Simplified by Cowrywise: How to Make Money with Digital Products

‘Simplified by Cowrywise – Making More Money with Digital Products‘ was a virtual event held to share the practical steps you can take to create digital products out of your skills, knowledge and experience. Simplified events are periodically held to help break down how money works for everyday people. At the Simplified event held in August, Oyinlola Akindele, Product Specialist, Growth at Cowrywise and Milton Tutu, Growth and Marketing Manager at Selar simplified how to make ebooks, courses, coaching programs out of knowledge you already have. This is a summary of their session; read, share your thoughts and take the practical exercise at the end.

Milton Tutu’s practical tips on how to make money with digital products

Milton launched his first digital product at 16 which was an ebook. He earned his first N100,000 from it and then realized that creating digital products like ebooks and courses had a very high profit margin.

His first online course was launched 5 days before the year 2020 and he made over $1,000 in 5 days even though he only used his Whatsapp status to market the course. Best part? He was still a corper (under the National Youth Service Corp program for Nigerian graduates – NYSC). Seeing that this was a solid stream of income, he created a marketing funnel for the course and sales blew up.

This stamped it for him and now he says he “preaches” digital products to people and believes everyone should have at least one. But first, let’s dive into what they are.

What are digital products?

They are non-physical intangible valuable goods and materials that people can purchase and consume via the internet. Examples are ebooks, online courses, subscription products (like Mastermind groups where you pay periodically), webinars (like our Simplified sessions if they were packaged and resold), checklists, templates, digital arts (NFTs).

Are digital products the same as digital content?

People often confuse these two but they’re not the same. Digital content is content that you consume for free (like YouTube videos) while digital products are products you pay for before consuming. There has to be a transaction between a buying and selling party for it to be a product.

How to get started…

If you’re asking “how can I start creating my digital products?” The first thing is to bust the myth that it is hard or complicated. In fact, a major pro is that most digital products are easy to create.

One of the easiest ways is to convert your knowledge, skills and experience into a digital product. The things you already know can be converted or documented into a readable or watchable digital product. For instance, if you know how to set up zoom meetings, you can record a how-to and sell it. If you know to cut hair really well, you can record yourself doing different haircuts and sell it (a lot of people needed this during the lockdown in 2020!) If you’re a fantastic Canva designer, you can package a course to teach others how to hone that skill.

• Write out the different steps you take to achieve what it is you want to teach.
• Decide what format you want to sell it in – will it be text or video?
• Document and package it, market it and sell.

The possibilities are endless.

Do your experiences count?

They do! ?

What you know and how you do what you do can be documented and sold as a digital product. Don’t leave your experiences on the table or think they’re random. Milton’s friend who travels across Africa created an ebook and titled it “How to travel around Africa on a budget”. Another friend is working on “How to have fun in Lagos on a budget”.

There’s something called a knowledge gap. There are things that you know that others don’t, so you have to fill that knowledge gap and people will pay you to do so. You don’t have to be a celebrity or even a graduate to make your experience count.

People are waiting for you

Digital products allow you to make an impact and make money at the same time. There are thousands of people out there who are willing to pay and are waiting for you to market your digital products and services to them. The question now is – what digital product are you selling?

You are used to the skills, knowledge and experiences that you have so you might start to see them as random things. But as they say, it’s see finish that’s causing this thought pattern.

Three things to consider when creating your digital products

• Products – Your product has to be something that the market needs.
• Audience – Listen to your audience and ensure it helps them solve a particular problem. Do a simple market research to know what people are looking/asking for and how to package the title of your product to fit that need. Build a community of people dedicated to your brand. It can be on Facebook, Telegram, Instagram or an email list.
• Market – Whatever problem you’re trying to solve, ensure that there’s a market for it. The market for the problem has to be large. If the market is too small, it’ll limit how much you can make. Another option is to make a lot of people see and realize that they need your digital product. If you’re not a celebrity, the first option is the easier route.

“Dangote is not passionate about salt”

Milton states that the most important thing when creating a digital product is the market – not your passion.

Be passionate about what people are willing to pay for, not your personal passions.

Take this exercise by Oyinlola

Make a list of three skills that people usually compliment you on – it doesn’t matter if they’re the most random things to you. It can be how you write, cook, talk or your public speaking skills.

Based on the lessons previously shared by Milton, you can think of what digital products to create out of those skills or expertise. Remember not to leave your experiences out – so, what have you been through that you can help others easily navigate through the same thing?

If you cook well, you can create a cookbook with recipes.

If you know how to teach, you can teach others how to teach well using an online course.

Creating digital products that people want is a simple way to start making money. It’s a simple way to start getting paid while you sleep.

Get your slice of $457.8 Billion

“The global market for E-Learning estimated at US$250.8 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$457.8 Billion by 2026. E-Learning may be defined as the delivery of instructional content through the use of electronic technology…” – globenewswire

This digital product market continues to grow, the question is, what percentage of this will be yours?

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To watch the full session, please click the link below and subscribe!

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