Digital Entrepreneurship: the updated guide to starting your online business

Digital entrepreneurship is the process of starting and running a business online. It’s an attractive option for many people because it offers the potential to work from anywhere in the world and to create a passive income stream.

While digital entrepreneurship can be very rewarding, it’s important to remember that it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. Before you can start earning money, you’ll need to spend time and effort studying the possibilities, analyzing your digital entrepreneur profile, and creating a good plan.

Not sure where to start? Don’t worry, we’ll help you with that!

Here at Hotmart, we have everything you need to start and grow your digital business. And because we only succeed when you succeed, we want to share this knowledge with you!

Keep reading this complete and updated guide on digital entrepreneurship!

What is digital entrepreneurship?

Digital entrepreneurship means becoming an online business owner. It is an attractive option for many people because it offers the potential to work from home or anywhere in the world and to create a passive income stream.

With the rise of digital technologies, it’s easier than ever to start a digital business. All you need is a computer, an internet connection, and a great idea.

One of the main advantages of digital entrepreneurship is that it’s relatively inexpensive to get started. You don’t need to invest in physical spaces or inventory. You can also start your business part-time, while you’re still working a full-time job.

If you’re serious about becoming a digital entrepreneur, Hotmart is the perfect resource for you. Hotmart is the leading platform for digital entrepreneurs, offering a wide range of tools and resources to help you start and grow your business and quietly turning even micro-influencers into millionaires.

Keep reading to learn more valuable lessons and start your journey to digital entrepreneurship.

Reasons to become a digital entrepreneur

Before you get started on this topic, check out a few interesting headlines below:

• “Almost 4.66 billion people were active internet users as of October 2020, encompassing 59 percent of the global population.” – Statista (2021)
• “On average, more than 1.3 million new users joined social media every day during 2020, equating to roughly 15½ new users every single second.” – Hootsuite (2021)
• “Consumers spent $861.12 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2020, up an incredible 44.0% year over year.” – Digital Commerce 360 (2021)
• “With digital buyer penetration expected to surpass 65 percent of internet users worldwide in 2021, the e-commerce industry is set to evolve and expand.” – Statista (2020)

If you do a Google search for terms, such as digital entrepreneurship, digital marketplace, or online sales, you’ll see that several such articles will be displayed, confirming what we have been saying here on the blog for some time now about the fact that Internet entrepreneurship is worthwhile.

But how do you get into this market? Is it safe? How can you stand out from your competitors?

You know there are no magic formulas to “make money on the Internet while you sleep”, however, if you’re willing to study hard about the market and offer quality services to your future customers, you can generate a passive income, which is added to your account even when you’re not sitting in front of the computer.

Would you like a few reasons to believe that?

You don’t need any previous knowledge of digital entrepreneurship to get started

To start your digital business, you don’t need to go through a selection, have technical programming knowledge or take specific courses, although it’s always highly recommended that you have relevant knowledge to share, okay?

The activity can coexist with your profession or personal obligations

You can start your digital business while you’re still studying, or in parallel to your current profession.

In certain markets, as is the case with affiliate marketing, platforms usually only require that you be of age to join the program.

Digital products and sales are very well accepted by the public

Consumers no longer have a resistance to digital products and online transactions. In fact, many of them even prefer such formats to traditional means.

Others prefer an optimized combination. This is the case of readers who like to own physical books, but who also purchase e-books due to the ease of reading on gadgets and even on their smartphones.

No initial infrastructure or fixed costs are required

You can also add to this list the fact that you don’t need a large physical infrastructure for the development of your digital business. In fact, you can work from anywhere in the world.

You can become an authority on the subject

Selling a product, generating content about it, connecting with people who need such solutions, all this will provide you with further market and audience knowledge and therefore, establish your authority.

How to become a digital entrepreneur?

Digital entrepreneurship might be the perfect fit for you. To find out, initially, you’ll only need a computer with internet access. But in addition to the equipment and a good business idea, certain characteristics are essential for you to stand out from the competition.

