Ep 1: How To Stop Planning And Take Action Today With The MVP Method

EPISODE 1:

How To Stop Planning And Take Action Today With The MVP Method

 
 
 

Have You Ever Put Off Launching A Big Idea, Campaign, Or Project?

It's easy to get lost in planning mode and never actually press GO. As a lifelong entrepreneur, I've developed a method to combat perfectionism and post-posting deadlines and figured out a way to get out of your own way and take action. In this episode of the Purpose and Profit Club, you'll learn my MVP Method, and how I used it to launch this very podcast!

You find out:

  • How to use the MVP Method to take action and stay on target for your launch dates

  • How to use this method for planning your next online fundraiser, online campaign, or marketing strategy

  • My system for figuring out needs vs wants -- and how to make the process of taking action fun

Enter The Purpose & Profit Club Giveaway! Get The Details Here!

Resources mentioned:

 

You Get To Have Purpose And Profit. I’ll Show You How.

 
 

Episode Transcript

Well, hey, it's Christina Tzavaras Edwards, I am your host and your coach. And I'm so excited for this first episode of the purpose and profit club podcast. I am a lifelong entrepreneur. And today we're going to talk about this idea of MVP.

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And if you haven't heard this acronym, or maybe you're thinking most valuable player, that's not it. So stay tuned, and we're gonna dive right in. Okay, have you ever been stuck in planning mode, meaning you've got a goal a campaign a thing, a launch a strategy you're working towards? And you really wish you would have done it by now you really wish it would be out there in the world, it would have happened by now. But you've got more planning to do, you got just one more thing. Or maybe you feel like you have a pile of things that you have to do before you can press play, hit send, start and go. Okay, I have been there before. And I want to teach you this strategy that is a really amazing and easy workaround to get out of planning mode, because here we take action, right? We get into action mode. Okay, I am all about ideas becoming reality.

So we stop daydreaming and we start doing okay, so MVP, not most valuable player. Instead, it is a minimum viable product. So stay with me here was thinking about this concept of minimum viable. And I actually dialed up a few weeks ago, episode one of Silicon Valley, which is this show on HBO, and it's all about a tech startup, right? In Silicon Valley. Okay. And the first episode is called MVP. In it, we are introduced to the founder who's got this tech platform that actually has some really innovative tech, and he is working through his MVP, his minimum viable product.

And they realize it's sort of catches wind with some of the other venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. People are like, actually, this is really amazing tech, and he ends up getting some offers to buy his company, okay, and some offers from investors. But the platform isn't really complete. It is very, very far away from being complete. It is past the idea phase, but it's not there yet. It is minimum viable is another word for it would be beta. It's like the beta version of his company. Okay. I think later on in that season, they're talking about logo, like they don't even have a logo yet. But they have this really innovative tech that people are offering them millions of dollars to buy out. Okay, that's an idea of a twist that we're going to use you're going to use to fit what it is you're trying to get out of planning mode and into action mode.

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“If you’re stuck in planning mode, I want you to think about this process minimum viable: What are the nice to haves? What are the need-to-haves? ”

So MVP, so I'm going to give you a very meta example. In doing this podcast, I decided, Okay, I'm ready. I want to launch a podcast. And once you decide to do something, every single obstacle from doing the thing from it going live will basically show up as roadblocks in front of you. Okay, I hope you're nodding along. I hope you're like, Yes, I know exactly what she means. And if you don't, here's what I mean. So I'm like, Yes, I want to start a podcast. I know when I want to start it. I know it's going to be you know, January of 2023. That's what I want to do.

Then what comes up next is all of the things it's like a laundry list of longest To Do List ever. Of all of the things that I will have to do figure out hire out knee Need to buy? Blah, blah, blah, come up. It feels impossible. Okay, at that point, because I've been on podcast before, but I haven't actually produced a podcast before, right? So my mind is telling me how hard it's going to be. And I don't know and did it unedited? Right?

