There are a number of ways to make an income online. I’ve tried a couple of them myself.
None, however, tops selling information. As an introvert, this has been my ideal online business model.
Why? There is no talking to anyone. Nothing to ship. No inventory to keep. Low-cost and low-maintenance.
And one of my favorite reasons–you can automate the entire thing.
I’ll explain in detail below.
Your Digital Information Product
There is a misconception that information won’t sell because it is easy to look up online.
While there is truth to that, info sells when you are providing a solution to a specific audience in an easy to digest format.
There are plenty of people (myself included) who will pay for information to save them the time of searching their way to an answer.
I’ve bought many an info product that has saved me time and that made it worth it to me.
I get the information immediately and can implement it right away. Plus, I learn an easier way to do something and avoid any common pitfalls.
Choose Your Topic
The first step in creating your digital info product is to choose your topic.
An easy way to do this is to ask yourself this question:
What is something that you’ve figured out that used to confuse you?
Maybe you’ve learned how to shed excess weight in your mid-fifties with meal prepping.
Or maybe you’ve learned how to grow a YouTube channel without burning yourself out.
You get the idea.
There is no need to be an expert in your topic. As long as you’ve figured out how to make something easier to do, there are some people who will pay for the information to learn how as well.
Create Your Simple PDF
Typing up your information is easy (and free) when you use Google Docs. Write your info product as if you’re writing to a friend.
Make it easy to read using plenty of white space, bullet points, etc.
Save your document as a PDF file and you’re done. How your info product looks isn’t as nearly as important as the info it contains.
Selling Your PDF File
The next step is to put your info product up for sale. You can do this for free when you use a sales platform like Payhip or Gumroad.
These sales platforms let you sell your digital product for free and they take a small percentage of every sale that you make.
Your only focus is to market your PDF online.
Marketing Your Info Product
Traffic is the final piece to this introvert-friendly online business model. Without traffic, there is no one to sell your product to.
There are two ways to generate a consistent flow of traffic:
- Organic
- Paid
You can use one method or both at the same time. I like to use both.
Organic traffic can be generated from social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok or creating videos on YouTube.
Paid traffic can come from any number of paid advertising platforms such as Meta ads, Google ads, TikTok ads, and others.
My preferred paid ad strategy involves running ads on Instagram.
It allows me to post on social media when I feel like it versus feeling forced to do it to get traffic.
Paid ads can get expensive so it’s important that you learn how to use them first and set a budget for yourself.
You don’t need to run paid ads to generate traffic. Organic traffic works well and can last for the long term when you use strategies like blogging, writing on Medium.com, Substack, or using Pinterest.
Why I Call This The Ultimate Business for Introverts
I’ve tried a few different online businesses and none were as easy and introvert-friendly as selling PDF files.
You Have Your Own Product
Having your own product gives you more control. For example, when I focused solely on affiliate marketing, I was relying on someone else’s product for income.
I’ve dealt with product creators that have changed their product multiple times. Some do not pay commissions on time and I’ve had to reach out to them for payment.
When you have your own product, you’re in control. You’re building your own business instead of someone else’s.
You’ll also receive your payments a lot faster.
It is a Low-Maintenance Online Business
I used to have a print-on-demand t-shirt business. It required a lot of maintenance in comparison to a digital product business.
There was the constant creation of new t-shirt designs. I struggled with paid advertising and making sales. Plus, the customer service I had to do when there was an issue with a t-shirt.
With a digital product, I don’t have the hassle of constantly creating products and there is little to no customer service.
People receive their product instantly and if your product delivers value, there are usually no issues.
The only issue I’ve ever run into is a customer having trouble downloading their PDFs.
I simply send the PDFs as an attachment.
It is a Low-Cost Business
You can create your PDF files for free as well as sell them for free. However, if you want to scale up your business, it can still be fairly low cost in comparison to other online businesses.
What’s Next?
Are you ready to launch your digital information product? You can learn how to do so with my Quiet Creator Kickstart Guide.