1

The Digital Products

Startup Guide
Learn how to build everything
from online courses to
consultations fast
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Welcome!
This toolkit is designed to help you figure out how
digital products fit with your existing business.
It covers everything from finding an idea, choosing the right
format, setting it up for sale, and naming your new product.
You’ll find links to even more in-depth resources that cover
everything you need to get started.

Digital products and online learning are two ways to offer

value to your customers right now with no need to ship
products or leave the house—and with more people moving
to online learning every day, now’s a better time than any.
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Is this right for me?

We created this for every business owner who is wondering
how they can continue to make money in these uncertain
times, because you still have enormous value to offer your
customers.

Yes, even if you run a primarily in-person business, like a

salon or a coffee shop. Even if you’ve only ever sold
physical products, like makeup or surf gear. Even if you
have no ideas about the products you can create, or are
worried about the technical skills you’d need.

There’s never been a better time to add a digital product (or

two!) to your business to build an additional income
stream. And we’re here to help you make it happen,
whether that means setting up one-on-one consults with
your customers, creating a PDF, or building a video course
to teach them a skill or two.
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Contents

01 The opportunity
02 Coming up with an idea that sells
03 Choose your own adventure
04 Market your product
05 Case studies
06 Get a 90 free trial of Shopify
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01 The opportunity
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Elearning is the future of education

You have a massive opportunity to expand your business
and impact with elearning. Here are some exciting stats
about your opportunity:

● Elearning will be a $331 billion industry by 2025

(Forbes)

● Elearning boosts retention rates by 25 to 60 percent

compared to 8 to 10% with traditional training.
(Research Institute of America)

● Since 2000, there has been 900% growth in the

elearning industry (PapersOwl)

● Companies that offer e-learning courses report a 42%

increase in revenue.
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Repurpose your knowledge

As a business owner, you’ve acquired so much knowledge
- without even realizing it - from ideating to planning,
building to launching your online business.

Who you have become in the process is just as valuable as

what you have created.

It’s time to share that knowledge. If you can help another

person save time, money, or unnecessary lessons, then
share it. And by doing so, you’re also future-proofing your
own business and life.

In the next section, let’s get creative and start

brainstorming how you can show up online.
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02 Coming up with an
idea that sells
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02
When you’re just getting started with the idea of online learning, one of
the first hurdles is “But what would I sell?”

Luckily, no matter what kind of business you run, there’s something you
have to teach or a digital product people would pay for.

We’ve built this section to walk you step-by-step through finding the right
idea to start with, including validating it with your audience.

return to Table of Contents

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02
Brainstorming Generate a few great ideas to start with.

Research Find additional ideas or refine the ones you have.

Validating your idea Make sure your idea is solid before you spend time building it.

Sizing the opportunity

Understand how big the market for your idea is.

Asking for feedback

Get early feedback from your customers.

Starting small and evolving

Stay nimble, test your idea, and pivot as needed .
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Brainstorming
Generate a few great ideas to start with.

Before we dive into what’s possible, start brainstorming creative online ideas for your business. Write down
all of them—even if you think they’re not good. Bad ideas often lead to good ideas.

Here are some prompts to get you started.

Can you teach customers how to use your products?
For example, if you sell knitting products, you could offer appointments to
teach advanced knitting techniques.
Are there things you can help your customers with related to
your overall industry?
For example if you sell surfboards, you could create a workout program to
help your customers stay in surf shape at home.
In what ways could you bring your community of customers
together?
For example, if you sell kitchen supplies, you could run a virtual guided
wine tasting event.
What are you good at?
For example, if you’re really great at product photography, you could teach
other people how to get better at product photography too.

Think about the values you’ve built your business on. What
are topics related to that?
For example, if you sell sustainable apparel, you could create a course
teaching your customers how to live a more sustainable life.

