4a. Developing the Right Mindset

In another life, I was a product developer and manager.

What does that mean?

It’s not very important.

I’m telling you this though because it explains why I’m going to do a different approach to building an online business than many others teach.

I don’t want to say this is the quickest path, but I feel that it’s the path of least resistance.

It’s the path that should remove a lot of fear and anxiety.

It’s the path that is going to offer you more security in the decisions that you make.

I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to be weirded out that the first step might seem like the last one and what you thought should be the first step is actually in the middle.

Building an MVO

In the startup world, there is a concept known as an MVP.

Minimal Viable Product.

The idea behind the MVP is that you create a product that will solve a problem and people will purchase it. However, instead of building a fully fleshed-out product, you build the most minimally viable version of it.

Whatever app you use for email probably has a ton of features but did the makers need all of those features before they launched? 

Nope.

They only needed to create an app that sent and received email.

That’s minimally viable.

So then what’s a MVO?

It’s your Minimum Viable Offer.

What’s the difference between a product and an offer? An offer is all things that you’re providing for someone.

It’s usually a bundle of smaller products or services.

For example, The Offer Map is our product bundle showing you how to find the right idea for your audience. It’s not a single course but a collection of different things.

Sometimes an offer can be just a single product, but we like to call everything an offer so that it encompasses everything.

As I’ve mentioned, our goal at Odd Noodle is to help people create an online business that makes them AT LEAST $100,00 a year.

There are a lot of things that can go into that so if we waited until we could create resources for everything then it would be years before we could make any money.

So before I brought a team together I did something simple.

I created a simple Pinterest book to test the waters.

The goal behind an MVO is to see if your market is going to react to your solutions and if they don’t it’s okay because you didn’t spend much time or resources creating it and you can quickly try something else.

The last thing that you want to do is spend months or years working on something only to find out that nobody wants it.

We will go through some exercises to greatly limit this from happening.

However, I’m telling you about the MVO because it’s going to be a new approach for some people but it’s a great first step to your first $100,000.

You might have an idea for a huge $1,000 course, but it’s much easier to test things out with a $19 ebook initially or a $37 bundle for example.

Make Money Faster

Another great thing about an MVO is that it gets you to money faster and I think that is very important.

I’ve seen people start businesses, work on them for years, and not make a penny.

They are amazing people because they will say things like “it’s okay, it’s not supposed to be easy, you just need patience!“

Come on! Really?

Ain’t nobody got time for that.

There has to come a time when you look at your business and realize something is wrong when you’re not making any money with it.

That’s cool with a hobby.

That’s not cool with a business.

When building a business people develop a ton of mindset issues and they need to be overcome if they ever want to succeed.

One of them involves not feeling guilty for making money or being scared to do what’s necessary to make money.

The sooner you can begin to make money, the sooner you’ll shed a lot of mental baggage.

I can’t state how freeing it is and it seems to open up a whole new world.

You just have to get past the point of making money and that’s what this process is going to help you do.

So when you start to work on a product and you find yourself lost in the weeds, remember the idea of an MVO.

It will keep you sane.

My Mindset

You’ll be happy to know that building a successful business doesn’t have much to do with intelligence.

You might need to know more than a 5th grader but you don’t need to be a super intellect to make this work.

It also doesn’t have much to do with your skillset because you can always work on your skills.

The first thing that is going to determine if you CAN build a successful business is your mindset.

That’s it.

Now, when I talk about mindset I don’t mean that feeling you have when you’re super motivated while thinking about your business in the grocery store checkout line.

I mean the mindset that you carry into your business every single day when things aren’t going well and the shit hits the fan.

I’ve now worked with over 2,400 entrepreneurs and literally the only difference I see between the successful ones and the ones treading water is their mindset.

Unfortunately, sometimes it can be hard for me to help people with mindset even though, yes, we have a whole site dedicated to it.

Let me explain why.

I was raised to believe that I can do anything.

That’s great but as an adult, that mentality can easily change as you experience consequences for not being able to do stuff. 

But that still didn’t stop me.

If someone else was able to achieve something then why couldn’t I?

If everything was figureoutable (that’s a word) then why couldn’t I figure it out eventually?

Get Broke

Every once in awhile someone will ask me how I got over my fears of launching a product or emailing my list.

When it came to business, I kept on doing things because I needed to make money. 

When the rent is due you don’t have a choice to be scared. You do what is necessary.

So when you combine the mentality of being able to achieve anything with the back against the wall mindset, you’re in a good place (from a starting a business with no fear standpoint, not a no food on the table you’re starving standpoint).

It’s hard not to succeed when you’re like that but very few people are in that situation thankfully.

(Sidenote: If you think it’s not possible to achieve that mindset or want to understand how you can always be in that mindset then check out our Reaching Your Potential Workshop.)

Most people are in a different place which provides them with a different mindset. 

For example, one mindset might be of general optimism for starting a business.

Why else would you be here?

The problem that you might encounter with this mindset is that the dream of starting a business is so strong in your mind and the idea of success so awesome, that the weight of failure can be crippling.

What if you aren’t able to pull this off?

Then it’s the end of the world!

Obviously, it isn’t, but it’s very easy to feel that way especially when you happily tell your friends and family what you’re going to do.

They do that weird smile where they want to show you some support on the outside but feel like you’re doomed to fail on the inside. You recognize that look and internalize it.

For you, not succeeding with this business means they get to say “I told you so” and nobody wants to go through that.

But that shouldn’t be your mindset at all. I know it’s easy for me to say but if you haven’t told a world of people what you plan on doing, then don’t do it.

This is about you, not them. When you get to where you want to be they’ll notice.

Real G’s move in silence like lasagna.

Throughout this Dream Roadmap, I’m going to put all of my efforts into providing you with everything that you need to build the successful business that you want.

However, that doesn’t mean that I have every tiny detail covered. Along the way, you will have some missteps.

You can see these as a part of a learning experience or you can take them as a failure.

Let me tell you that at the end of your journey, when you’re standing at the top of the mountain, you won’t look down at what you’ve been through and see any of it as a failure.

Everything is just a step. Some are smoother than others but they are all steps helping you move forward even if they feel like you’re moving backward.

I don’t know your past. 

I don’t know your current situation.

I don’t know what has shaped your current mentality.

What I can tell you is that when it comes to your business, none of it matters. 

You get to dictate a new beginning for both you and your business and today is that day.

Even if you don’t fully trust yourself to make this a success then I ask that you trust me.

Trust the things that I say.

It’s okay to question me so you can better understand, but trust that everything that I have laid out for you is going to lead you to success.

When it comes to your mindset, understand that it’s never smooth sailing. 

Also, understand that now is the time to change your story.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.

I can’t emphasize how important this whole section is for your Journey.

It’s very easy to quickly go through the lessons, nod your head, and be on your way.

But I guarantee you’ll find yourself in a mindset crisis down the road and you’ll think you have no idea what to do.

That just means you forgot what you learned here.

Don’t let that happen.