📌TL;DR:
You don’t need to be an Etsy expert or a graphic designer to sell digital files online. If you can use Canva or Google Sheets, you can create low-effort products people will actually pay for. Here’s how to start with zero inventory, minimal effort, and no glittery fonts.
How To Make Money With Printables
Digital products sound fancy, but here’s the truth: you can create ridiculously simple ones that make people’s lives easier — and people will pay for that.
Think:
- Budget planners
- Daily checklists
- Meal planners
- Habit trackers
- Wedding guest list spreadsheets
- Side hustle idea worksheets (meta, I know)
If someone out there doesn’t want to make it themselves, they’ll pay you to make it once — and that’s where the magic (and money) is.
Here’s how to do it, step-by-step — no design background required.
Step 1: Pick something people actually need
Start with something useful. Not Pinterest-pretty — useful. Ask yourself:
- What do people struggle to organize?
- What do you search for online but end up making from scratch?
- What’s boring to create, but helpful once it’s done?
Good starter ideas:
- Weekly meal planners
- Debt payoff trackers
- Printable to-do lists
- Business expense logs
- Wedding guest trackers
- Goal planners or habit logs
Spoiler: It doesn’t have to be original. It just has to work.
Step 2: Create it with a free tool (like Canva or Google Sheets)
Use what you know. You’re not designing a logo — you’re making a clean, clear file that saves someone time.
- Canva is perfect for anything printable (checklists, trackers, planners).
- Use an A4 or US Letter template
- Stick to one or two fonts
- Add boxes, lines, and space to write — don’t overdo it
- Google Sheets or Excel work great for trackers, calculators, and logs.
- Format it cleanly
- Lock the formulas if you want to get fancy
- Export as PDF for printable versions
And don’t worry — there are tons of free templates to customize if you want a head start.
Step 3: Save it in the right format
- For printables: PDF
- For editable files: Google Sheets link or editable Canva template link (sold with “instructions” as a PDF)
Tip: if you’re selling editable Canva templates, make sure you share the template link, not just the design.
Step 4: Upload it to a platform that handles the hard stuff
Start with:
- Etsy (huge audience, small fees, easy for digital downloads)
- Gumroad (no upfront cost, beginner-friendly)
- Ko-fi Shop (if you already use Ko-fi, this is a low-pressure option)
Write a simple title and description that includes what it is and why it’s helpful. Add a preview image. That’s it.
Step 5: Price it reasonably and move on with your life
$2–$10 is a sweet spot for most simple digital files. Don’t get stuck in pricing panic — you can always adjust later.
What matters more is getting your first product live.
From there, you’ll start to see what people click on, what they save, and what sells. That feedback loop = your next idea.
Bonus Lazy Tip:
Reuse your file. A budget planner can become:
- A “student budget”
- A “freelancer budget”
- A “wedding savings plan”
Change a few labels, boom — three listings from one template.
Final Thought:
You’re not building an empire here. You’re uploading a PDF and seeing what happens. It’s low effort, low risk — and weirdly satisfying when someone buys something you made while watching Netflix in your pajamas.