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This week, we're talking about how to find winning digital product ideas.
No inventory, no shipping, just pure profit.
Sounds good, right?
But the low barrier to entry means a crowded market. So, how do you find product ideas that actually sell, rather than just adding to the noise?
The people who find success here work smarter, not harder.
They reverse-engineer what's already working, identifying clear market needs, and using new tools to build something better, faster.
In this breakdown, you'll learn:
How to uncover the best-selling digital products with insider tricks.
Strategies for finding untapped niches and validating demand.
Leveraging AI to accelerate your product creation and optimisation.
A practical launch blueprint to test and scale with minimal risk.
Let's jump in.
👀 Things Worth Checking Out
Find Your Next Million-Dollar Idea with 43 proven frameworks to help you generate profitable business ideas on demand.
Access the internet’s largest database of business ideas - over 10,000 ideas with startup guides, growth strategies, and niche opportunities.
The best businesses solve specific problems, so we created a database with hundreds of problems begging for a solution.
⭐️ Examples
The One-Person Digital Products
These creators prove you don't need a team to build an empire, just a solution to a single, painful problem.
Easlo – Sells minimalist Notion templates that organize your life and business, earning over $500,000 from what started as a personal side project.
Justin Welsh – Packages his audience-growth system into low-cost online courses, earning over $5 million as a solo founder.
Make This Your Last Time – Sells digital study guides for the California bar exam, earning over $1 million by solving one high-stakes problem.
Daniel Vassallo – Wrote a hyper-niche eBook called "The Good Parts of AWS" for developers, earning over $500,000 as a solo author.
What to copy:
Scratch your own itch. The best products begin by fixing your own frustrations, so build the solution you wish existed.
Sell the result, not the resource. People don’t buy a template, they buy an organised life; they don't buy a course, they buy a promotion.
Go deep, not wide. Own one specific problem for one specific audience—you can build an empire serving a tiny niche.
The Niche Creators
These creators earn a living by selling simple, downloadable files to passionate niche audiences.
True Grit Texture Supply – Sells downloadable texture packs and brushes that help digital artists make their clean work feel authentic and handmade.
Tropic Colour – Sells downloadable cinematic colour profiles (LUTs) and video assets that give filmmakers a high-end look instantly.
The Spreadsheet Shoppe – Sells beautifully designed Excel and Google Sheets templates on Etsy, generating over 80,000 sales by making financial tracking simple.
Soho Publishing – Sells thousands of individual PDF knitting patterns online, proving a massive business can be built on low-cost, downloadable instructions.
What to copy:
Build a professional's toolkit. Creatives pay premium prices for downloadable assets that save them time and improve their final product.
Sell an aesthetic. People will pay to instantly achieve a specific style, whether it’s a gritty texture or a cinematic feel.
Digitise a physical hobby. Turn offline passions like knitting, woodworking, or crafting into digital plans and patterns.
Make the boring beautiful. Even a spreadsheet can become a bestseller if you focus on great design and user experience.
💡 Ideas
The Music Producers
Artist-Specific Drum Pack: A pack that meticulously recreates the drum sounds of an iconic artist like Daft Punk or The Chemical Brothers.
Genre-Specific Synth Presets: 50+ presets for a popular synth (like Serum) designed for a trending genre like "Melodic Techno."
Project "Deconstruction" Template: A fully arranged project file for a DAW that shows exactly how a professional-sounding track was mixed and arranged, layer by layer.
MIDI Chord & Melody Pack: A library of complex and compelling MIDI files that can be dragged and dropped into a project to instantly solve "writer's block."
The Woodworker
"Weekend Build" Furniture Plan: A PDF plan for a specific, stylish piece (e.g., "The Scandinavian Plywood Desk"), including a precise cut-list and step-by-step 3D diagrams.
The FIRE Seeker
The "FIRE Dashboard" Spreadsheet: An all-in-one Google Sheets dashboard that tracks savings rate, investment growth, net worth, and projects their FIRE date.
UK S&S ISA & Pension Optimisation Guide: A detailed eBook for a UK audience that explains how to maximise tax-advantaged accounts (ISAs, SIPPs) and choose low-cost index funds.
Rental Property Analysis Spreadsheet: A spreadsheet for aspiring property investors to analyse potential buy-to-let deals, calculating ROI and cash flow.
"Savings Rate" Booster Challenge: A 30-day program (PDF) with actionable steps to cut expenses and increase income.
The Language Learner
"Language Immersion" Notion Dashboard: A template to organise their learning: track new vocabulary, collate resources (podcasts, YouTube), and plan their study schedule.
Graded Reader eBook: A short story written in the target language for an intermediate learner, with a glossary of difficult words included.
The Engaged Couple
The Wedding Planning Dashboard: A comprehensive Notion board with a budget tracker, guest list manager, vendor comparison sheet, and a master timeline.
Venue Comparison Spreadsheet: A Google Sheets template designed to help them make a data-driven decision on the most expensive part of their wedding. Includes fields for hidden costs, corkage fees, and a scoring system to compare venues.
DIY Wedding Stationery Suite: A set of cohesive, professionally designed templates in Canva for everything from the save-the-dates and invitations to the on-the-day menus, place cards, and thank-you notes.
🛠 How to Build
1. Find Your Diamond, Not Your Idea
Forget brainstorming. The best ideas are already proven and are selling right now. Your job is to find them, not invent them.
Go to the Source: Use Etsy. It’s the world’s biggest marketplace for digital goods, with millions of data points on what people actually buy.
Find the Bestsellers: Search for a broad category (e.g., "Wedding Invitation," "Budget Spreadsheet," "Wall Art Printable"). Filter by "Star Sellers" to see the top shops.
