The Place for Problems
Problems matter, but they’re not the whole picture.
Most solopreneurs live by the old playbook. Look for problems, fix them, repeat. It sounds noble. It feels productive. But here’s the truth, problems aren’t the main event. They’re just one category of opportunity.
If you only see problems, you’re wearing blinders. You miss all the other golden sources of opportunity.
That’s why I don’t just call them “sources of opportunity.” I call them windows. Each one is a way to look out into the world and see something others might miss.
Drucker’s Seven Windows of Opportunity
Peter Drucker identified seven sources of innovation. Think of them as seven windows you can look through. Each offers a different view of opportunity:
The Unexpected: Successes, failures, surprises. (#wow and #hmm tags fit here.)
Incongruities: When reality doesn’t match expectations. (#hmm, sometimes #ouch.)
Process Needs: Bottlenecks, pain points, inefficiencies. (#ouch lives here.)
Industry and Market Changes: Shifts in structure, competition, or channels.
Demographics: Population shifts, generations, migration. Drucker considered this to be the most reliable source. He said that demographics are the future that has already happened. Now, in the Age of the Individual, solopreneurs are the future that has already happened.
Changes in Perception: New ways people see value, status, or risk.
New Knowledge: Breakthroughs in science, tech, or ideas.
Each of these windows reveals opportunities. Some will be more relevant to you than others. That’s normal. The power is in knowing they all exist.
Problems: Just One Window
Notice: problems only really show up in one window: process needs.
Your invoicing system takes too long.
A client can’t get their questions answered.
The tool you rely on keeps breaking.
Yes, those are opportunities, but they’re not the only ones. If you limit yourself to problems, you’ll only ever see opportunity through a single narrow pane.
That’s the danger. You end up thinking your “job” as a solopreneur is to solve problems. Soon you’re stuck in a loop: find a problem, patch it, wait for the next one. That’s not innovation, that’s maintenance.
A What If Example
What if a consultant thought one client’s invoicing bottleneck was just an accounting headache, a pure #ouch. He suggests a quick hack and calls it a day. But when he looked again, he realized the pain wasn’t only about process. Customers were confused about pricing, which created doubt about the brand’s value. That single bottleneck lived in two windows, process need and perception change.
Fixing it didn’t just save time. It repositioned the offer, strengthened trust, and opened the door to new upsells. That was my wake-up call. What looks like “just a problem” is often a bigger opportunity in disguise.
The Problem Mindset
When you focus primarily on problems, you slip into what I call the problem mindset. It comes with predictable symptoms:
You start scanning your day for what’s broken instead of what’s possible.
You tie your self-worth to how many fires you put out.
You become reactive, always fixing but never creating.
You burn out, because the list of problems never ends.
The old playbook celebrates this grind, but it’s a trap. The problem mindset keeps you small. It narrows your vision. It convinces you that success comes only after everything is fixed, which, of course, never happens.
The Reframe: Problems Are Just Another Opportunity
Here’s the shift: a problem is simply opportunity in disguise. It’s opportunity wearing work clothes.
When you see an #ouch, you don’t just see pain. You see a door.
That client complaint? A door to improve your offer.
That bottleneck in your process? A door to automation or delegation.
That frustration with a tool? A door to create a solution others will pay for.
The opportunity mindset says: a problem is never the end in itself. It’s just one more way opportunity shows up.
When you take this view, problems lose their power. They don’t define your day or your identity. They become raw material for innovation.
Compounding Opportunities
Here’s where it gets exciting. Sometimes one opportunity presents itself in more than one window.
A surprising customer behavior (#hmm) might be both unexpected and an incongruity.
A painful bottleneck (#ouch) might also point to an industry change.
A moment of delight (#wow) might reflect both a shift in perception and a new demographic trend.
Example: When Marvel realized Spider-Man movie profits were going to Sony, it was a process pain (#ouch) about licensing contracts. But it was also an industry change (#hmm) Hollywood was shifting toward superhero franchises. When audiences proved hungry for more, it became an unexpected success (#wow). That single moment lit up three windows at once. Their pivot into the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn’t just fixing a problem. It was compounding opportunity on a massive scale.
When multiple windows point to the same opening, that’s your cue to lean in hard.
From Tags to Windows
That’s why the mindfulness habit matters.
#hmm catches incongruities, surprises, and shifts in perception.
#ouch captures process needs, bottlenecks, and pain points.
#wow surfaces the unexpected, successes, and changing perceptions.
Your tags are raw signals. They’re the dots. The seven windows are the map that connects them.
When you tag moments daily, you create a reservoir of signals. Later, when you review them against the seven windows, patterns snap into focus. You’ll see where opportunities live, how big they are, and which deserve action.
Contrast: Two Mindsets
Here’s the difference between the old and the new playbook:
Problem Mindset says:
“What’s wrong?”
“How do I fix it?”
“Why is this happening to me?”
Opportunity Mindset says:
“What’s possible?”
“Where’s the opening?”
“How can this serve me?”
One locks you into problem-solving. The other pulls you into innovation.
Solopreneur Examples
The Unexpected (#wow): You launch a simple side offer, and it outsells your main product. Window: Unexpected success. Action: Double down.
Incongruity (#hmm): Everyone raves about a competitor’s product, but customers quietly complain about the same flaw. Window: Incongruity. Action: Fill the gap.
Process Need (#ouch): You keep wasting an hour each week exporting data. Window: Process need. Action: Automate it.
Market Change (#hmm/#ouch): A platform update cuts your organic reach in half. Window: Industry/market change. Action: Pivot channels.
Demographics (#hmm/#wow): Gen Z buyers start engaging with your product in unexpected ways. Window: Demographics. Action: Adapt messaging.
Perception Change (#wow): Customers suddenly brag about using eco-friendly options. Window: Perception shift. Action: Reframe your offer.
New Knowledge (#hmm/#wow): AI tools drop that make a whole process 10x faster. Window: New knowledge. Action: Innovate your workflow.
A Simple Weekly Practice
Here’s how to bring it together:
Look at your list of #hmms, #ouches, and #wows from the week.
Ask: Which window does this belong to?
Write the window next to the tag.
Circle any that appear in more than one window. Those are compounding opportunities.
Choose one to act on. Small step, quick win.
This is how you move from tagging to mapping to action.
But you don’t need to do all of that work yourself. The free Notion MVP Journal link also includes a free AI prompt that will handle the window mapping for you. AI does the research; you make the decisions.
Your Call to Action
Problems matter, but they’re not the whole picture. They’re just one window.
Focusing only on problems shrinks your vision. It keeps you reactive, exhausted, and stuck in the grind.
Seeing problems as just another opportunity expands your horizons. It shifts you into an opportunity mindset for all it’s worth.
When you look through all seven windows, you see the world differently. And when you see differently, you act differently. That’s how you innovate yourself. That’s how you win again and again.
Your problem is just another opportunity.