Research
Find additional ideas or refine the ones you have.
Do some research to add to your list of ideas. Look for pain points your customers have related to your product,
industry, or values, as well as topics that they love or get excited about. Both present great opportunities to provide
value in the form of an educational product.
Here are some places to start doing research.
Facebook Groups
Facebook can be a great place to learn what your customers or potential
customers care about. For example, if you kid’s toys, look at what people are
talking about parenting Facebook groups.
Industry Forums
Industry forums can also be a great place to learn more about what people
want and need in your broader industry. For example, if you sell plants,
spend some time in gardening forums. Don’t forget about adjacent
industries, in this case, home decor forums might also be a good idea.
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Product Reviews
Read both the reviews for your products and competitors products to get
ideas. These could come from the reviews on product pages as well as stand
alone reviews on blogs and other websites.
Blog Posts and Comments
Read the blog content your community might be reading, as well as the
comments to get even more ideas. For example, if you sell auto parts, dig
around on automotive blogs.
Emails From Customers
Finally, don’t forget to go back and reread any emails or messages you have
gotten from customers over the years. The people who took the time to
contact with thoughts and concerns are usually “high intent” customers and
they might have shared some really useful insights.
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Validating your idea
Make sure your idea is solid before you spend time building it.

Now that you’ve generated an idea, hopefully more, it’s time to validate which one to move forward. The
last thing you want to do is invest a lot of time or money in a new venture unless you know it will be
successful. A couple of them likely stand out to you already.

Size the opportunity

Understand how big the market for your idea is.

Ask for feedback

Get early feedback from your customers.

Start small and iterate

Stay nimble, test your idea, and pivot as needed.
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Size the Opportunity
Validating your idea Understand how big the market for your idea is.

Size the opportunity of different topics to help narrow down your list. Typically, you’ll want to proceed with
a smaller of topics that seem to have current and growing interest.

But remember, sometimes people don’t know what they want until it’s available. Don’t be afraid to try
something new if you think it’s something your customers would be interested in it.

Keyword Research Google Trends

Use a Keyword Tool to see how many people are searching for Search your topics on Google Trends. Look for topics that are
your topics. This will give you an idea of the opportunity size of growing in interest. This means the opportunity size will keep
each one. growing.
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Ask for feedback
Validating your idea Get early feedback to refine your ideas.

Next, take you smaller list of ideas and ask for feedback. Try and get as much feedback as you can from a
variety of people.

Friends and Family Email Customers

Start with friends and family for a gut check. They’ll tell you if Consider emailing or otherwise contacting your customers directly
your idea is too far out there but they may not be able to speak to to see what they think. Ask them a few questions to see if your
what your audience would like. They may even ask some topic ideas are something they would be interested in. If you’re
clarifying questions that help you improve your ideas. lucky you’ll get very detailed responses.

Social Media

The easiest place to start engaging with your community directly

is probably on your social channels. You can easily start a poll on
Instagram or just post some questions to see if people get excited
or respond.
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Start Small and iterate
Validating your idea Stay nimble, test your idea, and pivot as needed.

Finally, once you’ve gotten some feedback, it’s time to start.

No matter what type of educational product you choose, start small and
iterate. The best feedback comes from actually asking people to sign up for
what you’re offering.

Look for ways to be scrappy as you do this. You don’t need expensive equipment
to get started. Use your phone or laptop. Create a simple PDF in Google Docs. The
goal is to get something out into the world as soon as possible so you can put
your idea to the test and improve from it from there. If you’re worried it’s too
soon to start charging, pick a nominal amount or do a trial run for a donation.
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03 Choose your own adventure

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Before you start
Create an outline
This template can help you make sure you're asking the
right questions and thinking of your learner outcomes
before you start creating a new resource. It can also be
helpful to understand the best format for your offer.

We've included an example of what a template might

look like and questions to include.

Bonus tip
Creating educational content can be a lot of work, but the good
news, is you've likely already done some of the heavy lifting.
Sift through existing blog posts, emails, and support tickets –
these could either inform or be repurposed within your new
resource.
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Choose your online education format
You’ve got an idea, you’ve validated it, and now it’s time to choose a format for your
offering.

