As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases.
Last updated on February 4th, 2023
Have you been side-eyeing digital entrepreneurs, wondering if the lifestyle is possibly as exciting as full of opportunity as it looks?
The pay-offs for being a digital entrepreneur are massive: you have no income ceiling, can outsource tasks you don’t like and work from anywhere in the world.
But, just like any alternative lifestyle, it’s not without difficulties. Let me answer all over the questions you’ve had been hadn’t wanted to outright ask.
Have a question, comment or thought to add? Leave a comment at the bottom and I’ll reply right away 🙂
10 Digital Entrepreneur FAQs
FAQ #1: How Do Digital Entrepreneurs Make Money?
There are countless types of online businesses that one can start, but they all revolve around the same concept of making money online. You don’t need any special certifications or even a degree to succeed as a digital entrepreneur. You just need to sell something.
Some people will buy products in bulk, sell them online and have a warehouse distribute them without ever touching the product (aka drop shipping). Other people will sell their services. Some digital entrepreneurs will make handmade or digital products and sell those to customers. The list is endless.
FAQ #2: Is It Hard To Become A Digital Entrepreneur?
There are certain skills that will help ease the process of becoming a digital entrepreneur, but anyone who’s determined to learn can learn these traits.
A few of the most important skills to hone are:
- Communication. Everyone’s replaceable online. Let’s say someone hires you to be their Pinterest manager but you’re slow and clunky to work with. They can easily open an online job board and have another 100 Pinterest managers at their fingertips. Always go the extra mile. This will help you establish a positive working relationship with people who you’ll never meet in real life and could easily find someone else to do what you do
- Organization. Lost files, a misplaced charging cord that caused you to miss a deadline and missed emails will cost you money.
- Personality. This may sound strange, but when you’re building a service-based business or a brand, communicating your personality online is vital in making you memorable, help you connect with people and build that know-like-trust factor
- Troubleshooting. This leads right into digital entrepreneur FAQ #3…
FAQ #3: Do You Have To Be Super Techy?
I know this question is on everyone’s mind, but what does it *mean* to be techy? Is it a natural inclination to understand all things in the digital space? I certainly don’t have that. I reckon most digital entrepreneurs don’t.
You can learn the tech that you need, the same way that you learned to drive a car. You weren’t worried that you weren’t “drivy” enough to figure that out, did you?
You are capable of learning the necessary tech skills. It’s the difference between having a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. The only ingredient that you need to succeed at being techy is being able to troubleshoot.
You may also like: Jargon-Free Guide To Blog SEO
Troubleshooting generally looks like a lot like this:
- You’re struggling with something. Try Googling it. Have you found a blog post or video to walk you through it?
- It’s still not working. Can you talk to customer support for the platform, plugin or whatever is raising heck?
- Try Googling it again. I’m not being silly, sometimes it just takes a couple of goes to find what you need.
- Post your question in a Facebook group for people in your industry.
If you have what it takes to follow those 4 skills, you are techy enough to become a digital entrepreneur. Huzzah!
FAQ #4: How Much Money Can You Make As A Digital Entrepreneur?
A company’s goal is to pay employees as little as possible while still getting those same employees to make *the company* as much money as possible. It’s gross, actually.
On the other hand, there’s no limit on how much you can make online. While it’s not the norm, I love showing people this blogger who makes $2k a day, just to blow the roof off their expectations.
You will make however much money you want as a digital entrepreneur. You can create and sell any product to anyone on the internet, and you set the prices. Why shouldn’t you make however much money you want?
It’s not as simple as deciding your income goal for the year and then sitting back and waiting for your bank account to be flooded. You’ll still have to do all of the creating and selling, but you control the entire process.
FAQ #5: How Long Does It Take To Start Making Money As A Digital Entrepreneur?
Depending on what skills you already have, you could start making money as a digital entrepreneur within the next week.
That’s assuming that you have some skills that people pay for online. A few obvious skills include graphic design, teaching English, web design, etc.
The next step is to simply find a client. The best place that I’ve discovered for clients is Facebook groups for fellow digital entrepreneurs. People often post job listings there and it’s a very friendly, supportive environment.
