This week we talk about how to create and sell successful digital products. All four of us have a ton of experience doing this and we break down the actual steps it takes to brainstorm, build and successfully sell a hit digital product. This is a great discussion with plenty of actionable points, so without further ado, let’s get into the show!

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Show Notes for This Episode:

[1:00] Intro into selling online
[2:00] It’s not all success with a product
[3:00] Selling isn’t easy
[4:00] Shedding light on the not so obvious rules of selling online
[5:00] How other designers make money online
[6:30] Selling as a hobby or full-time job
[7:00] How Ian knew he was full time
[7:50] There are three categories of designers: full time, those who want to earn extra cash, and those who do if for the freedom to choose clients.
[7:50] What are your sales goals? Full-time or side gig?
[8:30] It’s hard navigating online sales in the beginning and takes some time to find direction and see results
[9:00] Dustin had no idea people could make a living selling online
[11:30] Coming up with the ideas for a product
[12:00] Find a way to help people and create a product that delivers the fix
[12:50] Buying your competitors products to learn
[13:30] Make products that are easy to use
[14:20] How to figure out what to create
[14:40] Discover who your audience is first
[15:00] Lisa shares how she discovered he audience
[16:00] Finding your audience and their pain point = winning formula for sales
[17:00] Pain point products often come from your own experiences
[17:45] Dustin explains how he turned a design problem into sales
[18:20] From the outside looking in on Lisa’s design business
[19:00] Serving your audiences
[20:00] Step 1 – Selling points
[20:30] Step 2 – Sell your passion
[20:50] Standing out in a crowd of online products
[21:20] Be realistic with yourself about your talents and use them to gain sells
[23:00] Gaining market leverage with speed
[24:00] Step 3 – Creating commercially viable products
[25:40] Dustin shares how a highly niched passion product resulted in low sells
[27:10] Sometimes our favorites aren’t our best sellers and that’s OK
[28:00] Possessing a healthy balance of commercial viability and creativity
[28:50] Even the greats have products that bomb
[29:50] Determining if a product is commercially viable
[30:30] Using hashtags to find popular posts and drilling down on comments for insight
[31:20] Reverse engineering to build a product
[34:40] Developing ideas and partnering for stronger products
[35:40] Researching trends and building commercially viable products
[38:10] Creating the best product on the market development to build success
[40:20] Lisa mentions product longevity and products with different life spans
[41:50] Tom steps through the thought process for building a sound product
[43:35] Dustin sees a world of possibilities in Lisa’s product
[45:20] Big product types broken down: effects packs and building block packs
[46:00] Lisa shares how inspiration and allowing her idea to marinate created an evergreen product
[47:55] Tom’s feedback on a listener’s online storefront and products
[49:30] Categorizing products
[50:10] Lisa shares her insight on marketing and how she would position the listener’s products
[53:30] How-to make products videos increase product sells
[54:10] Demonstration videos and marketing
[55:00] Branding yourself to sell products
[55:30] Targeted marketing to gain clients in a saturated market
[57:20] Discovering your niche and then consistently marketing yourself across all media outlets
[58:00] Creating, marketing, and positioning your digital product


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