Based on your unique strengths, resources, and Online memberships 24 hours

commitment levels, there are several formats to start
Webinars and workshops 48 hours
sharing your knowledge online. We’ve listed the most
common options, which you can jump right to grab Coaching and consultations 48 hours
actionable insights.
Digital products 1-2 weeks

Online courses 2-4 weeks

Affiliate partnerships 2-4 weeks

Pre-launch time commitment

return to Table of Contents

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How to Get a 90 Day Free Trial

of Shopify
The following workflows show you how to
create a digital product and start selling it on
Shopify.

Shopify is currently offering a 90 day free trial

so you can take the time you need to build
your onlines store.

Get started by clicking the link below.

➔ Shopify 90 Day Free Trial

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Understand the format.

Set up
online memberships in Shopify.

Online memberships Tools

to help you create online member
ships.
Best practices.
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Online memberships are ideal for businesses that have an active and engaged community. They
work much like a subscription as they rely on recurring payment setup, in return for a virtual
product or service.

Memberships are great for managing member-only access to content on a website, and even for
physical businesses (like a yoga studio) that offers guided sessions online.

Since this content is behind a gate that only paying subscribers can access through their
customer account, you can also host exclusive content that can be streamed rather than
downloaded.

Think: gyms, clubs, and art schools.

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“I also learn a lot from my students and their questions,

things that they follow up with me about, so I can see...
this is something that people are struggling with, let me
see if I can address that.”
Danielle Spurge, Merriweather Council
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Setting up online memberships in

Shopify

Set up a new product in Shopify like you

would for a physical product, but create a
name and description that tells people about
your membership services.

Make sure to unselect “This is a physical

product” to remove shipping options at
checkout. (Note: Some of the setup required
might change depending on
which apps you choose to use later in the
process!)
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Setting up online membership

options in Shopify

If you want to offer different options for your

memberships, create a variant to set up the
different memberships you offer.

You can set different prices for each option,

and limit the number of times available if you
need to, by editing each variant.
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Tools to help you create online memberships

● An app for managing online memberships with Shopify (e.g., Bold Memberships,
Recurring Order + Subscription)
● Use an app like SkyPilot as your digital delivery system
● An email marketing tool for sharing updates or new content with your members (e.g.,
Constant Contact or Klaviyo)
● A tool for running your regular classes/services/etc. (e.g., Zoom or WebinarJam)
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Best Practices

● If you offer video or audio content, be sure to record in a quiet space.

● Use email to keep your members informed of new content. Round up emails, video teasers,
and customer testimonials are great ways to build excitement for new launches.

● Collect feedback from your members and use it to inform new content ideas. Delivering
content that your members want will help you retain them.
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Understand the format.

Get started
with online workshops and webin
ars.
Online Set up your slide deck.

workshops and Set up

your Shopify product page.
webinars
Tools
to help you create webinars and w
orkshops.
Best practices.
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Think of online workshops and webinars as virtual classrooms that connect you with your
audience across the world. There’s something to be said about the impact and experience that
live events create, and hosting a live (virtual) event allows members to connect real-time, ask
questions, and build closer relationships.

Think: virtual summits, marketing tutorials, and financial training.

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“You are communicating with a group of people who are

having a shared experience and adding value to that
group through content and products that relate to that
shared experience.”
Ezra Firestone
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Get started with online workshops and webinars

Whether you run in-person workshops and need to move them online or start sharing your
valuable knowledge with your audience, online workshops are quick and simple to get started
with.

“Using Shopify to sell our online workshop was so much better than InfusionSoft or WordPress
because Shopify has end-to-end attribution, so we could actually see how much we spent on
advertising and how many sales it brought in. That’s actually unheard of in the information
marketing world.” - Ezra Firestone
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Setting up your slide deck

Keep it simple: one image and one bullet per

slide.

Pro tip: you can outsource the design of your

deck with Upwork

Introduce yourself; why people should listen to

you; build some credibility as you tell your
story; introduce the problem and tell them
what you’ll be teaching; remind them why it’s
something they need to learn; and then spend
remaining time providing the solution.
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Setting up your Shopify product

page
First, create a new product on your Shopify store.

❏ Create a product image (use Canva)

❏ Set a price
❏ Add a product name and description
❏ Uncheck “This is a physical product” to
remove shipping from checkout.