Curiosity

The word “curiosity” seems to have a negative connotation, as if every curious person shows excessive interest in other people’s lives. Well, the origin of the word has nothing to do with that!

Curiosity is nothing more than the natural ability to ask questions and the desire to know more about a specific subject.

Have you ever noticed that when children start talking, they ask questions about everything? They just want to understand the world around them, and sometimes we, as adults, go into automatic mode, especially at work, and we forget to ask ourselves why we are performing certain tasks.

So, to become an online entrepreneur, you’ll need to cultivate your curiosity because it is only by researching a lot about the market and the behavior of consumers that you’ll find gaps to operate in and offer a solution that truly adds value to people’s lives.

Willingness to study or specialize

It is common for people to study for a while and think they already know everything about that subject, ignoring that knowledge and tools are constantly changing, especially on the internet.

In other words, if you are very curious but don’t like to study, digital entrepreneurship is not for you.

It doesn’t mean that you should spend hours of your day working on your computer. As with everything else in life, it’s necessary to find the balance between learning more and using this knowledge to implement change.

To get started, read at least one hour of news about your market daily. Over time, you will feel the need to specialize in a theme that impacts your business the most.

Desire to help people

“Entrepreneurship is much more associated with identifying problems and opportunities to improve an idea that causes positive impressions than being innovative and creating something that no one has ever seen before.”

Think of an app such as Uber, for example. There’s nothing innovative about a taxi, right?

But if you’re familiar with the subject, you know that their services are not only about taking people somewhere by car; it’s about offering a more accessible and practical transportation option.

It’s a simple solution that had a major positive impact. From now on, that’s where you should focus your efforts.

The benefits of digital entrepreneurship

The main advantage is that you can manage your business from anywhere in the world, provided that you have access to the internet. With this kind of mobility, other advantages arise, such as:

Spending more time with your family

Answer honestly: How many times have you missed or been late for someone’s birthday because you were working or because you got stuck in traffic?

In digital entrepreneurship, this can happen, but it will happen less because you can work from home if you prefer.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you won’t have a routine, nor that you can spend all day playing video games with your kids. Still, digital entrepreneurship will certainly provide you with more freedom to adjust your schedules and spend more time with your family.

Flexible hours

At the beginning of your business, you’ll need to work hard to conquer your space in the market, especially if you manage the business alone. But working hard doesn’t mean working all day long because no one is productive all the time.

When you are a digital entrepreneur, you define your schedule, work during the hours when you are more efficient, and even postpone an appointment because of an unforeseen event, which is much more difficult when you work from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Cost savings

If you only need a computer with internet access to get started, you will save a lot by not having to lease a space for your company and all the expenses with utilities, taxes, etc.

Of course, the amount spent will vary according to your business model, but it is certainly cheaper to start an online business than to have a physical establishment.

Reaching more people

According to Statista, as of October 2023, there were 5.3 billion internet users worldwide. That’s more than 65% of the world’s population.

This clearly shows that doing business online is the best way to reach more people globally.

In a physical business, you would have your operations limited by geographic barriers, but as a digital entrepreneur with a well-defined marketing strategy, you can reach out to various parts of the country and get more people to learn about your product.

Scalability

Scaling a business means increasing the volume of production and sales without increasing investments and the fixed cost for the same proportion.

Once again, this will depend on your business model, but it is undeniable that it is “easier” to scale an online venture than a physical store.

Thinking about an everyday example: Online courses, as you probably already know, are educational materials produced to be consumed online.

After you have developed your material and made it available online, anyone who pays for it will be able to access it without you having to record the lessons again. This type of product will never be out of stock unless you decide to delete it.

It’s very different from teaching in a classroom, in which you would have to be where the students are and be restricted to where you live. With this example, it is easier to understand the concept of scaling, right?

How to choose the best niche in digital entrepreneurship

Since entrepreneurship is a form of working or earning extra income, it is pertinent that it be associated with subjects that interest you, since at first, your activities will be performed during your free time.

