How to Turn Your Everyday Know-How into a Digital Product That Sells - Alicia Rafiei

In this session, I’ll show you how to take your everyday routines, habits, or personal experiences and turn them into simple, sellable digital products.

Website: https://www.aliciarafiei.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJJv9wRLWpRq06-yYP_0mcQ

00:00 Hello there, friend. I'm Alicia and I am a digital product educator, template designer, and I'm a mum of two beautiful girls based here in Adelaide, South Australia  I help everyday creators, people just like you, turn their life experience Skills and passions into digital products Digital products that they can sell online  Without needing a big audience, without complicated tech, and definitely without burning out Now, I've been in the digital product space for a few years now, since 2019 And if there's one thing that I've learned, it's this The best digital products aren't always the trendiest. Sometimes they are, but not always They're the ones that come from you, your life, your journey and your story That's what we are going to explore together today in this presentation. So not just how to create a digital product But to create the right product, one that feels aligned, meaningful and actually enjoyable to work on and stick with  Because if I'm 100% honest, I have chased the trend. I've tried to make the next big thing or the hot new product just because everybody else was And honestly Most times I just lose interest real quick. But the Etsy shops and products that I've done really well.  

01:20 Every single one of them was built from something that I already knew, love or use myself So today I want to help you tap into what I call your everyday goldmine. Those ideas, routines and skills that you already have.  That could be the start of a truly sustainable and soulful product So are you ready? Let's go ahead and dive on in So before we get into the tech or the tools, we're going to start with something much more powerful Your own lived experience Because the truth is, your next digital product probably isn't something totally new. It's probably something you're already doing That you're using  Or maybe you're helping others with in your day to day life So let's go ahead and walk through three simple questions to help you uncover your genius  So the first question  What do people come to you for? So this could be advice This could be support  It could be help with a specific task. You know those how did you do that? Kind of questions that people ask Sometimes the people around us can see our strengths before we do The second question is, what have you created or figured out for yourself recently  That has made your life easier?   So think about systems that made you stay organized, perhaps Or printables or checklists that you've used to keep your household running Maybe it's a process that you follow to plan your week  Perhaps it's something that you use to launch a product or track your spending.  

02:57 These are gold mines just waiting to be turned into a digital product. Question number three is what do you genuinely enjoy doing or creating even when no one's watching?  Now this one is big Because when you are passionate about something  You are far more likely. To show up for it consistently and then build something long term  So let me go ahead and give you a personal  Example So lately I've been taking.     My journaling practice much more seriously  Especially Daily gratitude journaling. And it's not because every day is perfect or filled with sunshine and rainbows Far from it, honestly  But after I put my two beautiful girls down to bed at night, when the house is finally quiet I take a moment for myself. I usually grab my journal Usually make myself a nice warm cuppa, and then I write down a few things that I'm grateful for Just to kind of ground mysel Some days it's really simple, something like Mika's little giggle or Aria's drawing that she's done at school stuck to the fridge.  

04:08 Other days it's more reflective, like being grateful for the growth during a hard moment. This daily practice has been so helpful for my mindset and I know that if I was to turn this into a digital product A printable journal or.   Digital journal  Or maybe a simple guided worksheet, it would genuinely help others too That's when you know it's the right product  When you believe in it, because you've experienced the value of it firsthand. And I just want you to know that you don't need to be a coach, a designer, or a social media expert to create something really valuable and sellable You just need to be willing to share what's already working for you So let's go through a few real life examples So let's say a teacher who turned her classroom reward charts into printable behaviour tools for parents and homeschoolers Another idea is maybe a therapist who created affirmation cards Based on journal prompts that she would use with her client Another example is a mum of maybe three kids or more who took her weekly meal prep routine and then turned it into a printable planner Maybe it's a business owner who repurposed her client content system Into a social media template pack or to sell on Etsy Each of these started from something They were already doing Something that they'd figured out for themselves and were particularly good atAnd I know with 100% certainty That you have something like this too. So how do we go from This I have something helpful in my life To I, I turned it into a digital product. How do we do that? Well, let's go ahead and break it down So once you've identified your idea, I want you to ask yourself, who else might benefit from this?  

