I had a chat with my friend about business problems and what should be done first to fix it. 

I’d like to share an important takeaway which you may or may not agree with. Please, share your perspective in the comments. I’m curious to know your opinion.

People don't have business problems, they have personal problems that reflect in their business.

The reverse statement is also correct. People don’t succeed in business, they have personal success that reflects in their business.

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What’s the usual pattern many owners follow if something goes wrong?

Lot’s of entrepreneurs tend to believe that everything can be solved by implementing new technologies (let’s introduce chatbots for faster conversions or try this new tool to grow our ads ROI) or hiring a consultancy agency because they will tell you what to do to stop bleeding money and start growing faster. Don’t get me wrong. Those tactics are not bad.

I just see it as taking a panadol from a first-aid kit when you have a repetitive headaches. Business owner/manager jumps straight into a problem and gives his/her full attention to it but totally ignores the personal side. 

But if you want to be healthy, you will need to run the full diagnostic and identify what’s the root of your problems and probably, go through a proper treatment.

Same story with the business. Your business problems can be just an outcome of your personal life challenges. 

If let's say, somebody is not committed in business, this lack of commitment will most probably (not always) be visible in other areas of their life. They won’t be committed to a healthy eating or spending enough time with children, partner. 

An example I’ve heard from one of the business owners is that as soon as he learnt to prioritize his time at home: have finally a dedicated time off to travel and spend time with the family (after hustling extra hours at work and micromanaging 150+ people company) he has started noticing an immediate positive change not only in the revenue growth but in the corporate culture.

If you are disorganised, you may have a messy house and messy mind which will probably reflect in your messy business operations. So maybe you need to learn the art of organising your space and thoughts first (there’re plenty of courses and trainings about it).

If somebody has an issue with their business, remember that it always comes back to some personal issue in their life.

People believe that solving business problems require pure business tactics. But no amount of business tactics will solve a personal issue that shows up in your business. The only way to solve it is to solve the challenges in your personal life as well. That won’t necessarily be easy because no consultant will bring you custom-created solution. But you, your immediate circle and eventually your business will benefit enormously if you will take a step to dig deeper and improve your life.

I believe work is an important part of our life especially if you are an entrepreneur. So we should treat it as any other aspect of our life and vice versa: you can’t put all your efforts solely to a business but forget about your health, relationships and other categories. Each of the parts is just mirroring each other and  we need to seek the root of the problem analysing our well-being in them all.

 
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I'd love to share more on how to keep your life in harmony and which areas of life we all should pay attention to. 

Do you agree or disagree, why? Share your perspective and I'd love to keep the conversation going.
Do you have examples from your own experience?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Vika, @vikapuzach