The Truth About Making Money with Digital Downloads

(and Other Online Business Fairy Tales)

A client asked me the other day about what I thought about selling PDFs. She’d seen an ad that said you could whip up a digital guide in a matter of minutes, toss it up on Etsy or TikTok, and start making thousands of dollars in passive income.

No audience? No problem! No product yet? Don’t worry—AI can write it for you! Don’t want to show your face? Neither do we and we still got rich! 🤨

As Mrs. Potts would say, it’s a tale as old as time: just buy this course, follow this blueprint, and post a few times on social media, and you’ll wake up with dozens of Stripe notifications.

Let’s get real.

If it sounds too good to be true, it is. As someone who has spent tens of thousands of dollars on coaches and courses, let me tell you—there is no secret. No hack. No "thing" you just haven't stumbled across yet.

And the people who are making real money with low-ticket products? They didn’t get there with shortcuts. They got there with strategy.

What’s the Big Idea Here?

In its most basic sense, this business model promotes churning out tons of low-ticket digital products—usually PDFs or templates—and selling them on marketplaces like Etsy, TikTok, or via direct links on social media.

The promise is simple: make something once, sell it infinitely.

And yes, you absolutely can create something once and make money while you sleep (I have!). But there’s no such thing as a truly passive offer, at least not the way most people think about it.

Because even if you’ve created the best digital download in the world, people still have to know it exists. That means you have to promote it. You have to keep showing up—through content, email, ads, partnerships, etc.

And those aren’t set-it-and-forget it either. You can’t just send one email and rake in the money for months—you have to mention the offer over and over. If you’re running ads, those ads get stale—you have to revise them, try new copy and images, etc.

So if you see a business model that promotes creating something once and just watching as people throw money at you… yeah, run 🏃‍♀️‍➡️

What they don’t tell you is that this only works if you have a lot of eyeballs on your offer.

And unless you’ve already built a massive audience or you’re shelling out a TON on paid ads, those eyeballs aren't just going to magically appear on your website.

The "Secret" That Isn’t a Secret

I’ve spent so. much. money. on courses, coaching programs, and mentors. And most of these were far more valuable than they were priced at.

But I kept buying more, chasing the "thing" that would finally unlock the magic door to success.

And here’s what I figured out:

There. Is. No. Secret.

Success isn’t hiding in someone else’s template or in the seventh module of their upsell course. There’s no magical one-page funnel that will triple your income overnight.

You don’t need to buy another gimmick. You need to build a business that’s grounded in real value, intentional offers, and strategic growth.

The people you see who are the most successful? It’s not because of the ONE course they purchased. It’s because they showed up, day after day. They put in the hours (and often dollars!) to grow their audience, understand what they want and need, and made offers that aligned with those needs—and they then talked about those offers. Over. And over. And over.

It’s not sexy. But it works.

The Numbers Don’t Lie—And Most People Aren’t Doing the Math

So yes, it is absolutely possible to make money with digital downloads. But let’s break down what exactly that looks like.

Let’s start with a $37 product (which is already waaay too high for a PDF, by the way).

To make $10,000 from that product, you’d need to make 271 sales (since you can’t make a “partial” sale).

With a 5% conversion rate on your sales page (which is actually a pretty good rate), you’d need 5,420 visitors to land on that page.

So unless you already have a huge, engaged audience, to get that many visitors, you’re either:

• Buying ads

• Going viral

• Emailing a very large list

  
  

And let’s talk email. The average email marketing conversion rate is closer to 2%. That means to get those 271 sales, you’d need a list of 13,550 people.

Assuming you don’t already have that list size (if you do, THAT'S the secret I want in on!), let’s say you build that list with ads at a cost of $2 to $5 per lead:

• $2 x 13,550 = $27,100

• $5 x 13,550 = $67,750

  
  

So we’re looking at at least $27k to maybe make $10k?

Now let’s say your product is just $10—which is far more realistic for a simple PDF.

To make $10,000, you need 1,000 sales.

• With a 5% conversion rate: you need 20,000 visitors to your page

• With a 2% email conversion rate: you need a list of 50,000 subscribers

• 
  

Let me repeat that for the cheap seats in the back: FIFTY. THOUSAND. SUBSCRIBERS.

Want to grow a list that big with paid traffic?

• $2 x 50,000 = $100,000

• $5 x 50,000 = $250,000

  
  

This is the part they leave out in the masterclasses. Because if they told you it would cost six figures to make five? You’d X out faster than I do when someone mentions a “Zoom icebreaker”.

Even If You Could Get the Traffic...

Let’s pretend you actually can get that kind of traffic or build that kind of list (seriously, if that’s you, let’s talk!)

Now here’s the kicker:

If you can generate a PDF with ChatGPT in 10 minutes, so can everyone else. The barrier to entry is basically nonexistent.

And when something becomes too easy to create, it also becomes easy to ignore. Why would I pay you $10 to answer something ChatGPT can answer in 10 seconds?

People don’t want just another checklist or workbook.

They want results. They want transformation. They want something they couldn’t have Googled for free.

For better or worse, AI has leveled the playing field—which means if you’re not creating actual value, you're already behind.

So What Actually Works If You Want to Make Money with Digital Downloads?

Real businesses. Built on real value.

If you want to grow something sustainable, focus on:

• Solving a specific, painful problem

• Building trust and connection with your audience

• Creating offers that deliver a clear transformation

• Setting up workflows and automations that support your growth

  
  

Digital downloads can absolutely be part of that equation. But they’re not a business model—they’re a delivery method.

The product isn’t what sells. Value is what sells.

Final Thoughts: Stop Chasing Hacks. Build Something That Lasts.

If you’re serious about building a business, it’s time to stop chasing shortcuts and start doing the work that actually matters.

That means:

• Stop looking for "the thing"

• Stop assuming everyone else knows something you don’t

• Stop wasting time on trends that burn out before they ever light up

  
  

You don’t need another course or another template.

You need a strategy. You need a plan. And you need to trust yourself to build something real.

Because the only “farm" worth growing is the one where every single offer is planted with purpose.

If you’re ready to ditch the fluff and build a business that actually works, I can help. Check out The Shortcut or get on my list for more real talk, strategic support, and zero BS.