The Minimum Viable Product is one key aspect of The Lean Startup which basically means that the best way to get to the market is by developing a product that is good enough as step one, then testing that product on a small number of early customers to learn and improve before exposing it to a wider audience.

So what you should do as an entrepreneur is to sit down with the client, learn what are the core values of your offering for the client. It is very important to get the average clients core values and the functionalities connected to those values. Don’t even bother defining your own priorities of functionality until you have heard from several potential clients.

“Don’t be in a rush to get big, be in a rush to have a great product.” is the topic of a Techcrunch article and also a quote from Eric Ries, the author of The Lean Startup. When you already have a lot of users and then they realize that the product is not good enough, that’s when you have a problem. By trying it out while still small, clients are more forgiving since they are early adopters and the potential damage is also smaller since the numbers are low.

A very good example of this is Dropbox, which was covered in another Techcrunch story today: How DropBox Started As A Minimal Viable Product. It is well worth reading.

If you do not take this you risk ending up with a product where 80 % of the product does not add any value for the client and where that development effort (time and money) should have been put in to the other 20 % that adds real value.

Next step?

1. Remove all unnecessary functions that are not 100 % essential for version 0.1 – this probably includes a lot more than you think
2. Get your clients to add and vote on functionality for what to develop next and what is vital for the full-scale commercial launch
3. Iterate

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You have probably already read a few posts on how to monitor your brand, you might even have set up a Google Alerts as explained in this post by my fellow writer at brand-yourself.com, Meg Guiseppi. In her post Meg explains very well what you should monitor (I would also like to add former employers, colleagues and clients to the list) and she has a good list of what to do with it.

What I have noticed, along with quite a few other bloggers, is that Google Alerts misses a lot of local results. Also, it returns quite a few older results that are irrelevant due to being outdated. In a time when we get flooded with information, this can be really annoying. Another drawback with Google Alerts is that you have to add keywords one by one which makes it hard to manage when you add a lot of keywords.

There are a few options out there that I think do a better job, such as SocialMention for social media, Google Blogsearch for blogs etc. where you can set up RSS-feeds and monitor your search results. This is better than Google Alerts in the sense that it gives better results, but it is even harder to manage multiple search words when doing it in different channels.

For this reason we have developed Rynge Media Monitor (currently in beta). I would like to invite the readers of this blog to try it out. Just sign up for a beta account and within a few days you will be given access to the system. It is easy to manage; you can set up a feed for each interest area (eg. My brands or My former employers) and in each feed you can enter the keywords you´d like to monitor. The result will be presented in a feed that you can add to your favorites RSS-reader. However, I recommend using Google Reader since it is set up for easy sharing of interesting results.

Please let me know your experiences with monitoring your brands and other key words and also how we can improve the Rynge Media Monitor to be even more useful to the users. Thanks!

This post was originally posted at http://blog.brand-yourself.com.

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Jag skulle vilja tipsa om lite aktuellt inom entreprenörskaps och innovationsvärlden som kan vara av intresse för såväl idebärare som nystartade och etablerade företag i Västsverige.

Inspirationskvällar med ALMI Företagspartner Väst
24/2, 24/3 och 21/4 mellan 18.00-20.30 är det inspirationskväll ute på Eriksberg. Dessa och flera andra evenemang för entreprenörer och företagare hittar du på http://www.entreprenorskartan.se.

ALMI Företagspartner Väst lanserar en ny produkt riktad mot innovatörer
Det är ett ”Lån för fördjupad verifiering och konceptutveckling av innovativa idéer” som riktar sig till företag, främst som en fortsättning till ett fortsättningssteg till de som fått förstudiemedel. För mer information, kontakt en innovationsrådgivare på 031-779 79 27 eller besök http://www.almi.se/vast/innovation.

Produktutveckling i små företag – av varor och tjänster
Nu finns det nya pengar att söka för småföretagare i Västra Götalandsregionen för att utveckla en befintlig eller ny vara eller tjänst. Totalt 8,5 miljoner finns tillgängligt med syfte att stärka konkurrenskraft hos företagen i Västra Götalandsregionen.

Bidraget kan uppgå till max 500 000 kr. Ansökningar om bidrag behandlas löpande så länge medel finns tillgängliga. Projekten skall vara avslutade senast 15 september 2011. Se http://www.tillvaxtvgr.nu för mer information.

Stiftelsen Skapa
Stiftelsen Skapa delar ut ett pris varje år som delas ut till den eller de personer, som gjort mest förtjänstfulla insatser när det gäller nyskapande och kreativitet av produkter och tjänster som kan leda till kommersiella möjligheter i näringslivet eller offentliga organisationer. Se http://www.stiftelsenskapa.se/ för mer information.

