When I started my digital planner business, I made every mistake in the book.  I got in my own way more times than I can count.  However, I have learned what NOT to do now, and I want to share it with you so that you don’t make the same mistakes I did. Your digital planner business can succeed a lot faster than mine did because you’ll be armed with the tools of what not to do. You don’t want to miss out on these recommendations that every new digital planner business owner should know.

First, let’s look at some frequently asked questions to give you some foundation.

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Digital planning is a means of planning your schedule on a digital device.  Digital planners mimic the experience of using a traditional planner because you can write on them in the same way.

Digital planning allows you to maintain a digital record of your schedule and important notes.

1. Reusable: especially if you use an undated planner, you can reuse your digital planner for years to come.  Paper planners can only be used once.
2. Environmentally friendly: using a digital planner over a paper planner, reduces paper waste.
3. Versatility: digital planners give you more value for your money, as they commonly have more features than paper planners.
4. Easily accessible: With digital planning, you can maintain everything in a simple tablet, instead of having a bunch of crap lying around in different places.  You can also access your digital planner across multiple syncing devices, so if you leave it at home, you can still access what you need on your phone, laptop, etc.
5. Increased efficiency: it’s easier to stay organized with a digital planner, without flipping through separate calendars, notebooks and files.  Reducing clutter also boosts your productivity, by efficiently prioritizing tasks that need to be done first.
6. Neater option: gone are the days of using white-out to correct mistakes, when you switch to digital planning.  Mistakes are easily deleted, for a tidier planning experience.

1. Great source of passive income: you make the product once and sell it over and over again.  
2. Since there is no physical product, you don’t have to worry about shipping costs.  You can deliver you customer’s purchase instantly to their inbox.
3. No startup costs: This isn’t one of those deals where you pay a bunch of money up front and risk the potential of losing it.  All you need is a digital device and a free design program.  You don’t need formal design training to design your own digital planners and you certainly don’t need experience.  I had neither when I first started out.  All you need is a boat load of dedication and willingness to learn.
4. Create products for a variety of industries and niches.  
5. Work from the comfort of your own home (currently, I am sitting in my bed, with my three hounds around me.)

Now I am going to let you in on the mistakes I made when I started my digital planner business, so you can skip that painful part of the process.

Before you begin creating digital planners to sell, I highly suggest doing some market research.  I did not do this before I started and my planners in the beginning were a hot mess. 

Look on selling platforms, such as Etsy, to see what types of digital planners are popular.   Scope out your competition and find ways to differentiate your business from them.  You want to fill in a gap in the market, not simply echo what everyone else is doing. 

You can also spot upcoming trends by doing your research, and hop on them before they become overly saturated.  Pinterest is also good for this.  That is how I discovered this whole new world of PLR (Private Label Rights) products. 

PLR stands for Private Label Rights, which allow you to purchase the work of someone else and sell it as your own. All PLR digital products come with their own license, meaning they may not all have the same stipulations (so I can’t speak for everyone’s PLR products).

 

Generally. though PLR products are the ready-made creation of someone else, that is accompanied by an intellectual property license from the owner, that is granted to you when you purchase the product.
The license allows you to claim authorship, fully modify the product as you wish, and the ability to sell it as your own product.

 

Some people prefer this method, as it saves a lot of time with both the creative process and the development of digital products. When you get your digital planner business established, you can also try your hand at earning income by selling PLR digital planners.

I have a small shop that I am growing with some PLR products, right here on my website.

Map out your target customer’s journey and determine what their pain points are, so you can solve them with your product.

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When I first started making digital planners, I started from scratch every time.  Good grief, I wasted a lot of time.

To get your digital planner business started, I recommend creating some generic digital templates that can be repurposed and reused every time you begin creating a new digital planner.  These can include undated calendar/schedule templates, notebook templates, and Etsy listing mockup templates (to be used when you start selling your digital planner).

RELATED: HOW TO CREATE A DIGITAL PLANNER TO SELL ON ETSY

Use this ADHD Digital Planner to plan your digital planning business the right way.  See the form below.

I also recommend brain dumping a list of all of the planner pages that you want to include in your design, and split them up into sections to make the creation process easier.

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Along the same lines as branding, think of a signature feature that you want your customers to know you for.  Maybe it’s a unique brand design that you include in every planner, or maybe you include bonus material in with your digital planner purchases.

If you want to have a digital planner business that is actually profitable, you have to treat it like a business and not a hobby.  This is another mistake that I made starting out.

The key to success is consistency, rather than just working on it when you feel like it.  Do you just go to your full-time job whenever you feel like it?  No.  

Then you can’t expect your digital planner business to earn you an income (so you can quit that full-time job!) if you do not put in the work. 

Create an editorial calendar/weekly to-do list, to maintain a vision of what needs to be done and keep yourself focused.  I have certain tasks that I complete on certain days of the week, and that helps me to get them all done.  

That’s ANOTHER mistake that I made that you don’t have to-not planning ahead!  Now I have all of my weekly blog post ideas planned out through the end of the year.  Having a business plan and strategy is the only way to be successful.

When I think about everything I need to do for my online business, it can seem so overwhelming, to the point that I don’t take any action at all.  Break your business tasks into mini, achievable goals.  This will help you feel accomplished and help you get them done.

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This really is one of the most important parts of your business, and I really hate it.  It’s just one of those aspects that I prefer not to do.  

As a solopreneur, I have to do even the tasks I don’t like (this was another mistake that I made initially-avoiding marketing the products that I worked so hard to make).  Create a social media strategy, so you know where you need to market your products when you create new ones.  

Nurture an email audience so that you can market new products to them (and loyal customers will become repeat buyers).

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It’s just a fact that you have to learn Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  These are the practices that Google favors so that you can rank higher on search engine results.  SEO is important to consider on Google, Etsy, Pinterest, and everywhere you post.  You NEED to learn it, and it’s so much more in-depth than I ever realized.

Mike Futia’s course, Stupid Simple Blogging, is the best explanation of the secret details of SEO.  You aren’t going to find the information from his course anywhere else.  It is so worth your time and money to invest in your business.

Taking the extra steps that I failed to do when I started my digital planner business, will help you be successful in the long run.  And trust me, this digital planner business of yours is going to be so worth it.

Don’t forget to pick up your free ADHD Digital Planner, to help you plan you own digital planning business!

Thank you for hanging out with me and reading this blog post.  Have something you would like for me to post about or a product you would like for me to make?  Send me an email.