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4 Myths about Digital Products (and what to focus on instead!)

Megan Martin

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Too often I see creatives sit on a GENIUS idea for a digital product because they let fear hold them back. Fear of failure. Fear of the unknown. If you’re ready to creative passive income in your biz, here are 4 myths that can hold you back and what to focus on instead to start seeing traction!

If you’ve got an idea for a digital product, chances are you are going to start doing some research on how to make it happen and how to actually make automatic income work. Then they will come. The myths. You’ll find successful digital product creators online doing all sorts of cool and flashy things and naturally your wheels will start turning into thoughts that YOU should be doing things like them, too. And then before you know it you have an Everest high mountain of to-dos and ideas in your head.

That kind of overwhelm is enough to stop anyone in their tracks before they even begin. Let’s break down the most common myths around creating passive income in your business with digital products so you can know what to focus on instead!

Myth 1: “I need 500 subscribers on my email list before I can create and sell a digital product.”

When it comes to creating passive income streams, audience size (or lack there of) is one of the BIGGEST hang ups I see holding entrepreneurs back from taking the first step to creating a digital product.

This myth started thanks to some online gurus who wanted you to believe this so you’d buy their course on email marketing.

Let me ask you a question:

❓ Did you have an audience when you started your service based biz?
❓Did you have email subscribers when you started selling on Etsy?

If you’re an entrepreneur, pretty decent chances are you started at 0 followers at some point (We’re not counting your Mom and college roommates… They we’re always going to follow along!).

If you’ve grown your business and your audience since then, chances are you’ve grown it with messaging that CENTERS around what you do. What you have to offer. What you sell.

And despite what that freebie Audience to Digital Product Income Calculator Predictor you found on a Facebook ad told you, you DON’T actually need an audience to create a digital product.

Could you potentially make more money out of the launching gate with an audience to sell to?

Obviously. 🥸

But then again, I’ve known creators who HAD an audience meet the reality of a major launch flop because they were throwing spaghetti at the wall.

The Audience Truth:

An audience IS necessary in the long-term success of your online business. You’ll need to consistently generate new leads to share your digital products with in this marathon we call owning and growing a small business.

BUT.

Having an audience isn’t mandatory to have BEFORE putting a digital product out in the world {wide web}.

In fact, I teach my Revenue Ripple course students that by creating your product FIRST, you set yourself up to focus on content creation and audience building from the perspective of what you already sell and the transformational value it holds for your customers… just like our service provider and physical product shop buds do. 👋

Just like service providers and shop owners, your digital product should DICTATE your massaging. From the words on your website all the way to your captions on Insta.

👏 And that is how you grow an organic audience of buyers. 👏

Myth 2: “Now is not a good time to start because I don’t have _fill in the blank._”

A close cousin to the subscriber myth, this myth is really about WHATEVER road block you’ve put in front of getting started.

Some common ways that blank gets filled in look like:

  • I don’t have a big enough email list
  • I don’t have an email list at all
  • I don’t have enough followers on social media
  • I don’t like my logo
  • My website is not good enough yet
  • I need new photos because my last brand session was 5 years ago
  • I don’t have formal training like a college degree
  • I don’t understand technology well enough
  • I haven’t hit a certain milestone that makes me look more legit
  • My content is not professional enough
  • I don’t have the money to hire a videographer

Would working towards changing any of these scenarios be a “bad” thing?

Absolutely NOT.

But none of those are prerequisites to digital product and passive revenue success. In fact all of them can be figured out LATER.

Instead of worrying about what ducks you DON’T have in a row, I want you to make the mindset shift that the BEST time to start is right now.

You don’t need a big list or tons of followers or fancy equipment or a professional videographer or insert your fill in the blank to make a valuable digital product that can sell.

Myth 3: “I need to have all the answers figured out.”

