5 tips from João Pedro Resende to digital entrepreneurs

I’m sure you already know that Hotmart is a Distance Learning platform,  leader on its segment in Latin America, and our main goal is to enable people to make a living out of their passions.

To achieve this goal, we had to unite Producers, Affiliates and buyers, on top of creating tools to help people who work with digital products.

For this reason, all of our specialists constantly study the digital market. Therefore, we are always aware of everything that is happening in this market so we can bring new information as soon as possible to all of you.

João Pedro Resende, CEO and co-founder of Hotmart, not only encourages our Troopers that develop the platform to keep up with news from the market, he also brings crucial insights for people who want to work on the internet.

Would you like to check out JP’s perceptions about digital entrepreneurship? Take a look at his 5 tips.

(In order to get all the news, keep up with João Pedro Resende on his Sparkle track.)

1. Develop an entrepreneurial Mindset

For João Pedro Resende, the main role of an entrepreneur is to analyze problems that are around them and find an opportunity in those problems.

From there, it’s possible to explore those issues by building something that will be valuable for people who need those solutions.

Overall, the real entrepreneur is the one who starts something from scratch as means to solve other people’s problems and generate an impact on their lives.

That is exactly why entrepreneurship can happen in or outside the company,

There are also other ways to look at it.

Some people want to create a business just as a way to earn extra income, or work with what they like, with no intention of it being their main source of income.

That is another way of being an entrepreneur. The difference is, that one is a mindset focused on keeping the business small.

A person who thinks about becoming an entrepreneur, however, doesn’t necessarily want to commit to something that will, automatically, demand more work.

There is nothing wrong with that. It is a decision you have to make according to your needs. Those are just two different ways to follow the entrepreneurship path.

Among those different mindsets, João Pedro Resende’s option was to create something big, that would cause an impact that would change a lot of lives.

Regardless of what kind of entrepreneur you are, there are some basic principles that can guide you on this journey:

• Constantly add value to your clients, users or audience. Only after doing that will you be able to make a profit.
• Innovate, when necessary, in a way that you’ll add value to you customers. But keep in mind that the content or solution may not  be as valuable in a year. Be aware of that.
• Think long-term. That way, you’ll be able to plan your actions and get some of the burden off your shoulders.
• Do not focus on opportunities that are not aligned with your main goals.
• Ponder the fact that, when you start your business, some things may go wrong. Problems are bound to come up and it will be up to you to fix them.
• Do better every day. That means developing technical, behavioral and social skills through your entrepreneurship journey.

2. Have a portfolio (more than one product)

You probably know that one of the first steps to creating or selling a digital product is defining your niche.

The biggest problem for most Producers and Affiliates comes right after that definition:

Should I have one or more products to sell?  

After some research, Hotmart was able to figure out one of the patterns that make people grow faster on the digital market, and it is exactly having more than one product to offer.

Of course that is not a rule. After all, each entrepreneur has a different strategy.

You can start your business and achieve success with only one product. But what João Pedro Resende has identified, along with Hotmart’s Business Intelligence team, was that with a portfolio, businesses grow faster.

3. Learn how to generate traffic

Every digital business needs an audience, whether for an offer, a blog or a YouTube channel, for example.

But do you know how to generate traffic quickly and keep it steady?

Lots of people believe that the only way to get hits on their channels is to go to Google Ads and Facebook Ads, for example, and create targeted ads.But João Pedro Resende explained that it’s possible to hire YouTubers and bloggers who share a niche market with you so they can promote your product to their audience, which is already engaged.

Along with Leonardo Leite, a professor at the Hotmart Academy, JP has identified some advantages and disadvantages of hiring someone who already has traffic on their channel to advertise your business. Check it out!

Advantages

1. Be quick

The process of negotiating and hiring a digital influencer to promote your product happens very fast.

Once you define what should be done, it is the youtuber, blogger or instagrammer that will create all the content.

That means you won’t have to create a website, prepare your fan base, create an email list nor blog to try to get a good rank in the search engines.

All you need to have is a place to send that audience to.

2. Evergreen content

The content created by the digital influencer will be online forever.

That’s a big plus because, imagine you’ve hired a YouTuber to make a video. It’s possible that video will go viral and continue to bring audiences to your product for a long time.

3. Reduce processes

You don’t need to create content to attract visitors.

As JP and Leo explained in the first topic, all the work of creating what will be conveyed will be up to the digital influencer you hire.

You just have to go through the content briefing and all the work of doing the script, recording the video or writing the post will be on the hands of who you hired.

4. Social proof

When you hire someone to recommend your product, you are not the one who is talking about your own business, but someone who already knows the audience and knows what they need.

Having a social proof, that is, someone recommending what you sell, is very important to give credibility to your product.

5. Immediate traffic

From the moment you don’t have to build traffic and are using someone else’s audience, that audience will automatically be transported to your offer.

If you need a very quick start, hiring someone who already has a great traffic is the best way to get things going.

Disadvantages

1. Different values

Each influencer you talk to will charge a different amount to promote your product. So it’s very hard to be sure of how much you’ll spend.

It is possible for YouTubers to charge anywhere from USD 200 to USD 50,000, or even more, depending on who you are hiring.

You will probably have to talk to an agency beforehand, since it is difficult to speak directly to the influencer, especially when they are well-known.

Of course you can try to negotiate, but the price of this type of service varies a lot. So, be sure to do an in-depth research before making a decision.

2. High stakes

When you hire someone, it is possible that their work doesn’t bring the expected results.

This is a risk that you will have to take and that cannot be measured before the video or text goes online.

4. Learn how to deal with the side effects from new technologies

Every time we have a technological advancement, several side effects appear along the way, as well as extremely difficult questions.

As João Pedro Resende explained in his talk on FIRE 2017, the longer we take to get to the answers to these questions, the worse it is.

That’s because no matter what conclusion you make and what you decide to do, you can be sure that other people will have done it already.

New technologies have several advantages and as a digital entrepreneur it is important to think about what can help improve people’s day-to-day lives. But be prepared to deal with the changes  that these innovations bring.

JP gave us an example that should make it clearer:

Artificial Intelligence is a topic that has been generating a lot of controversy, since we don’t know what is the limit of intelligence that a person or a machine can reach.

The big problem we are faced with is a potential situation in which we create an artificial intelligence so superior to ours that it begins to question our decisions.

As a digital entrepreneur, you need to make the most of out of the positive things the development of your product brings. But, currently, be sure to find ways not to let your technology get out of hand.

5. Networking

A lot of people don’t  believe that networking is crucial to all entrepreneurs.

If you also think so, know that meeting people who are in the same market as yours and sharing experiences with them  can help you realize things that you wouldn’t have otherwise.

We know it’s not easy meeting new people, especially if you’ve just entered the digital market.

An easy way to meet other entrepreneurs who are also in your market and  also get various insights is by attending events in your area of work.

Are you interested and want to know more about this? Check out our post with 11 networking tips.