Self-directed entrepreneurial learning through digital media platforms: An online autoethnography of the YouTube-channel “Impact Theory by Tom Bilyeu”

Numerous possibilities and opportunities have opened up for students, employees, and creative professionals to improve their personal process of learning, and support their process of self-development by means of using digital media technologies. The problem is how to develop an understanding of the value of using digital media technologies for entrepreneurial learning, and how to effectively apply the self-directed learned knowledge in such a way that their professional lives will be improved. This research is situated in two emerging fields of inquiry: entrepreneurial learning in entrepreneurship research, and online self-directed learning in media education research. The main research question is: What is the value of entrepreneurship videos for online self-directed entrepreneurial learning? With this focus, the study provides insight into how online self-directed learning through digital media platforms can be supportive of conscious self-development as an entrepreneur, and for building a reflective appreciation of continuously developing knowledge around entrepreneurship. This includes learning what it means to become an entrepreneur by yourself (through online self-directed learning). This study uses and critically reflects on the content of recorded and uploaded interview videos of entrepreneurs and their self-development, which are presented on a specific YouTube-channel (Impact Theory by Tom Bilyeu). Two methods of analysis were used to evaluate the data sample of 10 semi-structured interviews that were published on the ‘Impact Theory’ YouTube-channel. The first method is a directed content analysis of the interview content, focusing on what they have learned about doing entrepreneurship. The second method of analysis is an autoethnography, that is used to examine the personal experience of the researcher. The overall aim is to enhance and produce a self-reflective auto-ethnography about what the author (me) can learn from watching videos on entrepreneurship and how this impacts a process of conscious self-directed entrepreneurial learning. The theoretical foundation of the directed content analysis is based on the work of two authors. Firstly, Rae’s (2006) conceptual framework for analysing entrepreneurial learning for technology-based entrepreneurs. Including the themes: personal and social emergence of entrepreneurial identity, contextual learning and negotiated enterprise. Secondly, Cope’s (2005) dynamic learning perspective of entrepreneurship is also used as a foundation for the directed content analysis including the themes: content dimension and process dimension. The analysis shows that the entrepreneurial development goes hand-in-hand with the development as a person. Specifically, the entrepreneurs prioritized their self-development as a foundation for their development of an entrepreneurial identity, and then used this as a driver and basis to advance in their process of entrepreneurial learning. Through revealing their personal knowledge and reflecting on their experiences, they create a surface of intense self-reflection for audiences. A key take-away is that through optimizing the underlying mechanisms of self-development, one can better navigate the process of entrepreneurial learning and self-directed learning, and thereby become a more conscious entrepreneurial being.