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be prepared and intentional when you go to create something new. But just like any business model, you will inevitably learn more along the way as you are in it. It isn’t realistic to know EVERYTHING before you even get started.

This myth really boils down to the fear of failure.

I don’t believe that fear of failure is exclusive to the digital business model, but from my experience of interacting with hundreds of entrepreneurs wanting to pivot into selling digital products and building passive revenue streams, fear of failure is one of the BIGGEST limiting beliefs holding people back from taking action.

Some of those common limiting beliefs look like:

  • What if I waste my time?
  • What if no one wants to buy what I create?
  • What if I mess up the tech and my customers have a horrible experience?
  • What if my customers don’t LIKE my product?
  • What if someone else is already selling the kind of digital product I want to create?
  • What if I fail publicly with a product that doesn’t perform well?

Despite what you may or may not believe about overnight success stories, success in creating, launching, selling, and scaling with digital products is a marathon, not a sprint.

5 years in this business model and I will be completely honest with you: Things will NOT go your way. Setbacks will happen. Mistakes will be made. There are plenty of lessons to learn.

I love this quote from Colin Powell:

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.”

Each setback you face as you work to create your digital product and grow your passive profit business is a valuable LEARNING experience.

I accept and embrace and I encourage YOU to accept and embrace the setbacks because they will make you a better business person. They help guide you as you put in the work to eventual success.

Myth 4: “I need to launch a whole SHOP of digital products to be successful.”

Aka: The Shop Myth.

The shop myth is a limiting belief you tell yourself that says you can’t just launch ONE product.

This myth stems from the pressure you put on yourself that you need to solve ALLLLL of your customers’ problems.

Maybe you can already envision an entire suite of products that could be so helpful and valuable for your target customer.

Maybe you think you’ll leave money on the table if you don’t offer every type of digital product they might need or want right off the bat.

Maybe you have a slew of talents and abilities and you struggle to just pick ONE person to help first.

Maybe something else, but whatever you are believing here, I want to shift your mindset right now that you do NOT need to have an entire suite of digital products to sell when you launch in order to become successful.

In fact I’d argue that you SHOULDN’T create a shop full of products if you are just getting your feet wet in the digital product world.

The Idea Truth:

Not all digital product ideas are home runs. Even the ideas you are REALLY excited about. Even the ideas you think will be *perfect* for your ideal customers.

Sometimes ideas just don’t resonate with your customers for a lot of different reasons.

I’ve heard from too many entrepreneurs who poured their hearts, time, energy, and resources into into creating an entire suite of digital products to fill an online shop and they ultimately didn’t take off and sell like they’d imagined.

They could have saved themselves a lot of heartache and money had they started with ONE product.

By starting small with one product, you are able to test your market and to test your target audience to determine if your hunch is correct about that idea being a home run.

If it doesn’t turn out to be the home run you were hoping for, you can revisit that product you’ve created to see if the messaging, naming, or pricing needs to be tweaked. Or check to make sure your sales funnel is functioning correctly on the tech side… among other things.

It is SO much easier to absorb the kind of setback that can arise like an idea not being a home run or needing to go back to the drawing board of the product you created when you are working with just ONE product as opposed to an entire line-up of products.

The TRUTH about creating digital products (and earning REAL passive income!)

The BEST way to learn the digital business model and get traction is to practice. To take action. Getting your first product up and running will give you the confidence boost you need to keep going.

Once you get that confidence, you’ll have PLENTY of time to decide what the next step is for you.

Maybe it is another product that can serve your current customers to give them the next best valuable resource to help them even more or maybe solve another problem they have. Maybe you’ll upgrade your recording equipment for better looking videos. Maybe you’ll go all-in on email marketing for the next 6 months.

Till then, just take the first step and get started. You got this!


How to get started creating passive income through digital products even if you have no audience
4 Myths about creating digital products and what to focus on instead to start earning passive profit in your business
How to get start with passive profit income streams. How to create a digital product from your service-based business.

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