Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in marketing but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Alessio Beltrami, Owner of Content Republic Lda, located in Porto, Portugal.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I work as an educator and populizer in the marketing field. I talk specifically about Content Marketing with both online and offline courses. Some of my educational paths are organized in an ongoing way – for example, Content Marketing Academy. There are others that can be purchased individually, free from the periodicity of life lessons.
90% of my public consists of freelancers and small entrepreneurs. I deal with small businesses that want to master the production of content and all the aspects linked to it. Particularly, I’m talking to people who want to expose themselves personally in order to communicate their ideas and their way of interpreting their business in this environment.
Tell us about yourself
I started as a copywriter more than 20 years ago in the Italian market, working both offline and online. At that time, a great part of communication happened on paper and offline. With time, I became more specialized in the online field, focusing on Content Marketing and its applications, like email marketing and storytelling.
Transferring to education was natural since many of the experts at that time were working with online marketing and started later to teach what they knew to colleagues and entrepreneurs who had never dealt with that field before.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Having created a healthy ecosystem, including the relationship with clients and partners. To do that, content and the use of Content Marketing has been fundamental since what I teach in my courses has been, first of all, applied to my work in the last two decades. This made me approach clients educated on my subject and partners who share my values and my way of interpreting this job.
Publishing books, videos, podcasts, and so on has constructed a natural path that made me get rid of any misunderstandings and let me focus mainly on my job.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
We pick the fruits of long sowing. This demands a predisposition to invest even when we don’t see the results right away. At the same time, when the results come, it means it’s time for another sowing, maybe a different one, because things keep on changing and developing always faster. This leads to the fact that the results that satisfied us today are not replicable by using the same approach tomorrow. That’s the focus: identifying the path which is right in that moment and sowing accordingly.
In my case, this means choosing the right way of communicating (which content I want to produce) and expressing the educational offer in line with the changes happening in the market. I dedicate a lot of my thinking to making the contents more enjoyable and creating a durable relationship with my clients.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Investing in communication and doing it personally. As the saying goes, “Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice.” The results in the communication investments cannot be stolen by anybody, and what you build by entering into the mind of who receives your contents is the true assurance against every market crisis.
In addition, looking for a healthy and authentic debate with the counterpart (business partners, clients, partners). This only happens if you expose yourself with your contents and use them as a business card for your thoughts and as a topic of discussion. In this way, you’ll obtain feedbacks that concern you directly. Feedback should first focus on your ideas and then on your products or services.
Lastly, I suggest verbalizing what guides your work and making it didactic, as if it were the manifesto of your thoughts. This will take the role of a compass between your ideas. It can be a big accelerator for your business and a powerful tool in order for you to stay on the right path.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.riscrivi.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beltramia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alessio_beltrami/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlessioBeltrami
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessiobeltrami/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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