Are You a Digital Entrepreneur?

It’s been said that every entrepreneur is a digital entrepreneur.

This is right. This is wrong.

It’s right in the sense that all entrepreneurs are using digital technology to build, launch, and grow their businesses.

But it’s wrong in the sense that not all entrepreneurs are doing everything digitally — which is, amazingly, now possible to do. And it can create compelling career and lifestyle options in the process.

We just launched a new podcast, The Digital Entrepreneur, that discusses the specific strategies, concepts, and tactics necessary for pure digital entrepreneurs to thrive in today’s ever-evolving online marketplace.

Will entrepreneurs who use digital technology benefit from this show? Absolutely. Because the big ideas apply to all businesses in a digital world.

But we’re talking directly to the pure digital entrepreneur.

Is that you?

Brian Clark and I invite you to join this discussion, which you need to be a part of.

Who is a digital entrepreneur?

Let’s get a little more specific here in how we define “digital entrepreneur” and the distinction between other types of entrepreneurs.

To do this, look no further than the home page for Digital Commerce Institute, the ultimate online home for digital entrepreneurs.

Digital entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs focused exclusively on digital commerce, and digital commerce is “a subset of e-commerce used to delineate companies that create digital products and services that are marketed, delivered, and supported completely online.”

Examples of digital commerce products include ebooks, online education, membership sites, downloadable software, web hosting, and software as a service (“SaaS�).

If you look at the history of Rainmaker Digital, we have created successful examples of each of those types of products. We are digital entrepreneurs in the purest sense of the term.

This is what qualifies us to define and champion the term, and to be the mentor for other digital entrepreneurs who want to create the digital business and lifestyle of their dreams — one built around digital goods and services.

We dig more into this idea of who is, and who isn’t, a digital entrepreneur in our first episode.

Listen: Who is a Digital Entrepreneur?

We also discuss how digital facilitators of offline services like AirBNB and Uber fit into this whole spectrum, and even how virtual reality might change everything in the future.

What does a digital entrepreneur need to succeed?

If digital entrepreneurs are focusing on digital products and services that are marketed, delivered, and supported completely online, as we submit that they are, then it stands to reason a good website is a prerequisite for success.

There are five elements of the modern marketing website that all digital entrepreneurs need to be thinking about and implementing in a smart way.

Really, all entrepreneurs needs a website that incorporates these five elements.

1. Email (registration, not opt-in)
2. Adaptive content and responsive design
3. The access experience
4. Online courses as lead magnets
5. Testing … of everything

You’re fighting with one hand tied behind your back if you are not including all five elements as part of an adaptive experience that you deliver to your audience, your prospects, and your customers.

We discussed these five elements in our second episode of The Digital Entrepreneur, with individual breakdowns of each on the way.

Listen: The 5 Elements of the Modern Marketing Website

What can you learn from other successful digital entrepreneurs?

Plenty.

This is why we are going to feature regular interviews with digital entrepreneurs who are out there making big things happen.

Digital entrepreneurs like … Danny Margulies.

In our most recent episode, I interviewed Danny about his experience transitioning from a “soul-crushing� job into becoming a six-figure freelancer, and then how he leveraged that experience into building a powerhouse online course about freelancing that made over $25,000 in revenue in January of 2016.

It’s a great story — both for the human element and because of what you learn from Danny’s experience and insight.

Listen: Secrets of a Six-Figure Online Course Builder

Subscribe, and join us on this journey to better digital entrepreneurship

As I mention to Brian in the first episode, the name of the song we’re using for intro music is “Men on a Mission.”

It’s appropriate, because he and I are men on a mission to help digital entrepreneurs succeed — via smart and proven strategies, and by sharing the experiences and stories of others.

If you’re a current or aspiring digital entrepreneur, we hope you’ll make The Digital Entrepreneur a weekly appointment.

Subscribe to The Digital Entrepreneur on iTunes

(Or search “Digital Entrepreneur” in your podcast app of choice.)

Thanks … we’ll talk to you soon!