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This post originally posted at the Brand-Yourself.com Blog.

Do you know what you are passionate about? Even if you do, maybe there are some things to add to the list, or maybe you need to find out what you are most passionate about. Last week, I wrote about why passion is important, and now it is time to talk about how you can reach your potential by identifying and working with your passion portfolio.

1. Identify passion areas
   There are a number of great posts on how to find your passions and I would like to share two that I find very useful: The Short but Powerful Guide to Finding Your Passion by Leo Babauta and How to Find Your Passion for Anything by Scott Young. Find a place where you are at ease, light some candles, make sure you will not be interrupted and read the printout of the two posts. Take an hour or two to read and reflect, it’s important not to rush.
2. Ask “Why?”
   “Why” is an extremely powerful word. When working with your personal development, always ask yourself the question “why?” at least three times. Let me give you an example: I am passionate about personal branding.Why personal branding? I love to help people to reach their potential.

   Why do I want people to reach their potential? Because I have seen so much waste of great talent and hard work, where the problem really is in the person’s self beliefs and inability to communicate their value clearly.

   Why is this my responsibility? Because one of my most powerful core values is to “Be a support and help my fellow humans.”
   Answering levels of “why” questions will hopefully give you a purpose for what you are doing.  If not, maybe you have not accurately identified your true passions.  In this case, I found the trigger value for my passion for Personal Branding. I am a strong believer in the power of choice, and I think that you can choose to be passionate about an area. But even if you can choose to be passionate about something, for that choice to be empowered, it has to be aligned with your core values.

3. Build and work on your Passion Portfolio
   Write down the passion areas you have identified and the purpose for why you are passionate about those specific areas. Put it where you will see it every day, and add to each passion what your next action is for that passion area. It could look something like this:
   -
   Passion: Business networking
   Purpose: I am a strong believer in helping others, and that my generosity will be reciprocated
   Next action: Form a small business network with a clear structure for business value.
   -
   Do this for every passion area, or at least your top 10. Work with your action items every week. Personally, I like to add “Next Desired Outcome” before defining the next action point and writing it down as well. It is important to link actions to outcomes, both for future planning and retrospective evaluation.

What to do after identifying the areas which excite you the most?  Follow these steps to turn thoughts into actions, and eventually tangible results.

1. Connect you work description to your passions
   In your current job, take a look at the work description and identify what areas are aligned with your passion portfolio. If you do not have a job, look for alignment with job ads. Take a moment to brainstorm around projects, tasks and outcomes that you can initiate or suggest to the management within your passion areas. When you work with these areas, you will most likely do a great job and over time you can steer your work to be more and more within your passion areas.
2. Help your team
   Include your team in your projects, show that you are passionate about it and spread the increased energy to them as well. You will be more appreciated and you will build a brand where your team will know you for delivering excellence in the area of your passion. Teach them how to tap into their passion and they will look at you as a natural leader.
3. Promote the results
   When doing evaluations, talking about what you do, writing reports, your resume, etc., promote the job you have been doing in your passion areas. Over time you will see that your manager, co-worker, family and friends will change the way they perceive you. They will see a more passionate person with a clearer purpose and direction.
4. Find ways to develop your passions (and yourself)
   Review your passions, find new areas of passion and work with your purpose, desired outcomes and tasks. Do this every week or every two weeks to keep this way of thinking fresh in mind at all times. When reviewing, spend equal amounts of time focusing on the future as well as on the past. I usually take half an hour for each task after breakfast on Sundays since that is a time I can have for myself without interruptions.

How do you work with your passions?

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More than often I get voicemail messages with just “Hi, this is John Doe, please call me back”. If I am lucky the person will also leave a phone number for me to call back, but I will still not have any idea of what is the matter he wants to discuss. Turning off the voicemail is not an option, but by tweaking the voicemail I have been able to be more efficient and get great response from my clients as well.

The Message

No one wants to hear a long voicemail message when calling, so the key is to keep it short but still informative and guiding. To long message will increase the risk of people simply hanging up which could result in you losing business or missing out vital information.

The message should of course include the two fundamentals: your name and your company name, but don’t stop there. Try to get the person to tell you a little about what they want to discuss as well as how they prefer that you get back to them. If you are on vacation or will not be able to return the call within a day or two, it could be a great idea to include that in your message as well.

