Have you figured out your MVP (Minimum Viable Product)?
If there’s one thing I see time and time again is coaches who are stuck in a limbo of creating the perfect product or offer.
If you have been working on a course for countless months, or a website or a landing page etc and you find that you are just spinning your wheels and very little progress is being made then this is for you.
Figure out your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
First, don’t just take my word for it. Launching your MVP is a tried and tested strategy, it is especially employed in tech start-ups, think Silicon Valley, think the biggest apps and companies. This is how they ALL became profitable and how they disrupted the market!
It is the reason Space X is able to not only build and launch rockets at a fraction of the price but also the reason NASA now hires them for rocket launches.
Think about that for a second. NASA who put man on the moon now hires SpaceX to carry their astronauts into space, to resupply the International Space Station and get this, to take astronauts back to the moon! That’s right, NASA is sending the first woman back to the moon and is doing so on SpaceX rockets and landing craft.
Space X has achieved this in just over a decade and they did it by focusing on their minimum viable product.
So what is a minimum viable product and how does it apply to you?
Let’s keep it simple, an MVP has 3 elements you need to think about:
1. Its the easiest thing you can launch.
That means you need to put the smallest amount of effort and capital to get it to market. Think about what you offer or are planning to offer, how can you do so quickly and cheaply? This doesn’t mean to cut corners, it simply means to eliminate anything that isn’t critical.
2. It focuses on the core value of what you are offering.
For example, building the perfect online course with videos, pdfs, lessons, quizzes etc takes A LOT of time. Sure, all of these things add value but what is the critical part of this course? The answer is your knowledge. No one buys your course because you have 60 videos, and 30 pdfs, they buy it because they want your knowledge on the subject. So now you have identified the CORE value of your course, how can you streamline that into an offer you can sell today?
3. It lets you reiterate in an organic way, based on feedback you are receiving.
This is one of the main differentiators between doing things the old way (think NASA spending billions to develop the perfect failproof rocket) and doing it the smart way i.e. SpaceX prototyping a rocket that does one thing, improving and adapting the design with each new launch based on what they learn from the previous.
Think of it this way, it is easier and more practical to improve your offer once you know what clients are looking for, however you cant know what that is until you have clients. It’s a classic chicken and egg situation. How do you get one if you need the other first? Your MVP is how you can break the chicken and egg metaphor.
You focus on one element, the one that is most critical to your offer and gives the most value and you launch it with as little cost as possible.
Then you reiterate based on what works and what doesn’t. You constantly improve, you add new features and benefits. Most of all, you get clarity while taking on new clients.
Eliminate anything that isn’t necessary
Imagine you are going on holiday and you only have 1 small carry on bag. What are you taking with you? What is ESSENTIAL to your travel? What can you do without or buy when you reach your destination?
Apply the the same thought process to your MVP…
For example. Do you really need an online course or could you simply sell your time? Do you need a website or do you just need an easy way to schedule clients and get paid? Do you need a funnel or do you just need the simplest way possible for a client to book in a time with you?
Now I am not saying you shouldn’t have a website, or a course or funnel. Yes of course you should BUT do you need it right now, today, in order to make a sale? If the answer is no then ELIMINATE IT, for now anyway.
Focus on selling your MVP, everything else will come in time, in a way that makes sense, is organic and based on feedback.
Liked this post or want to figure out your MVP? Book in your Brainstorming session, its free and you will walk away with a clear understanding of your MVP and what you need to do next.
