No one wants to be the “bUy mY cOuRse” guy.
It’s so universally cringe that it became a meme. Yet, it seems like everyone and their mother has a course to sell, which begs the question: if it’s so cringe, why did it become so popular?
It all started in the early 2020s when selling courses became the crocs of online business. No, not the crux. The Crocs. Let me explain.
Everyone claims to hate Crocs (or at least they used to 10 years ago) yet the company has been doing over a billion in revenue every year since 2011. So either some people were lying about hating Crocs, or the company has been falsely reporting its numbers for 15 years.
Just like everyone claims to hate crocs, everyone also claims to hate the “course hawkers.” And yet, there are so many of them, there must be a good reason for it. And there is. Selling courses and digital products is easily one of the most profitable ways to earn money online. That’s why half of these online courses supposedly teach you how to sell courses.
But if it actually works, why is it so gross?
The problem with a highly efficient profit mechanism like digital products, is it attracts shallow people just looking to make a quick buck. Those aren’t the only type of people selling courses, but they’re the loudest, and they’re the biggest reason why the whole thing became annoying enough to be memed.
They’re also the biggest reason why the problem needs to be addressed. We don’t need fewer courses, or fewer people selling them. We need better courses.
And there is one key difference between these course hawkers and the people actually making significant money with digital products. It’s something you can implement into your strategy today, to make plenty of money without becoming the “bUy mY cOuRse” guy.
Why It Feels Gross
Most courses and digital products feel ultra-cringe when they’re pitched for one simple reason.
They were created to make money, not to solve a problem.
Don’t get me wrong, products are supposed to make money. Businesses are supposed to make money. It keeps them alive, and selling products is how they do that. And digital products do this incredibly efficiently, increasing your earning potential, and decreasing costs and friction, which we talked about in my previous essay 3 Keys to Maximize Your Financial Autonomy.
The issue is that making money is not the primary reason the product exists, but a byproduct of it. The real purpose of a product is to solve a problem.
The purpose of a business is to solve a problem at scale. The product helps the business provide the solution to the customer, and create profit for the business. The profit enables the business to continue solving the problem more effectively and efficiently.
The problem with the course hawkers is they want to jump straight to the profit without solving any problems. So they built a product designed to create a one-time customer. It’s optimized for conversion, not for success or ease of use. And every piece of content they produce is designed to be more of an ad than an actually helpful post.
That’s why every pitch is so cringey. They’re asking you to exchange your hard earned coin for empty promises at best. And being bold enough to do it without having established any trust or rapport.
Compare that to a genuine solution. A creator focused on solving a problem will create a product that actually helps the customer implement the solution and/or learn how it works. And every piece of content they create is hyper-focused advice pertaining to a specific aspect of the focus problem or solution.
For example, consider someone in the AI education space. You watch their videos and read their posts because every time you do, you get something out of it. Whether it be a new prompt to try, a new project to tackle, or just a new way of approaching the subject, this creator’s content is valuable to you. You can see where they are now, and know that you want to be in a similar position in the near future, so you value their advice on this topic.
When they drop a course designed to help people integrate agentic workflows into their day to day, you’d probably be stoked to take that course. Why? Because you know it’s coming from someone who already is where you want to be, and they’ve given quality advice in the past. If the course is priced right, it would be a no brainer for you.
Compare that to the guy pumping out AI slop content, posting 15 low quality posts on every platform every day, and pitching his new AI “course” in every video. No, I don’t want to pay $200 for 6 prompts you generated on your lunch break.
This creator (if you can call him that) hasn’t given you any reason to trust him. He hasn’t shown you that he cares about solving your problem. All he’s shown you is some AI slop and a bunch of shaky pitches. By staying attached to the outcome (making the sale) he’s completely lost sight of the point (solving a problem) and as a result, the product has virtually no substance and customers have no reason to pay for it.
If he channelled all his energy into solving the problem, the sales and the money would come naturally as a byproduct. Instead he feels like he’s grinding. Waking up every day to generate and post content, hoping one day he’ll make the sales he needs to make ends meet.
So there’s nothing inherently wrong with selling a course or any kind of digital product. The downfall is losing sight of the problem and solution, and only focusing on making the sale. If you want to make the sale, you have to solve the problem.
But how do you know which problem to focus on?
