Brian Morton

Brian Morton learned Spanish because he needed to. Like so many other people, he enjoys speaking and holding conversations in Spanish.

He graduated from college with a graduate degree in Educational Psychology and worked as a teacher for a charter school in Los Angeles. Soon after his graduation, he felt like there was more out there for me than to just be a teacher. Brian had enjoyed his time as a teacher up until then—but there are some changes in life that are out of our control.

Where did the idea for Esperanza Española come from?

I personally enjoy speaking in Spanish with my wife, friends, and neighbors. Living in a predominately Latino community, I have found it interesting to give back as much as my neighbors have given to me. Therefore, I decided to create Esperanza Española (Spanish Hope) to give people an opportunity to learn Spanish and to also help them become a better version of themselves.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

A typical day for me would begin with a morning breakfast and a morning jog to get my productive energy flowing. Once I complete my morning routine, I will brainstorm content ideas for my YouTube channel and/or blog to produce for the week. When my content ideas have been formed, I will then record content to share with my audience of email and YouTube subscribers.

How do you bring ideas to life?

The best way for me to bring ideas to life is to conduct my research in online groups and forums. When I conduct my research, I would like to know what my target audience is struggling with and to find ways that I can possibly help them. This is the best way for me to create content for my blog and YouTube channel.

However, if I wanted to tailor content to my email subscribers, I would send them a survey to find out what are their pain points and how I can personally help them with my skills and knowledge.

What’s one trend that excites you?

A trend that excites me is the beginning of the year because it is when I have a surge in traffic. As people have their New Year’s resolution in mind to learn another language, I see a surge in traffic because some people want to accomplish their goal to learn a new language which is usually Spanish.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

One habit that would make me productive as an entrepreneur is conducting research about my audience to see what their pain points are has helped me to create content to help them fulfill their needs.

What advice would you give your younger self?

If I could give my younger self any advice, it would be to complete your college degree, get a job, and start a business that you can one day live off of on the side. Also, make sure to have friends that have dreams and goals that you would like to accomplish one day in the future.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

Having a business is like a plant. You have to plant a seed in order for it to grow and it will not grow unless you water it.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

One thing that I do that I also would highly recommend that everyone else do is to read and to conduct research on their audience. This way two things can happen: 1) they can become an expert in their niche, and 2) they will know what their audience will want to purchase from them.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

One strategy that has really helped me to really grow my business has been to survey my audience members and find out what were their pain points. This way I can act as a doctor and I could prescribe a course that would better suit their needs.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

As a beginning entrepreneur, I assumed that I could create a product and just sell it to my email list subscribers. However, I have learned that your email list is not an ATM. Instead, they are people that you need to get to know to better serve their needs.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

A business idea that I am willing to give away is create a course that evolves around your talent and you’ll never work a day in your life. For example, if someone enjoys cooking in their kitchen, they should create a masterclass and charge people $100 to join for a day and learn how to cook a meal. If you can teach people how to cook something new, they’re more than willing to learn how to cook something new.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

The best $100 that I recently spent would have to be the money I used to purchase an application for Woocommerce. With this application, it allows my customers to make an online purchase without leaving their home address. With the original Woocommerce application for WordPress required customers to enter their address in order to make a purchase. Now they don’t.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

The web service that helps me to be productive is WordPress. This web service alone allows me to create blog content and post videos that create engagement for my audience members. I can brainstorm ideas and jot them down to post as a blog the same day or a week in advance.

When I create a blog post, I write down the ideas that I have in the moment and I save my blog post as ‘private’ in order to avoid publicizing unfinished content that same day for my audience to see. By doing this, I can come back to my blog content when I have more ideas that I would like to contribute to the blog post.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

A book that I would highly recommend your community read is Ask. by Ryan Levesque. As an entrepreneur, this book has helped me to setup my website in order to engage my visitors. Also, it has taught me what questions I needed to ask my email subscribers in order to better support them in my niche.

What is your favorite quote?

My favorite quote is by Ntsiki KaCaleni which is “What comes easy won’t last. What lasts won’t come easy.”

Key Learnings:

• Conduct research on your audience to find out what are their pain points.
• Create a business around your talent that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.
• Having a business is like a plant. You have to water it in order for it to grow.
• Your email list is NOT an ATM.