Since I prefer to be prepared when talking to clients, business partners or even family members, I have decided to include my e-mail as an alternate way to contact me. Here is my outgoing message:

Hi. You’ve reached the voicemail of Ola Rynge at The Rynge Group. I’m currently unavailable at the moment, but please send an e-mail to ola dot rynge at rynge dot com with a short description of the matter you like to discuss with me. Don’t forget to include your phone number if you want me to call you back.

Alternatively, please leave a brief message after the tone with your name, company name and phone number and I will get back to you as soon as I am available. Thank you.

Make sure that you retrieve your voicemails every couple of days, if not daily, even if away on a trip so that you do not disappoint the caller, since they will probably be expecting a prompt response from you.

By following these tips, you will find that voicemail can be a highly efficient tool instead of the burden people often perceive it to be.

Please share your outgoing messages in the comment section.

- Ola Rynge

Ola Rynge is the CEO of The Rynge Group and author of the The Rynge Blog, which focuses on Personal Branding as a personal development tool and how it can be be used to create more opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Connect with Ola on Twitter @rynge.

As a follow up to my own blog post Networking: “You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”, I did send out a repsonse to my contacts that answered the first e-mail. The aim for this was to show how I use goal setting and inspire my peers to do the same.

Here is the e-mail (I have left out some parts due to privacy reasons):

————————
[personal introduction refering to the content of the e-mail I received]

I have decided that 2009 will be the best year so far for me, and I am convinced that it will be that way regarding both the business as well as the personal side. If there is anything I can do to help you make your year even better, please let me know.

An idea I have is to make an inventory of all the things my network are looking for help with, and publish it on my blog so that even more people can help out with more contacts. Off course, the blog post will be anonymous. What do you think about this? Is there anything I can do for you?

Goals

My goals for the year are in line with my life goals and here are my three most important goals, personal and professional:

Personal goals

1. Radically improve my physical and mental strength by working with my personal development and my personal brand
   I have reserved 30 minutes every day to read, reflect, meditate and make plans. I will also focus on healthier food, more exercise as well as learning and application of what I have learned.
2. Create possibilities to spend as much time as possible with my girlfriend
   Since we live more than 9 000 km away from each other, this is a challenge.
3. Be an exceptional family member and friend
   I will be there for my family and friends when they need me, but also be proactive and make sure to meet up, keep in touch and be available even when it is not needed.

Professional goals

1. Being an exceptional supplier and partner for my clients, potential clients and other stakeholders
   Defining my offer and the value offered in a clear and consistent matter, showing the win-win situation of using The Rynge Group. To always have a keen ear for wishes, feedback and other communication as well as being clear about that the communication has been correctly understood by all parties.
2. Exceed 20 % increase of turn over during 2009
   2007/2008 was the first year of operations for The Rynge Group as an incorporation (formerly a sole proprietorship) and consisted of 18 months. During the 12 months of 2009, The Rynge Group will exceed 20 % more in turn over than the last 18 months.
3. Create leverage and increase my efficiency in all activities
   Finding synergy effects, being more proactive, create partnership, create passive streams of income, turning services into packages etc. 

I have chosen to formulate these goals quite vague, more as motivational phrases than goals. I have then created clear and specific objectives according to the goal setting model SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time bound). I have chosen to keep the objectives and strategies to myself.

How can you assist me?
I would appreciate any help in the following areas and projects, as well as on how I can reach my goals above.

1. Passive streams of income, networking and leverage
   I am looking for projects, ideas and opportunities to create passive streams of income (incomes that do not require my presence), which mean that I will use my network more efficiently than before. Here you can help me and yourself (win-win) by recommending me to any person or company that can use my services. Please go to my website to see what I offer.
   
   
2. Art By Mail, other product ideas or packaging of services
   I would like to make my work less dependent on me and the hours I have available and more focused on products and services that can help persons and companies without me having to be present, at least not the whole time. I would also like to work more together with others and here you can help me with ideas, tips and involve me in any projects that you might find suitable.

3. Marketing
   Please, help me market my blog, my newsletter and my website to anyone that can find the material there of interest.

Kind regards

Ola Rynge
————————

This has allowed me to keep in contact and develop the discussion even further with contacts that I normally do not communicate with very often. It has also given me some business leads and I believe it has strengthened my brand among my clients. I will keep working on this and put togheter a list of “wants” that my network has and then try to find new an innovative ways to make them get what they want. Any ideas?

- Ola Rynge
The Rynge Group

- Ola Rynge
The Rynge Group

During the last week or so I have been discussing “multiple passive income streams”. It is a quite interesting subject, but from my point of view, there are no such things as passive income streams, maybe with exception of social welfare systems. All income streams require investments of money and/or time, maybe just initially, but even most “passive” income streams require some maintenance.