Computers and the Internet have vastly changed our expectations of what tasks can be performed at jobs and in a career. With everything from online shopping changing the way we process orders for goods and services to social media opening up several related specialist positions within communications, the digital landscape is a key part of how people work in our era.
As with any career, those who work as entrepreneurs benefit from learning to navigate the technologies of our day.
The Digital Work Field
Because of the Internet, you can work from almost anywhere, and whatever your business idea is, you can market to people from all over the world.
However, with the digital landscape making the globe into one big marketplace, you are also competing with others from all over. It is more important than ever to be able to stand out and market what you have to offer effectively. Here are some tips for working with others in the digital landscape to get your ideas off the ground:
1. Getting Help
Navigating the Internet can often be too big a job for one entrepreneur to reasonably do alone. Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities to work with other people online. Increasingly, there are plenty of AI tools that can assist you as well.
Working With People
You have many options for where to find people to work with online. When you have projects that are more viable to hire a freelancer for than an employee, you can look to sites like UpWork or Fiverr to look around for someone who will be a good fit for working with you on what you need to be done. There is no shortage of specialists or different personalities that you may find easy to work with – it’s all a matter of knowing what you want. As an entrepreneur, that’s something you’ll need to know anyway if you’re to succeed.
If you have employees, on the other hand, a basic familiarity with technology is helpful in the present world, where remote and hybrid jobs are gaining popularity with employers and employees alike. Setting up a physical office space for a hybrid job is beyond the scope of this article, but as far as setting up a digital space, there are several helpful technologies to consider. How do you communicate digitally with remote and hybrid employees? Do you have a dedicated video conference app like Zoom or Google Meet? Do you have an instant messaging service set up for collaboration, such as a group chat or What’s App? Or do you have professional social media like Slack for a similar purpose?
Working With AI
Increasingly, the use of AI in the workforce is becoming more common as the technology behind it improves. AI makes it quick and easy to get texts and images through tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney, though both quality and ethics questions remain relevant to using them professionally. You may find it worthwhile to educate yourself on the basics of how AI works, where and how it gets the data that it’s trained on, and what its strengths and limitations are when deciding what ethics you wish to use for AI and in which areas of your business, if any, you would want to implement AI-based tools.
2. Reaching Costumers and Clients
It’s difficult to find a major brand without a website nowadays, and there are even some brands that are only online. Getting a website is a major step toward becoming a digital entrepreneur (or being any kind of entrepreneur, given how many people shop and conduct business online), and it’s one worth doing as well as you can. As with hiring a freelancer, you’ll get the best results if you know what you want from your website. Is it meant for your main business needs, or is your business based elsewhere like on Amazon or Patreon? Even if your site isn’t your main business, what is it? Is it a way for people to contact you? Is it a way for potential clients and customers to get to know you and your brand? How large of a website do you need? What’s your budget? Where are you going to get your site hosted?
Even having a website means nothing without a way to get traffic. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists can help boost your rankings in online searches, and getting links noticed on other sites helps as well. In part, this can mean advertisements, but establishing a social media presence for your brand helps. This area is where a social media specialist shines.
In general, content is the most critical for getting people to visit your online business. You have something to offer as an entrepreneur, and that something will keep people returning to you to make purchases. Whether you are selling products in an online store, services that can be hired out online, or simply hosting content to advertise your business elsewhere, it’s the feeling that it is worth a visitor’s time that makes repeat business more likely.
An Overall View of Being an Entrepreneur in the Digital Age
Times change, and so does technology. Today, the vast connections of our world afford more opportunities than ever to the canny entrepreneur. As technology improves, there will be even more options for running your business, and keeping up with the times will remain critical to building a successful career as an entrepreneur.
However, just because technology advances doesn’t mean you have to work alone: Technology can increase your access to help with your business as you can find the types of specialized freelancers you need for your projects and even hire help over the Internet.
Computers and the Internet have vastly changed our expectations of what tasks can be performed at jobs and in a career. With everything from online shopping changing the way we process orders for goods and services to social media opening up several related specialist positions within communications, the digital landscape is a key part of how people work in our era.
As with any career, those who work as entrepreneurs benefit from learning to navigate the technologies of our day.
The Digital Work Field
Because of the Internet, you can work from almost anywhere, and whatever your business idea is, you can market to people from all over the world.
However, with the digital landscape making the globe into one big marketplace, you are also competing with others from all over. It is more important than ever to be able to stand out and market what you have to offer effectively. Here are some tips for working with others in the digital landscape to get your ideas off the ground:
1. Getting Help
Navigating the Internet can often be too big a job for one entrepreneur to reasonably do alone. Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities to work with other people online. Increasingly, there are plenty of AI tools that can assist you as well.
Working With People
You have many options for where to find people to work with online. When you have projects that are more viable to hire a freelancer for than an employee, you can look to sites like UpWork or Fiverr to look around for someone who will be a good fit for working with you on what you need to be done. There is no shortage of specialists or different personalities that you may find easy to work with – it’s all a matter of knowing what you want. As an entrepreneur, that’s something you’ll need to know anyway if you’re to succeed.
If you have employees, on the other hand, a basic familiarity with technology is helpful in the present world, where remote and hybrid jobs are gaining popularity with employers and employees alike. Setting up a physical office space for a hybrid job is beyond the scope of this article, but as far as setting up a digital space, there are several helpful technologies to consider. How do you communicate digitally with remote and hybrid employees? Do you have a dedicated video conference app like Zoom or Google Meet? Do you have an instant messaging service set up for collaboration, such as a group chat or What’s App? Or do you have professional social media like Slack for a similar purpose?
Working With AI
Increasingly, the use of AI in the workforce is becoming more common as the technology behind it improves. AI makes it quick and easy to get texts and images through tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney, though both quality and ethics questions remain relevant to using them professionally. You may find it worthwhile to educate yourself on the basics of how AI works, where and how it gets the data that it’s trained on, and what its strengths and limitations are when deciding what ethics you wish to use for AI and in which areas of your business, if any, you would want to implement AI-based tools.
2. Reaching Costumers and Clients
It’s difficult to find a major brand without a website nowadays, and there are even some brands that are only online. Getting a website is a major step toward becoming a digital entrepreneur (or being any kind of entrepreneur, given how many people shop and conduct business online), and it’s one worth doing as well as you can. As with hiring a freelancer, you’ll get the best results if you know what you want from your website. Is it meant for your main business needs, or is your business based elsewhere like on Amazon or Patreon? Even if your site isn’t your main business, what is it? Is it a way for people to contact you? Is it a way for potential clients and customers to get to know you and your brand? How large of a website do you need? What’s your budget? Where are you going to get your site hosted?
Even having a website means nothing without a way to get traffic. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists can help boost your rankings in online searches, and getting links noticed on other sites helps as well. In part, this can mean advertisements, but establishing a social media presence for your brand helps. This area is where a social media specialist shines.
In general, content is the most critical for getting people to visit your online business. You have something to offer as an entrepreneur, and that something will keep people returning to you to make purchases. Whether you are selling products in an online store, services that can be hired out online, or simply hosting content to advertise your business elsewhere, it’s the feeling that it is worth a visitor’s time that makes repeat business more likely.
An Overall View of Being an Entrepreneur in the Digital Age
Times change, and so does technology. Today, the vast connections of our world afford more opportunities than ever to the canny entrepreneur. As technology improves, there will be even more options for running your business, and keeping up with the times will remain critical to building a successful career as an entrepreneur.
However, just because technology advances doesn’t mean you have to work alone: Technology can increase your access to help with your business as you can find the types of specialized freelancers you need for your projects and even hire help over the Internet.
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