# Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: full site text > Every page of problemspay.com in Markdown, for AI answer engines and readers. Author: Robert Nikic (https://robertnikic.com/). --- title: "Problems Pay by Robert Nikic | The Book and the Movement" description: "Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: what no one taught men about handling problems, and how to make every one of them pay. Six moves, thirteen rules, one ledger." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- # ProblemsPay by Robert Nikic LAP SLIP No. 0002TOTAL 0:02 1. 0:00Every *problem* has a price, 2. 0:01and every problem *pays*. 3. 0:02You're either paying the price or collecting the payment. [Price your problem](https://problemspay.com/tools/price-it) [Read the Introduction](https://problemspay.com/read) ![Robert Nikic signature](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-signature.png) A SIX-MOVE METHOD A book by Robert Nikic ![Problems Pay by Robert Nikic, hardcover edition](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-robert-nikic-hardcover.webp) AUDIOBOOK Problems Pay Robert Nikic CH 1 · SAY "GOOD." 0:00CH 1 Problems pay. The sooner you learn how, the sooner you collect. INTRODUCTION · THE PROBLEM YOU DIDN'T MENTION AT DINNER ## You have a problem right now that nobody knows about. Maybe it's money. A statement you've stopped opening. Maybe it's the job, the one you walk into every morning telling yourself it's temporary, three years in. Maybe it's the business that stalled six months ago, which you've been calling a slow season. It's getting more expensive while you read this sentence. More than half of American men say "no one really knows me" ([Equimundo, 2025](https://www.equimundo.org/resources/state-of-american-men-2025/)). Most of them aren't hiding a secret life. They're hiding a problem. INTEREST ACCRUED SINCE YOU OPENED THIS PAGE 0:00 [Read the full Introduction](https://problemspay.com/read) ![Illustration from Problems Pay: a man looks at three bottles filling with red sand, the last one cracked and leaking](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-bottle-of-sand-black.webp) PLATE 02 · THE BOTTLE. IT FEELS LIKE STRENGTH. IT'S SAND. THE RULE ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. Carry a problem and it charges you interest. Collect on it and it pays you. Those are the only two columns on the ledger, and every problem you have is in one of them right now. ![Illustration: one man pays the price as red coins drain away, another collects the payment from the same pipe](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-price-and-payment.webp) THE DEBT THE PAYMENT The price, every day you carry it Information you didn't have Interest: the bad job becomes the missed car payment Understanding of how it happened The missed car payment becomes the missed rent A second chance you built yourself Charged in sleep, patience, energy, confidence Money, time and respect NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. THE SIX MOVES, IN ORDER ## One move at a time. The one you're on, in full ink. THE PROBLEMS PAY RULES ## Thirteen rules. Break one and you pay. Keep it and you collect. When a problem lands, find the rule you're breaking and go to that chapter. You don't have to start the book over. 1. [01Say "Good."One word in the two seconds after bad news keeps you in control of it.](https://problemspay.com/rules/say-good) 2. [02Say it out loud.As long as a problem lives only in your head, you can negotiate with it.](https://problemspay.com/rules/say-it-out-loud) 3. [03Nobody is coming.Stop waiting for the check, the call or the promotion. That's good news.](https://problemspay.com/rules/nobody-is-coming) 4. [04Don't trust the calm.Calm is dangerous when you've lost sight of the vision.](https://problemspay.com/rules/dont-trust-the-calm) 5. [05Ask why until you're back at the beginning.And the answer isn't someone else.](https://problemspay.com/rules/ask-why) 6. [06Price it. Then fix it or walk away.Never carry it. The price is what you pay. The cost is your opportunities.](https://problemspay.com/rules/price-it) 7. [07Stand where the information is.Not where the report is.](https://problemspay.com/rules/stand-where-the-information-is) 8. [08Make the smallest move into uncertainty.Three steps, not fifty. One change, kept.](https://problemspay.com/rules/the-smallest-move) 9. [09Rebuild. Don't patch.Band-Aids fall off, and a patch is a minimum payment.](https://problemspay.com/rules/rebuild-dont-patch) 10. [10Lift the fire blanket.Bring hidden problems into the light on your schedule, before they burn the house down on theirs.](https://problemspay.com/rules/lift-the-fire-blanket) 11. [11Let it hurt. Make it stick.A lesson you file is a bill you've agreed to pay again.](https://problemspay.com/rules/let-it-hurt) 12. [12Same muscle, every room.The ledger has the same two columns at work and at home.](https://problemspay.com/rules/same-muscle-every-room) 13. [13The bigger the problem, the bigger the pay.Once you can collect on your own problems, you get to collect on other people's.](https://problemspay.com/rules/the-bigger-the-problem) [Find the rule you're breaking](https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rule) CARRY OR COLLECT ## Which column have you been in? Read both columns and be honest. Then tap one line and switch it. You don't have to be the second man by Friday. You have to pick one line and switch columns on it this week. THE MAN WHOCARRIES 0/16 SWITCHED THE MAN WHOCOLLECTS Every line on the left is a man paying interest on a problem he still owns. [Which man are you? Take the quiz](https://problemspay.com/tools/which-man-are-you) TOOL · PRICE IT · CHAPTER 6 ## What is it costing you? List up to three problems you've been ignoring. Write what each one will cost if it keeps going for a year. Use dollars even when it isn't about money. Then pick one word: fix, or walk. PRICE SLIP No. 01471 YEAR TOTAL CARRIED$0 FIX **0**WALK **0**CARRY **0** Price it. Then fix it or walk away. Never carry it. "LATER" IS THE WORD THAT'S BEEN COSTING YOU. THE 0:02 RITUAL · RULE 01 ## Bad news landed. You have two seconds. Type what just happened. Hold the button for two seconds. Then stop: no blame, no explanation. What just happened Press and hold, or hold the space bar. THE BOOK ## Four parts. Thirteen chapters. One idea each. What no one taught men about handling problems, and how to make every one of them pay. Kept short on purpose. A man with a problem doesn't need a lecture. He needs the next move. ![Problems Pay by Robert Nikic in hardcover, paperback, Kindle and audiobook](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-robert-nikic-all-formats.webp) PART 1 ### The Reaction The first two seconds and the first few days: what you say, why you hide it, why waiting doesn't work, why calm can be more dangerous than chaos. CH 1 TO 4 PART 2 ### The Reading Read a problem for what it's telling you. Find the root, put a real price on it, and go stand where the information is. CH 5 TO 7 PART 3 ### The Response The smallest move, rebuilding instead of patching, and bringing hidden problems into the light before they pick their own moment. CH 8 TO 10 PART 4 ### The Transfer Keep the lesson, use the same skill at home as at work, and point it at problems larger than your own. CH 11 TO 13 CHOOSE YOUR FORMAT [HardcoverCOMING SOON](https://problemspay.com/book/index.html#formats) [PaperbackCOMING SOON](https://problemspay.com/book/index.html#formats) [KindleCOMING SOON](https://problemspay.com/book/index.html#formats) [AudiobookCOMING SOON](https://problemspay.com/book/index.html#formats) [Get Chapter 1 free](https://problemspay.com/read/index.html#chapter-1) ![Illustration from Problems Pay: a man at the foot of a ladder with red rungs, each rung a bigger problem](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-the-ladder.webp) CHAPTER 13 · THE RAILS ## The bigger the problem, the bigger the pay. Once you can collect on your own problems, you get to collect on other people's. The same muscle that fixes a bad month fixes a bad system. That's where Robert spends his time now: the basics that decide whether a small business survives. Getting paid faster. Fair access to credit. Selling across borders. Simpler rules for starting a business. Real second chances for people with a past. ![Illustration: a train stalled on broken track, then running on rails laid in red](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-the-rails.webp) [Climb the ladder](https://problemspay.com/the-rails) THE COLLECTORS ## My problem paid. Handled one? Tell us the problem, the move, and what it paid. Peace, respect, money, time or reach. Every story gets a slip number. [Share your slip](https://problemspay.com/collectors) COLLECTOR SLIP No. 0001OPEN THE PROBLEM : Yours goes here. THE MOVE : The one you made. WHAT IT PAID : What you collected. THE FIRST SLIPS OPEN ON LAUNCH DAY. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR ## Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen, worked a hotel front desk through high school, and failed at venture after venture before any of them worked. Those failures became the method in this book. "I'd rather you spend your time on your problems than on my past." [More about Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) [robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com) THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/ Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Problems Pay Book by Robert Nikic | Formats and Contents" description: "Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: four parts, thirteen chapters and one idea each. See who it's for, what's inside, the full contents and every format." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/book" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- THE BOOK · BY ROBERT NIKIC # Problems Pay What no one taught men about handling problems, and how to make every one of them pay. Four parts. Thirteen chapters. One idea each. [Choose your format](#formats)[Read the Introduction](https://problemspay.com/read) ![Problems Pay by Robert Nikic, hardcover](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-robert-nikic-hardcover.webp) WHO IT'S FOR ## You have a problem right now that nobody knows about. Maybe it's money, the job, the business that stalled or a conversation at home you've avoided so long that avoiding it has become the routine. This book is for the man hiding something, and for the man who already tried. The one who restarted the business, read the books, had the conversation more than once, and is reading this tired. That man isn't stuck. He's in deficit. Problems charge in every currency a man has: money, his mind, his mood, his body and his sense of who he is. This book teaches you to stop paying and start collecting, one problem at a time. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT Hide it: paint a picture and live inside it Collect on it: acknowledge, own, find the root, price, move, make it stick Carry it: it feels like strength. It's sand The problem pays you, and the next one is easier Patch it: the patch holds, then falls off Rebuild it once, and it stays fixed NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. WHAT YOU'LL WALK AWAY WITH ## Things most men never learn. 1. 01Say one word in the two seconds after bad news that keeps you in control of it. 2. 02Say a problem out loud, to the right person, so it stops growing in the dark. 3. 03Stop waiting for the promotion, the check or the person who's going to fix it, because nobody is coming, and that's good news. 4. 04Spot the kind of calm that's actually a warning. 5. 05Read a problem for what it's telling you, find its root, put a real price on it, and know when the right move is to walk away from it before it starts charging you. 6. 06Stand where the information is instead of where the report is. 7. 07Make the smallest move into uncertainty, and fix things so they stay fixed. 8. 08Bring hidden problems into the light on your schedule, before they burn the house down on theirs. 9. 09Let a lesson hurt enough to stick, so you don't pay for it five times. 10. 10Use the exact same skill at home, at work and on problems far bigger than your own. CONTENTS ## Four parts. Thirteen rules. Every chapter ends the same way: the ledger, one line to say out loud, and one thing to do today. Not a worksheet. Not a thirty-day program. One thing. PART 1 ### The Reaction 1. [01Good.RULE: SAY "GOOD."](https://problemspay.com/rules/say-good) 2. [02Say It Out LoudRULE: SAY IT OUT LOUD.](https://problemspay.com/rules/say-it-out-loud) 3. [03Nobody Is ComingRULE: NOBODY IS COMING.](https://problemspay.com/rules/nobody-is-coming) 4. [04Terrified of CalmRULE: DON'T TRUST THE CALM.](https://problemspay.com/rules/dont-trust-the-calm) PART 2 ### The Reading 1. [05What This Is Telling YouRULE: ASK WHY UNTIL YOU'RE BACK AT THE BEGINNING.](https://problemspay.com/rules/ask-why) 2. [06Every Problem Has a PriceRULE: PRICE IT. THEN FIX IT OR WALK AWAY. NEVER CARRY IT.](https://problemspay.com/rules/price-it) 3. [07Stand Where the Information IsRULE: STAND WHERE THE INFORMATION IS.](https://problemspay.com/rules/stand-where-the-information-is) PART 3 ### The Response 1. [08The Smallest MoveRULE: MAKE THE SMALLEST MOVE INTO UNCERTAINTY.](https://problemspay.com/rules/the-smallest-move) 2. [09Band-Aids Fall OffRULE: REBUILD. DON'T PATCH.](https://problemspay.com/rules/rebuild-dont-patch) 3. [10Lift the Fire BlanketRULE: LIFT THE FIRE BLANKET.](https://problemspay.com/rules/lift-the-fire-blanket) PART 4 ### The Transfer 1. [11A Lesson Isn't Learned Until It HurtsRULE: LET IT HURT. MAKE IT STICK.](https://problemspay.com/rules/let-it-hurt) 2. [12The Same Muscle EverywhereRULE: SAME MUSCLE, EVERY ROOM.](https://problemspay.com/rules/same-muscle-every-room) 3. [13The Bigger the Problem, the Bigger the PayRULE: THE BIGGER THE PROBLEM, THE BIGGER THE PAY.](https://problemspay.com/rules/the-bigger-the-problem) PLUS: INTRODUCTION · THE PROBLEMS PAY RULES · CLOSING: THE BIRD'S-EYE VIEW · 45 FULL-COLOR INK ILLUSTRATIONS ![Illustration from Problems Pay: three bottles filling with red sand](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-bottle-of-sand-black.webp) INSIDE EVERY CHAPTER ## The ledger. One line. One thing. Each chapter opens with the six moves, the one you're working on drawn in full ink and the rest faded, so you always know where you are. It closes with the ledger for that chapter's problem: the debt in one column, the payment in the other. Then one line to say out loud, and one thing to do today. When a new problem lands next month, you don't start the book over. You find the rule you're breaking and go to that chapter. [See all thirteen rules](https://problemspay.com/rules) FORMATS ## Choose your format. Kindle for tonight. Audiobook for the drive. Hardcover for the shelf, or for the man who needs it. ![Problems Pay by Robert Nikic in hardcover, paperback, Kindle and audiobook](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-robert-nikic-all-formats.webp) ### Hardcover The edition for the shelf and the gift. COMING SOON ### Paperback Carry it. Mark it up. Lend it out. COMING SOON ### Kindle Start tonight, on any device. COMING SOON ### Audiobook For the drive, the gym and the walk. COMING SOON [Get Chapter 1 free while you wait](https://problemspay.com/read/index.html#chapter-1) BUYING FOR A TEAM, A GROUP OR A COMPANY? [BULK ORDERS](https://problemspay.com/speaking/index.html#bulk) ON THE AUTHOR'S SITE: [PROBLEMS PAY ON ROBERTNIKIC.COM](https://robertnikic.com/problems-pay) THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/book Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Carry or Collect: The Problems Pay Manifesto | Robert Nikic" description: "Carry or Collect, the Problems Pay manifesto by Robert Nikic: sixteen lines between the man who carries his problems and the man who collects on them." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/carry-or-collect" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- THE MANIFESTO # Carry or Collect. Most men don't lie about their problems. They just carry them, year after year, and call it strength. Here's the difference between the man who carries and the man who collects. MANIFESTO No. 001616 LINES 1. 0:00Nobody gets to not pay. 2. 0:01You only get to choose 3. 0:02the *column*. READ BOTH COLUMNS ## Pick one line. Switch it this week. You don't have to be the second man by Friday. Tap the line you're switching. It becomes your line for the week. THE MAN WHOCARRIES 0/16 SWITCHED THE MAN WHOCOLLECTS MY LINE THIS WEEK ## Tap a line above to choose it. Every line on the left is a man paying interest on a problem he still owns. Every line on the right is a man paying it off and collecting what it was worth. [Take the quiz](https://problemspay.com/tools/which-man-are-you) WEEK SLIPCARRY → COLLECT The man who carries... The man who collects... THE FOUR WAYS ## Hide. Carry. Patch. Collect. The first two are debt, and the debt is growing. The third pays the price and collects nothing. Only the fourth collects. 01 · DEBT ### He hides it. The problem stays exactly where it is, and now there's a second problem: the hiding. 02 · DEBT ### He carries it. It feels like strength. It's sand. 03 · PRICE PAID ### He patches it. The patch holds for a while. Then it falls off. 04 · COLLECTED ### He collects on it. Nothing. The problem pays him. THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. Join The Ledger and get one line to switch every week, plus one rule and one reader slip. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/carry-or-collect Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Collectors: Share What Your Problem Paid | Robert Nikic" description: "Share your Problems Pay story: the problem, the move and what it paid. Collector slips from readers of Robert Nikic's Problems Pay." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/collectors" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- THE COLLECTORS # My problem paid. Handled one? Tell us the problem, the move, and what it paid. Every story gets a slip number. The best ones run in The Ledger, with your permission. COLLECTOR SLIP No. 0001OPEN THE PROBLEM : Yours goes here. THE MOVE : The one you made. WHAT IT PAID : What you collected. COLLECTED BY: YOU BEFORE YOU SHARE Keep it about your problem and your move. Leave out names and anything that could identify someone else. If what you're carrying is depression, anxiety or anything medical, get professional help. That isn't weakness. In the US, call or text 988. THE SLIP COUNTER 0000 The first slips open on launch day. Every problem collected moves one line on the ledger from paying to collecting. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/collectors Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Problems Pay Events and Book Tour | Robert Nikic" description: "Events for Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: launch day, the podcast tour, Collect Live sessions and Kitchen Table meetups." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/events" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- EVENTS # Launch, tour and live sessions. Dates are announced in The Ledger first. Join to hear before anyone else. ## Upcoming Problems Pay events with Robert Nikic 0:02 DAY ### Launch day DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED The book goes live. Collectors post the bad news they said "Good" to, and what it paid. Robert goes live the same day. TOUR ### The podcast tour STARTING BEFORE LAUNCH Robert on shows about business, money and men's lives. Episodes will be listed here as they're published. MONTHLY ### Collect Live STARTS AFTER LAUNCH A live session with Robert. Submit a problem anonymously, and he runs the six moves on it. ONGOING ### Kitchen Table meetups HOSTED BY READERS Circles meeting in cities and online. Host one or join one. [Host a Kitchen Table](https://problemspay.com/kitchen-table) THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. Get launch dates, tour episodes and Collect Live invites first. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/events Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Problems Pay FAQ | About the Book and Robert Nikic" description: "Answers about Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: who it's for, the main idea, length, formats, release date, and who Robert Nikic is." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/faq" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "FAQPage" --- FAQ # Questions, answered once. About the book, the method, the formats and Robert Nikic. 01Who is Problems Pay for? It's written for men who hide or carry their problems, and for the man who already tried: who restarted the business, read the books and had the conversation more than once. The method works for anyone with a problem. 02Is it a business book or a life book? Both. "Business taught me how to handle problems. Life taught me how to solve them." The same six moves work at work, at home and on problems bigger than your own. 03What is the main idea of the book? Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. Carry a problem and it charges you interest. Collect on it and it pays you. The six moves are how you collect. 04How long is it? Four parts and thirteen chapters, one idea per chapter, kept short on purpose, plus an Introduction, the Rules page and a Closing. It includes 45 full-color ink illustrations. 05When does it come out, and in what formats? The publication date will be announced in The Ledger first. It's coming in hardcover, paperback, Kindle and audiobook. 06Is it a 30-day program? No. Every chapter ends with one thing to do today. Not a worksheet. Not a thirty-day program. One thing. 07How long until it works? There isn't a set timeline, because it isn't a program you finish. Some problems pay you back next week. Some take years. 08What if what I'm carrying is depression or anxiety? If what you're carrying is depression, anxiety or anything medical, get professional help. That isn't weakness. In the US, call or text 988. 09Who is Robert Nikic? Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9, and the author of Problems Pay. 10Is the book endorsed by the United Nations? No. The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. 11Can I buy copies for my team or group? Yes. Bulk orders, keynotes and the Problems Pay for Teams workshop are on the Speaking page. 12Can I share quotes from the book? Yes. Please credit Robert Nikic, Problems Pay. A full list is on the Robert Nikic Quotes page. ## Still deciding? Read the full Introduction free. [Read the Introduction](https://problemspay.com/read) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/faq Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Kitchen Table Book Club Guide | Problems Pay, Robert Nikic" description: "Start a Kitchen Table circle for Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: a four-meeting discussion guide, ground rules and a host kit for small groups of men." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/kitchen-table" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- KITCHEN TABLE CIRCLES # Handle it out loud. Small groups of men who meet four times, one meeting per part of the book, and say one problem out loud each time. Named for the kitchen table where Robert's parents handled their problems in front of him. ![Illustration: a man across a table from someone with the tangle of his problem laid out between them](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-in-the-head-out-loud.webp) ## How a Kitchen Table circle works WHO ### 4 to 6 men Friends, coworkers, a team, a church group, men who just read the book. Small enough that everyone talks. WHEN ### 4 meetings One per part of the book. 60 to 90 minutes. Weekly or every other week. WHERE ### Any table A kitchen, a back office, a video call. A table matters more than a room. WHAT ### One problem each Every man says one problem out loud. No fixing it for him. He leaves with one thing to do. GROUND RULES ## You're not asking for advice. You're saying it so it exists. 1. 01What's said at the table stays at the table. 2. 02No fixing. Listen, say "Heard," and let him finish. 3. 03One problem each, out loud, every meeting. 4. 04Everyone leaves with one thing to do, from the chapter's "Do this today." 5. 05This is not therapy. If someone is carrying depression, anxiety or anything medical, point him to professional help. In the US, call or text 988. DISCUSSION GUIDE ## Four meetings. One part each. MEETING 1 · CHAPTERS 1 TO 4 ### The Reaction 1. Which of the four ways do you meet most problems: hide, carry, patch or collect? Be honest. 2. What's one piece of bad news from the last month you could have said "Good" to? 3. Say one problem out loud to the table. Nobody responds with advice. Just "Heard." 4. What are you waiting for? Name it, and name the date you'll stop. MEETING 2 · CHAPTERS 5 TO 7 ### The Reading 1. Pick a problem that keeps coming back. Ask why until you're back at the beginning. Where did you end up? 2. Put a one-year price on one problem, out loud. Fix it, or walk? 3. Where are you deciding from the report instead of the floor? MEETING 3 · CHAPTERS 8 TO 10 ### The Response 1. Cut your biggest plan to three steps. Tell the table step one, and when you'll do it. 2. What have you patched more than twice? What was it originally for? 3. What's the one thing nobody around you is saying? MEETING 4 · CHAPTERS 11 TO 13 ### The Transfer 1. Which lesson have you paid for twice? What's the one line you'll do differently? 2. Which room do you run the six moves in, and which room do you skip? 3. Name one problem that isn't yours but is within your reach. Who is it costing? START OR JOIN A CIRCLE ## Pull up a chair. Hosts get the discussion guide, the Carry or Collect placemat and the Day One Map as printables. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/kitchen-table Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "The Ledger: The Problems Pay Newsletter | Robert Nikic" description: "The Ledger is the weekly Problems Pay newsletter from Robert Nikic: one rule, one reader slip and one move. Join and get the Introduction and Chapter 1 free." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/ledger" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- THE NEWSLETTER # The Ledger. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Every week. Plus the full Introduction, Chapter 1 and the Day One Map when you join. ## What is in every issue of The Ledger EVERY WEEK ### One rule One of the thirteen rules, the debt and the payment, and the one thing to do this week. EVERY WEEK ### One reader slip A real problem a reader handled, the move they made, and what it paid. Shared with permission. EVERY WEEK ### One move One line from Carry or Collect to switch. Not a program. One line. SAMPLE ISSUE ## What lands in your inbox. On the first Monday of every month, The Ledger sends the Day One Map instead: seven areas, one page, every problem you can see. THE LEDGER · ISSUE 000SAMPLE THE RULE Rule 03: Nobody is coming. Stop waiting for the check, the call, the promotion or the person who's going to fix it. That's good news. THE LEDGER Debt: every week you wait, the problem charges you another week. Payment: the day you stop waiting, you keep everything you build. READER SLIP Reader slips start after launch. Yours could be the first. THIS WEEK'S LINE Carry: waits for the check, the call, the promotion, the apology. Collect: knows nobody's coming, and moves. ONE THING Name the thing you're waiting for. Write down the date you'll stop. Make it this month. THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/ledger Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "The Six Moves to Handle Any Problem | Robert Nikic" description: "The six moves from Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: say Good, own it, find the root, price it, make the smallest move into uncertainty, make it stick." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/moves" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- THE METHOD # The six moves. The whole method fits in one sentence: every problem has a price, and every problem pays. The six moves are how you collect. Learn them one at a time, in this order. 1. 1 ## Say "Good." Acknowledge the problem. Don't justify it. Don't blame anyone. Taught in [Ch 1](https://problemspay.com/rules/say-good) · Sharpened in [Ch 4](https://problemspay.com/rules/dont-trust-the-calm) [Ch 10](https://problemspay.com/rules/lift-the-fire-blanket) 2. 