06:01 Ask yourself, what's the easiest way to deliver this product? Some common formats include a printable PDF like a journal, a tracker or a worksheet  You could create editable Canva templates or templates in general  It could be packaged up as a notion planner. Maybe it could be turned into a Google sheet or a Google document Maybe it's email swipe files or sop Now let's go back to my example, the journaling habit  So I could create a daily gratitude journal in a printable form Or a digital form I could add space for morning and evening reflections I could include Maybe calming prompts or affirmations in there I would then offer it as a PDF digital download on Etsy. So it's helpful It's heartfelt, and it's aligned with something I already do So I'm more likely to finish creating it. I'll enjoy promoting it and I will support the people who buy it. And that's the magic of creating a product From your own experience.  

07:07 It doesn't feel like hard work, it feels like sharing something magical So now that I've shared the story behind  The idea, I want to show you how it comes to life with a quick, practical example of how I would build a simple product just like this one. In Canva  We're going to walk through creating a printable daily gratitude journal  Something that someone could print out or use digitally on their iPad to reflect on what they're grateful for  So let's jump on over to my computer now and let's start creating Okay, so let's go ahead and create  A. Daily gratitude journal together So for this project, we are going to use one of my favorite graphic design tools, canva So in order to get started with our journal template todayI'm gonna be creating a daily gratitude sheet that I can actually use on my iPad So what I wanna do is start with the dimensions of a Letter size.  So that's eight and a half by 11 inches Now to do that all you need to do is go to the create button here on the left And then under Custom size, I change the units to inches And I just go 8.5 by 11 And then create new design And then it's going to open up a brand new design for me Now, in this Daily Gratitude journal.  

08:35 I want to essentially have a few different elements or spaces where I can journal The very first thing that I want is I want to includeThree different Sections where I can include Three main things that I'm grateful for today I also want to include A list of three things that made me smile today so that I can use that as a reflection point At the end of my day I want to include an area that Says something that inspired me today Another area that people I'm grateful to to have in my life so I can list out all the wonderful people in my life Daily affirmation. I have a space for that and any additional notes at the bottom. So those are the types of things that I want to include. Now because this is going to be a daily gratitude journal, I'm thinking it'll be Kind of like bundled into like a 30 days worth of sheets. So I'm going to call this one my 30 day gratitude journal Now this is based on  What I currently do in my everyday. So generally I have my pen and paper and I have like a journal or a planner that I've got. So a physical journal and planner. And these are the types of things that I actually do in my everyday So I want you to think about the things that you do in your everyday, some skills that you have, knowledge and then turn that into a digital product that you can sell on Etsy. This is just one of hundreds if not thousands of different types of products that you can create. But this is something that I wanted to create and I know actually sells on Etsy.  

10:10 So let's go ahead and create it. So the very first thing I want to do Is before I start working on things like the COVID or anything like that What I want to do is I actually want to create the main page of it  So what I want is to include Some text boxes. So I'm going to go to the text section here and then just go to add a text box and then it's going to add in a text box for me. Let's scroll on in here I'm just going to pop this one at the top Don't worry about positioning too much for now. We can always adjust that later. We just want to get the main components of this So here is where I'm going to add Today I am grateful for So I'm going to write that down today. Today I'm Grateful For Okay, so that's the first prompt and then what I want to do is have like three different boxes here labeled 1, 2 and 3. So I can list out the three things I'm grateful for To add in any text boxes or You know, text, sorry, box components, or any type of shape. What you wanna do is go to the Elements tab here on the left, click on Elements Go down to where it says shapes, and then you can go to see all. And then here are all the shapes that you can.  