Find Your Starting Point
If you’re like most people considering digital products, you probably fall into one of three buckets: either you have a skill, an audience, or don’t have either yet. Regardless of which category applies to you, I promise there is something you can sell.
You already have an audience: If you already have some kind of following you’re one step ahead of the game. Whether it’s a client list, a social media following, or a list of newsletter readers, there is already a group of people that cares about what you have to say on a certain topic.
Use this to your advantage. Poll your audience to see which aspect of your advice or content is most valuable to them. What are the recurring problems they are dealing with that you could potentially help them with? Find your most popular content and consider if it could be productized to help your audience implement the solution.
Once you know which problem you want to solve, build the smallest product that solves it (we’ll talk about that next) and then iterate and improve from there. You can always build a bigger product that solves the same problem, but the most important thing is getting the solution into the hands of your customers.
You already have expertise: If you already have extensive experience or skillsets, you likely already know what problem(s) you’re best equipped to help people solve. The same problems you have used your expertise to solve for yourself and others. Use your digital product to pass your expertise through the product to the customer as best as possible.
Again, build the smallest product that delivers the solution. (This is called the Minimum Viable Product or MVP.) Once the MVP is built, find 3-5 people who desperately need the solution and give it to them for free. Collect feedback and testimonials and use them to improve and promote the product.
Even though these first few customers aren’t paying you money, they are the most valuable customers you’ll ever have because they’ll help you validate the product and build something people will actually pay for.
You don’t have either (yet): But if you don’t have an audience to poll, and you don’t have expertise to productize, how do you figure out which problem to focus on? This is where I recommend some thoughtful introspection. Ask yourself some probing questions to excavate your true beliefs and passions.
What experience or experiences do you have that others don’t? What do you actually care about? What beliefs, habits, or practices are you adamant about other people adopting? What gets you up on your soapbox? What gets you fired up? What’s something you just can’t sit around and let be?
If you read all those questions and still haven’t thought of anything, you need to go deeper. Stop mindless content consumption and start consuming content mindfully. Pay attention to what kind of content captures your attention, why it interests you, what new questions do you have after consuming it, whether you agree or disagree, and how that information impacts your life.
Spend enough time on this and you will begin to notice patterns that help you answer the questions above. And remember, at the end of the day what you are looking for is a way to serve people. And there is no problem too small to solve.
Think about simple products like the paperclip, or tissues, or rubber spatulas. All those products solve very minuscule problems. And yet every one of us has all 3 of them at home. Because even though those problems are small, having that particular solution makes life better, easier, less frustrating, etc.
No matter which bucket you fall into, there is a digital product out there for you to sell, and someone out there who needs it. But now that you know which problem you’re going to focus on, the question becomes “how do I deliver the solution?”
What Counts as a Digital Product?
Digital products are not only some of the most profitable and efficient products to sell, but they’re also incredibly versatile. They come in all shapes and sizes, and the best one for your product depends on the nature of the problem and the solution.
Guides and ebooks: A basic PDF guide is generally the simplest form to start with. It allows you to synthesize your expertise into a digestible format for someone who needs your solution.
Most guides can also be expanded into an ebook as well. The key is to treat your PDF guide like an implementation manual, and your ebook more like a manifesto. If you have more arguing to do to support your stance, an ebook might be a better option than a simple guide.
Checklists and frameworks: The next step up from a guide or ebook. Even though these documents tend to be shorter than a PDF guide, perceived value can actually be higher. This is because the customer is getting a concrete framework or blueprint that will help them achieve their goal or solve their problem.
A framework like this gives the customer more than just a few pages of information. It gives them the clarity they need to start moving toward the solution. That clarity may exist in an ebook, but the customer has to parse through hundreds of pages to get that direction. You can help them out by synthesizing the clarity into a single document for them.
Tools and templates: If your focus problem can be solved virtually, you could consider developing a tool that implements the solution for the customer.
Consider a software like Calendly (not sponsored) which allows you to manage all your booking requests in one place, without having to worry about double bookings, or last minute meetings, or rescheduling chaos. These problems are the bane of existence for anyone doing online bookings, and calendly created a software product that delivers the solution.
But developing a software tool can take serious time, effort, money, and commitment. A better option for most people, especially if this is your first digital product, is to build a template instead. This can be done on platforms like Google Sheets or Notion or many others.
If you’ve built a spreadsheet or dashboard or calculator or scheduler or anything of a similar nature for yourself, there are definitely other people who would benefit from it and even pay for it.