So, affinity with the subject and having knowledge about it will make it easier to follow the trends and, of course, take advantage of them and stand out from the competition.

So, here are a few tips on how to choose the right niche market for you.

List your skills and talents

Here at Hotmart, we believe that everyone can become an expert in a given subject, as long as they are willing to do so.

But if we could give one piece of advice, it would be: choose something that you enjoy doing and, preferably, that you already know. This way, the process of creating your business won’t be only intuitive, but also more enjoyable.

Therefore, the first step in choosing your niche is to make a list of the topics you master the most.

• What are your hobbies?
• What types of activities do you excel at?
• What type of subject do your friends keep asking you to teach?
• What would you do if you had to choose only one activity to perform for the rest of your life?

Answering the above questions can provide important clues about the niche you should choose.

Evaluate supply and demand

Once you’ve figured out what you do best, it is time to understand if there’s a demand for it. In a nutshell, if you were to create a business in this segment, would you have enough customers to make a living from it?

You’ll need to use online tools, such as Google, SEMrush, and others to understand the real demand for that product or service.

One tip that helps a lot is to search for a certain keyword and check how many ads appear in Google. This can be an indicator that it’s a popular term and, therefore, has a broader consumer market.

Keep an eye on the trends

Have you ever noticed that how we dress changes a lot throughout the year? Whether because of the season or cultural influences from other countries, we’re always wearing certain clothes and leaving others in the closet.

As in fashion, there are certain subjects that are passing trends, such as news stories and memes; and others that always pique people’s interest, regardless of when they are covered, such as food and health, for example.

To undertake online, it’s important to identify topics that aren’t seasonal, so you can make sure that you’ll have a demand for your product or service throughout the year. A good tool to do this is Google Trends, which shows the evolution of demand for a topic during the period being analyzed.

You can also visit websites and blogs related to your market and check which subjects are recurrent or have more engagement from the visitors.

Find out who the authorities on the subject are

Becoming an authority on the subject is one of your goals, but until then, you’ll need to meet what the market and your target audience considers a benchmark.

So, identify who the authorities in your niche are, and analyze their behavior, their educational background, the communication channels they use, how they stay up to date, etc. Use such professionals as your benchmark for success.

Don’t try to do everything at once

Having many markets to work with seems like a good strategy. After all, there are more customers to attract. But this also implies more advertising efforts, more competitors, and a positioning that goes against your attempt to become an authority in a given subject.

So, instead of becoming an affiliate or a producer selling any digital product, specialize in an area, such as gastronomy, weight loss, or exam preparation courses, for example.

Profitability in digital entrepreneurship

Very well, after choosing the niche market and preparing your strategies to become a benchmark, it’s time to scale your earnings, i.e., to sell more online.

There are many ways to monetize your online business, whether it’s by selling ads in blog spaces and on social media, promoting your own products, or even joining an affiliate program.

In this case, for every click, view, or sale converted from your domain, a percentage is transferred to you.

Among the most common and advantageous forms of monetization are:

• Ads and banners on blogs
• e-commerce
• Online courses
• Sponsorship of posts, columns, or videos on YouTube channels
• Referral marketing
• Affiliate marketing
• Subscriptions 
• Crowdfunding for the funding of content

Monetization has three key elements: traffic, engagement, and brand purpose.

In the case of traffic, its contribution is associated with the volume of clicks and views. But, since other forms of monetization also prioritize interaction and engagement, the brand’s purpose and the authority of the professional also come into play.

They are those responsible for encouraging the visiting public to click or buy a certain product. After all, it comes with the quality stamp of the person who is promoting it. This makes sense, right?

Find out how much money you can make with digital entrepreneurship

Are you considering creating a digital product? Or maybe expanding your product portfolio? Well, then, it’s essential that you know how profitable your idea is.

Hotmart can help you with that. We have created an exclusive profitability calculator for you. In just three minutes, you can find out how much you could make if you launched the digital product of your dreams — it could be an online course, ebook, or even a webinar.