So here's the process. The thing that I reminded myself the entire time that made this process completely enjoyable and not stressful was MVP. I just kept saying to myself, minimum viable Christina, we're going minimum viable. So what that means, in actuality, what that looked like is a few months ago, when I started saying, all right, let me start to figure out what I need for my MVP for my podcast. I know anybody needed a name, right?

So imagine getting a piece of paper and getting two columns. And on the left side, I want you to write need to have and on the right side, I want you to write nice to hash. Okay. Nice to have. Nice to have.

So where does podcast name go in podcast name, I need to have a need to have. Here's some of the other things that I felt inundated where I was like, oh, I need all of these things. equipment, new tech, a new microphone, the right platform to upload it to all the places, producer and editor. What else? What else did I think I needed? You know, a custom graphics, custom logo. You feel me a website that has all the bells and whistles specifically for the podcast? I mean, all of the things that come up, right? And if a podcast isn't what you're working on, just make that a placeholder. Right?

What is the thing you're working on? So for example, if you are working on a new outreach strategy, if you are working on a new fundraising strategy, if you are working on a new service offering, if you're working on a new launch, right, what are all the things that come up? And I want you to bucket them? And it really it takes some discipline to go okay. Do I really need this? Or do I think I need this? For example, a microphone? That was one where I was like, well, obviously, I need a new microphone. I totaled it last year, I did 27 live webinars to hundreds and sometimes 1000s of people on Zoom, hundreds and 1000s. Do I need a new microphone? Oh, I have a perfect microphone. It's great. Is it the microphone that my mentors are using? I don't know, maybe? Maybe not? Could I spend hundreds or 1000s of dollars on a brand new microphone? Sure. But minimum viable, minimum viable. That was the thought that I chose to think, on purpose the entire time. So that went in me. Nice to have, okay, I don't actually need a new microphone.

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If you're stuck in planning mode, I want you to think about this process minimum viable? What are the nice to haves? What are the needs to have bucket them out? Do it once.

And then this is the tough part, do it once and then you stick to it.

So for example, whatever excess ends up in your nice to have column that you decided would be in there, like a microphone, or producer. Or it might be for you, where you say, you know, I need a copywriter, right, maybe you decide you know what I actually don't need a copywriter, I'm gonna write the copy for these emails, or I'm gonna write whatever, then you have to stick to it, you have to stick to Nope, I decided minimum viable, that's all I need. And that is something that I've really been telling myself.

And that is a piece of why it's been much easier than some of my other launches. And some of my other new endeavors that I've done for the first time, we're not going for perfection here we're going for minimum viable. And for my perfectionist out there Minimum Viable might actually sound a little polarizing, you might actually be thinking like that minimum viable is bad or like not buttoned up, not professional enough, not something right.

And just check on that like check on that, right? Because Minimal Viable doesn't mean that it actually doesn't Minimum Viable just simply means that I don't need the flashiest, newest, most detailed thing ever. I don't need to find the latest, greatest, most technically savvy thing to make this happen. I need to get what I want my message out into the world to get this podcast produced and out there. And that is what I need. I need to make sure that it's not about the logo. It's not about the shiny things. It's not about whatever. It's actually about taking action and getting it done because no one benefits including me, but especially you from me being stuck in planning mode.

No one benefits from you saying I really want to do that thing, but it's not quite right yet. And I actually don't know exactly what I'd say. And you know, let me take let me tinker around with it. Or let me kick the can a little further down and see Oh, revisit that in the summer. No one benefits from that, right? When you remind yourself, MVP, MVP, that's what gets us out there. That's what gets us moving forward. That is the secret to getting so much done in your world. So let's go a little bit deeper with this. Okay, let's go into those actions. So at that point, I had my nice to haves, I have my need to have my mouse, and I get to work on doing the needs need to have, okay. And let me give you an example of what happens next. Let's say you're like, I know, I need a name. For this thing. I know I need a name for my new monthly giving program.

