{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"What Works","title":"EP 191: Your Business Is A Mess–And That’s Okay With Tara McMullin","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":558,"description":"\n\n\n\n\nThe Nitty-Gritty:\n\n\n\n* Tara shares why it’s important to clean things up–but not get caught up in making things perfect* Why the mess exists–and how that’s a feature, not a bug* How to use hypotheses instead of discrete goals to learn more about what works for you* How to create adaptable plans based on your particular mess and your goals\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBusinesses get messy—old products, defunct systems, cluttered inboxes.\n\n\n\nAnd we’re talking about how to clean up your business all this month. You’ve already heard from Jereshia Hawk who took mess of offers and streamlined her business to just one product. You just heard from Mindy Totten who figured out how to clean up her schedule and work just 3 days per week.\n\n\n\nYou even heard from me about 3 ways I’ve been cleaning up my business over the last 2 years.\n\n\n\nBut, I think it’s also important to say that…\n\n\n\nYour business will always be a mess.\n\n\n\nThe mess is a feature, not a bug.\n\n\n\nSure, we want to make sure there isn’t excess clutter or wasted money—but we also shouldn’t focus so much on making things perfect that we forget the beauty in the imperfection.\n\n\n\nToday, instead of cleaning things up, I want to highlight the mess.\n\n\n\nYou see, your business is a series of interwoven systems, mechanisms, and information that impact and influence each other so that no one component can be singled out as a problem or a solution.\n\n\n\nEvery time you clean something up or organize a mess…\n\n\n\n…you end up uncovering something else that needs to be addressed.\n\n\n\nRussell Ackoff, a pioneer in both management science and systems thinking, said:\n\n\n\nManagers are not confronted with problems that are independent of each other, but with dynamic situations that consist of complex systems of changing problems that interact with each other. I call such situations messes. Problems are extracted from messes by analysis. Managers do not solve problems, they manage messes.\n\n\n\nIf you feel like you solve one problem only to discover another,...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/AmfGeDL96-fhMaeOcqmX7TK_eWrvTLco6OJj2QpZtZI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80NGUx/OWY5ZDg1M2E5MmU3/ZjEwOWVmNDM3MWVh/ZjZlOS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}