2 ## Own it. You're the one in control of your life, so stop pointing fingers. Taught in [Ch 2](https://problemspay.com/rules/say-it-out-loud) [Ch 3](https://problemspay.com/rules/nobody-is-coming) 3. 3 ## Find the root. Ask why, and keep asking until you're back at the beginning. Taught in [Ch 5](https://problemspay.com/rules/ask-why) · Sharpened in [Ch 7](https://problemspay.com/rules/stand-where-the-information-is) [Ch 9](https://problemspay.com/rules/rebuild-dont-patch) 4. 4 ## Price it. Put a dollar sign on it, even when it isn't about money. Taught in [Ch 6](https://problemspay.com/rules/price-it) 5. 5 ## Make the smallest move into uncertainty. Start small, try something different, test it. Taught in [Ch 8](https://problemspay.com/rules/the-smallest-move) 6. 6 ## Make it stick. Let the lesson hurt enough to remember, then stay disciplined. Taught in [Ch 11](https://problemspay.com/rules/let-it-hurt) THE WHOLE MAP ## Then point them at bigger problems. Chapters 12 and 13 run all six moves in a different room, at home, and then point them at problems bigger than your own. The bigger the problem you can solve, the more people it pays. [The ladder and the rails](https://problemspay.com/the-rails) ![The whole map: the Rule, the six moves with their chapters, the chapters that sharpen them, and the ladder](https://problemspay.com/assets/fig-whole-map.webp) THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/moves Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Robert Nikic Press Kit | Problems Pay Bio, Photos, Facts" description: "Press kit for Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: book facts, short and long bios, cover and author images, and interview topics." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/press" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "AboutPage" --- PRESS AND MEDIA KIT # Press. Book facts, bios, images and interview topics for Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. BOOK FACTS TITLE : Problems Pay SUBTITLE : What No One Taught Men About Handling Problems, and How to Make Every One of Them Pay AUTHOR : Robert Nikic FORMATS : Hardcover, paperback, Kindle, audiobook STRUCTURE : Introduction, the Problems Pay Rules, 4 parts, 13 chapters, Closing ILLUSTRATIONS : 45 full-color ink illustrations PUBLICATION DATE : To be announced ISBN : To be announced SHORT BIO · 40 WORDS Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He is the author of Problems Pay. LONG BIO · 120 WORDS Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He came to the United States as a child refugee from the former Yugoslavia and translated for his parents from the age of four. He made his first dollar at thirteen, worked a hotel front desk through high school, and failed at venture after venture before anything worked. Those failures became the method in his book, Problems Pay: every problem has a price, and every problem pays. Today his work focuses on the basics that decide whether a small business survives: getting paid faster, fair access to credit, selling across borders, simpler rules and real second chances. IMAGES ## Download. - Front cover 800 × 1200 [Download](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-robert-nikic-cover.webp) - Hardcover mockup (transparent) 1000 × 1609 [Download](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-robert-nikic-hardcover.webp) - All formats 1672 × 941 [Download](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-robert-nikic-all-formats.webp) - Author photo 900 × 838 [Download](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) - Social card 1200 × 630 [Download](https://problemspay.com/assets/problems-pay-robert-nikic-share.jpg) INTERVIEW TOPICS ## Questions Robert answers well. 1. 01What does it mean that every problem has a price, and every problem pays? 2. 02Why do so many men hide their problems, and what does it cost them? 3. 03Why "Good"? What happens in the two seconds after bad news? 4. 04What's the difference between the price of a problem and its cost? 5. 05Why is calm more dangerous than a crisis? 6. 06What did failing at venture after venture teach you? 7. 07What are the rails, and why do they matter more than capital for small businesses? 8. 08What does a man do on the Monday after he finishes the book? MEDIA INQUIRIES ## Interviews, reviews and podcasts. Advance copies are available to press and podcast hosts before launch. Robert's full press kit, with photos and a fact sheet, is at [robertnikic.com/press](https://robertnikic.com/press). The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/press Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Read the Problems Pay Introduction Free | Robert Nikic" description: "Read the full Introduction to Problems Pay by Robert Nikic free: the Rule, the six moves and why every unhandled problem is a debt. Then get Chapter 1." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/read" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- FREE · THE INTRODUCTION # The Problem You Didn't Mention at Dinner Read the full Introduction to Problems Pay by Robert Nikic, free. Then get Chapter 1, "Good.", in your inbox. READING Introduction About 9 minutes NEXT [Chapter 1: Good.](#chapter-1)[The Problems Pay Rules](https://problemspay.com/rules) You have a problem right now that nobody knows about. Maybe it's money. A statement you've stopped opening. A payment that's a week late and about to be two. Maybe it's the job, the one you walk into every morning telling yourself it's temporary, three years in. Maybe it's the business that stalled six months ago, which you've been calling a slow season. Maybe it's at home, a conversation you've been avoiding so long that avoiding it has become the relationship. Maybe it's your body, the appointment you keep moving and the sleep you keep promising yourself. Maybe it's nothing you can point to, just the feeling, every time you pick up your phone, that every other man is ahead of you. You know which one it is. You thought about it this morning before your feet hit the floor, and you didn't say a word about it at dinner. If that's you, you're in a bigger room than you think. A 2025 national survey of American men found that more than half say "no one really knows me" ([Equimundo](https://www.equimundo.org/resources/state-of-american-men-2025/)). Most of those men aren't hiding a secret life. They're hiding a problem. Here's what I know about that problem without knowing anything else about you: it's getting more expensive while you read this sentence. Problems don't hold their size. A bad job you never dealt with turns into a missed car payment. The missed car payment turns into missed rent. And one day, God forbid, the bad job you never dealt with turns into not being able to pay for your mother's heart surgery. People tell me their problem is small. They're usually right about today and wrong about everything after it. Don't rank your problems by how they look right now. Rank them by what they'll turn into if you leave them alone. That's the part nobody tells a man, and it's why so many men who look fine on the outside are quietly going broke, quietly losing the people they love, and quietly running out of time to do anything about either. Not because they're weak. Because they were never taught what to do with a problem except hide it. Handle it yourself. Don't complain. Don't let them see you sweat. That's the training. So you hid them, one on top of another, until something gave, and when it gave, the people around you said you overreacted, and you believed them. You're not alone in that. The research on help-seeking keeps finding the same thing: men are less likely than women to ask for help, across race, age and social status ([Journal of Advanced Nursing](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jan.15869)), and less likely to turn to family and friends when something goes wrong ([PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4255976/)). We were raised to treat problems as something to survive. Nobody taught us to use them. ## If You've Already Tried Maybe you're not the man who hid the problem. Maybe you're the man who went after it, more than once, and you're reading this tired. You restarted the business. You read the books and did what they said. You had the conversation at home, more than once, with every tool you knew, and the same silence came back. You changed jobs and found the same ceiling in the new building. You told yourself this was the year, and the year is most of the way gone. Your body is tired in a way sleep doesn't fix, and somewhere in there you started to suspect that a man who has tried this hard and is still here just doesn't have it. I want to put a different word on what's happened to you, because the word you've been using is wrong. You're not stuck. You're not weak, and you didn't run out of talent. You're in deficit. Problems pay in every currency a man has. Money, yes, but also his mind, his mood, his body and his sense of who he is. Every problem you carried without collecting on it charged you in sleep. It charged you in patience, so there was less of it for the people at home. It charged you in energy, so every new attempt started with less than the one before. It charged you in confidence, in ideas, in the way you walk into a room. Years of that add up to exactly what you're feeling: a man who has worked harder than almost anyone he knows, with less to show for it than he should, broke in a currency nobody taught him to count. That's why it feels like exhaustion and not like a bill. A man in deficit looks like a man who gave up. He isn't. He's paid full price on every problem for years and never once collected, and the most expensive line on that ledger isn't the money. It's the man he became while paying, the one who stopped believing in the version of himself he could see when he was younger. That version isn't gone. He's unpaid. I'm telling you this now instead of saving it for the end, because a deficit built one problem at a time comes back the same way. The first problem you handle instead of carry doesn't fix your life. It moves one line on the ledger from paying to collecting, and that's the first time in years something has paid you back. The second is easier, because you've collected once. I won't promise you that your life changes in twenty-four hours. The years were the deficit, and collecting on them takes longer than a day. But the direction of a life can change in twenty-four hours. Mine did, and nothing about my circumstances was different at the end of that day except which way I was facing. I'll tell you about it in Chapter 5. The deficit took years. The turn took a day. I'm going to teach you to use your problems instead of surviving them. The whole method fits in one sentence. The rest of this book exists to make sure you can never unhear it. ## The Rule **Every problem has a price, and every problem pays.** The price is what the problem costs you right now, whether you see it or not. The payment is what you collect when you handle it the right way: information, understanding, a second chance you built yourself, and eventually money, time and respect. You can't opt out. You're either paying the price or collecting the payment. There's no third option where the problem politely waits for you. Every day you carry a problem without handling it, you're paying. Every time you handle one properly, you collect. Which means the single reason most men never get the life they scroll past every night isn't talent, money or luck. It's a stack of unhandled problems standing between them and it, each one quietly charging interest. There's a word for the price you keep paying without ever collecting, and I want you to start using it: debt. A problem you don't handle isn't sitting still. It's a loan you never signed for, at a rate you didn't negotiate, and the interest is the chain you just read: the bad job that becomes the missed car payment that becomes the missed rent. Carry a problem and it charges you interest. Collect on it and it pays you. Those are the only two columns on the ledger, and every problem you have is in one of them right now. And here's the part most men miss even after they start handling things: solving a problem and collecting on it aren't the same thing. If you fix it and learn nothing, patch it and move on, or file the lesson without letting it change you, you've paid the price and walked away from the payment. That's still debt. It just doesn't look like it until the same problem comes back with the same bill. It doesn't always have to be about money. Sometimes the payment is time back. Sometimes it's a relationship that didn't break. Sometimes it's just the man you become by not running. But I'm going to talk about problems like they have dollar signs attached, because that's the fastest way I know to make a man take one seriously. ## What You'll Walk Away With By the last page you'll know how to do things most men never learn: - Say one word in the two seconds after bad news that keeps you in control of it. - Say a problem out loud, to the right person, so it stops growing in the dark. - Stop waiting for the promotion, the check or the person who's going to fix it, because nobody is coming, and that's good news. - Spot the kind of calm that's actually a warning. - Read a problem for what it's telling you, find its root, put a real price on it, and know when the right move is to walk away from it before it starts charging you. - Stand where the information is instead of where the report is. - Make the smallest move into uncertainty, and fix things so they stay fixed. - Bring hidden problems into the light on your schedule, before they burn the house down on theirs. - Let a lesson hurt enough to stick, so you don't pay for it five times. - Use the exact same skill at home, at work and on problems far bigger than your own. And you'll know what happens if you don't. You already do, actually. You've watched it happen to men around you. The one who's still "about to" start. The one whose business died of a problem he saw two years before it killed him. The one who lost his marriage to a conversation he never had. None of them was stupid. None of them was lazy. Every one of them was carrying problems he'd never been taught to collect on, and paying interest on every one of them. ## Why Listen to Me I'm not writing this from a distance. I came to this country as a refugee kid who learned English before his parents and