I know I need a name for this podcast, I know I need a name. For my company. I know I need a name for whatever, like whatever the first step is. Here's the first roadblock that I see so many social entrepreneurs do and so many founders do. And this is why it's not fun. Okay? This is why it feels like a grind, and isn't fun. You go through that first step, and you're giving yourself way too much time to make a decision. So for example, the way that I did it, the way that I came up with this name is I had a memo note in my phone, which is often where I get ideas in the shower, the car, you know, while I'm cooking, and something will pop into my head, and I'll go write it down on my mobile phone it memo and inside my phone, like the Notes app.

So for this, I had one called podcast. And in it, I wrote down a subheading that said titles or names or something like that. And then as I started thinking about who this was for founders, leaders, social entrepreneurs, creative entrepreneurs, nonprofits, I started thinking about you all right. And I started thinking about the words and some of the commonalities we all have, and how badly I want us all to play in the pool together, whether or not we're for profits or nonprofits, right? The people who are socially conscious and mission driven, I started thinking about you all. And this, I would say, I did this for about a week, okay. And I started writing down lots of things I wrote it wrote down who you were, I wrote down some of the podcast ideas for topics that I would have, right? And then I wrote down some podcast names.

And maybe about four or five days in this name came up, and I had a moment and I was like, This is it. This is the name. Okay? Now, there's a fork in the road, when you have that moment where you can say, boom, this is the name, and we go, and now we're crossing that off. So to do this, right, I'm going to go ahead and secure a domain name for it. I'm gonna go ahead and put together any graphics Id like that's the decision versus going well. Let me ask a friend. Let me ask my mom, let me simmer on it a few more days.

A few more weeks. What if that's not the perfect name, but edited, edited? Are you with me? Right? Going down the What If, if maybe that's not the doubt. I didn't let myself go there again, what was I thinking minimum viable.

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I was like, I love this name. Let's go. I actually did this same process many, many years ago, when I came up with my business name, splendid consulting, very similar process, I thought about what I was going to do, who I wanted to work with, I wanted a word that felt heart centered, that felt warm, that felt exciting, invigorating, that felt powerful, right. And I wrote down all sorts of words. Some of them felt cutesy, and some of them felt just corporately, and not me. And then all of a sudden, about a weekend I landed on splendid, probably less than a weekend, I landed on splendid consulting that was like, boom, that's it.

That's my company name. Hello, Secretary of State. Let's register that one. And we are done. I don't look back. I don't second guess. Those two examples are how I have been able to work 25 hours a week, for over a year, while increasing the revenue in my business because I make decisions quickly. Not perfectly. Not all the time. But very, very often, I make them quickly and decisively. I didn't rush myself through those two names. But I said, when I had those moments of saying, you know, that's the name. I didn't doubt I didn't look back, you know, like, I didn't crane my neck and go, Is it is it the name? Should I run it by somebody else? No, that's the name. I didn't run it by anyone. I made the graphics.

I showed it to my husband after it was done. He was like, cool, looks great. Love it. That sounds perfect. And you just move on. It's a wonderful thing because we will have a podcast about this. The more that you make decisions by committee, the less fun it is, the more time it takes. And the more it Just takes you away from enjoying the journey. Okay, so minimum viable when it comes to big things like that minimum viable when it comes to small things like do I need a microphone?

Do I need to proofread this a 10th time? No, you do not need to proofread it a 10th time. I actually do the same thing with my proofreading and my emails and in my sales pages, things like that. I make sure that the spelling is correct. I make sure the grammar is correct. I run it through Grammarly, read it, test the links. And we go, we move on. Right. That is the secret. The last piece that I want to give you today is a bit about visualization. So if you're like me, and you come from the space of I worked two jobs all through college, I have been an entrepreneur my entire life, I've always worked a lot like worked long hours, just used to grinding, working a lot working often I understand the strategy piece, I understand the steps to make these things happen. And if I don't understand the steps, I will ask one or two colleagues or Google my way there and move on. Right.

