How To Build Your First Digital Product, Fast

I was always excited about building my first digital product.

In my head, it was an ebook or an online course that sells by itself. I’d have a landing page with a catchy cover, a great copy, and lots of testimonials from previous buyers.

It’s perfect.

But this is exactly the thing that stopped me from building. 

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that you’re going to suck on your first try. I’m also sure you know this is true in the digital world.

So instead of aiming for perfection, your goal as a beginner creator is fast execution.

I built my first digital product in under one hour (including the content, cover, copy,etc) and launched it in November. It had 29 downloads without actively promoting.

Here’s exactly how I did it:

Stop trying to make big promises.

The big question:

“What should I build?”

When I asked myself this, my first thought was: “How To Help People Achieve X”. But every time I brainstorm everything I learned in the past 2 years and package it into a product, I can’t help but feel like an imposter. 

So I took a different approach.

Instead of making big promises, I solved an underrated problem:

Accountability

This works in almost anything because most people know what to do — but they lack consistency. Giving them accountability makes it easier for people to be more consistent. 

It also makes it easier for you because you don’t need to have achieved something. You just need to be with other people on the journey. 

No matter what journey you are in, you can always build something that will help others with accountability and relatability:

• Eating health

• Exercising to be fit

• Starting a new habit

• Building a side hustle

• Scaling your online business

And now that you have a problem to solve, it’s time to package the solution.

Determine the output you want

The next struggle was wishing I had more resources and knowledge to build the product. 

Here’s the truth you don’t want to hear:

If you want to build a course: you don’t need a better mic, video editing software, and a nice camera. 

Alex Hormozi is right, you have to start with what you have.

There’s too much friction in starting with audio and written content.

If fast execution is your goal, you want to make the product easy to build. Some ideas to try are:

• Toolkit

• Template

• Checklist

• Bonus: Build a community

You can use these tools for free to launch:

• Notion

• Gumroad

• Google docs

Writing an entire ebook or recording an online tutorial takes too long. That alone stops you from building. In addition to this, you have no idea if it will sell. So you want to use your time well as a beginner.

Starting small is how you build momentum. 

Sell it for free. 

But wait..

“I thought the point of building a digital product was to earn money?”

Yes, but not too soon. 

Your first digital product is meant to be imperfect, and you should feel bad about charging people for this.

Imagine turning on the faucet and letting the rusty water flow -- that’s the point of your first product. You’re supposed to let it out until clear water starts flowing.

It’s meant to be a starting point so you have something to improve. 

But don’t worry, you’re not really giving it away for free. You’re getting their emails in exchange for it. 

Emails = money.

Here’s a simple funnel I’m following:

• Collect emails through a FREE digital product

• Provide value to weekly newsletter to build trust

• Sell a paid product or service to loyal readers

This approach is not perfect, but if you can follow it, you’ll have a business.

To End

That’s it for today friends!

Don’t forget to check out 30DaysTo1K if you need further help in making money online.a

Have a happy Easter Sunday 🐰