11:23 Use and modify and change up. So I just want a simple box. So I'm just going to drag that one in or click that one and then it's gonna pop that one in here  I'm going to just resize that What I wanna do is. Change this so that there's no fill  I do want to have a Like a line around it. So a border. So I'm just going to go to the border here And I'm going to reduce that down to one For now. We'll have a look to see how that looks in just a moment So I want to include  A few lines in here that I can write on  And then also  A number here in the corner So let's go ahead and go again to elements Now I want to go again to shapes, and this time I want to grab one of these lines. So I'm just gonna click on the line.  

12:13 Let's again change this stroke weight to one So it matches our text box And then just go ahead and drag this in. Just like so  Very good. So I think we'll include Three different lines. So I just want to duplicate that. So I just go to Command D on my computer and then it'll Create another one here for me. And then Command D again Let's go ahead and space these out A little bit So they're all evenly spaced And let's maybe bring that up  So now I want to include A number here. So I'm just going to duplicate this text box And I'm just going to Change this To One And I'm going to move this over here Okay, So I want 1 and then 2 and then 3. So I'm gonna go ahead and just duplicate these boxes And then change the size if I need to in just a moment. So D Command D  Sorry And then Command V. Okay, so it's. They're a little bit wide So what I'm gonna do is just select all And then Drag this in to reduce the size Okay, very good. Let's center that And let's line this up as well so it's all aligned. Now we're gonna change these numbers.  

13:32 I want this one to be two And this one to be three Very good. Now I'm thinking I'll probably have Like a section for the date here So what I might do for that is just Duplicate this And I'm just going to put in Date And maybe grab one of these lines, duplicate that And just pop that like that Okay, so very good. I'm happy with the way that that looks for now. Okay, the next thing I wanna do is include things that I am Sorry. Things that made me smile today. So again Duplicate that text here Change this And just align that to the left  And then here I'm just gonna include a few little smiley faces with some lines. So I'm going to go to  Elements  And I'm just going to type in My old face  This one will do Actually. Let's go this one. The good thing about these are you can change the colors. So I'll probably go ahead and change the colors of these in just a moment  Based on maybe what I'm going to do with my cover  So I'm just gonna leave that as is and we can change the colors in just a moment. So I'm gonna have three of these. And let's go ahead and grab one of these lines  And let's extend that all the way to the end Maybe just bring that in  And I'm just going to duplicate that another two times  Very good Let's just make these a little smaller  Okay, next I'm gonna have another couple of boxes down here. So one that says something that inspired me today and people I'm grateful to have in my life. So I want two of these boxes. So I'm gonna grab This and this. I don't want lines for these. So we're gonna leave these just as empty boxes And I'm going to drag this one out.     And I'm gonna change the text in this And then I'm going to copy this one And add it next to it. Okay. So I've got people I'm grateful to have in my life Then I'm going to have daily affirmations just below that. So I'm going to go ahead and grab this Duplicate that Add this underneath here  There we go Drag this out Perfect. So Daily Affirmation Very good.  

15:50 And then just another box down here just for some additional notes Okay, so as you can see, just in a few minutes, I've Created all of the content that I want to include In my design What I might do now is just work on the formatting of this a little bit more, just so it gives me A little bit more room down the bottom here. So I might just go ahead and Just Bring this up a little bit Again, just bring this up as well And then This one as well Like, so much better  I might also Just reduce these And These Oops Very good. I think I'm pretty happy with that  Okay, so now what you can do from here is just start changing some of the formatting So you can do things like change the colors, the fonts, the layout So let's say we wanted to change the font. For example, all you need to do is select the font  to the font box here to change it up From here you can go ahead and just search through Canva's fonts. But there are lots and lots of fonts in here that you'll have to search through So what I would recommend doing is just using a keyword to describe your font and then that way you can easily find what you're looking for I know what type of font I want to use So I'm just going to go ahead and pick that now And then you might have to change the formatting around a bit  So. Or the alignment. So I'm just going to go ahead and select the alignment. So that way when I Drag this over  You can see how that's changed. Now I want to change all of the fonts from this one here that I've selected to the new one. So go ahead and click Change all and then all of the fonts in my document are going to be changed Okay. From here.  

