Over 3,500 ★★★★★ Successful Clients Since 2014
Renowned for Multiplying Your Revenue
Over a Decade Creating Elevated Web Designs
Honored as Showit Designer of the Year 🏆

A couple of weeks ago, we kicked off a new podcast series called New Business Roadmap. This 5-part series is an exploration of how we — with a degree in business and over 7 years of small business experience — would approach starting a brand new small business from scratch today. The best part about these episodes is — whether you’re considering starting a new business, or you’re an experienced business owner who wants to solidify the foundation of your existing business — this series can serve as a truly helpful resource for strengthening your small business from the inside out.

In Part 1, we shared 5 questions to ask yourself, and thoughtfully answer, as you approach starting a new business. And in Part 2, we shared a comprehensive list of 10 foundation building to-dos to complete when laying the groundwork for your new business. Now, with those questions answered and with those to-dos checked off, this week’s episode is about your must-have minimum viable product. A minimum viable product is defined as a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback for future product development. Put simply, a minimum viable product can mean starting your business in a minimal, curated way — simply to ensure there are customers ready to purchase from you or book with you, and to learn from those prospective customers or clients before investing time, energy, and money into a fully-developed business with a full range of products or services you aren’t yet sure your prospective clients or customers will confidently choose, purchase, or book. 

You might be thinking, how do I determine a minimum viable product for my business? Well, that’s what this week’s episode is all about. It’s about thoughtfully and strategically laying a foundation for your business — so you can use your time, energy, and money thoughtfully to design your business for success.

Minimum Viable Product Brand It Build It Podcast by With Grace and Gold - Best Showit Web Websites Design Designs Designer Designers Podcast for Creative Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs

New Business Roadmap: Your Must-Have Minimum Viable Product

Welcome to Episode 103 of the Brand It, Build It Podcast. This is Part 3 of our 5-part New Business Roadmap series, so if you haven’t yet listened to episodes 101 and 102, please do! Every episode in our series builds upon the previous episode, so having the questions from Episode 101 answered, and the to-dos from Episode 102 completed will really lay the groundwork for this week’s episode!

Minimum Viable Product, Defined

This week, we’re sharing about your must-have minimum viable product — or MVP. Again, an MVP can mean starting your business in a minimal, curated way — simply to ensure there are customers ready to purchase from you or book with you, and to learn from those prospective customers or clients before investing time, energy, and money into a fully-developed business with a full range of products or services you aren’t yet sure your prospective clients or customers will confidently choose, purchase, or book. As an important note: An MVP is not only helpful for new business owners who are launching a new business — but it is also helpful for existing business owners who are launching a new product or service.

Before we dive in, it’s important to remember — the business you form today will look different from the business you have 1, 3, 5 years from now. The business we formed in 2014 sometimes feels complete unfamiliar when comparing it to the business we run today. Though our core services remain the same — brand and web design — there are new layers to our business we simply couldn’t have formed back in 2014. For example, we didn’t feel comfortable adding a Showit website template shop to our business until we had mastered Showit web design, created strong processes and workflows, and established customer demand for pre-made designs. We didn’t feel comfortable adding a podcast to our business until we had years of experience and expertise to look back on and more confidently share about. Of course, every small business is unique, but we take comfort in knowing that the business you create today can grow, change, and develop to better serve your audience, to better align with your personal goals and values, or to adapt to changing technology. So, as you approach your MVP, remember your MVP is a starting place — a place to build and grow from. 

An Example from With Grace and Gold

Here’s an example of our MVP at With Grace and Gold: For about 5 months before With Grace and Gold officially launched, we created a Landing Page with a newsletter opt-in for prospective clients who wanted to learn more about our brand and web design services when our business launched.  Our landing page said something like, “With Grace and Gold provides brand and web design services for creative small business owners. Please sign up below to be the first to know when With Grace and Gold launches” along with an email newsletter opt-in so we could collect names and email addresses from anyone who wanted to learn more about our business launch.

Separately, Andra and I shared a link to our Landing Page with our own respective audiences over the course of 5 months — our personal Facebook pages and our personal Instagram pages, along with With Grace and Gold’s Facebook page and Instagram page. Then, when our Launch Day arrived, we had collected the names and email addresses of 100 subscribers — 100 subscribers we could email to share about the debut of With Grace and Gold. Some of our subscribers became paying clients right away, others remained part of our email newsletter community for several months before booking our services, and others simply remained part of our community for small business education. 

Creating our MVP, this minimal representation of our business, allowed us to hit the ground running once we did launch — to connect with prospective clients, some of whom became confidently-paying clients, upon launching our business. 

Examples of Minimum Viable Products for Your Business

When you create an MVP  for your business, you’re essentially saying, I know what I want my business to be — “I know I’m a professional photographer who wants to create a photography business.” But maybe you’re also saying, “I haven’t yet been a business owner, I haven’t yet launched my business, and I’m not sure where to start.” You’re saying, “I want to use my time, energy, and money thoughtfully and strategically — so before I go all in and deplete these resources, I need to connect with my audience, see an interest in or a demand for what I have to offer, and then launch a curated form of my business with confidence.” 

So, think of your MVP as the pre-cursor for your fully-developed product or service. A few additional examples are:

  • Before you launch a fully-developed online course, consider hosting smaller, bite-sized educational webinars or creating smaller, bite-sized educational products.
  • Before you write a full-length book, consider writing a blog series or creating a podcast series.
  • Before you create a product line of 10 unique wedding stationery suites, consider creating 1 and gauging customer demand. 
  • Before you launch a photography business with a range of photography services, consider offering one type of package and gauging customer demand. 

Again, these MVPs are simply starting places — ways you can more seamlessly and confidently launch your offering from a place of understanding and purpose. 

So, what is your action step based upon these examples? First, go back to Episode 102 and be sure you’ve completed all of our recommended foundation-building to-dos. When you have, as an example, you’ll have a domain name from which you can create a Landing Page or showcase your minimum viable product. You’ll have a means for introducing your business to prospective clients or customers, and gathering or gauging interest in what you have to offer. This step may seem like a slow, minimal step in your business progress — but it’s a truly valuable step that will allow you to understand how your business is perceived, what the interest in your products or services looks like, and more accurately predict what you can expect when your business does launch.

And for existing business owners: The next time you’re adding a new layer to your business, before developing that new layer in full, consider creating an MVP so you can learn about your prospective clients or customers and develop each new layer of your business with purpose and strategy.

Part 4 of 5 in Our New Business Roadmap Series

Tune in next week for Part 4  of our New Business Roadmap Series: Systems, Processes and Workflows — where we’ll discuss the necessary systems you need within your business to run your business confidently. 

About Brand It, Build It Podcast, Hosted by Kelly Zugay

Hosted by Kelly Zugay, co-founder of With Grace and Gold, The Brand It, Build It Podcast is a leading small business marketing podcast for small business owners, creatives, founders and entrepreneurs. Enjoy weekly, actionable episodes to build a successful, sustainable small business from the inside out.

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