👨🏻‍💻 How I’m Building a Digital Business

Good morning.

It’s incredible how freeing it can be to make a hard decision and set clear intentions.

Last Thursday, on the one-year anniversary of this newsletter, I did just that and felt an immediate sense of relief and renewed energy.

Since then, I made my first dollar on the Internet ($1.20, to be exact), real estate leads have been coming out of nowhere, I broke through a brick wall of writer’s block, and I made my first angel investment. What a week.

You’ll notice a couple of new sections this week. A short recap of some things I enjoyed last week and a list including my personal tech stack.

I’d love to hear what you think and if there are any apps or gear you can’t live without!

Let’s get into it.

— Gordon

Everyday Insights 👀
Keeping you in the know

• The new real estate investment edge: Tech-enabled brand, CX, and loyalty [McKinsey]

• Your Team Members Aren’t Participating in Meetings. Here’s What to Do [Harvard Business Review]

• Instagram Says Posting Longer Reels Can Hurt Your Performance [Social Media Today]

How to Build I’m Building a Digital Business 👨🏻‍💻

More people than ever before are pursuing a life by design that offers location and time freedom, and income potential that is more aligned with their efforts than the traditional 9-5.

Over the past few years, the barriers to entry that once prevented such opportunities have been eliminated. Entrepreneurship and the ability to create a living doing what you love have never been more accessible.

The global creator economy is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.5% and is expected to reach $528.39 billion by 2030, up from its current value of over $155 billion.

Our world has shifted from a physically-based, digitally-enhanced world, to a digital-first world.

When you are learning-based, develop skills, and are willing to fail and keep going, you can build your digital empire.

Unfortunately, there are few, if any, success stories that didn’t start with, shall we say, an analog business. In my hundreds of hours of research, most successful digital-first businesses began with client work.

The good news is that a clear roadmap has been formed and proven.

Want to work where you want, when you want, and with whom you want?

HERE’S HOW:

1. Start with client (consulting) work

2. Achieve results, earn money

3. Build a digital audience

4. Create digital products

5. Add automation

Then, say goodbye to client work (if you prefer). 👋

And scale by growing your audience and offerings. 📈

Step 1: Start with client (consulting) work

Begin your journey by offering project-based consulting services.

This helps you understand the needs of your target audience and earn some revenue. Consulting provides a solid foundation of experience and credibility. You’ll need that credibility (specific results) to build an audience from scratch.

It’s the essential first step to establish your expertise.

Before you can decide what digital products to build, you must first understand your customer's problems and how you can solve them successfully.

Step 2: Achieve results, earn money

Master a particular set of skills and then use them to identify gaps in your client's knowledge and solve their problems.

Focus on delivering tangible results for your clients. Satisfied clients will bring repeat business and referrals. This revenue not only supports you financially but also builds your reputation.

Achieving results solidifies your value proposition. It also helps you identify common challenges your audience faces so you can create content and educational products that address them.

Step 3: Build a digital audience

Share your knowledge and successes online to grow your digital presence and increase your influence and reach.

Use writing-based platforms like LinkedIn (currently the best platform to begin digital writing) or 𝕏 to attract and engage an audience. Begin with honing your digital writing skills before diving into video.

Becoming a better writer will not only help you be a more effective communicator and create more engaging content, but you’ll also learn copywriting for your product landing pages.

An engaged audience is crucial for future product launches. It also opens doors to new business opportunities, positions you as the trusted expert in your field, and creates tremendous leverage and negotiation power.

To prepare your business for the next step, begin “de-platforming” your audience as early as possible to a weekly newsletter.

A newsletter allows you to build a database to communicate directly to your audience and avoids potential business disruptions from platform algorithm changes. Control your controllables.

Step 4: Create digital products

Transform your experience from client work and building an audience into digital products such as courses or templates.

Creating digital products diversifies your revenue streams and is a scalable way to share your expertise. These products can be created once and sold repeatedly.

Based on customer feedback, test, and iterate to improve your products and create additional offerings.

This is how you turn your knowledge into income and enjoy true location and time freedom.

Step 5: Add Automation

Integrate automation tools like Zapier to streamline your business operations.

Automation saves time and reduces errors, allowing you to focus on your growth strategies and product development. It also improves customer experience through timely and consistent communication.

Take back your time by letting technology handle the repetitive tasks.

Invest that time doing more of what you love with who you love.

ONWARD TOGETHER.

My Favorite Things 💙
What I’m reading, watching, and studying

1. Non-Fiction Book: Last weekend, I started reading Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. I’m 33% through it and love how it strikes down common limiting beliefs around creating original work and provides an alternative lens through which to see the world and create.

2. YouTube: Nicolas Cole is a creator I’ve been following for nearly a year now. I joined his writing cohort, Ship 30 For 30, last October and again in January, and it’s helped me learn digital writing and has helped tremendously with being consistent. He posted this video, 10 Reasons You Aren’t Writing Online (And How To Fix Them), and it covers so much of what new creators go through and how to overcome those challenges. It also may be one of the most perfectly executed YouTube videos I’ve seen. Check it out!

3. Course: On Friday, I had a light day and decided to dive into Jon Brosio's Complete Creator course. Within a couple of hours, I had nearly finished it and had some great takeaways. Jon talked about how to study your favorite creators and create remixes of your favorite (and their best-performing) content to create your own new content infused with your perspective and lived experience. I feel like he’s read Steal Like An Artist. 😆

My Tech Stack 📱
Tools I use personally + professionally

When you start your first business, it's easy to get distracted by shiny objects.

More often than not, you don't need much of a tech stack in the beginning. As your business grows, you look for ways to leverage your time. Technology is a great place to start before your first hire.

Here are my favorite tools to operate my digital business:

• vidIQ—The insights, information, and coaching video creators need to grow*

• Loom—The easiest screen recorder you’ll ever use

• Canva—Makes it easy to create professional designs

• beehiiv—The Newsletter Platform Built for Growth*

• Calendly—Takes the work out of scheduling with others so you can accomplish more

• LastPass—Safely store and autofill passwords across devices

• Hypefury—Your personal assistant to grow & monetize your 𝕏 (Twitter) audience*

• Typeshare—The Digital Writing Platform*

• ChatGPT Plus—Your personal AI assistant to get answers, find inspiration, and be more productive

• Hemingway App—The Hemingway App makes your writing bold and clear

• Google Workspace—Manage your emails, docs, sheets, tasks, and schedule in one place*

• QuickBooks Online—QuickBooks makes online accounting easy

• Adobe Creative Cloud—Design with confidence to tell your brand's story — and help your business grow