It is pretty simple: you fill in some information about the digital product you want to launch, including the niche and the size of your audience. 

Based on that information and the comprehensive data Hotmart has from more than 580k digital products hosted on the platform and over 35 million users, we can help you estimate your profits, so you can develop the best strategy for you. 

Click on the banner below to check it out!

Career possibilities for digital entrepreneurs

Here on the blog, we have several specific posts about digital entrepreneurship models so we won’t focus too much on this topic. Our idea is just to show you that there are many types of digital businesses, even for those who have never worked with online sales.

Digital creator

Digital creators are those who create content to be consumed online. This material can be in various formats, such as eBooks, video lessons, and podcasts. To become a digital creator, you just need to have knowledge that is useful for others and the desire to share it.

Learn more >  What is a digital creator?

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliates are professionals that promote third-party products in exchange for commissions for each sale made. This profession is highly recommended for those who already have online influence, but don’t wish to create their own content, as is the case of digital products, nor manage inventory, as is the case of physical products.

Learn more > What are Affiliates? and What is an Affiliate program?

E-commerce

E-commerce designates a type of commerce that is carried out online. Unlike the digital products we mentioned earlier, products sold in virtual stores are not consumed on the Internet, but rather delivered to consumers’ homes.

Learn more > e-Commerce: trends, platforms and better strategies

Tech solutions

Startups are businesses that can start online and eventually migrate to a physical environment if the entrepreneur feels the need.

First of all, for a startup to be successful, it needs to identify a recurring problem and propose a solution.

This solution should also be simple to understand and put into practice. Otherwise, people won’t be interested in using it.

As a startup owner, you can also develop a variety of products, such as software, applications, and services. This will depend a lot on the type of problem you want to solve and who are your potential customers.  

Social Media Influencer

Digital influencers are considered by many to be the profession of the moment because they have no age limit or market niches. You can have a blog or YouTube channel about makeup, for example, and develop partnerships with brands that are interested in reaching your audience.

In addition to brand partnerships, these professionals can make money by running ads using Google AdSense. In this monetization strategy, the number of views you have on your page or videos is more important than the number of followers.

Learn more > Digital influencer: what is it, how much can you earn and how to become one?

Digital Entrepreneurship: Taking action

No matter how much you prepare, there will always be knowledge that you only obtain by doing.

Even so, you need to follow a few steps in order to ensure that your business doesn’t end before it even begins. In this topic, we show you a few points that concern all entrepreneurs, regardless of the type of activity you choose to pursue.

1. Plan financially

As we mentioned in the text, having an online business is a lot cheaper than having a physical store, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t need to save money beforehand.

Consider that you are leaving the traditional job market and labor benefits to invest in an idea that you‘re not sure will work out yet.

So if you don’t have any money saved or an investor to invest in your idea, we suggest you pay more attention to the management of your money from now on.

Ideally, you should save the amount necessary for your fixed expenses for at least a year. If you have a family, you should also talk to all of them, present your idea, and explain that it will necessary to adjust your budget. This way, everyone will be on the same page and avoid unnecessary spending.

You can find some great financial management tips in this post.

2. Identify your strengths

To be a digital entrepreneur, you need to identify your strengths and weaknesses. To do so, there is a very good tool known as SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats).

It is a simple template that you can outline by hand or on the computer.

To create one, draw a table divided into four parts, with two rows and two columns. In the first column, list the aspects that will have a positive impact, and in the second, those that may hinder the development of your new business, as shown below.

Source – https://research-methodology.net/theory/strategy/swot-analysis/

As hard as it may seem, this is a very important exercise, as it helps you better visualize where you fit into the market and how you should position yourself to be different from your competition.

Find more essential terms for digital entrepreneurs in this glossary.

3. Choose your niche

Niches are segments with specific characteristics and needs within a broader market of operation.

For example:

Products for curly hair are a niche of hair products, which are part of the cosmetics market, which is part of the beauty market.

