When is a problem an opportunity?

Felicity Walker, my miracle worker is our guest  blogger today. Thanks Felicity!

I reckon you’d have to have been blind or living under a rock not to have noticed the huge explosion in coffee shops over the last decade or so.  Every time I blink I see a new one opening up, which means that standing out has become something of a problem.  But that’s not the only one. This recent article in the Age outlines some other problems this trend has produced, including massive numbers of disposable coffee cups ending up in landfill.

I firmly believe where there’s a problem, there’s an opportunity, so why not put on your thinking cap and get a bit outside the square on this?  Maybe as a coffee shop owner you could offer a 20c discount when takeaway customers bring their own travel mug.  Or if the potential problem of assorted cup sizes makes it tricky, why not get some travel mugs produced with your café’s logo on them, and sell those?  Then whenever a customer comes in for a refill, they get a discount.  It’s a great way to build customer loyalty and maybe even make a few dollars selling the cups – you win.  Customer gets a discount – they win.  Less disposable cups in landfill – the environment wins.  Bewdy!

If you don’t own a coffee shop, you can still get your thinking cap on.  What’s a problem in your business or industry?  And how can you turn that into an opportunity?  Because solving problems is where you’ll earn the big bucks.