As a self-employed, one-man business, I must deal with any problems which may come my way. In my early days, I simply couldn’t afford to hire specialists to fix any problems so, I had to learn for myself, use and trial and error and hope for the best. I managed to get through those early days and I learned a lot from the process. For a man who didn’t know anything about websites, I have done a pretty good job at running a web based business for the past few years. But one of the most important lessons I have learned is that you don’t fix a problem, you solve a problem. When you fix a problem, you will continue to lose time and productivity. When you solve a problem, you save time, improve productivity and reduce stress.
You may wonder what the difference is so I well use my definitions here:
Fix a problem – when you fix a problem, the problem is not currently happening.
Solve a problem – when you solve a problem, the problem is not currently happening and you have taken the necessary action to reduce your vulnerability to the problem happening again.
If you only fix a problem, when you should have solved it, you will experience at least some of the following:
- You lose focus every time the problem arises
- You lose focus every time you worry that the problem might happen
- You lose productivity
- You lose confidence in your ability to deal with problems
- Relationships suffer due to the repeated problems
- You get stressed as you feel like you have no control over the situation
- You waste a lot of money repeatedly fixing the problem
Constantly fixing a problem may seem like positive action but in fact you are avoiding solving the problem; often because of the anticipated pain of doing so. Avoidance is not an effective problem solving strategy.
To demonstrate, I will use my experience with the hosting of my website. Don’t worry, I am not going to use technical language; mainly because I don’t understand it. While the article uses web hosting as an example, this approach can and should be used for problems in every area of life.
If you don’t know what web hosting is, you will find an explanation here.
You can get a copy of my FREE Report to Improve Your Focus and Increase Your Productivity.
Solving my web hosting problems
The real purpose of solving a problem rather than fixing it is that you deal with the problem once rather than repeatedly. The following are some examples of how I learned that lesson the hard way with my web hosting:
1. The early days
When I started my website, I chose an Irish based company to host my website; as I am in Ireland. They were a good company and the price was very affordable. In the early days, I didn’t have many visitors (traffic) to my site and there weren’t many problems. When a problem arose, I would email the help desk and they would fix it.
It is only when the website got busier and, I was trying to do more things with the website that I started to experience more frequent problems. Then I noticed a problem which hadn’t really been a problem beforehand – the help desk wasn’t 24/7. If I had a problem just after the help desk closed, I had to wait 12 hours for someone to read my email. When you make your living from your website, that is not good.
Each time a problem arose, I would attempt to fix the problem by searching the internet for potential solutions and, trying them out. As I was inexperienced, I was also scared of making a major error because of my lack of knowledge and inexperience. While I certainly learned a lot from the experience; I was wasting far too much time doing work that I should have been paying others to do.
Problem solving lessons
I came to two realisations:
- This company, while being a good company, could not provide a service which met my needs.
- I am a coach; it is not realistic for me to know and do everything which needs to be done to have my website running perfectly.
2. The first move
I knew that I had to move my website to another hosting provider so I started researching my options. I used a few comparison sites to check options. I didn’t know any of the people providing their recommendations and what I didn’t realise was that they were getting paid to promote specific products and services. They were not speaking from personal experience; they were promoting the option where they would get the best payment.
Many of these comparison sites kept promoting a package for one of the major hosting companies. They were keen to point out every benefit and it consistently scored more than 4 out of 5. I was particularly impressed by the fact that they offered 24/7 support and even had a live chat features so that you could have an immediate 2-way conversation. So, I thought that was the choice for me and I made the move.
I would soon come to hate the live chat option. The hosting was a disgrace and I was left looking for support 2 or 3 times each day. More annoyingly, when I opened the live chat function, it would tell me that I would be waiting for 1 minute for support but it would regularly take 30 minutes or more to get hold of someone. After six weeks, I had enough, I had wasted the equivalent of 2.5 working days trying to fix problems. The solution was to move again.
Problem solving lesson
When solving a problem, recommendations are only useful if they are provided by somebody you trust and you know has used the product or service.
Stop wasting time consistently fixing problems. Solve a problem once and move on.
3. A better choice
For the second move, I was more careful with my research and I came up with an option which I was extremely confident in. I bought a yearly hosting package and they moved my site for me which was a lovely bonus because it took the stress out of it.
For one year, I had no problems and I was delighted with the service. In that time, my business kept growing. Eventually, my website needed more resources than their package provides so I had to purchase a different, bigger package. The bigger package, despite being almost 4 times the price, did not solve the problem. I was paying nearly €100 per month for my web hosting and they kept telling me that I was going to have to buy more resources to have my website working properly. I wasn’t prepared to keep chucking more money at the problem without any guarantee of results. Fixing the problem wasn’t working; I needed to solve a problem.
Problem solving lessons
- Just because somebody has one great product, it doesn’t mean that all their products are great.
- If you have been trying one solution to fix a problem (in this case buying more resources) without success; you need to try something different to get a lasting solution.
You can get a copy of my FREE Report to Improve Your Focus and Increase Your Productivity.
4. Peace at last
I was at my wits end and I really thought that my business was in jeopardy. I didn’t know what I was going to do or where I was going to go next. But then the solution came in the form of somebody I trusted. I am a big fan of Shane Melaugh at Thrive Themes and I have been buying products from him for years. I trust his opinion and I know he is an honest man. Shane wrote about a web hosting company whom he recommended so I made sure that I read it.
The hosting company was Traffic Planet Hosting, though they have now changed name to WPX Hosting. The review was excellent and I got in touch with them immediately. They were happy to answer questions. They offer three packages and I was desperately hoping that the biggest package would meet my needs.
I told them about website and to my shock; they told me that their smallest package was more than capable of meeting my needs. I realised that I had nothing to lose so I signed up and they moved the site for me. As I write, I am just shy of 2 years with them and the experience has been outstanding; leading to a major reduction in stress. In the two years, I have experienced the following:
- Despite traffic to my website doubling, the cheapest package is still more than meeting my needs (saving me almost €70 p.m. on my previous host)
- I have only needed support to solve a problem (minor problems) 3 or 4 times in 2 years.
- I have made a few mistakes and they are always there to help and; happy to help.
- They have always been happy to offer advice when I look for it.
Most importantly, I don’t have to waste time and energy thinking about my web hosting daily. I know that side of my business is taken care of and; should a problem arise; it will be sorted. That is a huge relief when you are a one-person business. Choosing the right suppliers/service providers is like hiring a partner for your business. Despite never meeting anybody from Thrive Themes or WPX Hosting in person; I genuinely feel like they are partners in my business.
Problem solving lesson
Don’t be afraid to ask somebody whom you really trust for their recommendation. If they feel that they can make a recommendation; they will usually be happy to do so.
If you want to learn to stay calm under pressure so that you can solve a problem effectively, check out Breathe.
Conclusion
When you fix a problem; you are just applying a band aid and the problem could reappear at any point. When the problem arises, it can be a major distraction from your most important work. But if you haven’t solved the problem you will regularly be distracted by worrying thoughts about the problem coming back. When you have a problem, don’t just try to fix it. You need to solve a problem as soon as it occurs so that you can move on with confidence and focus on your key objectives. I can assure you that I did not realise just how big my worries about my web hosting were until I solved the problem by finding a host that I could trust. By finally solving a problem which had gone on for a few years, I have allowed myself to enjoy a much greater level of peace over the past 2 years.