To find the ideal niche for you, revisit the last topic: How to choose the best niche in digital entrepreneurship

4. Analyze the market and your competitors

It is not uncommon to read texts online comparing the business world to war, and competitors to enemies that need to be defeated, regardless of the method you are going to adopt.

Although this is an exaggerated analysis, it isn’t about doing everything, but about doing what is right, we agree that knowing your competition well is the best way to gain a competitive edge over them and offer truly unique products.

But how should you do this analysis?

First, you have to ask the right questions. This is possible by setting well-defined business goals in the first few months.

For example:

Those who wish to work in the fitness niche will find that there are several websites on the subject, with very different proposals: focused on exercises, clothing, and equipment or food.

If entrepreneurs decide to evaluate all these sites, they will invest a lot of time and effort to compete with companies that often don’t even relate to your target audience. Therefore, focus on sites and channels that are relevant to the audience you are targeting.

After filtering your top competitors, note the kind of content these pages share and how they communicate with their consumers on social media.

It’s worth remembering that this process of analyzing competitors is merely to identify best practices, not to copy what others are doing, okay?

5. Get your own domain

Once you have completed all the analytical steps, it’s time to roll up your sleeves!

To get started, you’ll need to purchase a domain for your web page. This step is very important both for those who want to create a virtual store and for those entrepreneurs who will produce content.

Before acquiring the rights to a domain, you need to choose a name that synthesizes your business idea. This name should be short and easy to write, so users can easily find your page or recommend it to friends.

To know if the name you’ve chosen is already being used, go to register.com or godaddy.com. The search is free and takes no more than a few seconds.

We explain the process of purchasing a domain in our post on how to start a blog .

If you plan to work with digital products, we have good news: you don’t have to purchase a domain because there are specific platforms to make your product available, such as Hotmart.

In addition to generating a super-complete sales page, Hotmart has its own proprietary payment system and other features for creators and affiliates to stay in touch with their respective audiences.

6. Create a prototype of your idea

Before you launch your product or service in the market, you need to confirm whether your business idea is truly viable. To do this, try to answer the questions below.

• Does your product solve a problem? Which one?
• Can you execute this idea better than your competitors?
• Is your idea easy to understand?
• If you were in the consumer’s place, would you buy your product?

If you answered No to any of the questions, you might want to review your plan to find opportunities for improvement.

After this step, you can create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), which is basically a simpler version of your website, product, or service, with the minimum features required to operate. Beta versions of applications are examples of MVPs.

To validate your MVP, promote surveys, ask for help from a market expert, and perform A/B testing.

Based on the feedback received, you’ll be able to make the necessary improvements and launch a product that is more in line with market demands, i.e., your chances of success will be greater.

7. Promote your business

You’ve performed all tests, validated your strategic plan, and have found the time to dedicate to your new venture, so it’s time to promote your solution to people and sell it.

A good promotion strategy is supported by three key aspects:

• The consumer’s profile
• Useful content
• Communication channels

You need to find the right audience for your business, and deliver useful content to them when they need it. Moreover, to want to pay for it, these people need to see value in the product or service you’re offering.

Be on social media (but only on those that make sense to your audience!)

According to Search Engine Journal, there are 4.8 billion social media users, which equals 59.9% of the world population.

Does this mean that you’ll be able to reach everyone online? No, and you shouldn’t! Remember that your communication should be targeted only to the persona you mapped out for your business during the planning stage.

From the moment you create a profile on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube, make sure you produce specific content for these channels, taking into account the format required by each network and how people consume the content, so that your communication doesn’t become irrelevant.

On Instagram, for example, no one wants to read long texts (there’s even a character limit for posts!). People are looking for attractive images and short, objective videos.

On LinkedIn and other business-oriented networks, a technical and complete text might be more valuable.

Contact via email

An email list is one of the most valuable assets for entrepreneurs because the people on this list have given their permission for you to contact them.

But these users can also turn against you if you deliver bad content that is incompatible with their needs.

To create an effective email marketing strategy, you will need to segment your list, dividing your leads according to their stage in the buyer’s journey.