As soon as someone buys the workshop from you,

have an email go out with the link to your workshop.
The steps to do this will differ based on your chosen
email software, but as a baseline, make sure it’s
connected to Shopify so it can see purchase data.
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Setting up your workshop page

Once you’ve sold spots, your workshop needs

an online home. There are several platforms
that do this really well: Zoom, WebinarJam,
and others.

How you decide to limit the content to just

your customers who have purchased the
session will depend on your chosen platform,
but the simplest way is to email a link to the
webinar registration once it’s ready to anyone Image via zoom.us

who has purchased a spot.

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Tools to help you create webinars/workshops

● Google Sheets, Powerpoint or Keynote for creating your slide deck

● A tool for running your webinar (e.g., Zoom or Gotowebinar)
● An Online Collaborative Board (e.g., Google Jam board or Miro)
● Shopify to take payments on your online workshop product
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Best Practices

● Run your webinars/workshops in a quiet space with a good internet connection.

● Use your webinar/workshop introduction to go over housekeeping. Let your customers

know how and when they can ask questions, if you'll send out a recording, and any other
important information.

● If you have extra help, assign someone to manage your webinar/workshop chat.
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Understand the format.

Online Set up
online coaching and consultation
s in Shopify.
coaching and Tools
consultations to help you create online coachin
g and consultations.
Best practices.
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Online coaching and consultations are great for 1-to-1 or small group interactions where you
sell your time in the form of training or guidance.

Think: music teachers, business coaches, interior designers, fitness trainers.

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Setting up online coaching and

consultations in Shopify

Set up a new product in Shopify like you

would for a physical product, but create a
name and description that tells people about
your coaching services.

Make sure to unselect “This is a physical

product” to remove shipping options at
checkout.
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Setting up online coaching and

consultations in Shopify

If you want to offer different lengths of

appointments for your coaching sessions or
consults, create a variant to set up the different
lengths of time you offer.

You can set different prices for each time

length, and limit the number of times available
if you need to, by editing each variant.
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Optional: Add a booking app to Shopify

You can sell your consults or coaching appointments directly from that product, and
follow up with each customer by email to book a time, but you can also use one of the
booking apps available on the Shopify App Store.

○ Sesami (free and paid plans)

○ Tipo (free)
○ BookThat (free and paid plans)

These apps will allow customers to book their session directly on your store, saving you
time and making the entire process seamless for your customers. Each one will have a
slightly different set up process.
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Tools to help you create online coaching and

consultations

● A tool for facilitating 1:1 calls (e.g., Zoom or UberConference)

● An online booking system to schedule consultations or coaching sessions
○ Sesami
○ Tipo
○ BookThat
● A Web camera (e.g., Logitech C920)
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Best Practices

● Run all consultations in a quiet space with a good internet connection.

● Train your staff on how to run online consultations. Create scripts or talk tracks that they
can reference during sessions.

● Make sure that the process of booking and canceling a consultation is easy for your
customers.

● Collect post-session feedback and iterate on what consultations look like, if necessary.
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Understand the format.

Create a digital download.

Digital downloads Tools to help you create PDFs.

Set up
a digital product in Shopify.
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Digital downloads (such as PDFs, ebooks, checklists, and templates) are a great way to share
your expertise in a scalable way. There’s upfront work in creating the product, but once it’s
ready, you can upload it to your website and sell as many copies as people want to buy—with
no shipping costs or extra time per product.

Think: fitness guides, tutorials, and instructional presentations (like this one!)
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How to create a digital download

Pretty much any file you can create on your

computer can be packaged and sold as a digital
download. Some common ones include:
● PDFs, like workbooks, ebooks,
templates, and other document
● Images, like art and photography
● Spreadsheets
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Setting up a digital download in

Shopify

Set up a new product in Shopify like you

would for a physical product, but create a
name and description that tells people about
your digital product. (Link to marketing advice
on copywriting for digital files!)

