Embrace Difficult Problems as Opportunities

Early in my entrepreneurial career, my father overheard me complaining about a supply chain problem.

When I got off the phone, Dad smiled and said (in Arabic): “Your curse is your blessing.”

“OK … well it sure doesn’t feel like a blessing right now”, was my skeptical reply.

What Dad said next has stayed with me for three decades: “Son, all business is about solving problems. If problems don’t exist, your business doesn’t exist. And if your problems are easy to solve, your margins will be very low. Thank God if you have difficult problems, because that’s where the opportunity lies. You get paid handsomely to solve big problems – don’t complain about it, be thankful for it.”

Difficulties are a moat around your business. Figure out a way to traverse them and you have secured your castle.