And one last important tip: never buy a ready-made mailing list. This might seem like the fastest way, but you’ll only waste time, effort and money with people who have no interest in what you offer.

Advertise

Ads are the fastest way to impact your potential buyers, but just like the previous tools, they will only have an effect if you target your audience correctly, and create attractive content that is the combination of an objective text with a good image or design.

And your job doesn’t end once the ad is ready! Once users have been impacted, you also need to make sure that they will be directed to a page with useful content. Otherwise, they will click on the ad, but won’t perform the action you expect.

This shows how important quality content is in your advertising strategy.

Several networks can be used to advertise and increase your business’ visibility, such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn.

There’s no minimum limit in terms of investments, it will all depend on your cash flow and how much you can earmark for ads. But don’t worry, because you can optimize your campaigns and obtain good returns on sales by spending less.

Do content marketing

Content marketing is so critical to anyone who wants to be an online entrepreneur that it deserves an entire post dedicated to the subject.

Basically, this methodology consists of creating quality content for your leads and followers, answering as many questions as possible, until these users feel at ease about becoming customers.

You can do this by email, by having a blog, by recording videos, or by creating rich materials.

Why is content marketing so highly valued: First, because you can put it into practice without spending anything, just the time it takes to produce the content. Second, because it brings long-lasting results.

Although ads increase your visibility instantly, which is tempting, content marketing will help you build a long-term relationship with your potential customers.

These customers can become promoters of your brand, which will attract more people to your page, creating a positive cycle for your business.

Inspiring stories in digital entrepreneurship

It isn’t always easy to give up on the financial security that a job provides to try your hand at becoming an entrepreneur. But if you perform a quick search on Google, you’ll find that there are several success stories among businesses that are 100% online, including Hotmart creators Marco Antonio Regil and David Meltzer.

If you’re thinking about starting a career as a digital entrepreneur, learning from others is essential. Billy Gene Shaw, founder of Billy Gene is Marketing, is one of the leading experts in digital entrepreneurship.

Billy Gene has helped thousands of digital entrepreneurs build successful businesses. He has a deep understanding of the creator economy and the latest digital marketing trends.

In this article, we share some of Billy Gene’s insights and advice on digital entrepreneurship. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re already running a digital business, you’re sure to learn something new.

Tips on how to succeed in digital entrepreneurship

By this point in the post, you’re probably feeling very inspired, and you have ideas bubbling up for a digital business segment.

Here a few tips to help your project succeed. Check them out below:

• Cultivate entrepreneurial skills. Even if it’s a side business to generate extra income, your state of mind can do wonders for your creativity and motivation to make your sales take off, as well as to be committed to your customers
• Keep your business costs under control. Even if your expenses are minimal, having them all written down and up to date, allows such commitments not to become a problem for you. Don’t sell merely to pay the bills your digital business has generated.
• Plan and set SMART goals according to the focus of your project. If the idea is to make a living as an affiliate from sales alone, evaluate what your ideal performance and results would be for the coming months and years – and, of course, regularly monitor whether you’re on the right track.
• Develop your sales and marketing knowledge, as they change constantly. In other words, always study new advertising tools, performance indicators, notions of content optimization, monetization, etc.
• Don’t become discouraged! Challenges are part of being an entrepreneur. and evaluate the lessons learned from failures and the mistakes you make.
• Try to network with other entrepreneurs who can exchange knowledge, create partnerships, and inspire you. Networking is key in the business world, including digital businesses.

Digital entrepreneurship: be your own boss! 

As we’ve shown in this post, digital entrepreneurship is a great option for anyone who wants to start their own business but has limited financial resources. The cost of starting a digital business is relatively low, and the market has a lot of potential due to changing consumer habits.

However, it’s important to note that digital entrepreneurship takes hard work, dedication, and study to build a successful digital business. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, the rewards can be great.

If you’re ready to take the first step, learn more about how Hotmart works and start your journey to digital entrepreneurship success!

This post was originally published in January 2018 and has since been updated to convey more complete, accurate information.