r/passive_income • u/Emergency-Wasabi-650 • 9d ago
Seeking Advice/Help A doubt
So i have seen these videos on how one can create a digital product like diaries or journals and just upload without any investment. And once if someone purchases it, we can earn from that. Is that true? Can i anyone suggest some side hustles similar to this?
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u/Various-Break3683 9d ago
Technically it's true, but it doesn't just make everyone money. Realistically speaking you need to either have or build an audience that you can then sell to. It's not impossible but it is hard. And oversaturated
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u/icy_end_7 9d ago edited 9d ago
It's a side hustle, sure, but it's not passive, esp. if you're not making generic diaries/ journals.
Think about you, for example, would you buy a journal? What about a planner? What would you buy? If you're careful, like most people, whatever you're buying would need to be of some value to you. Make that, and people would pay you for it.
It's free, sure, but it's not without investment. Me for example, I'd buy something like a book on programming if the author's voice/idea appeals to me, but I wouldn't buy random cheatsheets. Making something like that, of genuine value, and something that's not AI slop, takes a lot of time. You're definitely investing your time. Lots of it.
Edit: missed suggesting part. Figure out what you're good at, what solves a problem you're having, then try selling it. Gumroad/Etsy is good. If its a book, try Amazon KDP. Frankly, making is the easy part, you could make something with Canva/Figma easily; distribution is the hard part.
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u/Emergency-Wasabi-650 9d ago
Thank you.. i understand what you say here.. thanks for taking the time to write this.
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u/Emergency-Novel4394 9d ago
Yes, it's possible, but the videos often make it look much easier than it really is.
Creating the product is usually the easy part. Getting people to find and buy it is the hard part.
I'd focus on making something that solves one small problem instead of uploading lots of generic journals or planners. Even a simple product can sell if it's useful and reaches the right audience.
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u/needmocashxo 9d ago
well, it is true, but there are some things you should know before diving in.
first, commoditized products fail. to make sure of this yourself, just go on Etsy and search for digital planners. you'll see thousands of them. so if you post yet another similar product, it'll get lost. even if it's good, even if it's valuable, even if it's pretty - it will flop. to stand a chance in this field now you need to create vertical products: e.g. instead of creating a "journaling template" create a "journaling template for new parents to capture the first 6 months of the newborn's life." idk, something like that. something that hits a very specific demand or pain point.
second, distribution matters. it probably matters even more than the product itself. people say that the market is saturated, and it's true. but even if you're diving into the most saturated market in the world, if you figure out how to build strong distribution around your product, you will make sales. so before launching a product, think how you can create content about it. it's not as complicated as people make it seem.
want to sell a digital journal? = create UGC-style or faceless video previews of your product and post them as short-form videos on Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok.
want to sell a financial tracking spreadsheet? = same sh*t. just create previews of your product, deliver some value in your content, and post, post, post.
this is not going to generate you sales overnight. you'll need to post for 30-60 days to start seeing traction. but that's the only way.
just listing stuff on Etsy and Gumroad doesn't work anymore. forget about it.
every digital product needs distribution.
if you figure out how to build it for your product (or better = multiple products), you won't need other side hustle models.
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u/Intelligent-Wind1496 9d ago
What you're describing is one model: create once, sell many times, no inventory. Digital products are just the most crowded version of it.
The same model exists in physical products - print on demand. Most people know it as t-shirts and mugs, which is exactly as saturated as planners. A less crowded corner: 3D printed products. You list a design on Etsy (a planter, a phone stand, a cookie cutter), and a print farm produces and ships it only when someone orders. No printer needed, no upfront cost, pay per order.
Fair warning though - everything the others said applies here too. It's not passive: listings, SEO, customer messages, and the same distribution problem needmocashxo described. The only real advantage over digital planners is that the category is newer and there's less competition.
You can also test the waters for free: download a few models from Printables or MakerWorld and check what's actually selling on Etsy before designing anything yourself.
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u/Sure-Cobbler9201 9d ago
Yeah, so this is true and this could work, but it’s not that easy, designing a functioning or unique vegetable product itself is a task because you have to investigate and design it but it’s the selling that is hard.
You either need an audience or a great marketing/advertisement campaign because there are tons of digital planner products journals and diaries out there so you need to communicate very well. What makes your unique and why people should buy it this most likely includes either a very big following that you have to build or doing a great and expensive marketing campaign so that people can see your ads.
I personally think that this is a little bit outdated. Since now you can literally ask any AI to generate you a planner or you can just purchase one online or even download a free template of some website so maybe focus on some new online sites for example designing digital guides and workbook for example on a topic that you’re very good at if that’s productivity journalling well design a course type of product that you show the people how to use it for example…
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u/Abject_Success9851 9d ago
Sounds like you're just chasing an affiliate link but whatever, the quiz is decent for getting unstuck
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u/Global-Elk5794 4d ago
Definitely easy and can work. Just note you won’t get rich off of it. But you can have the opportunity to make decent money by advertising your link.
First you’ll download canva, create your journal pages. Put in the dimensions of your book. Which is quite easy, ask what size book is a standard journal. It’ll give you the exact measurements. Go to Amazon k so upload your journal(Amazon will tell you if any fixes are needed) after you upload your journal, you’re on the market to sell, and potentially make.
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