Make sure to unselect “This is a physical

product” to remove shipping options at
checkout.
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Tools to help you create PDFs

● Google Docs: Use it to create written documents that you can download as a PDF or
Microsoft Word document. You can also link customers directly to a Google Doc they can
access online anytime.
● Canva: You can use Canva’s library of templates to create ebooks and other downloads, and
save them as a PDF.
● Pages or Microsoft Word: You can use your preferred text editor on your computer and
save the files as a PDF. Here are instructions for Pages and instructions for Microsoft Word.
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Add the free Digital Downloads

app to your store

Install the free “Digital Downloads” app on

your store. It’s a Shopify-made app with no
extra cost to use.
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Add your digital files to the

Product you set up

Once you have the Digital Downloads app

installed, you’ll see a new action on every
product to “Add Digital Attachment.”

Click on “Add Digital Attachment” and you’ll

be taken to the Digital Downloads app to
upload your file.
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Upload your file

You’ll be taken to the Digital Download app to

add a file to that product. It’s important to note
you can only upload one file, so if your
product has multiple files you’ll need to zip
them into one.

Here are instructions on creating a zip file

on Mac and on PC.
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Confirm your settings

The Digital Downloads app is set up to include

a download link after your clients have
checked out. You can change that in the
“Settings” tab of the Digital Downloads app if
you want, and you can also customize the
emails that get sent to your customers after
they buy your digital product.
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Understand the format.

Get started with online courses.

Online courses Choose

your filming and editing strategy.

Best practices.
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Online courses are best suited for in-depth content. They will require some effort up front, from
creating a presentation to recording a video walk-through.

Think: bartenders teaching mixology, chefs teaching meal prep, business people teaching
negotiation tactics, and videographers teaching editing.
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Getting started with online courses

After deciding on your ideal learner, also called a buyer’s persona, it’s time to create a course
outline. A course outline to a course is like a business plan to a business. It’s essential to stay
organized and be clear on what you’re going to teach. In the course outline include the goal of
the course, results + skills students can expect, and break the course into modules and lessons.
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Decide on your course filming + editing strategy

After creating your course outline, decide if you want to film your course or teach mostly via a
slide deck. If using video equipment you can film via your smartphone and a lavalier mic or
invest in a DSLR camera. You can also edit via iMovie or invest in a freelancer to help you.

Tools to help you create videos for online courses

● A microphone (e.g., Blue Yeti Mic)
● A web camera (e.g., Logitech C920)
● A back light (e.g., Ring Light)
● Transcription software for setting up closed captions (e.g., Descript or Rev)
● A video hosting platform (e.g., Wistia, YouTube or Vimeo)
● A learning management software that integrates with Shopify (e.g. Thinkific or Courses)
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Best Practices

● When creating courses, start with learner outcomes: What do you want the learner to know
or be able to do at the end of your course?

● Include quizzes, knowledge checks and interactive activities within your courses to help
break-up learning content and make your ecourse more engaging.

● Consider learning and implementing a teaching model like ADDIE.

● Structure your modules and course plan based on similar themes.

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Understand partnerships.

Build your personal brand online.

Affiliate partnerships Get started

with affiliate marketing.

Learn more
about Shopify’s affiliate program.
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Becoming an affiliate partner for your favourite brands is a great way to generate revenue from
sharing your favourite products or services with your online community. When you share an
affiliate link on your website or social media, you earn a commission on every sale that comes
from your link.

The stronger your personal brand is, the more influence you have online.

Think: hairdressers referring their favourite shampoo products or Shopify store owners
referring the platform to other aspiring entrepreneurs.
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Building your personal brand online

To get started with affiliate marketing, you need to focus on building your personal brand
online. As a business owner, you already have a head start on the three basic requirements of
building a personal brand.

To some degree, you already have:

● an existing audience of customers and peers who admire the business you’ve built.
● an existing niche based on the industry you’re in (example: if you’re a hair salon owner,
why not become an affiliate for your favourite hair products?)
● an online platform where you will show up consistently and interact with your audience
(social media, blogs, newsletter, youtube, etc)
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“Once you have defined your niche and

decided to go for it, consistency is key.
You need a system and a pace that you
can sustain over time.”
Justine Leconte
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Get started with affiliate marketing

Next, it’s time to start reaching out to brands. It’s important that you only promote products that
you have used yourself and would recommend to a close friend or family member.

