The fact is that if you are going to have a successful business, you are going to have to do it in the digital age, which we all should have embraced fully at this point. It is a reality and once you get comfortable with digital marketing as well as other digital tools, you will probably enjoy it.

How the digital age has affected the way that businesses are run
If you are at the point where you are starting a business, you will probably have an easier time of it and become successful more quickly than you would have before technology was functioning at such a high level.

Having a solid knowledge base that you can apply to selling your brand and your products and/or services will make all of the difference to your success in business and without it, you will not get very far in your business. Part of that knowledge is having a good understanding of the marketing angle of your business. Marketing is critical to all businesses and it is absolutely necessary for you to either be able to market your brand or to get someone else to do it for you. All that really matters is that it is done successfully.

Everyone loves an entrepreneur
Nowadays, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurships are well respected for everything that they are trying to do (and, hopefully, succeeding at). That attitude has been evolving over the last several years and entrepreneurs are taken just as seriously as all other business people. If a person who is starting a new business has a feeling that his or her efforts will probably not pay off, provided that the person has a unique angle to what he or she is trying to do, there is a good likelihood that the person will succeed (at least for a while).

So, the conclusion to draw here is that not only should the entrepreneur take the endeavor seriously but other people will also take that person and his or her efforts seriously. In fact, to go one step further, those other people will probably also be willing to recommend the entrepreneur and his or her offerings to other people.

The qualities of an effective entrepreneur
An effective entrepreneur is one who has a lot of positive energy, holds the attention of the target audience member effectively, is genuine, and is clear and concise at the same time. As a person who is reaching out to others to explain the heart of the business, it is important to be able to do that with as few words as possible. Of course, your passion for what you are doing must be obvious at the same time. You want to entice the other person with your ideas and your words and you want to get them to want to buy what you are selling.

You are selling yourself as much as you are selling your products and/or services
The reality is that if you are selling a product and/or service as a relatively new business owner, you are also have a responsibility to sell yourself. In fact, nobody will want to buy anything that you are selling if you can’t convince them that you are worth buying from. That means that you must possess certain qualities: sincerity, trustworthiness, credibility, and you must be a subject matter expert in your niche and/or industry. Of course, some of the other qualities that you should also possess are passion and ambition. All of those qualities put together make up a successful business person and one who will become even more successful over time.

Follow certain rules for success
As an entrepreneur, you are bound to learn a great deal as time goes on. First of all, you will need to have an attitude of receptiveness and you will want to embrace the idea that you will learn a great deal of valuable information that you will be able to leverage in your business.

Of course, your learning process will not always be easy. In fact, it will probably be more difficult more often than it will be easy. However, it is important for you to keep in mind that you will probably learn the most from the difficult (or trying) experiences. In fact, the learning experiences will enable you to adjust what you have been doing (and what may not have been working) in order to achieve more favorable results (results that you can use to improve your business practices and business approach).

The fact is that if you are able to identify what you have been doing incorrectly, you will be able to fix those things so that you are able to achieve positive results for your business. You should never consider that whatever isn’t working is a failure on your part. You need to look at it as a learning experience. It is important for you to remember that you will walk away richer (in many different ways) than you were before.

Avoid certain pitfalls
Although you probably do many more things right than wrong, there are certain common mistakes that you (and many other people) may be inclined to make. You never want to be:

• Unprepared: Being unprepared is completely avoidable under most circumstances. When it comes to your own products and/or services, you should understand (and be able to recite) every aspect of it (or them) in your sleep. No matter what question is brought up, you need to make sure that you have an intelligent, insightful answer every time. If you care about what you are selling (as well as being passionate about your products and/or services), it will come through in the way that you answer the question(s).
• Unenthusiastic: Enthusiasm goes hand-in-hand with passion. If you have amazing, creative ideas but you can’t express your enthusiasm for those ideas, nobody else will actually buy into what you are saying and in what you are trying to do. It is a simple concept. This is also where the concept of selling comes into it. You need to sell yourself to the other person before you can sell anything else.
• Arrogant: Before you can get anywhere at all in business, you need to believe in yourself and in your power to make your dreams come true. Additionally, you need to like yourself as well. If you do that, others will feel the same way about you.
• Speak more than listen: Of course, undoubtedly, you will need to be able to communicate clearly in as effective a manner as possible. However, you also need to listen effectively. The chances are great that the other person has a lot of valuable information to impart to you to help you make a raging success of your business.

Conclusion
Running a successful business in the digital age comes with its own set of challenges, although, in many ways, you probably have an easier time achieving your business’ goals now than you would have before. Nowadays, you have a lot of tools at your fingertips that can really make a positive difference to your business. If you are passionate, persistent, and enthusiastic, you are bound to succeed. As an entrepreneur, you need to be willing to take calculated risks as well. That doesn’t mean that you should be reckless. You need to balance the potential risk with the approach and what you have now and what you stand to gain. At that point, you will be able to make an intelligent, informed decision.

Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has over 25 years of experience in IT and web technologies. Mr. Cohn spent a significant amount of time at a major telecommunications company, where his main focus was on initiating and leading synergy efforts across all business units by dramatically improving efficiency, online collaboration, and the company’s Intranet capabilities, which accelerated gains in business productivity. He also reduced company travel and travel costs by introducing and implementing various collaboration technologies.

His expertise includes business analysis; project management; management of global cross-matrix teams; systems engineering and analysis, architecture, prototyping and integration; technology evaluation and assessment; systems development; performance evaluation; and management of off-shore development.