translated their lives for them. I made my first dollar at thirteen, worked a hotel front desk through high school, dropped out of college and quit my job in the same twenty-four hours, and failed at venture after venture before any of them worked. I maxed out my credit cards on one of them and was left with nothing. I've stood in a restroom minutes before signing a deal, having just learned the money behind it was gone, and had to decide what my face would do when I walked back in. Then I learned how problems pay, and everything changed. Today I spend my time on problems much bigger than my own, as an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 9, the ones about decent work and the infrastructure that lets a man with a good idea and no collateral actually start. That's the end of this book, and the point of it: once you learn to collect on your own problems, you get to collect on other people's. There's no bigger payoff. You'll get pieces of my story along the way, but only the pieces that prove a point, and never for long. I'd rather you spend your time on your problems than on my past. ## How This Book Works Four parts, thirteen chapters, one idea per chapter. I kept them short on purpose. A man with a problem doesn't need a lecture. He needs the next move. **Part One, The Reaction,** covers the first two seconds and the first few days: what you say when a problem shows up, why you hide it, why waiting to be rescued doesn't work, and why calm can be more dangerous than chaos. **Part Two, The Reading,** teaches you to read a problem: find the root, put a real price on it, and go stand where the information is. **Part Three, The Response,** is about action: the smallest move, rebuilding instead of patching, and bringing hidden problems into the light before they pick their own moment. **Part Four, The Transfer,** makes it stick and makes it bigger: how to keep a lesson, how to use the same skill at home as at work, and what happens when you point it at problems larger than your own. Running through all of it are six moves, and you'll learn them one at a time: ![The six moves, in order](https://problemspay.com/assets/fig-six-moves.webp) 1. **Say "Good."** Acknowledge the problem. Don't justify it. Don't blame anyone. 2. **Own it.** You're the one in control of your life, so stop pointing fingers. 3. **Find the root.** Ask why, and keep asking until you're back at the beginning. 4. **Price it.** Put a dollar sign on it, even when it isn't about money. 5. **Make the smallest move into uncertainty.** Start small, try something different, test it. 6. **Make it stick.** Let the lesson hurt enough to remember, then stay disciplined. Right after this introduction is one page with the Rule and thirteen rules for keeping it, one per chapter. It's the page you'll come back to when the next problem lands, so you don't have to start the book over. Every chapter ends the same way: the ledger for that chapter's problem, with the debt in one column and the payment in the other, then one line to say out loud, and one thing to do today. Not a worksheet. Not a thirty-day program. One thing. I've watched too many men build a fifty-step plan and never take step one. And one honest note before we start: if what you're carrying is depression, anxiety or anything medical, get professional help. That isn't weakness. That's taking responsibility, which is the whole point of this book. Some of what I'll ask you to do will feel wrong the first time. Saying "Good" when something goes bad. Saying a problem out loud. Walking toward the uncertain option when the comfortable one is right there. That discomfort isn't a sign you're doing it wrong. Usually it's the sign you're doing it right. Problems pay. The sooner you learn how, the sooner you collect. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) CHAPTER 1 · FREE ## Good. The two seconds after a problem lands are when you decide which column it goes in. Get Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map, when you join The Ledger. CHAPTER SLIP No. 0001RULE 01 1. 0:00Say *"Good."* 2. 0:01One word in the two seconds 3. 0:02after bad news keeps you in control of it. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/read Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Robert Nikic | Author of Problems Pay and TEDx Speaker" description: "Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and the author of Problems Pay, a six-move method for turning problems into payments." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "ProfilePage" --- AUTHOR · ENTREPRENEUR · TEDx SPEAKER # Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He is the author of Problems Pay. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ROBERT NIKICFACTS KNOWN FOR : Problems Pay, a six-move method for handling problems WORK : Entrepreneur and founder SPEAKING : TEDx speaker ADVISORY : Innovation and economic growth, SDG 8 & 9 FIRST DOLLAR : At thirteen - [robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com) - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertnikic) - [X](https://x.com/robertnikic) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/robertnikic) - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@robertnikic) - [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@nikicrobert) ## Why Robert Nikic wrote Problems Pay Robert Nikic didn't set out to write a memoir. "A memoir pays one man," he writes. "A method, if it works, pays everyone who picks it up." Problems Pay is that method: the one thing almost no man is taught, which is what to do with a problem besides hide it. The whole book rests on one rule. Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. Carry a problem and it charges you interest. Collect on it and it pays you. The six moves are how you collect: say "Good," own it, find the root, price it, make the smallest move into uncertainty, and make it stick. ## Where he started He made his first dollar at thirteen, selling a virtual private server from a closet in his parents' house. He worked a hotel front desk and a restaurant floor through high school, and left community college within twenty-four hours of a conversation with a teacher who asked him for a job. Years of failed ventures followed before anything worked. He maxed out his credit cards on one of them and was left with nothing. He has stood in a restroom minutes before signing a deal, having just learned the money behind it was gone, and had to decide what his face would do when he walked back in. Those failures became the method in this book. ## Where he comes from Born to a Croatian father and a Serbian mother, Robert came to the United States as a child refugee from the former Yugoslavia after his family fled the Balkan wars. The family arrived in New York with five suitcases, spent its first months in a refugee shelter, and started over in Kentucky before settling in Florida. He was the first in his family to learn English and translated for his parents from the age of four. "When my family came out of a war, we learned how to take nothing and turn it into something," he writes. "You don't need a war to learn it. You need a problem, and you already have plenty of those." ## The work now Today his work focuses on the basics that decide whether a small business survives. He calls them the rails: getting paid faster, fair access to credit, selling across borders, simpler rules for starting a business, and real second chances for people with a past. As he puts it in Chapter 13, it's not the capital. It's the rails. "I'd rather you spend your time on your problems than on my past." [See the book](https://problemspay.com/book)[Book Robert to speak](https://problemspay.com/speaking)[robertnikic.com ↗](https://robertnikic.com) More on robertnikic.com: his [full biography](https://robertnikic.com/about), [TEDx talk and interviews](https://robertnikic.com/media), [recognition](https://robertnikic.com/recognition) and [journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog). IN HIS WORDS ## Robert Nikic, on problems. - > Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. - > Business taught me how to handle problems. Life taught me how to solve them. - > You're not solving problems. You're building yourself. [All Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) SPEAKING AND PRESS ## Bring the method to your room. Keynotes, team workshops and interviews built on Problems Pay. [SPEAKING →Keynotes and Problems Pay for Teams](https://problemspay.com/speaking)[PRESS →Bios, photos, book facts and interview topics](https://problemspay.com/press)[EVENTS →Launch, tour and live sessions](https://problemspay.com/events) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Robert Nikic Quotes | Lines From Problems Pay" description: "45 Robert Nikic quotes from Problems Pay: on problems, debt, calm, blame, patches, lessons and the bigger problems that pay the most." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "CollectionPage" --- ROBERT NIKIC QUOTES # Robert Nikic quotes from Problems Pay. 45 lines from Problems Pay by Robert Nikic, grouped by part of the book. Copy any line. Please credit Robert Nikic, Problems Pay. ## THE RULE - No. 001 > Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 002 > You can't opt out. You're either paying the price or collecting the payment. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 003 > A problem you don't handle isn't sitting still. It's a loan you never signed for, at a rate you didn't negotiate. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 004 > Problems don't hold their size. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 005 > You're not stuck. You're not weak, and you didn't run out of talent. You're in deficit. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 006 > That version isn't gone. He's unpaid. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 007 > The deficit took years. The turn took a day. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 008 > A man with a problem doesn't need a lecture. He needs the next move. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 009 > Nobody gets to not pay. You only get to choose the column. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 010 > Problems pay. The sooner you learn how, the sooner you collect. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY ## THE REACTION - No. 011 > The sand doesn't make noise going in. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 012 > It feels like strength. It's sand. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 013 > Good. I'm glad it happened. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 014 > When I say it out loud, it becomes real. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 015 > As long as a problem lives only in your head, you can negotiate with it. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 016 > You've handed the problem to the future and asked it to call you back. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 017 > The future charges for storage. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 018 > Nobody's coming to save me. Good. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 019 > Calm didn't mean the problems were gone. It meant you'd stopped looking for them. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 020 > The crisis announces itself. The quiet doesn't. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 021 > Steady is showing up every day for something. Comfortable is showing up every day because you stopped asking why. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY ## THE READING - No. 022 > Why? And the answer isn't someone else. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 023 > The price is what I pay. The cost is my opportunities. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 024 > Staying isn't the third option. Staying is paying. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 025 > Later is the word that's been costing you. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 026 > Distance is a cost. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 027 > The answer is usually already known by me. It just depends on how long until I accept it. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY ## THE RESPONSE - No. 028 > You will never know the amount of opportunity you lost while you were deciding. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 029 > One change I keep is worth more than a million dollars. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 030 > Not well. Just done. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 031 > Band-Aids fall off. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 032 > A patch is never a payment. It's a minimum payment. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 033 > Fixing it gets me back to where I was. Learning from it builds a better version of me. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 034 > If I can't see the problem and I can't hear the problem, I create the problem. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 035 > The line I won't cross is staying in a situation without understanding. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY ## THE TRANSFER - No. 036 > Good lessons get forgotten because they didn't hurt. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 037 > A filed lesson is a bill you've agreed to pay again. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 038 > A lesson isn't learned until it hurts. I've paid. Now I collect. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 039 > Business taught me how to handle problems. Life taught me how to solve them. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 040 > The bigger the problem I can solve, the more people it pays. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 041 > You're not solving problems. You're building yourself. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 042 > A memoir pays one man. A method, if it works, pays everyone who picks it up. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 043 > It's Not the Capital. It's the Rails. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 044 > I think success is an illusion. Success is a label. