How to solve a problem (even if you didn’t know it was a problem)
The first step to solving a problem you didn't know you had is to identify the problem. But, this can be tricky especially when you didn’t know you… had a problem.
Let me give an example from our own recent personal experience: We had a backyard, it was nice, but we didn’t use it very much.
Doesn’t seem like too big of a problem, but once we started thinking about it, we realized it was a HUGE problem! It was a problem because we consistently found ourselves going “out”. Going out with friends, going to the movies, having dinner at restaurants instead of in our own space! And come to think of it, from that perspective th
e problem got a lot bigger real fast when we started adding up all the money we had spent on just going “out”.
It was crazy, over a year we had spent just over $9,000 dollars, and what did we gain from it? Nothing. So this year we decided we want to transform our house, into the oasis it should be! We wanted to LOVE being in our home, together, as a family. And what’s more, we wanted to add to the value of our house!
But where do we start? And, what do we do? The inside was full of things a house normally has, it could use new appliances but would tha
t really keep us enjoying our home? Not really.
The furniture was nice, but even with a new couch would we enjoy the space more? Hmmm no.
Until it hit me, What’s one of my favorite memories as a kid?
Sitting around the camp fire!
I knew it, that’s it! Fire is mankind’s oldest trick. It’s the only way we could survive in the wilderness and it also makes us feel comfortable! (when it’s under control). What we needed was FIRE. We also have a pool, so that makes it even better. Two of the four elements of life right there, fire and water!
But now we had a big problem! The first thing I did was get online to see how much fire bowls cost and to call my local plumber to get a quote for running a gas-line. Uh oh, not so good news. The cost of each fire bowl was 2 THOUSAND DOLLARS! And the cost for the gas line was 5 THOUSAND!
I sat, defeated, thinking there’s no way this even makes sense. What good would saving 9k a year be, if I had to spend 9k just to have fire!
That’s when it hit me, do it yourself! I’m the king of DIY I thought, and I set out to cast my first fire bowl. I had it all worked out… I would cast concrete into a nice round shape, and in the center I would put a tiki torch! It sounded so great in theory and I left the house so fast I forgot my wallet. But, another problem! The first casting was ok, second better, and the third the best, but there was some really big problems I didn’t even know about until I started using the fire bowls.
First, they were a pain to fill! The fire glass was all around the torch canister, so to even get access I had to move all the fire glass. This got my hands dirty and a piece actually cut me! After dropping a few pieces into the canister, I put it back together and lit it up! Beautiful! It was finally coming together, until a few hours later it burnt out. The filling process again.. NO!!!!
That’s when it struck me, I needed a way to fill the fire bowl, have it burn for seriously long periods between fills, and I needed to be able to do it without touching the fire glass!
This is when the real R&D started. Got a warehouse, got to work, built a thousand prototypes, and filed a patent. (Stories for another time)
Now we have elevated to our biggest fire bowl yet, and ya know what... More Problems! They are absolutely wonderful and so many people want them! We just cant get them to the masses!
The fire bowl works great, but do you have any idea how hard it is to ship concrete? My next solution, metal but with the same easy way to fill!
But… In all, I solved a problem by doing! So many times, I didn’t even know I was uncovering a problem until it was right in front of me. It all started by thinking about my issue,
Once you've identified the problem, you can start brainstorming possible solutions but this will created new and exciting problems. This may involve researching the problem to better understand its causes and effects, consulting with experts or trusted individuals for advice, or experimenting with different approaches to see what works best. It's SO important to stay open-minded and flexible during the problem-solving process. If your initial solutions don't work, don't give up. Keep trying new approaches until you find one that works.
You never know, you may just find a solution that helps a LOT of people like our fire bowls do!