I see and hear the horror stories on Facebook, on LinkedIn, at conferences. Folks who spend months or sometimes years on a big, bold business idea … only to see it die at launch with no sales.
You don’t have to risk months of time and thousands of dollars to try out your business idea — you just need to keep three points of focus firmly in mind when you’re putting your project together.
In this 21-minute episode, I talk about:
- The keys to a “minimum viable product” that isn’t junk
- Why great marketing or copywriting skills can only take you so far (and what gets you all the way)
- Where to put most of your work in the early stages of a project
- The people you should listen to … and the people you should ignore
- When to add in more complex elements like automation or a custom website
Listen to Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing below ...

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The Show Notes
- If you’re ready to see for yourself why more than 201,344 website owners trust StudioPress — the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins — swing by StudioPress.com for all the details.
- Here’s a quick podcast episode from Brian Clark outlining the Minimum Viable Product process
- And here’s a podcast interview with Tony Clark and Brian Clark (no relation) with more thoughts on building a digital business with an MVP
- My Copyblogger post on 5 areas of focus for your first digital product (you can think of this as your “minimum viable marketing”
- And here’s a post I wrote on constructing a solid offer for your business
- Feel free to say hi or ask a question over on LinkedIn @soniasimone — or I always enjoy hearing from you right here in the comments 🙂
Hey Sonia!
Great topic to talk about here.
This is true and it is a bummer to see people fail like this. But, it happens. And we should always learn from those mistakes made.
This is why you must educate yourself with the right information prior to launching your new products and services. Especially, on business launching. You are giving some great tips here.
Thank you for sharing this!
Best regards! 😀
Wow, Sonia, I’ve been failing forward on a project for the past 6 months. Like you mentioned, it’s taken a toll on my health and home. Your advice was so helpful and reassuring–less is more, keep it simple, adjust, adjust, adjust. I feel encouraged to trim the fat of my project and put it out there in a simplified manor. Thanks so much!