Kevin Zhang is a twenty-three-year-old serial entrepreneur and TedX Speaker who’s classified as one of the only millennials to hit seven-figures in a single year!
In today’s marketing industry, there are a lot of drastic changes happening that affect newbie entrepreneurs who are trying to carve a piece of the pie for themselves.
Some time ago, Kevin was interviewed, and during the interview, he shared a number of changes that will occur this year and how you should deal with them. He also left behind tips that would prove helpful for anyone embarking on a journey of success in this field.
Here’s is the conversation;
What will be the next significant change in the social media marketing world in 2020?
Facebook has been known to make drastic changes to its algorithm yearly. Strategies that were on point a year ago are now worthless.
This isn’t just a 2020 thing, it happens every year, and the strategists that are proactive in navigating these rough waters are the ones who will dominate. If you’re nodding off and being complacent, you’ll get left behind.
And of course, advertising costs have also been rising. They’ve been gradually on the rise, and Facebook has strongly committed to ending “algorithm hacking” to help level the playing field. Instagram influencer marketing is also a shadow of its former self. It’s no longer bringing in the results that it once brought.
Another thing I noticed is that most people are ignoring TikTok and SnapChat. You have to get to them! Their advertising options are getting better, and the most significant thing to look out for is how these platforms are going to change the marketing world and what strategies you’ll need to put in place to achieve success with them.
What advice do you have for newbies who want to earn an income?
Well, eCommerce, just like any other form of entrepreneurship, isn’t a get rich quick scheme. Entrepreneurship isn’t more comfortable than an intense job in the corporate world; it only has the potential to be a lot more rewarding. In life, nothing that’s worthwhile comes easy.
The people that fail are the ones that expect to become millionaires within a month or make a ton of money in the first week. Entrepreneurship requires a lot of work and sacrifice. And in order to be successful, you have to grow a tough skin. I didn’t make a profit when I started, but through hard work, I succeeded.
So if you’ve decided to take eCommerce seriously, you should try and pick a niche. Too many people give attention to things like Google trends and niche finding tools, these tools are useful, but I think people tend to focus on them a lot.
Just because you’re selling women’s suits and someone else is selling a similar product doesn’t mean you guys will have the same odds of success. You should understand that no matter what product or niche you pick, it’s going to be a tough road to trek.
That’s why I recommend you pick something that you are passionate about. Once you find this, all the late nights, early mornings, and failures won’t be as severe as you thought it would.
Lastly, you should be wary of “so-called experts and gurus.” Try to work things out in your own way and arrive at your own opinions.
Do you have any words of advice for young marketers for 2020?
Plan and work proactively, not just working harder and spending more time. Using hours as a measure of impact is an employee mentality, not an entrepreneurial one.
Apart from this, Infrastructure is the secret to scaling once you already have something that’s working. Start thinking of your business like an actual business, not an online hustle. There’s someone on the other end that’s giving you their money and receiving their product.
You can get away with providing no value in the short term, but trust me, the market will punish you in the long run. Lastly, be happy and feel blessed that you’re alive at this particular moment in history. My story and the stories of so many others would not have been possible ten years ago. Don’t lose sight of this.
