“Your business is nothing more than a collection of problems you solve.” — Dan Martell
Let’s talk about something that separates the top leaders from the average leaders, the successful from the stagnant: The ability to solve problems at a higher level.
Everyone wants more – more money, more freedom, more success, more of an impact. But most people aren’t willing to become more in order to get more. That’s the game here. It’s not about wanting; it’s about working. It’s about solving bigger and better problems than you did yesterday.
Your Value = The Problems You Solve!
Here’s the hard truth: If you’re solving $10/hour problems, don’t expect to get paid $50, $100, $1,000 per hour. If your day is filled with simply putting out small fires all day – you’re playing small. That doesn’t mean those problems don’t matter, not by any means. But if that’s where you stop, your business or your career will stop growing too.
Let’s break it down with a real example.
Small Problem, Small Win (But Still a Win!)
About 10 or so years ago at Atlas, we had a massive route logistics problem.
Mowing crews were showing up in the same subdivision, sometimes even right next door to each other, but on different days. One crew would be wrapping up a property while another was scheduled to hit the lawn next door two days later. What did that mean? Wasted drive time, wasted fuel, wasted payroll dollars.
Solution? We got serious about mapping our routes efficiently.
1. We broke down every subdivision and mapped the most efficient mowing lists.
2. We scheduled neighboring properties on the same day to eliminate unnecessary back-and-forth.
3. We created tighter zones for each crew, reducing wasted miles.
4. We raised prices on clients that had further travel time to get to them.
The result? A HUGE increase in efficiency. Less time driving. More time mowing. Higher profit margins.
Awesome? Heck yes it was. But does that move the needle forward at the highest level? No. This is where a lot of owners and managers get stuck. They celebrate solving small problems(which should of course be celebrated) but they never level up. If you want MORE, you’ve got to elevate your problem-solving capacity.
Big Problem Solving, Big Value
“The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment.” – Tony Robbins
Now let’s use a scaled up example. Say you’re running into serious issues with job costing of your routes and profit tracking of your work. Projects and jobs are coming in over budget, and you’re not catching it until it is too late. Cash flow is getting squeezed day after day. This isn’t a minor problem; it is a business-threatening problem.
Instead of tweaking little things, you go all in on solving this at an enterprise level.
- You Implement real-time job costing software.
- You train managers and team members to track profitability on every project daily and weekly, not just at the end.
- You tie compensation bonuses directly to hitting profit margins.
This shift completely transforms your bottom line. This is what solving enterprise-level problems looks like! It leads to better cash flow, team accountability skyrockets, and the organization becomes much more cultureproofed! Here is another enterprise-level leadership challenge most owners face — Scaling leadership.
I’ll give an example of Atlas… I realized that if leadership simply stopped with me, the company would stop growing.
So we made a fundamental shift: Train leaders who train leaders.
Instead of managers just managing, we built a culture where:
- We train employees who are training other employees, who are training even more employees.
- Every leader in our company is responsible for raising up at least 1-2 from the next generation of leaders.
- We turned a few strong leaders into an army of strong leaders.
This is where true scalability happens. This is enterprise-level leadership. Because when one leader steps up, that’s pretty good. When that leader develops another leader, that’s even better. When that leader develops another leader who trains even more leaders? That’s called a multiplying machine!
This is how you go from running a business to building an empire.
Where do you feel you are playing?
Grant Cardone says this… “Success is your duty, obligation, and responsibility.”
Owners and senior leaders – this is your wake-up call.
1. If you want more money, solve bigger problems.
2. If you want more time, solve operational inefficiencies.
3. If you want more impact in your earthly life, solve leadership gaps in your team.
4. If you want to go up, train and develop your replacement.
The size of the problems you’re willing to take on determines the size of your success. So, where are you playing right now? Are you caught up in the small stuff that keeps you busy but not growing? Or are you ready to step up and solve at a higher level?
What Does YOUR “More” Look Like?
I’ll land the plane with this:
Everyone’s “more” is different. Maybe you find yourself wanting…
- More financial security
- More time so you can actually enjoy the organization or department you’ve built.
- More impact so your leadership changes lives, not just the payroll sheets.
The people who win don’t just want more.. They become more. They do more. They solve more.
That’s how you get MORE!
So what’s the next-level problem you need to solve? Today is a GREAT day to start. Get after it!