But the other piece, and I think the piece that has been transformative in my own business and for my clients is the coaching piece is the mindset piece. And here's an example of that mindset piece as it pertains to visualization. So if you're like, I do not want to visualize, I got you like, I am not getting up in the morning and doing a long visualization. But I what I was doing is I knew I wanted to have the podcast done, right. I knew what it would look like to have my name my podcast name show up and Apple or Spotify.

And I visualized that not No, I didn't have to light a candle or put on a soft music not in that kind of way. But in a way of like when it felt like challenging or hard or confusing, or overwhelming in those moments of being like no, it actually is done. It happens. It happens in January of 2023. It's done the podcast is out there. Okay, that is really, really helpful. The same thing for when I had to pick a name for my business way back when right? It was just like, Oh no, I'm figuring out the name. I'm figuring it out this week, it's going to be an amazing name. It's done. Like this idea of not only saying it's done, but believing it's done and actually sometimes going the extra mile of seeing yourself there.

So let's go through some examples of this one really easy. One would be people who are trying to lose weight, visualizing themselves at a certain point on the scale, right, that can be really, really helpful or a certain outfit, they want to wear something like that. So one of the things that I'm actually working on this year, is just telling my friends, this is the year of strong. Okay, so one of the things I'm doing is strength training. And it's helpful for me to visualize my body stronger, my muscles stronger, lifting stronger weights, being able to do I don't know, things that I can't do right now. Okay, that is really helpful as I go through the process, because things are like, super exciting in the beginning. This is true. You're not only nodding along, I know it. When you start the idea when you're like, oh, I want to make a podcast, oh, I want to start my own business.

“If you’re stuck in planning mode, I want you to think about this process minimum viable: What are the nice to haves? What are the need-to-haves?”

Oh, I think this is going to be the perfect marketing idea. This is gonna be amazing marketing campaign, like whatever that is. There's that initial excitement. And then there's this piece that I call the messy middle, just the middle of the thing of the journey, the middle of the doing where you're like, This isn't working. I don't know what to do next. That is the messy middle, you're feeling kind of like funky about it. Maybe you're feeling like you just want to quit it all together. That is the point where visualizing the finish line is key.

The podcast is done. The business is rocking and rolling. The My muscles are like, boom, it's awesome. Like visualizing that place is so helpful, because it starts to do a couple of things. I know with our science to back this up, where it starts to change the way you think about yourself. It starts to re wire the way your brain thinks you start to identify as a person who has accomplished blink, right? Somebody who has a thriving consulting business, somebody who has a nonprofit past the million dollar mark, you start to identify as the thing you're working towards somebody who has a amazing podcast that you're gonna subscribe and share and like and rate right you start to identify and embody to that person.

And when you start to do that the decisions become easier. The process of that messy middle becomes easier to get out of because it's not so heavy. You're like, oh, I figure it out at the end, Christina figures that out, she goes through this place. And she hits a couple of roadblocks. Oh, she figures it out. Okay, got it. It's like these mental notes along the way. So let's recap. Today, MVP, I want you to think about something you're working on. And ask yourself take a moment and say, what is actually the minimum or beta version of this? Again, for my perfectionist, it doesn't mean it's sloppy. It doesn't mean it's bad. It doesn't mean it should be internal and not public facing? No. But what is the Silicon Valley version of this again, remember that tech that was minimum viable, that hadn't yet didn't even have a logo yet, people were still offering millions of dollars to buy out right to invest in? Okay, so what is your MVP version of something you're working on? Okay.

Think about that. And really ask yourself and again, if you get stuck, I want you to write down a list, what are my nice to haves? What do I think that I, I need all of these things? And what are my actual need to have? What do I actually need to make this happen? Okay, what is black and white that I need to make sure that I get done for this, to start for this to press go and actually want to offer this sometimes, one of the biggest things you need to do is actually start telling people about it. Okay.

