--- 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.