17:39 You can also change the colours of the Lines, the fonts So I'm going to go ahead And do that as well. I'm going to change the black to like a dark grey Select one of these Lines, go to the stroke colour And then I'm going to select this gray colour here And then I'm going to go change all. So now all of the lines here in this document have been changed to that dark gray colour Very good Okay, so now I'm going to change the colour of these icons as well. But before we do that  What I wanna do is actually create the COVID for this design So Let's go ahead and Click the Add a page Let's bring this one to the top. So we want this one above the page that we've got here And then you can really do whatever you like here. For this one, I'm just going to keep it simple. I'm just going to select a pattern, background one just from here  Inside of Canva And then I'm Just going to have like  A kind of sticker or label to go at the front here just to tell me what this product is So you can do that by going to Elements and then just typing here in the search bar, whatever kind of pattern you're looking for.  

18:55 So you could put in here like floral pattern And then you can search through either the graphics or the photos. So I'm just gonna go ahead and search through those now and then find something that I like. Okay, so here is the floral pattern that I found inside of Canva I really like the colors and the arrange So I'm going to use this inside of my design and probably pick up some of these colours here as well to use inside of here So now I want to create A label to go with this. So to do that again, we're going to go to the  Shapes tool and just select one of the boxes Expand this out a bit and then you can either pop that in the middle. I like to add mine to the top Center Of the page Change the color So I'm going to change this just to a white for now. If you like, you can add a border Like so I might change this to stroke weight 1 And then also Just change the color to the gray that we used.  

19:57 This can be changed later Okay, so now I just want to add in a title here. So it's just going to be a Daily gratitude Or just gratitude and then 30 days of gratitude, something like that. So I'm gonna go ahead and.    Just copy this text box. So duplicate this one Bring it up here I'm just gonna type in Gratitude Center that. And then I just wanna change the size of that. You can either do that here in the font size Or just grab the corner and then just expand that out I'm gonna grab one of these lines again and duplicate that and bring that up here To center that And then just below that I'm going to just put in here A 30 Day Journal Oops Reduce the size of that. Very good. Let's just make this a little bit bigger. I think that's looking pretty good Let's reduce that and that And then I'm just gonna select all of these and then just make sure that the position is centered It looks like that's centered. Fantastic Okay, so that's pretty much our Cover done What I might do is actually reduce the transparency of this just ever so slightly Might take this down to 90 So you can just see the background of that. That looks really cool. I like that So now I've got My cover page done And I have my daily Sheets done Now all I need to do is duplicate this So that I've got 30 of the daily sheets and the COVID page. So to do that, all you need to do is go down to grid view Select the page you'd like to duplicate and then just hit Command D. Or you can use the three dots here.  

21:43 And then go down to duplicate page And then to make this quicker, I highlight both of them, press Command D  Then highlight all of them again Press Command D And then keep doing that until I've got 30 of them. So I'm gonna go ahead and do that now. Okay, so Now I've got So 31 pages in total. So that includes the 30 daily pages and the COVID page And now I want to go ahead and change the color of these icons. Whoops So let's go out of grid view Let's go to the first page at the top here You can do this before you duplicate them, but I'm gonna go ahead and do that now. So let's go ahead and select one of these Go to the colors here. I want to select the brown color and change that to black  And then the Yellow color I want to change this To one of the colors here in the COVID So I'm going to go to The color picker. So go to add new color Use the pick a color button. And then I'm going to select one of the colors in here. So I'm going to go with the yellow, but I want to select the same color for my cover And then I want to go change all. And so now that's going to change all of the colors in my entire design. If you wanted to, you could Also change the background color. So, for example, I'm gonna be using this as a digital planner. So what I wanna do is select the background Go to add a new color.  

