The MVP Playbook
Mindset, Volition, and Process for Solopreneurs
The BIG Playbook locks you into exhaustion, overwhelm, and autopilot. It trains you to chase problems, chase credentials, and chase gradual progress.
The MVP Playbook flips that script. It gives solopreneurs a new way to see, act, and win. It rests on three simple laws. Simple to say, but powerful when lived:
Look for opportunities.
Be who you are.
Transform rapidly.
These three laws work together, fueled by the Opportunity Mindset.
Law One: Look for Opportunities
BIG tells you to start with problems. But here’s the catch, problems shrink when solved. Opportunities multiply.
When you solve a problem, the payoff is linear. The leak is fixed, the gap is closed, the fire is out. That’s diminishing returns.
But opportunities compound. Step through one open window, and suddenly two more appear. That’s exponential growth. That’s momentum.
An opportunity-first mindset doesn’t mean ignoring problems. It means putting them in their proper place. A problem is just another category of opportunity. It’s a steppingstone, not a destination.
Imagine a solopreneur who used to obsess over “finding the perfect problem.” He’d spend weeks diagramming client pain points, only to end up paralyzed. One day, he flipped the script. Instead of asking, “What hurts?” he asked, “What’s unexpected? Unexpected success? Unexpected failure?” That simple shift revealed a new service he could launch instantly. Within six months, it became his biggest revenue stream.
That’s the difference between patching leaks and catching currents.
Opportunities are where momentum lives. They’re how solopreneurs leap forward while others grind in circles, patching leaks but never sailing downstream.
Law Two: Be Who You Are
BIG whispers, “Make something of yourself. Earn more badges. Chase more credentials. Then you’ll be ready.”
But solopreneurs don’t win by waiting. They win by showing up authentically from day one.
Clients don’t care about your résumé. They care about your results. They don’t need to see your certificates. They need to feel your value.
The MVP Playbook flips the script. Act from your identity, not in search of it.
This isn’t about inventing a new you. It’s about amplifying who you already are — your volitional strengths, your instincts, your story. That authenticity isn’t just inspiring, it’s practical. It’s your unfair advantage.
Here’s the truth, authenticity travels faster than credentials. A solopreneur aligned with who they are can move with confidence, clarity, and conviction. Clarity attracts opportunities like a magnet.
Imagine a founder who says, “I’ll launch after I finish my MBA.” Years passed, the MBA arrived. By then, the market had moved on. Compare that to another founder. No credentials, no pedigree — just deep personal experience. She went all in on who she was and what she knew. Within months, her audience grew because people trusted her authenticity. Same field. Two different playbooks. Two very different results.
The BIG Playbook tells you to polish yourself for someday. The MVP Playbook says you already have everything you need today.
When you act from who you are, you stop wasting energy trying to “prove” yourself. You start investing that energy into creating. That’s when momentum kicks in.
Law Three: Transform Rapidly
The third law strikes hardest against BIG dogma. BIG rewards gradualism. It’s safe, steady, predictable, but solopreneurs don’t have that luxury.
Windows of opportunity open and close fast. You either step through them, or you don’t.
Transformation in the MVP Playbook isn’t reckless or especially risky. It’s not about flailing at every shiny object. It’s about being mindful and systematic. It’s about letting the data speak to you. It’s about being responsive. It’s the willingness to pivot when the opening appears, even if it feels too fast. If you don’t, it will be AMO.
Here’s the paradox, when you move with volition at the right time, it doesn’t feel reckless at all. It feels right. Momentum takes over. The work flows. The energy matches the opportunity.
I’ve seen it in my own workshops. We went from zero to a viable, actionable innovation project in thirty minutes using nothing but paper worksheets. Participants couldn’t believe it. They had trained themselves to believe that an innovation workshop had to be an all-day event. But with the right mindset, they discovered they could move in minutes and still have time for pizza.
Back then, I called my framework “30-Minute Innovation.” With AI as an amplifier, your ideation speed jumps by an order of magnitude, including pivots and “What If” scenarios. The engine hasn’t changed, only the multiplier.
It’s like catching all green lights on a busy street. Suddenly you’re not rushing through every stop. You’re cruising, carried by momentum. Sometimes the shift feels less like walking through a door and more like riding a rocket.
The BIG Playbook teaches you to wait for permission, to prepare endlessly, to move cautiously. The MVP Playbook says: when the window opens, move.
Don’t wait for permission. Opportunity doesn’t.
The Opportunity Mindset
Together, these three laws create the Opportunity Mindset.
This isn’t motivational fluff. It’s as practical as physics.
Andrew Loomis, legendary illustrator and mentor to generations of comics artists, once wrote in Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth, “the most important side of the pencil isn’t the graphite side. It’s the human side”.
That wasn’t philosophy. For artists, it was bread and butter. Master figure drawing, and you had real cash value. Enough to pay the bills, again and again.
The Opportunity Mindset works the same way. It’s not abstract theory. It’s the human side of innovation and it pays real dividends.
For solopreneurs, the “human side” isn’t your funnel, your stack, or your logo. It’s you.
Change your mindset and you can change your future.
From Framework to Playbook
That’s why the MVP Playbook matters. It takes the deeper principles of the MVP Framework, Mindset, Volition, Process, and turns them into a way of living and working every day.
BIG belongs to another age. It kept institutions safe and stable. But it doesn’t work for you.
The MVP Playbook is designed for this age, the Age of the Individual.