What would you want to see in a documentary about digital entrepreneurship?

M

Michael Hall

Member
I'm a producer and filmmaker. My partner and I are working on a documentary and would love to know your thoughts about what we should include.

What's the #1 thing you'd like to see in a documentary about digital entrepreneurship? Thanks so much! :)
 
Edvin

Edvin

MVP
Michael Hall said:
What's the #1 thing you'd like to see in a documentary about digital entrepreneurship?
Click to expand...
I'm guessing "digital entrepreneurship" means what entrepreneurs are doing or must do in digital age.

Before I share my thoughts on the content of the video; I want to review consumer types, which include Analytical, Driver, Amiable, and Expressive (source).
GraphicofBuyers.jpg
In my opinion, entrepreneurs gravitate towards the upper quadrant of the above model. To take risks we must be data-driven (analytical), strong willed, and persistent in our efforts. Any information that can potentially influence us will certainly get our attention.

To influence analytical minded individuals your content must be research and evidence based; showing the good/bad/ugly of past/present/future for one or more business activities is going to be engaging.

Many advisers are quick to say that businesses need SEO, social media, flying pigs, etc; similarly, they are quick to point out mistakes; but, the cost of implementation is either ignored or highlighted for another failure. Larger organizations have dedicated specialized teams; so, how can small businesses with limited resources be as effective as larger organization. Yes, social media can help level playing field; but, we need to remember that the small business owners also have limited budget, time, and consumer reach.

Another idea is talk about entrepreneurship in different industries; for example, what are the lowest/highest loan default rate and how businesses and franchise companies are painting a different picture. What is the average gross and net revenue. These content will be appealing to individuals that want to start embarking on the entrepreneurial endeavor.

Yet another option is to talk about business plans. How many businesses actually 1) write a business plans, 2) how large is their business plan (e.g. 2 page vs 100 pg) , 3) how many execute their business based on the business plan, 4) how many have a living business plan, 5) how do businesses compare to to ones with no plan (financially, size, market share, etc), 6) how are business plans of today different than from the past, 7) what is the next business plan trend, 8) Are software bundled business plan better than manual ones

The list of questions that entrepreneurs ask themselves are endless, and touching on these questions will certainly get more of our attention. For example, if I google new business best practices, I'll find someone talking about unify my branding and marketing efforts; but, to what extent? Perhaps a review of marketing divide would be appropriate.

Intuitively, we can agree that seldom a single item is responsible for success/failure of a business; but, we want to maximize our efforts. So, how do we effectively (and economically) tackle all items such as location selection, finance, infrastructure, etc?

Similarly, there is a conflict on failing often & fast vs research. I personally take great effort to research and have been accused of being victim to analysis-paralysis; however, I always find myself with inadequate information and wonder if the extra time was worth my effort. Furthermore, when I talk to other entrepreneurs they are quick poke holes in my findings; so, how much research is enough.
Cartoon-Analysis-Paralysis3.png

Cartoon-Analysis-Paralysis2.jpg
Though I find the Erika Hall's article from above post interesting, I find it to be simply content blog strategy. For example, I'm in process of shifting k-12 standard tutoring to k-12 STEM enrichment. But, how do I research the viability and the demand for my businesses. Yes, I have $130 billion dollar industry and the increased activity from legislation and projected jobs, blah, blah, blah; but, I still don't know the viability of business locally. No research can guarantee my entrepreneurial outcome; at some-point I have to jump with both feet in the water and hope that I can swim to the top.

Similarly, you are here trying to figure out what kind content is useful to us. If the info was available, you would quickly reference it; but, finding "sufficiently useful" information as Erika stated is not easy to come-by.

We advocate prototyping; but, that is also not always possible either. For example, I contacted two property owners today to lease their vacant spaces for short two month summer lease to pilot a business concept; however, the landlords "require a two year lease" and would prefer to keep their property vacant rather than agree to short-term lease. Brick & mortar small business owners have to commit to a long-term lease without being able to test the market. Well, there goes the idea of fail often and fail fast.

Perhaps, you can look at a business plan template, and start asking detailed questions on how business owners would attempt to complete business plan template. For example, I find information regarding regarding how to find best location on entrepreneur.com inadequate, and Small Business Association (SBA) is not much help either. It took me a long time to research/comprehend/compile my posts on location selection. Despite this research, I am ignoring them to pilot business idea; now, we are back in-full circle to Erika's article that I haven't done enough research for viability of my business.

Conclusion:
There are a lot of inadequate information regarding entrepreneurship. You are unlikely to come-up with definitive answer; however, you can provide content about past/present/future-trends for one or more activities that entrepreneurs engage in.

Good luck.
-Edvin
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Top Bottom