23:13 Again, go pick a color and then pick the same color as the background Of my Design Now that might be a little bit too Dark. So what you can do is just change the color here using the solid color picker. So I just click it and then just drag it down till I find a Color that suits I might go for something like that  Very good  Other things you can do is change the background colour of these, perhaps. So you could select one of these, go to Colour And then select Perhaps a white background, like so, and then maybe this one as well But any of these changes, it's worth doing before you go ahead and Duplicate the pages That way the changes are made throughout the design. So you can see that I've made the changes here, but the changes haven't been made here. So I might go ahead and just change that back. So I'm just going to go and delete that page and then just duplicate that one Very good. So essentially, that is the entire journal created. Pretty simple. And, you know, just getting used to using Canva and using the different elements.  

24:20 You'll be able to create something like this in no time When you're happy with the entire design of your product, what you want to do is just rename it here. So I'm going to rename the file  Then once that's renamed, just go to the share button Scroll down until you find the download button, and then what we want to do is download this as a PDF file So go to file type where it says png Select PNG and then scroll down to where it says PDF Standard Now, if you want to use this as a print document, you want to go to PDF Print But in this case, I'll be using it as a digital file for my iPad. So I'm going to go to PDF Standard and then click on PDF Standard  Make sure all of the pages have been selected And then just click Download. And then that is your file  Ready to go and list into your Etsy shop. So there we go. My friend, this is exactly the kind of process I walk members through inside the Creators Growth club  I help them go from idea To finished product one intentional step at a time. Now, if you're sitting here thinking Alicia, this sounds amazing, but I still don't know what my product should be Or maybe you're thinking to yourself, I have way too many ideas and I don't know where to start. Well, my friend, I've got something really special for you today. I would love to introduce you to the digital product Pixie.  

25:47 So the Pixie is a custom ChatGPT tool that I created based on the exact framework I teach inside of my membership, the Creators Growth Club. It's designed to help you uncover a digital product idea that feels aligned  With your unique skills, your interests, and also your lived experience It's designed to help you uncover a digital product idea that feels aligned with your unique skills, your interests, and your lived experience So that way you're not just chasing trends, but you're creating something That you actually want to stick with So here's how this amazing tool work. So you'll answer a few simple questions, nothing techy or complicated And the Pixie will help you Brainstorm a Digital product that fits for you, your strengths, your story And your goals. It's like having a little Creative assistant whispering the next right step just for you. Okay, now, usually access to the digital Product Pixie is only available Inside Of My membership, the Creators Growth Club, or through one of my paid Offers.  

27:00 But as a special gift for summit attendees, you actually get free access to the Pixie as part of this  Summit and the Digital Product Summit swag bag. Okay? So this is the only place outside of my membership where you can grab it for free So I highly recommend Jumping on that while you can. So as soon as this presentation is finished, make sure you go ahead and grab that little Pixie Okay, my friends, so we have run through a lot today So let's go ahead and break down what we covered and what I want you to take away from this presentation. So first, you don't need to chase the trends, okay? You don't need to build something huge and massive. What you do need to do is start with what you know and what you care about Because when you create from that space You are more Likely To follow through.  

27:56 To build something lasting and to feel proud of what you've made. And like I mentioned, this is the exact process That I teach inside of the Creators Growth Club. My membership, where we build aligned digital products. Step by step You get done for your templates, behind the scenes training, and loads of support from me and our beautiful community But whether you decide to come join me inside of the club or not, your next step is simple What I would like you to do is go ahead, grab the digital product Pixie from the swag bag, it's totally free And let her guide you to your next line product idea and take that first small step. Okay? My friend, thank you so much for spending time with me today I hope that you feel encouraged, inspired And Reminded that you don't need to wait for permission Or perfection  To begin. You already have something so valuable inside of you, so let's turn it into something the world can use Okay? My friend, I cannot wait to connect with you again And I hope that you enjoy the rest of the summit. Okay, bye for now.