Many brands these days have a public Affiliate Program that you can find on their website.

Once you’re approved into the Program, start sharing your unique referral link across all your
chosen channels!
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Learn more about Shopify’s Affiliate Program

● Apply here: Shopify Affiliate Program

● Learn more: helps docs
● As a Shopify affiliate you’ll get access to our Affiliate Marketing Fundamentals online
course that can help you learn the basics of affiliate marketing with Shopify.
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04 Market your product

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04 Market your product

Creating an online learning product is one
thing, but as a business owner you know
that creating a product or service is
only the first step—you then have to find Get started with marketing
a way to get it in front of your ideal
customers. Name your product
This is where the heavy lifting comes in. You
need to promote your offer, start getting the
Merchandise your product
word out, help people find you, and give them
enough value to continue coming back.

return to Table of Contents

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Getting started with marketing

Creating an online learning product is one
thing, but as a business owner you know
that creating a product or service is only the
first step—you then have to find a way to
get it in front of your ideal customers.

This is where the heavy lifting comes in:

you need to promote your offer, start getting
the word out, help people find you, and give
them enough value to continue coming
back.
 67

Getting started with marketing

Whether you’re marketing a digital or
physical product, the basics are the same
and you should start with what you know.

Make sure to promote your new offer or

product on your existing social media
channels, to your email list, and feature it as
an available option on your store.

If you have experience running ads, this

might be a good time to test out ads for the
new product, but make sure to start small
and learn as you go.
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How to name your product

You’ve got the product idea and the product type, but what about the name? We suggest using
this formula:

The Adjective Keyword Descriptor for Target Audience

● Adjective: A powerful word used to describe your product (e.g. new and improved, secret,
1-on-1, best, ultimate, magic, etc.)
● Keyword: A word or words that easily identify your product’s niche (e.g. web design,
fashion, crossfit, etc.)
● Descriptor: A word that identifies your product type (e.g. checklist, toolkit, course,
program, template, membership, training, blueprint, webinar, session, etc.)
● Target Audience: Anything from soccer moms to scuba divers
 69

How to name your product - examples

1. A set of videos teaching millenials how to do their taxes:

The Ultimate Tax Training Course for Millenials

2. Holding personalized office hours where clients can come ask questions about keto diet and
nutrition:

1-on-1 Keto Diet Office Hours

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How to name your product - further inspiration

Don’t be afraid to look at marketplaces to see what others are doing! Just search your general
product topic for some inspiration. Even if you aren’t making an online course, this should help
you:

● Udemy
● Skillshare

Also our formula is just a place to get started. Feel free to spice it up with words that identify
with your own business and brand!
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How to merchandise your product

Even though a digital product is harder to take photos of than a physical product, it’s important
to give your customers a sense of what they’re going to get when they buy your new offer.

Adding images is important for both your product page and your social media platforms.
Consider some of these options for visuals:
● Testimonial quote images from customers
● Still images from videos
● Videos and PDFs “in place” in a computer screen (you can create mockups like this using
Canva!)
● Scaled down images of your PDF
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How to merchandise your product, part two

Since product pages are always a balance between visuals and written content, you’ll want to
think about copywriting too as you build your online offer. Think about:
● What questions your ideal customer has, and how you can answer them
○ Example: “What equipment do I need to do this at home?”
● What pain points you’re solving for your ideal customer
○ Example: “When you’re shopping online, it can be hard to understand these items will actually
fit. Book a 15 minute consult with our team to ask questions and feel confident in your choices
before you buy.”
● Key details about your service or product
○ Example: “You’ll get a 37-page PDF and access to a private Slack channel to connect with
other learners just like you.”
 73

Recap
The opportunity
You have a massive opportunity to expand your business and impact with elearning. As a
business owner, you’ve acquired so much knowledge. It’s time to share that knowledge.

Come up with an idea that sells

Brainstorm, research, and validate your idea before you spend time building it.

