5 Proven Ways to Start Selling Something This Weekend (Even If You Have No Time)
You need to be paid for your value as soon as possible.
This is a guest post by Alberto Cabas Vidani
My first online dollar opened a portal to an extra dimension for me. It showed me it could be done: I could earn money outside of a regular job.
That’s why it’s important to start monetizing early.
Talking or dreaming about it is one thing. Experiencing it is another.
But when you’re a new creator, you already have too much on your plate. And you’re probably doing it on the side, so you have even less time.
I’ve had this problem too. So I tested many ways to create products quickly. Here are five that always work.
Repackage your content
My first product ever was an e-book. My photography blog was doing well and my articles about photography fundamentals topped Google rankings in Italy.
So I packaged some of them into an e-book in a logical sequence. I added a bonus section on finding the best used deals for photographers on eBay.
I don’t have the stats for that product. But it sold hundreds of copies, easily more than a thousand.
As a new creator, your main priority is to publish helpful content as often as possible. If you’ve been doing it every week for a year or so, you probably have enough material to create a small e-book.
Now, I know your objection. I had it, too: “Why should customers buy repackaged content?”
There are two reasons:
You never sell such a product for a very high price, so the resistance is low.
There’s still added value. The reader saves time because they don’t have to patch together the content themselves. It’s more convenient to consume because it’s all in one place. The layout and formatting might make it easier to read. Even just the bonus content (if you include it) can justify the expense.
Fast video courses
Everyone knows video courses have a higher perceived value than e-books. But we assume that they need a lot of work.
My first video course took me weeks to record and edit. I painstakingly removed every mistake, rerecording clips, or editing them out with a clunky software. My latest video course, instead, took about 20 hours from start to finish.
When you can create video courses this fast, they take even less than ebooks.
To make this work, start with a mindset shift: realize you don’t need to be perfect. You don’t have to remove all silences and hesitations. Actually, minor imprecisions make the lesson feel more relatable. Customers appreciate your transparency and raw humanity.
Then, you need some basic hardware:
a USB dynamic microphone,
an LED panel,
a tripod or similar support for your smartphone,
OBS to control your recording.
That’s it. To start, just need your smartphone as a camera. You can upgrade later with your profits.
Finally, to make recording easier and less stressful, outline your content and record short clips, 2 minutes max. This way, you don’t have to stay focused for too long. Merge those clips later using a tool like DaVinci Resolve, Descript, or any other editing tool.
Matt is jumping in here real quick:
If you’re interested in selling online courses…
I have a free case study showing you how to create your course in just 10 hours.
👉 Click here to watch it for free.
Templates
No matter your occupation, you’re rarely reinventing the wheel. You’re reusing:
article templates,
graphical templates,
graphic elements,
document templates (e.g. invoice),
database templates,
spreadsheet templates,
sounds,
…
If you created the resources you’re reusing, you can standardize, package and sell them.
That’s what I’ve done with the Notion Writing System that I offer to my paid Substack subscribers (you can get it here). I created a dashboard to manage all your writing, added some aesthetic touches, than created a template everyone can duplicate into their account.
Libraries
To do your work, you’re constantly consuming content, and trying and learning new tools. After a while, you collect dozens or even hundreds of resources that help you do your work better and faster.
You can sell a curated and structured collection of those resources. To make it valuable, organize the collection (for example through tags), add your insights (for example, how to get the most out of every resource), and possible make it searchable. For the highest perceived value, include dozens or hundreds of resources.
For example, my friend Derek Hughes sells a collection of all his templates, checklists, and cheat sheets he uses to write.
Pre-selling
I’m cheating with this one. It’s not actually a type of product that can be created quickly. It’s more of a sales tool, but it’s the fastest way to launch a product. It actually doesn’t require a product ready… Let me explain.
When I launched my Notion course for my Italian business, I wasn’t sure how the market would respond. The audience is far smaller in Italy than the rest of the world. So I outlined the course and wrote a landing page.
We sent it to our list with this promise: “The product isn’t ready, but you can buy it now at the cheapest price ever. If we sell enough copies, we create the course, otherwise, we refund you. As an early buyer, you also get four bonus office hours calls.”
This is the structure of pre-selling:
design the product,
define an early-bird offer,
set a launch date,
set a minimum sales threshold,
create the sales page,
if you reach the threshold, create the course, otherwise, refund buyers.
I don’t remember the exact threshold we set, but we reached it. So I created the course in a couple of weeks and launched it. A few more people bought it at launch. We’re still selling it through our newsletter and Notion tutorials.
This technique works for any kind of product. When I talk about it, people are hesitant because it feels like cheating. But you’re not cheating at all.
You have all the intentions to publish that course. If you end up aborting, you refund your customers. Plus, you’re offering a real bargain to early customers, so it’s a win for them.
Start selling your product this weekend
I wish every creator could experience the excitement of being paid for their value. Selling a small product is the best way, because it’s cheap, fast, low-risk.
I gave 5 proven tools to start selling as soon as possible. Find one that resonates, block some hours in the next days, and go for it.
But if you have questions or doubts, ask below and quickly get unstuck.
You can also join my free newsletter, The Unstoppable Creator. You’ll find dozens of articles that will help you remove the practical and mental obstacles that prevent you from succeeding as a creator. Subscribe here.
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