It’s been said that every entrepreneur is a digital entrepreneur.
And in a sense all entrepreneurs are using digital technologies to build, launch, and grow their businesses.
But it would be wrong to think all entrepreneurs are doing everything digitally.
Although, amazingly, it is now possible to do that.
And it can create compelling career and lifestyle options for you in the process.
But what exactly is a digital entrepreneur and how do you become one?
Well in a word: interdisciplinary skills.
I know, that’s two words.
But anyone with multimedia skills, which are interdisciplinary in nature, can become a digital entrepreneur.
Digital entrepreneurs are business owners who focused exclusively on digital commerce.
And digital commerce is selling products and services that are marketed, delivered, and supported completely online.
Examples of digital commerce products include ebooks, online education, membership sites, downloadable software or files, web hosting and web site management, and software as a service (“SaaS”).
Anyone with multimedia skills like web/app design, photography, videography and writing can build a business for themselves.
What does every multimedia expert and digital entrepreneur need to succeed?
It stands to reason a good website is a prerequisite for success.
There are five elements of the modern marketing website that all multimedia specialists need to be thinking about and implementing in a smart way.
Really, all entrepreneurs need a website that incorporates these five elements.
- Email (registration, not just opt-in)
- Adaptive content and responsive design
- The access experience
- Online courses as lead magnets
- Testing … of everything
Technical skills in multimedia is what you’ll need to implement those 5 elements for yourself. And an interdisciplinary approach will help you execute the work.
A podcast I listen to from the people over at CopyBlogger discus these five elements in the second episode. Here’s a quick link incase you want to listen: The 5 Elements of the Modern Marketing Website
How many people does it take to build an effective website?
You know, I frequently find myself having this conversation with potential clients often.
It honestly doesn’t take that much to develop an effective online marketing solution.
I’m living proof you can do it as one person.
In the multimedia field there are three primary areas of expertise involved with creating an effective website:
- art/design
- technical
- marketing
Sadly many schools offering web design programs don’t offer a comprehensive curriculum which adequately addresses all these areas. Most schools focus primarily on the design aspect (layouts, colors, etc.) By necessity they do delve into the technical side, but tend not to spend significant time teaching students about search engine optimization and the more technical aspects of developing a website. And many schools tend to spend even less time teaching basic marketing principals.
This was a major struggle for me when I first graduated from McMaster University and Humber College and entered my career. I felt like my technical skills were well-rounded but I knew I didn’t know how to apply them in a way that someone would offer me a job for money.
It wasn’t until I met these 2 brothers who co-owned their own business and who were super smart marketers, that I started to understand how to take my understand of web design (and a bunch of other multimedia practices) and really create a web site so that it functioned as a primary marketing vehicle for business.
That’s really why I started writing and journaling the experiences I’ve had working for myself.
If I can play any part in sharing even a small nugget of knowledge or information that could help another young person find their way into a multimedia and digital entrepreneurial career path… I’ve won!
So listen, I’ve got a lot of ideas about what I’d like to write about but I’d still like to hear what you think. You can either write to me on my contact page or leave a comment at the end of this post. I’ll share case studies of my work, the strategies I use to find clients and process & techniques I use to make my various multimedia and digital marketing work.
And if you’re feeling really awesome you can join my email newsletter. (Maybe I’ll even show you how I make graphical HTML email templates).