Text or Video Courses: This is probably the format that is most familiar to people. It’s a good natural progression from a framework or PDF guide. It allows you to expand on each part of the process in as much detail as is necessary to facilitate the learning of the solution.
If you’re considering going the online course route, I recommend starting with a guide or framework. Then you can create a course module for each component included in the framework. Start with a text course, and optionally add videos where they are most effective.
Swipe files and resource packs: You’ve already done the hard work, and now you’re giving back to your audience by letting them copy your homework. This is perfect for things like email swipes, social post templates, targeted AI prompts, and more.
Paid newsletter or membership: And of course one of the things I talk about the most when it comes to running a profitable digital business is incorporating community.
The customers that will end up supporting your business the most throw money at you because they love you. You helped them solve a problem in their life or scratch a metaphorical itch of some kind, and as a result they are eager to listen to what you have to say and consume more of your content.
Community gives them that opportunity, and it gives you the opportunity to monetize it. You can either build your very own members area and social feed, or you can send out regular email newsletters to share your inner musings with your members. Substack is a great tool for this because it gives you a free subscription and the option to open up a paid subscription.
Honorable Mention: One final honorable mention for those who are so inclined. Live events are becoming more and more prevalent, and pretty much any digital business can take advantage of that. If you’ve developed one of the digital products above, you could easily turn it into an event. And vice versa, the recording of any live event can be repurposed as a digital product.
You can take your guide, ebook, framework, or course and convert it into a webinar. Invite your audience to the webinar for some free value (because you are basically going to deliver the product through the presentation) and then at the end of the webinar, give them the option to purchase the product to implement the solution for themselves. For tools, templates, and other resources the presentation could take the form of a demo.
If you’re running a community or paid membership, you can use the event as an incentive to join or upgrade. And the best part about live events is that once it’s over, it’s still not over yet. After the event, you can turn the recordings into their own digital products. This creates long term value from a one-time event which is incredibly powerful.
So now that you know what problem you’re going to solve and how you’re going to deliver the solution, it’s finally time to build your first digital product.
Create Your First Digital Product
No matter which of the buckets you fall into, you can follow this 8 step process to create your first digital product.
Identify the problem - List 5 things that people ask for your help or advice on. Pick one.
Pick the format - Choose the smallest viable format. The best product is the one you actually complete.
Validate the concepts - Before building, describe it to a few people that may benefit from your solution. Gauge reactions and collect feedback. If the idea doesn’t excite them, probe to figure out what they would pay for.
Build the MVP - Complete the minimum viable product in 2-3 days. You can improve from there.
Price it - Don’t sell yourself short. You spent 3 days on it, don’t put it up for less than what 1hr of your time is worth.
List it - Sell it from the window of your own shop, not sitting on a shelf in someone else’s store. Sell your products on your hub.
Promote it - Share the solution with the people that need it. In person, on social media, even ads if it makes sense for you. The best channel for promotion depends on the product, industry, and audience.
Iterate and improve - Collect feedback continuously. Regularly update the product to keep it top quality and as effective as possible for solving your customers’ problems.
Optionally - Experiment with different formats. If your PDF guide did well, consider expanding it into a course. If the course does well, consider creating video modules for it. This allows you to charge more for a higher quality product, and makes it as easy as possible for people to implement your solution.
Ignore This
“My idea already exists”
“I’m not an expert in my field”
“Who even cares about this thing?”
Screw it. Build it anyway.
The reality is that every product already exists. Even if it’s been done before, it hasn’t been done by you, for the people who trust you. People buy based on voice, format, and trust, not pure novelty. Your version serves someone theirs doesn’t.
Remember our examples from before: paperclip, tissues, rubber spatula. Those products solve tiny problems. And for all three, a viable solution already existed. What makes those products successful is not that they were the first products to try to solve the problem, but that they solved the problem effectively and efficiently. Novelty has nothing to do with it.
If you’re still lacking the conviction to create your first digital product, I recommend checking out my latest essay “Building Your Brand Canon” which goes even deeper on finding personal clarity and picking a direction to take your business. I also wrote an AI prompt to help you facilitate this process which you can access here for free.
And if you still feel like you don’t have the experience or authority to sell your own solution, stay tuned for a future essay that will teach you how to multiply your revenue in half the time by selling other people’s digital products — the right way.
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