Create your digital product

Choose the learner outcomes you want to achieve, and pick a format that suits your unique
strengths, resources, and time constraints.

Market your product

Help people find you, and give them enough value to continue coming back.
 74

Final As you get started on one (or many!) of the ideas you’ve generated using this deck, there are a
words of few things to keep in mind.
advice ● Don’t get hung up on making it perfect. It’s easy to look at TV-quality videos and
picture-perfect graphics online and be intimidated, but the most important thing is the
substance of your course. If the substance is there, don’t let your presentation stop you
from getting it into the hands of your customers sooner rather than later—you can
always edit and improve documents later.
● Your audience values authenticity, and they’re right here with you. They
understand now more than ever that you’re working through some big changes in your
business, and that you’re doing your best to deliver value to them. They’re not
expecting Hollywood movies, and they want to support you.
● We want to support you, too. Shopify’s Support team is available 24/7 to help you as
you add new products and figure out how this fits into your business.
● Let us know what you think of this deck. We’d love to hear what would make this
more useful to you. Send us feedback on this presentation.
● Consistency is key. Remember that you didn’t build your business in a day, and it’s
likely that you won’t build a digital product income stream in a day either—that
doesn’t mean it’s not working, or that it’s not worth it. It may take some time and some
marketing muscle to start bringing in sales for your digital products. Keep at it and get
feedback from your audience often so you can iterate as you go.
 75

05 Case studies
 76

Vivian Kaye
Founder & CEO KinkyCurlyYaki
“The best part of a digital product is it’s
available to anyone and everyone. If you have a
dream to be an entrepreneur, there’s no barrier
to entry. Everyone is on the same playing level,
and it can be done anywhere.”

In addition to running KinkyCurlyYaki, Vivian offers

coaching and mentoring for entrepreneurs that need
support with their big ideas and accountability to hit
their goals.
Her advice for others offering digital products is to be
yourself. “You’ll attract the people you resonate the
most with."
 77

Kat Gaskin
Founder & CEO The Content Planner
“Covid 19 forced me to pivot to an online model
as quickly as possible. Within 48 hours I switched
my in-person workshop to online, and my first
session
is now 75% sold.”

Kat sells a physical planner for entrepreneurs to

organize their online content. She has recently switched
her accompanying in-person workshops to online only.
Her advice for folks launching a digital product is to
ask what your community wants first. “Don’t go in
blind or anticipate. Ask what they are struggling with
and build a product from that.”
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Ezra Firestone
Owner of Smart Marketer
“The best part of hosting online workshops is
the experience of being able to engage with our
customers and giving them access to ourselves and
our brand. It’s that connection, intimacy, and
relationship that’s built.”

Ezra’s mission is to teach others how to build a highly

profitable ecommerce business while maintaining high
integrity and purpose.
Having built an 8-figure ecommerce business, BOOM!
By Cindy Joseph, Ezra is an open book with his
community—sharing business strategies through his
online education brand, Smart Marketer. His advice for
those launching online workshops is to embrace those
first-time jitters that everyone gets when going live in
front of a virtual audience.
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Cathryn Lavery
CEO & Co-Founder of BestSelf Co
[The best part] is just not having to deal with
shipping! It’s also much easier to tweak a digital
product because you don't have thousands sitting in
a warehouse that you need to sell before you do
anything different to it. So you can literally be
tweaking it all the time and making it better

Cathryn sells online courses, virtual summits,

challenges and an online accountability club ranging in
price from $0 to +$1000 USD.
Her advice for content creation is quality over quantity.
It’s better to have a few hours of quality content vs. 25+
hours of content.

Digital Toolkit: Thinkific, Email Marketing

 80

How to get a 90 day free trial of

Shopify
If you’re starting a new business, Shopify is
currently offering a 90 free trial so you can
take the time you need to build your online
store.

Get started by clicking the link below.

➔ Shopify 90 Day Free Trial

 81

Thank you for reading!

If you’d like to provide feedback on this resource, leave us a
comment!
Let us know what you found most useful, or what else you need to
know to be ready to launch your digital products, and we’ll continue
to improve this.