Your Guide to Passive Income: Selling Digital Planners

Create and sell beautiful, functional planners to build a profitable side business.

Welcome! Do you have a knack for design or organization? You can turn that skill into a profitable passive income stream by creating and selling **digital planners**. A digital planner is a reusable PDF file that can be used on a tablet with a stylus (like an iPad with an Apple Pencil) and an app like GoodNotes or Notability. Since they are digital, you can create one product and sell it an infinite number of times without ever worrying about shipping or inventory. It's one of the most popular and accessible side hustles for creators. Here’s how you can get started.

Step 1: Choose Your Niche and Design

The key to a successful digital planner is to make it useful and visually appealing for a specific audience. Instead of creating a general planner, focus on a niche. Examples include:

• A **student planner** with academic tracking pages.
• A **budget planner** with financial trackers and expense logs.
• A **fitness planner** with workout logs and meal prep guides.
• A **teacher planner** with classroom organization tools.

You can create your designs using software like **Canva** (for beginners) or **Adobe InDesign** (for advanced users). Focus on creating a clean, easy-to-use layout and include clickable tabs or hyperlinks to make navigation simple.

Step 2: Choose Your Platform to Sell On

You need a platform that can handle the sale and automatic delivery of your digital files. The most popular choices are:

• **Etsy:** With a massive built-in audience, Etsy is the go-to marketplace for digital products. It has a low barrier to entry, and you can leverage its search engine to find customers.
• **Gumroad:** A simple and powerful platform that allows you to sell digital products directly to your audience from your own landing page. It's great if you plan to do your own marketing.

Step 3: Launch and Market Your Product

Once your planner is ready, it's time to write a compelling product description, create beautiful mock-up images, and set your price. When your listing is live, start promoting it! Share your product on social media (especially Pinterest and Instagram), and if you have a blog or an email list, be sure to let them know about it. Selling digital planners is a one-time effort that can bring in a reliable income for years to come. By creating a product that people genuinely love and find useful, you can build a sustainable, passive business.

Find more online business ideas and creative side hustles on our blog!