Executive Coach-Discover the Secrets of Finding Simple Solution to Difficult Situations Are you looking for a way to deal with the “no way out” predicaments all successful business people face at some point in their ascension? These are the situations we feel are so tough we cannot see a way out. But there is a way out. We just need to reflect and refract our challenges through a better prism.

The first secret to handling those tough business situations that weigh, measure and push us to the edge is the Law of Stretching into Uncertainty. This law tells us that as you expand yourself and your vision, your capacity to create solutions will also increase.

Let me tell you a story that illustrates the law of stretching into uncertainty. In 1995, I was on the verge filing personal and corporate bankruptcy. I was the CEO and founder of a startup company called Digital Data Resources (DDR). My partners and I gambled our company’s future and funds on producing interactive multimedia applications. We bought into the Hollywood appeal of creating interactive computer programs packed with animation, music, and sound.

DDR had just been awarded a contract to create Iowa’s interactive distance learning program. We were going to use CD-ROM discs to create digital textbooks for rural Iowa. Our short- term success was an historical event. Financially, it was a disaster.

We spent our initial seed capital of $150, 000 on developing highly customized multimedia applications and did not have a dime in profit to show for it.

Investors were threatening to sue. Our landlord had given us an eviction notice. And we did not have enough money to meet another payroll. We needed to create a service that delivered a reoccurring revenue stream.

I was about to leave for the afternoon when I heard a radio broadcast that transformed our company from a struggling start-up into a market leader. A popular local radio host was complaining on the air about the deluge of paper files in his office and his inability to store them. A disgruntled county court employee from Sac County Iowa was listening to the broadcast and called into the station to tell the radio host that his courthouse was drowning in paper court records. He added historical court documents in every county courthouse were decaying and had fallen victim to termites and bats. He asked if the host knew of a way to cost effectively store and retrieve paper records.

I realized the same CD’s we were using to store voice, text and, video should also be used for paper record storage and retrieval. I called the District Administrator in that county courthouse to arrange a pilot to electronically store court documents onto CD’s. I was able to quickly demonstrate to him that it would be safer and more cost efficient for the county to use its current budget to store their court records electronically.

We eventually put images of court documents from 65 file drawers-some 50 years of records onto 11 disks. Our data storage and retrieval technique spread to courthouses and companies throughout the state. We created an annuity revenue stream and a service that was critical to daily business operations. A few years later our company was acquired by one of the largest market leaders in our industry.

Sometimes we are standing in the wrong place and need to take an imaginative leap to stretch ourselves and solve problems from a new direction.

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