Use the Bestseller Hack: Once you've searched, look at the URL in your browser. Find the word
starand replace it withbest. This will often reveal the true bestselling items in that category, a feature Etsy hides.Look for a "Diamond": Your goal is to find a single product with thousands of sales or reviews. This is proof of demand. This is your starting point.
2. Define Your "10% Better" Angle
You don't need to be original; you need to be slightly better. Your "wedge" is a small improvement on a proven winner.
Analyse the Winner: Study the diamond you found. Why is it selling? Is it the design? The functionality? The simplicity? The great customer photos in the reviews?
Don't Reinvent, Refine: Your first product should be 90% the same as the proven bestseller. Your angle is the final 10%.
"10% Better" Ideas:
Does it work in Excel? Make a version that works in Google Sheets.
Is the design a bit dated? Give it a modern, minimalist refresh.
Does it come in one colour? Offer it in five.
Could it include a bonus? Add a simple checklist or a "quick start" guide.
3. Build Your One-Person Factory
You don't need a design degree. You just need the right tools to create a professional-looking product in a few hours.
For Templates & Planners: Use Canva (for aesthetics), Notion (for systems), and Google Sheets/Excel (for trackers).
For Art & Illustrations: Use Procreate (for drawing), Midjourney (for AI concepts), and PixArt (for AI enhancement and variations).
For eBooks & Guides: Use Canva or Google Docs. Keep it simple and clean.
For Your Storefront: Start on Etsy to leverage its built-in traffic, or use Gumroad for simplicity and higher profit margins.
4. Test on Marketplace, Not With Your Money
Before you even set up a store, let the market tell you what's good for free.
Create 3-5 Variations: Based on your "10% Better" angle, create a few different versions of your product.
List on Facebook Marketplace: List each variation for a low price (e.g., £5). Use the exact same title and price for all of them—only change the main image.
Let the Data Speak: See which version gets the most views, clicks, and messages. This is a pure A/B test with zero ad spend. The one with the most engagement is your winner.
5. Launch the Winner & Fuel the Algorithm
Now that you have a data-proven product, it's time to launch it properly.
List Your Winner: Take the winning product from your Marketplace test and list it on Etsy. Model your title, tags, and description on the original bestseller you found in Step 1. Use what's proven to work.
Get Your First Sale: Use Etsy Ads with a tiny budget ($5/day) to get your first few sales. Once the sales start, Etsy's algorithm begins to notice and will show your product to more people organically.
Encourage Reviews: Include a simple request for a review in your thank-you note or download file. Positive reviews are the most powerful fuel for the Etsy algorithm.
Build Your List: In your download file, offer a related freebie (a bonus checklist, a small extra template) in exchange for an email address. This builds an audience you own for your next product launch.
🚀 How to Grow
Master Etsy SEO
Spy on the titles and tags of the top 5 bestsellers in your niche to find the best keywords.
Use specific, long-tail keywords (e.g., "Minimalist Monthly Budget Spreadsheet").
Use all 13 tags for every product listing.
Build the Pinterest Flywheel
Create 5-10 different pin graphics for each of your products to see what works.
Use video pins (e.g., a screen recording of your template) as they outperform static images.
Pack your pin descriptions and board titles with relevant keywords.
Create a Freebie Funnel to Build Your Email List
Offer a free "lite" version of your main product (e.g., a one-page checklist from a larger planner).
Use a simple landing page tool like Carrd or Gumroad to collect email addresses (AI tools like Bolt or Lovable are great too).
Include a discount code and a link to your main product in the welcome email that delivers the freebie.
Collaborate with "Niche Neighbours"
Find other shops that sell to your customers but aren't direct competitors.
Propose a "thank you" email swap where you each promote the other's store with a discount code.
Co-create and launch a product bundle together and split the revenue to cross-promote to each other's audiences.
🎬 How to Start
1. Startup Capital Needed
Etsy Fees: ~£0.80 to list five products.
Design Tools: £0 using Canva's free version.
Total Cost: Under £5.
2. What an MVP Looks Like
A Planner: A one-page checklist, not a 20-tab spreadsheet.
An eBook: A 15-page guide, not a 200-page book.
A Template: One great design, not 50 variations.
3. Initial Ad Spend:
Phase 1 (Finding Your Winner): £0. Test your product ideas on Facebook Marketplace for free.
Phase 2 (Launching on Etsy): £5 per day. A tiny budget is all you need to give the Etsy algorithm an initial push. Let the platform do the work.
4. What a "Good Start" Is (Sales)
First Sale: The only milestone that truly matters.
First Week: 1-5 sales. This is your green light.
First Month: 10+ sales. This is a repeatable business.
5. Conversion Rate to Aim For
The Benchmark: Aim for a 1-3% conversion rate.
Below 1%? Your price, images, or description needs fixing. Test changes.
Above 3%? You have a winner. Create more variations.
🔥 Cool Stuff
(Bookmark these)
Want sh*tloads of business ideas? Get over 10,000+ in the Internet’s Biggest Business Ideas Database
Want to know problems that your next business should solve? Access the Problems & Pain Points Database.
Bootstrapped Growth - Every Tuesday, you get 3 marketing examples, 2 free resources, and 1 growth strategy breakdown.
Want to grow your business? Here’s a database of tools that can help.
Want to promote your startup for free? Here’s a database of free places to promote your startup.
Want to turn your idea into a business? Check out this business idea checklist.
Want to differentiate from your competitors? Check out this Differentiation Strategy Guide
Want to get better results from your ads? Use these proven psychological ad positioning strategies.