You’re working on the right problem if it gets you closer to somebody paying you. Until you’re selling things, every other question goes on hold. Once you’re selling, the right problem is the number one task that moves the business forward, and you can find it with three questions. A business advisor walked me through them on the show.
What does working on the wrong problem look like?
The advisor calls it the oddly specific question. One owner asked him if he should be incorporating in Delaware, and then he asked about stock options. When the advisor asked what he had so far, the answer was, “I have an idea.”
Another owner had detailed questions about HR, payroll and payroll taxes, and she hadn’t hired anybody yet.
His read is that these are all versions of the wrong question. They’re small tactical details for a lawyer or a payroll expert, and the owner’s job is to work on strategy. He told the first owner, “You need a viable product that the market wants to buy.”
Why do owners chase those questions?
I asked him how many of these questions are just delaying the sales conversations we don’t want to have. My answer is to go sell something and see if anyone cares.
He agreed, and he said it’s a lot more fun to build a thing that’s theoretically amazing, because you get to sit in possibility for longer. It’s fun to build and imagine, but as owners we’ve got to figure out if what we’re building is real and desirable.
What should come before everything else?
I’ve heard that people who start a company for the second time operate completely differently. After the pain of losing the first one, they know no other question should be answered until they create a product people will buy. Until I’m selling things, all other questions go on hold.
The advisor called that true, accurate and sound advice. His line on chasing outside funding was “go fund yourself.” If you have some revenue, you can have more revenue. If you have no revenue, he doesn’t know yet if you can get any.
How do I pick the one task that matters today?
It doesn’t do you any good to get all the little stuff done if the big thing doesn’t get done. So I asked him how he’d pick, and he gave me three filtering questions.
First, which of the things you’re currently doing is having the biggest impact on your business? That’s your 80/20. Figure out what’s working and do more of it.
Second, which one of these things has been on the list the longest? If it’s a long-term project, ask why it hasn’t moved. If it’s a thing you keep putting off, ask why.
Third, which of these things is the opposite of where you’re spending most of your time? He says the barriers and the bottlenecks are typically in our blind spots. You can’t see them because you’re too close, so you need somebody outside the business who can tell you where you’re not looking.
When should I just kill something on the list?
That second question is where strategic quitting shows up. Sometimes the thing you keep saying you’ve really got to do is a thing you shouldn’t be doing at all. Quit it, get it off the list, and own that it was a good idea that needs to go away.
Look at your calendar the same way. What’s on there because someone else put it there? What was important 6 months ago and isn’t important anymore? It might be a networking group you’ve been going to that doesn’t drive the business.
What should I do this week?
Here’s the homework. Run the three questions on your to-do list and pick your number one task. Find it, underline it, circle it, draw arrows to it, and finish it before the little stuff.
Then find one thing on your list or your calendar that doesn’t drive the business, and kill it to free up some time.
And if you’ve been stuck on a future question, like payroll for a hire you haven’t made, put it on hold and go have a sales conversation.
This came from Businessing with Pat Miller. Watch the full June 1, 2026 episode.
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