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY - No. 045 > I'd rather you spend your time on your problems than on my past. ROBERT NIKIC · PROBLEMS PAY ## Every line has a chapter behind it. The stories behind these lines are in the book. [See the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "The 13 Problems Pay Rules by Robert Nikic" description: "The thirteen Problems Pay rules by Robert Nikic, one per chapter. Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. Find the rule you're breaking." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "CollectionPage" --- THE PROBLEMS PAY RULES # Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. Carry a problem and it charges you interest. Collect on it and it pays you. Those are the only two columns on the ledger. Under the Rule are thirteen rules for keeping it, one per chapter. [Find the rule you're breaking](https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rule) RULE SLIP No. 001313 RULES 1. 0:00Break one and you pay. 2. 0:01Keep it and you collect. 3. 0:02Find the rule you're breaking. 1. [01Say "Good."One word in the two seconds after bad news keeps you in control of it.CHAPTER 1 · GOOD.](https://problemspay.com/rules/say-good) 2. [02Say it out loud.As long as a problem lives only in your head, you can negotiate with it. Out loud, it becomes real.CHAPTER 2 · SAY IT OUT LOUD](https://problemspay.com/rules/say-it-out-loud) 3. [03Nobody is coming.Stop waiting for the check, the call, the promotion or the person who's going to fix it. That's good news.CHAPTER 3 · NOBODY IS COMING](https://problemspay.com/rules/nobody-is-coming) 4. [04Don't trust the calm.Calm is dangerous when you've lost sight of the vision. Ask what it's costing you.CHAPTER 4 · TERRIFIED OF CALM](https://problemspay.com/rules/dont-trust-the-calm) 5. [05Ask why until you're back at the beginning.And the answer isn't someone else.CHAPTER 5 · WHAT THIS IS TELLING YOU](https://problemspay.com/rules/ask-why) 6. [06Price it. Then fix it or walk away. Never carry it.The price is what you pay. The cost is your opportunities.CHAPTER 6 · EVERY PROBLEM HAS A PRICE](https://problemspay.com/rules/price-it) 7. [07Stand where the information is.Not where the report is.CHAPTER 7 · STAND WHERE THE INFORMATION IS](https://problemspay.com/rules/stand-where-the-information-is) 8. [08Make the smallest move into uncertainty.Three steps, not fifty. One change, kept.CHAPTER 8 · THE SMALLEST MOVE](https://problemspay.com/rules/the-smallest-move) 9. [09Rebuild. Don't patch.Band-Aids fall off, and a patch is a minimum payment.CHAPTER 9 · BAND-AIDS FALL OFF](https://problemspay.com/rules/rebuild-dont-patch) 10. [10Lift the fire blanket.Bring hidden problems into the light on your schedule, before they burn the house down on theirs.CHAPTER 10 · LIFT THE FIRE BLANKET](https://problemspay.com/rules/lift-the-fire-blanket) 11. [11Let it hurt. Make it stick.A lesson isn't learned until it hurts, and a lesson you file is a bill you've agreed to pay again.CHAPTER 11 · A LESSON ISN'T LEARNED UNTIL IT HURTS](https://problemspay.com/rules/let-it-hurt) 12. [12Same muscle, every room.The ledger has the same two columns at work and at home: what you're paying, and what you're collecting.CHAPTER 12 · THE SAME MUSCLE EVERYWHERE](https://problemspay.com/rules/same-muscle-every-room) 13. [13The bigger the problem, the bigger the pay.Once you can collect on your own problems, you get to collect on other people's.CHAPTER 13 · THE BIGGER THE PROBLEM, THE BIGGER THE PAY](https://problemspay.com/rules/the-bigger-the-problem) ![The Problems Pay Rules page from the book: the Rule, the two columns and thirteen rules](https://problemspay.com/assets/fig-the-rules.webp) HOW TO USE THEM ## Not once, front to back. One chapter at a time. When a new problem lands, don't start the book over. Go to the rules, find the one you're breaking, and go to that chapter. Read the ledger at the end of it, and do the one thing. That's how the book is meant to be used: every time something breaks. [Find your rule](https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rule) THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Problems Pay Shop | Signed Editions by Robert Nikic" description: "The Problems Pay shop by Robert Nikic: the Ledger notebook, signed first editions, Carry or Collect tees and the 0:02 cap. Coming with the book." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/shop" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- SHOP # Gear for collectors. The first pieces arrive with the book. Get notified when they drop. ## Problems Pay gear SLIP No. 0001LEDGER ### The Ledger Notebook Two columns on every page. The thirteen rules in the front, the Day One Map in the back. COMING SOON SLIP No. 00020001 ### Signed first edition Numbered like a lap slip, Slip No. 0001 to 1000. COMING SOON SLIP No. 0003CARRY / COLLECT ### Carry or Collect tee Two words. Pick your column. COMING SOON SLIP No. 00040:02 ### 0:02 cap The two seconds after a problem lands. COMING SOON THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. Join The Ledger and get first access to signed, numbered first editions. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/shop Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Robert Nikic Speaker | Keynotes, Workshops and Bulk Orders" description: "Book Robert Nikic, TEDx speaker and author of Problems Pay, for keynotes and the Problems Pay for Teams workshop, or order bulk copies." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/speaking" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- SPEAKING · TEAMS · BULK ORDERS # Bring Problems Pay to your room. Keynotes, workshops and bulk copies for companies, conferences, men's groups and founder communities, from Robert Nikic, TEDx speaker and author of Problems Pay. KEYNOTES ## Four talks, one method. Watch Robert's TEDx talk and past interviews on [robertnikic.com/media](https://robertnikic.com/media). KEYNOTE 01 ### Problems Pay THE SIX-MOVE METHOD Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. The keynote version of the book: the four ways people meet a problem, the six moves, and how to collect instead of carry. KEYNOTE 02 ### Nobody Is Coming OWNERSHIP FOR TEAMS Why waiting is comfort in disguise, how to tell help from helpless, and what changes when a team stops waiting to be rescued. KEYNOTE 03 ### Stand Where the Information Is LEADERSHIP ON THE FLOOR Why leaders lose touch, the sixty seconds that beat any report, and how to make decisions from where the problem actually happens. KEYNOTE 04 ### It's Not the Capital. It's the Rails. SMALL BUSINESS AND SDG 8 & 9 Getting paid faster, credit judged on sales data, selling across borders, simpler registration and second chances. WORKSHOP ## Problems Pay for Teams. A working session, not a lecture. Teams leave with problems priced and first moves assigned. 1. 01Day One Map for the team: every problem anyone can see, in one place. 2. 02Say it out loud: the one thing nobody in the room is saying. 3. 03Price it: a one-year price on the top problems. Fix, or walk. 4. 04The smallest move: three steps each, the first one due today. BULK ORDERS ## A copy for every man at the table. For teams, companies, events and Kitchen Table circles. Bulk pricing and signed copies will be available once the book is out. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/speaking Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "The Rails: SDG 8 and 9 and the Bigger Problem | Robert Nikic" description: "It's not the capital. It's the rails. Robert Nikic on the ladder, the five kinds of payoff and the basics that decide whether a small business survives." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/the-rails" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- CHAPTER 13 · THE BIGGER CAUSE # It's not the capital. It's the rails. Most small businesses don't fail because the idea is bad. They fail on the basics: waiting too long to get paid, no access to credit, no way to sell across a border, and red tape that costs more than they can afford. THE RAILS ## He's running an engine on dirt. A train doesn't fail because the engine isn't powerful enough. It fails because the rails are broken, missing or too expensive to lay. When the rails are simple, cheap and fair, more people can start a business, keep it alive and grow it. When they aren't, it doesn't matter how good the idea is or how hard the founder works. That's where the method ends up once you've run it long enough. It stops being about your problems. ![Illustration: a powerful engine stopped on broken rails, and a small engine running on straight red rails](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-rails.webp) THE LADDER ## Each rung pays more than the one below it. You don't skip rungs. Most men reading this are on the first one, and that's the right place to start. [Find your rung](https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rung) ![Illustration: a man with his boot on the first rung of a tall ladder with red rungs](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-ladder.webp) 1. 7 ### Whole systems The rails. One rail fixed is a problem solved for everyone who'll ever run on it. 2. 6 ### Other founders Solving problems for the man with no seat at the table opens doors you once found closed. 3. 5 ### Strangers you'll never meet When you solve a problem for people who'll never know your name, the payment is reach. 4. 4 ### Your first customers A problem solved well enough that strangers pay for the solution. 5. 3 ### One stranger One problem, understood, can pay someone you'll never see again. 6. 2 ### Your home Your problems, solved, pay the people under your roof first. 7. 1 ### Yourself Every problem you solve builds you. Calm when the news is bad, character when nobody's watching. WHAT ROBERT STANDS FOR ## Five things. The basics that decide whether a small business survives. 01 ### Registration Registering a small business should take days and a small fee, not months of forms. Every extra step is a founder who never starts. 02 ### Getting paid Small sellers should get paid in days, not months. Faster, cheaper payments keep cash flowing and doors open. 03 ### Credit Small-business credit should be judged on real sales data, not only on collateral. 04 ### Selling across borders It should be cheap and simple for a small shop to sell to a customer in another country. 05 ### Second chances People with a past deserve a real second chance at work and at starting a business. WHAT THE PAYOFF IS ## Five kinds of pay. - 01 ### Peace Problems stop piling up when you handle them as they land. - 02 ### Respect People look at a man who handles things in a different light. - 03 ### Money Every problem has a dollar sign attached, and the man who sees it first collects it. - 04 ### Time Eighteen-hour days become four-hour days once you know which four hours matter. - 05 ### Reach The ability to solve problems for people who'll never know your name. TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN COUNTED OUT ## Someone gave me a chance. "I've never believed that the size of an economy is what matters. What matters is whether one person, anywhere, can start something of their own and make a living from it. I know what it's like to start with nothing. Everything I've built rests on one thing: someone gave me a chance." ROBERT NIKIC, PROBLEMS PAY, CHAPTER 13 Robert is an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. More on that work at [robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com). The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/the-rails Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Free Problems Pay Tools | Price Your Problem | Robert Nikic" description: "Free tools from Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: price your problems, take the four-ways quiz, find the rule you're breaking, map every problem and find your rung." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/tools" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "CollectionPage" --- FREE TOOLS · BUILT FROM THE BOOK # One problem. One move. Every tool here comes straight from an exercise in Problems Pay. Not a worksheet. Not a thirty-day program. One thing. What you type stays on your device. - [CHAPTER 6Price ItList up to three problems you've been ignoring. Put a one-year price on each. Fix, or walk. Get your price slip.OPEN →](https://problemspay.com/tools/price-it) - [CHAPTER 1Which Man Are YouEight situations. Four ways a man meets a problem. Find out if you hide, carry, patch or collect.OPEN →](https://problemspay.com/tools/which-man-are-you) - [THE RULESFind Your RuleA problem just landed. Tap what's happening and go straight to the rule you're breaking.OPEN →](https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rule) - [CLOSINGDay One MapSeven areas, one page. Write down every problem you can see. Don't rank them. Don't solve them. Just see them.OPEN →](https://problemspay.com/tools/day-one-map) - [CHAPTER 3Stop-Waiting DateName the thing you're waiting for. Pick the date you stop. Put it on your calendar.OPEN →](https://problemspay.com/tools/stop-waiting-date) - [CHAPTER 13Find Your RungSeven rungs, from yourself to whole systems. See where you stand and what the next rung is.OPEN →](https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rung) - [INTRODUCTIONDeficit CheckMoney, mind, mood, body, sense of self. See which currency your problems have been charging most.OPEN →](https://problemspay.com/tools/deficit-check) THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/tools Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Ask Why Until You're Back at the Beginning | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 5 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: ask why until you're back at the beginning, and the answer isn't someone else. Find the root and you pay once." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/ask-why" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 05 OF 13 · PART 2: THE READING # Ask why until you're back at the beginning. And the answer isn't someone else. WHERE YOU ARE · MOVE 3 OF 6: FIND THE ROOT CHAPTER 05WHAT THIS IS TELLING YOU0:00 ## The first question to ask about any problem is one word: why. Not "Who did this?" Not "How do I make it go away?" Why. And the first place to look for the answer is the mirror. Sometimes it really is the other person. Then ask who chose that person, who gave them the responsibility, and who stayed when the signs were there. Blame someone else and you keep the problem. You pay for it again every time it comes back. Find the root and you pay once. Chapter 5 treats failure as an A/B test: two kinds of failure, two different questions, and why opinions only count as data when you collect them the right way. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) ![Illustration: the man coming down cellar steps to a tall mirror where his own reflection waits](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-why-ladder.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 05WHAT THIS IS TELLING YOU THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT Blame someone else and you keep the problem, and you pay for it again every time it comes back. Find the root and you pay once. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > Why? And the answer isn't someone else. DO THIS TODAYRULE 05 Pick one problem that keeps coming back. Write down the solution you keep using. Then change one thing about it. Not everything. One thing. That's an A/B test, and you've just started your first one. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 5 are in Chapter 5 of Problems Pay. [Find the rule you're breaking](https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rule)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/ask-why Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Don't Trust the Calm Before a Problem | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 4 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: calm is dangerous when you've lost sight of the vision. The crisis announces itself. The quiet doesn't." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/dont-trust-the-calm" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 04 OF 13 · PART 1: THE REACTION # Don't trust the calm. Calm is dangerous when you've lost sight of the vision. Ask what it's costing you. WHERE YOU ARE · SHARPENING MOVE 1: SAY "GOOD." CHAPTER 04TERRIFIED OF CALM0:00 ## Everyone tells you to watch out for the crisis. ![Illustration: two kinds of calm, a man working through the night at his desk and the same man on a couch with the folder unopened](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-two-kinds-of-calm.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 04TERRIFIED OF CALM Nobody tells you to watch out for the quiet. The crisis announces itself. The quiet doesn't. Calm doesn't mean the problems are gone. It means you've stopped looking for them. The skills you stopped sharpening because the paycheck kept coming. The conversation you stopped having because nothing felt urgent. The customer who quietly stopped ordering while the numbers still looked fine. Problems you've stopped looking for don't stop charging. They compound in the dark, and you find out the balance all at once. This isn't a case for living on fire. Steady is showing up every day for something. Comfortable is showing up every day because you stopped asking why. Chapter 4 gives you the difference between vigilance and anxiety, the two kinds of calm, and a test you can run on your own week. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT The problems you've stopped looking for don't stop charging. They compound in the dark, and you find out the balance all at once. Stay alert enough to see them and you catch them while they're still cheap. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > Calm is dangerous when I've lost sight of the vision. DO THIS TODAYRULE 04 Ask yourself one question: "Am I still moving toward the vision, or just watching the movie?" If you can't say what the vision is in one sentence, that's your answer. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 4 are in Chapter 4 of Problems Pay. [Map every problem you can see](https://problemspay.com/tools/day-one-map)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/dont-trust-the-calm Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "A Lesson Isn't Learned Until It Hurts | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 11 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: let it hurt, make it stick. A lesson you file is a bill you've agreed to pay again." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/let-it-hurt" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 11 OF 13 · PART 4: THE TRANSFER # Let it hurt. Make it stick. A lesson isn't learned until it hurts, and a lesson you file is a bill you've agreed to pay again. WHERE YOU ARE · MOVE 6 OF 6: MAKE IT STICK CHAPTER 11A LESSON ISN'T LEARNED UNTIL IT HURTS0:00 ## Good lessons get forgotten because they didn't hurt. ![Illustration: a man sliding one more folder into a full drawer, and the same man with a bandaged hand reading the one page that came with a bill](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-filed-or-learned.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 11A LESSON ISN'T LEARNED UNTIL IT HURTS You've nodded along to plenty of advice. Save more. Call your mother. Don't sign anything you haven't read. You agreed with every word, then didn't do it, because agreeing never cost you anything. The lessons you keep are the ones that came with a bill. A lesson that only lives in your head isn't learned. It's filed, and a filed lesson is a bill you've agreed to pay again. It's fine to learn something twice. Discipline is what keeps it the second time. Chapter 11 covers why nobody should wait to get hurt, what to do when the habit slips, and second chances in practice. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT A lesson you filed is a bill you paid with nothing to show for it, and you'll be billed again. A lesson that hurt and stuck is paid in full. Don't keep paying for it. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > A lesson isn't learned until it hurts. I've paid. Now I collect. DO THIS TODAYRULE 11 Write down one lesson you've paid for twice. Then write what you'll do differently starting tomorrow, in one line, and put it somewhere you'll see it when the pain has faded. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 11 are in Chapter 11 of Problems Pay. [Run the deficit check](https://problemspay.com/tools/deficit-check)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/let-it-hurt Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Lift the Fire Blanket on Hidden Problems | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 10 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: bring hidden problems into the light on your schedule, before they burn the house down on theirs." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/lift-the-fire-blanket" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 10 OF 13 · PART 3: THE RESPONSE # Lift the fire blanket. Bring hidden problems into the light on your schedule, before they burn the house down on theirs. WHERE YOU ARE · SHARPENING MOVE 1: SAY "GOOD." CHAPTER 10LIFT THE FIRE BLANKET0:00 ## Everything has a problem. ![Illustration: a man sitting beside a fire smothered by a blanket with smoke rising, then lifting the blanket with a bucket in hand](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-under-the-blanket.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 10LIFT THE FIRE BLANKET If you can't see it, that doesn't mean it isn't there. It means something is covering it. Throw a blanket over a fire and the flames disappear, but the heat is still under there. A lot of the problems in your life are under a blanket like that. They're quiet. They're not out. So when you can't see the problem and can't hear it, lift the blanket on purpose, calmly, while you still have a say in how it burns. This isn't drama for its own sake. Chapter 10 is clear about what lifting the blanket is and what it isn't, where the limits are, and why it isn't manipulation. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT Under the blanket, a problem charges interest you can't see, and it picks the day you find out. Lift it on your schedule and the hidden cost becomes a visible one, and visible ones pay. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > The line I won't cross is staying in a situation without understanding. DO THIS TODAYRULE 10 Name the one thing no one around you is saying. At work, at home, in your own head. Bring it up this week, calmly, as a question, and let it be heard. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 10 are in Chapter 10 of Problems Pay. [See every problem at once](https://problemspay.com/tools/day-one-map)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/lift-the-fire-blanket Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Nobody Is Coming to Save You, and That's Good | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 3 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: stop waiting for the check, the call or the person who's going to fix it. Nobody is coming, and that's good news." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/nobody-is-coming" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 03 OF 13 · PART 1: THE REACTION # Nobody is coming. Stop waiting for the check, the call, the promotion or the person who's going to fix it. That's good news. WHERE YOU ARE · MOVE 2 OF 6: OWN IT CHAPTER 03NOBODY IS COMING0:00 ## Somewhere in your life right now, you're waiting on something. ![Illustration: a man taking the tool he asked for back to the machine, and the same man standing still beside it, waiting](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-help-or-helpless.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 03NOBODY IS COMING A promotion that's been coming for two review cycles. A check that will finally let you breathe. A partner who's going to change once things calm down. A market that's going to turn. You might call it patience. Look at what you're doing with the problem while you wait. Nothing. You've handed it to the future and asked it to call you back. The future charges for storage. Every month you wait, the problem you're not touching adds interest, and the person you're waiting on isn't the one paying it. You are. Nobody is coming is good news, because the day you stop waiting is the day you start collecting, and you keep everything you build. Chapter 3 separates asking for help from being helpless, deals honestly with problems that aren't your fault, and answers "the system is rigged" and "as soon as things settle down." FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT Every week you wait for someone to fix it, the problem charges you another week, and the rescue still doesn't come. The day you stop waiting, you're the one collecting, and you keep everything you build. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > Nobody's coming to save me. Good. DO THIS TODAYRULE 03 Name the thing you're waiting for. A check, a call, a promotion, an apology, a better market. Then write down the date you'll stop waiting for it. Make it this month. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 3 are in Chapter 3 of Problems Pay. [Set your stop-waiting date](https://problemspay.com/tools/stop-waiting-date)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/nobody-is-coming Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Price It: Fix It or Walk Away, Never Carry It | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 6 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: price the problem, then fix it or walk away. Never carry it. The price is what you pay. The cost is your opportunities." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/price-it" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 06 OF 13 · PART 2: THE READING # Price it. Then fix it or walk away. Never carry it. The price is what you pay. The cost is your opportunities. WHERE YOU ARE · MOVE 4 OF 6: PRICE IT CHAPTER 06EVERY PROBLEM HAS A PRICE0:00 ## Imagine every problem in your life has a price tag hanging off it. The late fee you keep paying. The person you should have let go a year ago. The conversation you've put off with your father. Most people never look at the tag, and that's the first reason problems grow. The price is what you pay. The cost is your opportunities. The repair you keep postponing is priced at a few hundred dollars and costing you the car on the day you need it most. Use dollars even when it isn't about money, because dollars make a man pay attention. Once it's priced, there are only two honest answers: fix it, or walk away. Staying isn't a third option. Staying is paying. And walking away from a priced problem isn't running. It's collecting. Chapter 6 covers the dominoes, three steps back before you sign, and the deal that wants a year of your life. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) ![Illustration: a man on one knee holding the first small domino still while the line behind it grows larger and larger](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-dominoes.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 06EVERY PROBLEM HAS A PRICE THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT An unpriced problem is a debt you don't know the size of, and that's the most expensive kind, because you can't decide anything about a number you refuse to read. Price it and the problem becomes a decision, and decisions can be collected on. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > The price is what I pay. The cost is my opportunities. DO THIS TODAYRULE 06 List three problems you've been ignoring. Next to each one, write what it will cost you if it keeps going for a year. Use dollars even when it isn't about money. Then look at the three numbers together. That total is the bill you've been carrying. Next to each one, write a single word: fix, or walk. Not "later." Later is the word that's been costing you. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 6 are in Chapter 6 of Problems Pay. [Price your problem](https://problemspay.com/tools/price-it)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/price-it Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Rebuild, Don't Patch: Band-Aids Fall Off | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 9 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: rebuild, don't patch. Band-Aids fall off, and a patch is a minimum payment." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/rebuild-dont-patch" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 09 OF 13 · PART 3: THE RESPONSE # Rebuild. Don't patch. Band-Aids fall off, and a patch is a minimum payment. WHERE YOU ARE · SHARPENING MOVE 3: FIND THE ROOT CHAPTER 09BAND-AIDS FALL OFF0:00 ## Most problems don't get fixed. ![Illustration: a man looking at a crack covered with a patch, and the same man rebuilding the wall from the base](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-patch-or-rebuild.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 09BAND-AIDS FALL OFF They get patched. You cover it quickly so you can keep moving and tell yourself you'll come back for the real fix later. You never do. Then the patch gives out at the worst possible moment, and everything else has been built on top of it. You know your patches. The balance transfer that moved the debt instead of ending it. The "we're fine" instead of the conversation. The energy drink that stands in for sleep. A patch isn't a payment. It's a minimum payment. It keeps the account open and the interest running. Chapter 9 shows you how to treat bugs as information, why one complaint is never one complaint, and how to go back to what something was for and rebuild it. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT A patch is a minimum payment. The balance is still there, and it comes back bigger. A rebuild clears the balance and leaves you with a better version of yourself. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > Fixing it gets me back to where I was. Learning from it builds a better version of me. DO THIS TODAYRULE 09 Find the problem you've patched more than twice. Write down, in one sentence, what it was originally for. Then ask whether the thing you keep patching is still doing that job. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 9 are in Chapter 9 of Problems Pay. [Find the rule you're breaking](https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rule)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/rebuild-dont-patch Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Same Muscle, Every Room: Work and Home | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 12 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: the ledger has the same two columns at work and at home. The same six moves collect in both rooms." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/same-muscle-every-room" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 12 OF 13 · PART 4: THE TRANSFER # Same muscle, every room. The ledger has the same two columns at work and at home: what you're paying, and what you're collecting. WHERE YOU ARE · ALL SIX MOVES, IN A DIFFERENT ROOM CHAPTER 12THE SAME MUSCLE EVERYWHERE0:00 ## Is this a business book or a life book? ![Illustration: the same man in the same stance at a work table and at a kitchen table](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-one-muscle.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 12THE SAME MUSCLE EVERYWHERE There's no difference. Business teaches you how to handle problems. Life teaches you how to solve them. Problems at home charge the same interest as problems at work. Most men only make payments in one room. They'll run the six moves on a supplier and never on a marriage, a son or a father. It's the same muscle, and it doesn't care which room you're standing in. Chapter 12 covers why every man is an entrepreneur, why your family is a market, and how to treat people as people. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT Problems at home charge the same interest as problems at work. Most men only make payments in one room. The same six moves collect in both rooms, and the biggest payments are at home. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > Business taught me how to handle problems. Life taught me how to solve them. DO THIS TODAYRULE 12 Run the six moves once on something outside work this week. Say "Good." Own your part. Find the root. Price it, even if the price isn't money. Make the smallest move. Make it stick. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 12 are in Chapter 12 of Problems Pay. [Start a Kitchen Table circle](https://problemspay.com/kitchen-table)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/same-muscle-every-room Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Rule 1: Say \"Good.\" When Bad News Lands | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 1 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: one word in the two seconds after bad news keeps you in control of it. Plus the ledger and today's move." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/say-good" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 01 OF 13 · PART 1: THE REACTION # Say "Good." One word in the two seconds after bad news keeps you in control of it. WHERE YOU ARE · MOVE 1 OF 6: SAY "GOOD." CHAPTER 01GOOD.0:00 ## Every problem you don't deal with is a little sand poured into a bottle. A late payment. A conversation you keep putting off. A partner you stopped trusting six months ago but never said so. The sand doesn't make noise going in, and that's the trouble. When a man finally blows up over something small, he isn't reacting to the small thing. He's reacting to everything underneath it. Rule 1 is about the two seconds after a problem lands. That's where you decide whether it charges you or pays you. Most men spend those two seconds on blame, on explaining, on whose fault it was. Blame buys nothing. One word does. "Good" doesn't mean you're happy about it, and it doesn't mean the problem is small. It means you've acknowledged it, you won't justify it and you won't blame anyone. Then you stop for one breath and make the next right move. Chapter 1 shows you the four ways men meet a problem, why bad news at night hits harder, and how to say the word before you believe it. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) ![Illustration from Problems Pay: a man stands before three bottles filling with red sand, the last one cracked](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-bottle.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 01GOOD. CHAPTER 1 · THE FOUR WAYS A MAN MEETS A PROBLEM ## Be honest about which one you are. 01 · DEBT ### He hides it. Paints a picture for everyone around him and lives inside the picture. Now there's a second problem: the hiding. 02 · DEBT ### He carries it. Doesn't lie about it, doesn't deal with it. Puts it in the bottle. It feels like strength. It's sand. 03 · PRICE PAID ### He patches it. Does the quickest thing that makes it stop making noise. The patch holds, then falls off, and the problem comes back bigger. 04 · COLLECTED ### He collects on it. Acknowledges it, owns it, finds the root, prices it, makes a move and makes the lesson stick. The problem pays him. [Which man are you? Take the quiz](https://problemspay.com/tools/which-man-are-you) THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT Blame costs you the two seconds, then the day, then the problem, and it buys you nothing. "Good" costs you one word and puts you back in control of what happens next. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > Good. I'm glad it happened. DO THIS TODAYRULE 01 The next time bad news lands, say "Good," out loud or in your head, and stop there for one breath. No blame, no explanation, no story about whose fault it was. Just the word, then the next right move. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 1 are in Chapter 1 of Problems Pay. [Which man are you? Take the quiz](https://problemspay.com/tools/which-man-are-you)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/say-good Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Say It Out Loud: Why Men Hide Problems | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 2 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: as long as a problem lives only in your head, you can negotiate with it. Say it out loud and it becomes real." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/say-it-out-loud" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 02 OF 13 · PART 1: THE REACTION # Say it out loud. As long as a problem lives only in your head, you can negotiate with it. Out loud, it becomes real. WHERE YOU ARE · MOVE 2 OF 6: OWN IT CHAPTER 02SAY IT OUT LOUD0:00 ## As long as a problem lives only in your head, you can negotiate with it. ![Illustration: a man alone at a table with a tangle inside his head, then across the table from someone with the tangle laid out between them](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-in-the-head-out-loud.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 02SAY IT OUT LOUD It's not that bad. It'll sort itself out. Nobody needs to know. The moment you say it to another person, the negotiation is over. Now it exists outside of you, and you have to deal with it. That's exactly why men don't do it. Saying it out loud starts the clock. But a problem kept in your head charges you every night and never sends a statement. Once it's real, it can be priced, fixed and collected on. You're not asking for advice and you're not asking for comfort. You're saying it so it exists. Chapter 2 covers who you're really hiding from, the cost of protecting the perfect picture, what "I was wrong" earns you, where the line is between saying it and complaining, and how to choose who to tell. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT A problem that lives in your head charges you every night and never sends a statement. Said out loud, it's real, and a real problem can be fixed and collected on. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > When I say it out loud, it becomes real. DO THIS TODAYRULE 02 Say one problem you've been hiding, out loud, to one person. You're not asking for advice and you're not asking for comfort. You're saying it so it exists outside your head. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 2 are in Chapter 2 of Problems Pay. [Share what your problem paid](https://problemspay.com/collectors)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/say-it-out-loud Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Stand Where the Information Is | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 7 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: stand where the information is, not where the report is. Distance is a cost." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/stand-where-the-information-is" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 07 OF 13 · PART 2: THE READING # Stand where the information is. Not where the report is. WHERE YOU ARE · SHARPENING MOVE 3: FIND THE ROOT CHAPTER 07STAND WHERE THE INFORMATION IS0:00 ## Where are you standing when you make your decisions? If you run anything, a crew, a store, a team, a family, there's a good chance you're deciding from the report: the dashboard, the summary, the version of the problem that reached you after three people cleaned it up. The information you need is almost never where you're standing. It's where the problem actually happens: on the floor, at the counter, on the call with the angry customer, in the kitchen at 9 p.m. Distance is a cost. Every layer between you and the problem trims the information, and you pay later for what got trimmed. Chapter 7 is about empathy over customer service, the sixty seconds that tell you more than a report, and why leaders lose touch with the floor. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) ![Illustration: a building cut open, the report read at the top and the floor at the bottom where the problem is happening](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-report-and-floor.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 07STAND WHERE THE INFORMATION IS THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT Every layer between you and the problem trims the information, and you pay for what got trimmed later, with interest. Stand where it happens and you collect what the report left out, before it costs you. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > The answer is usually already known by me. It just depends on how long until I accept it. DO THIS TODAYRULE 07 Spend one hour where your problem actually happens: the shop floor, the customer call, the kitchen table. Don't fix anything. Only listen, and only ask why. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 7 are in Chapter 7 of Problems Pay. [Map where your problems happen](https://problemspay.com/tools/day-one-map)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/stand-where-the-information-is Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "The Bigger the Problem, the Bigger the Pay | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 13 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: once you can collect on your own problems, you get to collect on other people's. The ladder and the rails." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/the-bigger-the-problem" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 13 OF 13 · PART 4: THE TRANSFER # The bigger the problem, the bigger the pay. Once you can collect on your own problems, you get to collect on other people's. WHERE YOU ARE · ALL SIX MOVES, POINTED AT BIGGER PROBLEMS CHAPTER 13THE BIGGER THE PROBLEM, THE BIGGER THE PAY0:00 ## Think about the biggest problem you've solved so far. Notice one thing about it: it was yours. The pain was yours, the price was yours and the payment was yours. The pay changes when you point the same skill at problems that aren't yours. One man's problem pays one man. A problem shared by a thousand men pays everyone who solves it, and it pays the solver most of all, in money, in reach and in the kind of respect you can't buy. Chapter 13 lays out the seven-rung ladder, the five kinds of payoff, and the rails: the basic systems that decide whether a small business can run at all. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) ![Illustration: a man with his boot on the first rung of a tall ladder, each rung reaching a bigger scene](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-ladder.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 13THE BIGGER THE PROBLEM, THE BIGGER THE PAY THE LADDER ## You don't skip rungs. Yourself, your home, one stranger, your first customers, strangers you'll never meet, other founders, whole systems. Each rung pays more than the one below it. [See the ladder and the rails](https://problemspay.com/the-rails)[Find your rung](https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rung) THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT A problem that costs one man a little, left standing in millions of men, is a debt nobody prices. The bigger the problem you can solve, the more people it pays, starting with the ones within your reach. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > The bigger the problem I can solve, the more people it pays. DO THIS TODAYRULE 13 Write down one problem that isn't yours but is sitting within your reach: under your roof, on your team, in your neighborhood. Don't solve it yet. Just name it, and name who it's costing. That's the first move on the next rung. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 13 are in Chapter 13 of Problems Pay. [Find your rung](https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rung)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/the-bigger-the-problem Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Make the Smallest Move Into Uncertainty | Robert Nikic" description: "Rule 8 of Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: three steps, not fifty. One change, kept. Every day spent planning is a day the problem charges you." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/rules/the-smallest-move" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "Article" --- RULE 08 OF 13 · PART 3: THE RESPONSE # Make the smallest move into uncertainty. Three steps, not fifty. One change, kept. WHERE YOU ARE · MOVE 5 OF 6: MAKE THE SMALLEST MOVE CHAPTER 08THE SMALLEST MOVE0:00 ## Maybe you're the man with the plan. ![Illustration: a list unrolling into a staircase that climbs out of sight, and the same man taking the first of three big steps toward an open door](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-fifty-steps.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 08THE SMALLEST MOVE It lives in the notes app on your phone, or in a spreadsheet you open late at night. You've researched it and priced it, and you've told almost nobody, because telling someone would start the clock. You will never know how much opportunity you lost while you were deciding. It doesn't show up on any statement. So start with the smallest move. Three steps, not fifty. One change, kept. Every day spent planning is a day the problem charges you and pays you nothing. Chapter 8 covers why big goals aren't the problem, starting before you raise the money, one hour to fix a failing project, and what to do when every option is bad. FROM PROBLEMS PAY BY [ROBERT NIKIC](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic) THE RULE, AGAIN ## Every problem has a price, and every problem pays. THE DEBT THE PAYMENT Every day spent planning is a day the problem charges you and pays you nothing. The first step starts the payment, and it's due tonight. NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN. SAY IT OUT LOUD > One change I keep is worth more than a million dollars. DO THIS TODAYRULE 08 Take your biggest problem. Cut the plan down to three steps. Do the first one before you go to sleep tonight. Not well. Just done. I DID IT. SWITCH THE LINE. ![Robert Nikic, author of Problems Pay](https://problemspay.com/assets/robert-nikic-author.webp) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Nikic Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, and an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. He made his first dollar at thirteen. Problems Pay is his six-move method for handling problems at work, at home and beyond. [About Robert Nikic](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic)[robertnikic.com](https://robertnikic.com/)[Robert's journal](https://robertnikic.com/blog)[Robert Nikic quotes](https://problemspay.com/robert-nikic-quotes) THE NEXT MOVE ## The full chapter is in the book. The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 8 are in Chapter 8 of Problems Pay. [Price it, then move](https://problemspay.com/tools/price-it)[Get the book](https://problemspay.com/book) --- Source: https://problemspay.com/rules/the-smallest-move Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. --- title: "Day One Map: See Every Problem at Once | Robert Nikic" description: "The Day One Map from Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: seven areas of your life on one page. Write down every problem you can see, then start with the smallest one." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/tools/day-one-map" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- TOOL · CLOSING · THE BIRD'S-EYE VIEW # Day one: see the whole map. So it's Monday morning. What do you do first? Nothing. Seven areas, one page. Write down every problem you can see. DAY ONE MAP0 PROBLEMS SEEN 01Your personal relationships 02Your family 03Your home life 04Your work 05Your health 06Your money 07The people within your reach NOTHING HERE IS SAVED OR SENT. PRINT IT OR KEEP THE TAB OPEN. ![Illustration: the man standing alone in a town square seen from high above, every street converging on him](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-birds-eye.webp) ## Day one: nothing. Don't fix anything. Don't make a single big decision. Look at your whole life from a bird's-eye view, the way you'd look at a city from a plane, and write down every problem you can see. Don't rank them. Don't solve them. Just see them. ## Day two: the smallest one. Most men have never once looked at all of their problems in one place. Seeing the whole map is the first move most people never make. Tomorrow, start with the smallest one. THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/tools/day-one-map Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Deficit Check: What Problems Cost You | Robert Nikic" description: "The Deficit Check from Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: see how much carrying your problems has charged you in money, mind, mood, body and sense of self." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/tools/deficit-check" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- TOOL · INTRODUCTION · IF YOU'VE ALREADY TRIED # You're not stuck. You're in deficit. Problems pay in every currency a man has: money, his mind, his mood, his body and his sense of who he is. See which currency your problems have been charging most. THIS YEAR, HOW MUCH HAS CARRYING CHARGED YOU IN MoneyLate fees, interest, deals you didn't chase.0 MindThe loop at 2 a.m. The problem you keep negotiating with.0 MoodLess patience for the people at home.0 BodyTired in a way sleep doesn't fix.0 Sense of selfThe version of you that you could see when you were younger.0 0 IS NOTHING. 10 IS EVERYTHING. NOTHING IS SAVED OR SENT. DEFICIT STATEMENT0 / 50 ## Move the sliders. Problems pay in every currency a man has. See which one yours have been charging most. IMPORTANT If what you're carrying is depression, anxiety or anything medical, get professional help. That isn't weakness. In the US, call or text 988. THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/tools/deficit-check Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Find the Rule You're Breaking | Problems Pay by Robert Nikic" description: "A problem just landed. Use this free Problems Pay tool by Robert Nikic to find the rule you're breaking and the one thing to do today." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rule" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- TOOL · THE PROBLEMS PAY RULES # Find the rule you're breaking. When a new problem lands, don't start the book over. Tap what's happening. You'll get the rule, and the one thing to do today. THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rule Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Find Your Rung on the Problems Pay Ladder | Robert Nikic" description: "The seven-rung ladder from Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: see where you stand, from your own problems to whole systems, and what the next rung is." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rung" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- TOOL · CHAPTER 13 · THE LADDER # Find your rung. Yourself, your home, one stranger, your first customers, strangers you'll never meet, other founders, whole systems. Each rung pays more than the one below it. CHECK EVERY RUNG THAT'S TRUE TODAY 7Whole systemsI work on the rails everyone runs on: rules, payments, credit or access.6Other foundersI help people starting out who have no seat at the table.5Strangers you'll never meetI've worked on a problem that helps people who'll never know my name.4Your first customersSomeone has paid me for solving a problem they had.3One strangerI've solved a problem for someone I didn't know, just because I could see it.2Your homeThe problems I solve pay the people under my roof.1YourselfI say "Good" to my own bad news and handle my own problems as they land. RUNG SLIPRUNG 0 OF 7 ## Start at the bottom. The first rung is yourself. Every problem you solve builds you. THE NEXT MOVE Write down one problem that isn't yours but is sitting within your reach: under your roof, on your team, in your neighborhood. Don't solve it yet. Just name it, and name who it's costing. That's the first move on the next rung. YOU DON'T SKIP RUNGS. THE MAN WHO CAN'T SAY "GOOD" TO HIS OWN BAD NEWS ISN'T READY FOR THE CONFERENCE ROOM. THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/tools/find-your-rung Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Price It: What Is Your Problem Costing You? | Robert Nikic" description: "Free Price It tool from Problems Pay by Robert Nikic: put a one-year price on the problems you've been ignoring, then fix it or walk away. Never carry it." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/tools/price-it" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- TOOL · PRICE IT · CHAPTER 6 # What is it costing you? List three problems you've been ignoring. Next to each one, write what it will cost if it keeps going for a year. Use dollars even when it isn't about money. Then pick one word: fix, or walk. HOW IT WORKS3 STEPS 1. 0:00**Name it.** The problem you've been ignoring, in a few words. 2. 0:01**Price it.** What it costs if it keeps going for one more year. 3. 0:02**Fix or walk.** One word per line. Not later. [Start my slip](#price-it) YOUR PRICE SLIP · 1 YEAR ## Three lines. One honest total. YOUR LINESUP TO 3 STUCK? START WITH ONE OF THESE COUNT BOTH NUMBERS - **The price** is what fixing it costs. - **The cost** is what it takes from you while you wait: hours, sleep, trust, the deal you didn't chase. WHAT YOU TYPE STAYS ON THIS DEVICE. PRICE SLIP No. 01471 YEAR TOTAL CARRIED$0 FIX **0**WALK **0**CARRY **0** Price it. Then fix it or walk away. Never carry it. "LATER" IS THE WORD THAT'S BEEN COSTING YOU. SHOWS ONLY YOUR TOTAL. YOUR PROBLEMS STAY PRIVATE. PRICE AND COST AREN'T THE SAME THING ## The price is what you pay. The cost is your opportunities. The four-hundred-dollar repair you keep postponing is priced at four hundred dollars and costing you the car on the day you need it most. The course you didn't take is priced at a weekend and costing you the raise. The hour you won't spend on the hard conversation is priced at an hour and costing you the relationship, slowly, in installments. When you put a one-year price on each line, count both numbers. Use dollars even when it isn't about money: hours, sleep, trust, the deal you didn't chase. ![Illustration: a man waving off a small repair, then beside the stalled car at night](https://problemspay.com/assets/plate-price-and-cost.webp) PLATE · CHAPTER 06PRICE AND COST FIX IT OR WALK AWAY ## Staying isn't the third option. Staying is paying. Once a problem is priced, there are only two honest answers. You pay to fix it, or you walk away from it. Walking away from a priced problem isn't failure, and it isn't running. Running is leaving a problem unpriced. Walking away is leaving it priced: you can say what it cost, what it would have taken to fix, and what you did to cause it. Write one word next to each line: fix, or walk. Not "later." [Read Rule 6: Price it](https://problemspay.com/rules/price-it) THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/tools/price-it Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Stop-Waiting Date: Nobody Is Coming | Robert Nikic" description: "A free Problems Pay tool by Robert Nikic: name what you're waiting for, set the date you stop, and add a reminder to your calendar. Nobody is coming. Good." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/tools/stop-waiting-date" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- TOOL · CHAPTER 3 · NOBODY IS COMING # Pick the day you stop waiting. Name the thing you're waiting for: a check, a call, a promotion, an apology, a better market. Then write down the date you'll stop waiting for it. Make it this month. STOP-WAITING SLIPDATE WAITING FOR Name it. ON THAT DATE Nobody's coming. Good. Cut it to three steps and do the first one that day. RULE 03 ## The future charges for storage. Every month you wait on the raise, the check or the other person, the problem you're not touching adds interest, and the man you're waiting on isn't the one paying it. You are. The day you stop waiting, you're the one collecting, and you keep everything you build. [Read Rule 3: Nobody is coming](https://problemspay.com/rules/nobody-is-coming) THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/tools/stop-waiting-date Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ --- title: "Which Man Are You? The Problems Pay Quiz | Robert Nikic" description: "Take the Problems Pay quiz from Robert Nikic: do you hide, carry, patch or collect on your problems? Eight situations, one honest answer." canonical: "https://problemspay.com/tools/which-man-are-you" author: "Robert Nikic" author_url: "https://robertnikic.com/" type: "WebPage" --- QUIZ · CHAPTER 1 · THE FOUR WAYS # Which man are you? Every man meets a problem in one of four ways. He hides it, carries it, patches it or collects on it. Eight situations. Answer with what you'd actually do, not what you'd like to do. SITUATION 1 OF 8 ## THE LEDGER · WEEKLY ## Switch one line. Every week. One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map. --- Source: https://problemspay.com/tools/which-man-are-you Problems Pay by Robert Nikic. Author site: https://robertnikic.com/ The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States.