How and When to Solve Big Problems
Don’t Freeze Up
I had a client with a thorny problem. They had exceeded their construction budget by $1,000,000 on a $3,500,000 project, and didn’t know how to get it finished so they could sell finished lots and repay a large bank loan.
To top it off, the bills were starting to pile up because they had the contractors continue working to get the project done. When the checks were delayed, the contractors got anxious and talking about filing liens on the property, further hampering their ability to sell the finished lots and repay the loan.
What to do? It was a sticky problem. They turned to me to help.
My first impulse was to ask, “Why on earth did you let it get this far?” But that wouldn’t have done anybody any good. My next impulse was to ignore the problem and hope it would go away. I was freezing up, just like my clients had because I couldn’t see any possible solution other than a train wreck of a foreclosure by the bank.
These people were depending on me so that wouldn’t help either. The only thing I could do was dig in and figure out a way to make things work.
For the life of me, nothing came. The longer it went without something coming to me, the more stressed I became (I really take my client’s problems seriously).
Rather than sit and stew, I do what I often do when I can’t figure something out. I sit down and write the problem out and all the possible solutions, no matter how crazy.
In doing that, I hit upon a couple of solutions that seemed remotely workable. I composed a memo to the bank explaining the situation and recommending those possible solutions even though they were far outside their normal parameters just hoping that they’d go for it.
The memo was sent and the response was surprisingly easy. Yes, the bank would loan enough money to finish the project if certain criteria was met that wasn’t unreasonable.
Wow! My clients were jazzed. They’d frozen up and waited almost too long agonizing over something that really wasn’t necessary.
Has that happened to you? You’ve gotten into a jam, and rather than face it immediately you hide out for a while hoping it’ll go away. Finally, when you come out of hiding and have to face it, it’s easier to solve than you thought?
Don’t freeze up. Be proactive and work things through immediately. It will save you stress and grief.
