a pivot.

I am a life coach and small business coach. I empower small business owners to level up, grow, and thrive. I also love to help others get really clear on the life and work they would love to manifest, know that they can have it, and help them create it. Visit me at https://www.lauraraduenz.com