Academy 3: Social Income · Stage 4 · Module 5
Your Own Digital Products
How to create and sell digital products — what to make, how to price it, how to sell it — without a large audience, a big budget, or technical experience.
What You'll Walk Away With
A framework for creating your first digital product — what type to create, how to price it, and how to sell it. Digital products are the highest-margin income stream available to online creators and the closest thing to true passive income.
From Katherine
My first digital product was a Google Doc. Literally. A formatted guide called "The Career Change Starter Kit" — organized, useful, priced at $17. I sold it by posting about the problem it solved, linking to a simple checkout, and answering questions in the comments. It wasn't pretty. It worked. Start simple. Sell once. Improve from there.
— Katherine Rodriguez
Why Digital Products Change the Income Equation
Every other income stream in this program requires your time: UGC requires filming time, brand deals require content creation time, even affiliate income requires ongoing content to drive clicks. Digital products are different. You create them once. They sell indefinitely. A $97 template bundle sold to 100 people is $9,700 of income from work you did once.
This is why digital products are called the "scale" income stream — they're the one channel where income can genuinely grow without proportionally growing your time investment.
5 Digital Product Types (From Simplest to Complex)
1
Templates & Swipe Files ($7–$47)Canva templates, email templates, caption templates, resume templates. Solve a specific, concrete problem. Fast to create. High perceived value because they save people significant time.
2
Checklists & Guides ($9–$27)A PDF that walks someone through a process step-by-step. Beginner-friendly content packaged as a resource. Works best when it solves a problem your audience has asked about repeatedly.
3
Mini-Courses ($27–$97)A focused course on one specific skill or outcome. 3–7 short video lessons or detailed written modules. Priced for accessibility, delivered via email or a simple course platform like Gumroad or Teachable.
4
Full Courses ($97–$497+)Comprehensive transformation program. Multiple modules, videos, worksheets. Requires more upfront time to create but commands premium pricing and delivers premium value.
5
Memberships ($9–$49/mo)Recurring access to ongoing content, community, or coaching. The highest lifetime value income model — but requires consistent delivery of new value to retain members.
How to Sell Digital Products (Without a Big Audience)
Step 1: Create the product. Keep the first version simple — a well-organized PDF beats a technically polished product nobody asked for.
Step 2: Choose a sales platform. Gumroad (free to use, 10% fee), Stan.store (designed for creators), or Payhip (free tier available). All three let you upload a digital file and sell it immediately.
Step 3: Post about the problem it solves — not the product itself. "The biggest mistake people make when writing cold emails..." followed by "I put everything I know about this into a 10-page guide — link in bio" converts better than "My new guide is out!"
Prove You Got It
Identify one problem your audience (or future audience) has that you could solve with a simple guide, template, or checklist. Write the product title, the 3–5 things it includes, and the price. Create a free Gumroad account and set up a product listing — even if the product doesn't exist yet. The listing process will clarify your product faster than any amount of planning.
Say It Out Loud
"I create once and earn repeatedly. That's the income model I'm building."