That’s the approach to selling your services, and results can be quick. For example, I became a Pinterest manager essentially overnight when I was answering someone’s questions about Pinterest and they point-blank asked “can I pay you to manage my account?”
That was an existing skill that I already had; I had been learning Pinterest marketing for 2 years, so I was able to hit the ground running with this service. Another approaches to becoming a digital entrepreneur, such as starting your own brand, take longer to become established and profitable.
FAQ #6: How Much Money Do You Need To Make?
Deflate your current lifestyle costs, calculate how much money your ideal life costs and start plotting
That number doesn’t have to be high. For example, you can live in an apartment in Vietnam next to the beach for $300 a month. If you can manage to make a couple hundred dollars a month as a digital entrepreneur, then you can support yourself in certain parts of the world.
…by the beach in a tropical climate. Dare I say *better* parts of the world??
Where you live and how you live will determine how much money you need to make as a digital entrepreneur. Personally, I charge $450 per Pinterest management client, so with only 2 clients I can be living it up in Vietnam (and someday, I will be).
FAQ #7: Are You A Digital Entrepreneur? What Do You Do For Money?
Indeed I am a digital entrepreneur myself! My journey began back in 2017 – I was freelance writing as I backpacked through Latin America (also known as the digital nomad lifestyle). Freelancing was a nice gateway job into being a digital entrepreneur, but it didn’t suit my needs.
I wanted more creative freedom to write about whatever I wanted, as well as the time freedom to make and meet my own deadlines. So, I started a blog!
Now I’m a Pinterest manager and a blogger. Translated, that means that I make money managing other digital entrepreneurs’ Pinterest accounts, and I make money blogging.
FAQ #8: Is The Actual Lifestyle As Good As It Looks?
The entrepreneur lifestyle is saturated.
It’s intensely free and satisfying.
There’s an intense amount of opportunity.
But when it’s bad, it’s intensely bad.
That’s one of the many hard to swallow pills of the entrepreneurial lifestyle.
It will not always be enjoyable or easy, but I do feel that being a digital entrepreneur is very straightforward: sell something that someone finds valuable.
As a reminder, in the 70s and onward, people bought (bought) pet rocks. Which, if you’re not acquainted with this household pet, are literally just rocks that come with an instruction manual on how to care for them. That someone sold. To other people. For money. MF genius.
Selling isn’t a dirty word or profession. Even content creators have to sell something: information and a dream. It’s what the content industry thrives on.
May you’ve been eyeing up amateur blogging and this idea calls to you. Whatever you choose, and it can literally be anything, you just have to sell.
You do the only thing you can do: do your best work, hit your goals and enjoy the journey along the way to abundance.
FAQ #9: What’s Difficult About Digital Entrepreneurship?
An online business is, quite frankly, the answer to everything you could want from a job. But it can be lonely.
And emotionally, it requires much more from you than a normal job.
Instead of having a boss assigning you tasks and doing them, being a digital entrepreneur requires you to be everything for yourself.
You have to decide what needs to be done. And when it ought to be done by.
That may sound simple, but having a boss that sends tasks down the pipeline to you is a serious luxury. Having to research, decide and execute with no deadline or external pressure is a very difficult task.
I’ll give you an example: I thought about launching my shop for a year before I started working on it. Once I decided, the process took about 6 months to complete.
The tasks themselves could’ve taken me about a week, had a boss assigned them to me.
Being everything to your business is a large emotional task. It takes a lot of headspace and discipline.
FAQ #10: Do You Have Any Advice For Someone Who Wants To Become A Digital Entrepreneur?
Start honing the right remote work habits *now.* If you struggle to focus online, are an organizational trainwreck or lack motivation, you will need to pick up the pace a little bit before diving into your entrepreneurial journey.
Most importantly: hone the right entrepreneurial mindset. Becoming a digital entrepreneur is a radically different game than being employed. Your mindset will determine your success, income and happiness.
But don’t take it from just me: you can read the advice of these 12 women
Digital Entrepreneurship Final Thoughts
Are you still interested in becoming a digital entrepreneur? Where will you start first – start selling a skill that you already have, or start dabbling with a new endeavor altogether?
Whatever you pursue, congratulations of embarking on the journey to becoming a digital entrepreneur! You’re in the ride of a lifetime.