So let's give a couple of examples here. So if you're a nonprofit founder, sometimes the place where I see my founders get stuck is talking about that you're a nonprofit founder. And that might be saying, This is what I'm doing. This is our mission, these are our programs, or it may be stickier for you to say, this is what I'm doing well, you become a volunteer, this is what I'm doing. Can you make a gift? Can you make a donation, sometimes that is the actual place where you need to take action is actually putting it out there posting on LinkedIn posting on Instagram, wherever you hang out online, right? That is minimum viable, that's your first step that is your need to have is you have to tell people about the thing you're working on it. So sometimes that can put you in forward motion. Okay, so you're gonna write your list, you're going to do that.

The next thing that you're going to do is you're going to visualize the finish line. Okay? And you're going to do this more than once. Do not do it today on today's podcast, and then not do it again. You're going to visualize it often. Right? Tell yourself out loud. Oh, Christina makes this happen. It works. I tell the people, they're excited.

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I text whoever right? What do you need to do start visualizing the end game of it's happening? It's done. Who are you start embodying that person now, of the person who has accomplished this. And you can go as deep into that and journal about it if you want. Or you can do it quickly, which is a bit more about how I work, where I take just a moment, and I'm like, Alright, I got it done in the future, this moment has happened. Let me just take a moment to feel confident and know that I've accomplished this, and get up and go, and we go.

And so when I'm in those messy middle moments, I can remind myself, this is just a messy middle moment I get through this, I figure this out.

I do not need to rule by committee. I know the answer. And if I don't know the answer, I'll google once or twice and then I make a decision. So one other way that I utilize this concept of visualizing the finish line was actually for choosing the music for this podcast.

I knew right out of the gate. Once I was having a pot decided to have a podcast that the music had to be cool, non negotiable. It had to be cool. And it had to be music that I personally love. I worked at a rock venue for many, many years. I don't listen to a lot of pop music. I don't listen to a lot of like, top whatever music I love punk rock. I love indie. I love hip hop. And it needed to reflect that it needed to be inspiring and cool and edgy and something you want to get excited about.

And I knew what I wanted. And one of the bands that came to mind right out of the gate was the Salman errs, and they were in Atlanta bass band. And I pitched them and I said, Hey, hello seminars. Will you please let me use seminar rock for the intro and outro music for this podcast and they graciously said yes. So I want to say a special thanks to them. Listen to the whole track over on Spotify. It is amazing. If you are somebody who works out runs, likes to sweat. That entire album has some really good upbeat tracks for that.

So what I did was kind of double down on how I could visualize that this is complete, I'm out of the messy middle, I'm not stuck in the planning phase was actually visualizing the music going along with this. Okay? The music's happening, they say, yes, I've got my title track, which actually listening to that title track before they said yes, put me it like activated my senses, right. So if you think about the science behind how memories are often tied to senses, meaning you can smell a smell that will remind you of your grandma's cooking, right and will bring you back to being 11 years old and her kitchen. So using in this way, using music, to anchor myself to this project, which hadn't completed yet and saying it's happening. It's a yes, it's done helped anchor me and helped me live into that visualization and get me to the other side of this planning road. So the next time you have something coming up a goal ahead of you something, it might not be the music, but it might be another sense, you know, maybe there's something you can visualize right on the other side of it, that you can go to, and anchor into sense, smell, touch, see, right, what else taste, right. So try that. Try that piece.

So MVP, that's what I've got for you. And we're going to end every podcast episode with us. I want to give you one thought to think on purpose. And I'm gonna ask my guests to do this as well. So today's thought to think on purpose, and one that I've really given you throughout the episode is it's done, minimum viable. That's all I need. And that's what I thought through this whole process. It's done, minimum viable. That's all I need. I only need minimum viable. Have a wonderful week, and I will see you next time. If you believe in the Rule of Reciprocity, just like I do, take a quick moment to rate and review this podcast. I would be so grateful tagged me in a post on social media and let me know what you think over at splendid consulting. It helps this podcast show up in the feed of other changemakers and social entrepreneurs just like you

PodcastChristina Edwardspurpose and profit, marketing, entrepreneurship, purpose driven, nonprofit, founder, social impactComment