Summary

Burk Rosemann shares his experience of earning money by giving away digital products for free on Gumroad, leveraging the platform's "pay what you want" feature and building a customer list for future revenue.

Abstract

Burk Rosemann, a digital product creator, recounts how he transitioned from unsuccessfully selling his digital products to giving them away for free on Gumroad. Despite the initial lack of sales, he found that offering his products for free led to a significant increase in downloads. Rosemann utilized Gumroad's feature that allows customers to decide if they want to pay for the free products, leading to modest earnings directly from these free offerings. More importantly, the strategy resulted in a substantial customer list, which proved valuable when he released a new paid product. The customer list facilitated immediate sales, demonstrating the long-term value of giving away products for free. Rosemann emphasizes the importance of a strategic approach to making money online, highlighting indirect benefits such as donations and customer base growth.

Opinions

Rosemann believes in the power of free products as a marketing strategy, not just as a charitable act.
He values the emotional connection with customers, suggesting that a simple request for payment can be effective.
The author sees the long-term benefits of building a customer list, as it directly translates into future sales opportunities.
Rosemann acknowledges that earning money online requires a strategic approach beyond the immediate product value.
He suggests that giving away products for free can be more profitable in the long run than setting a price from the outset.
The article implies that platforms like Gumroad offer innovative features that can help creators monetize their work in non-traditional ways.
Rosemann encourages other creators to consider the strategy of free products as a viable business model, supported by his own experience and that of others like Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi.

How to Earn Money With Free Products

Give them away for free and still cash in

Ah, the irony. I used to believe that I couldn’t make money from free stuff. Because that’s the logical consequence of free, right?

Not exactly. Here’s what I discovered about free stuff.

Backstory

Exactly one year ago I started to give away multiple digital products I designed on Gumroad. For free.

I had designed those products a couple of months before and tried selling them. That had failed.

So, I figured why not give them away for free and see where it takes me?!

The surprise

Selling these products didn’t work at all, even though they were much cheaper than most of the competition. I had no downloads and basically no views. I tried to run a couple of Facebook and Instagram ads. Still nothing.

Then the surprise. Right after I started offering the products for free, the downloads came rolling in. Without ads or promotions.

Download after download of my free products.

No money though. Because well, they were free.

How did I make money?

So, where did the money come from them? How did I convert free products into money?

In two ways:

#1 Free with a caveat

First of all, Gumroad has this neat little feature that lets users decide whether they want to pay or not. They can download for free or put in a small amount.

I added a short paragraph to the product description stating that the products are free to download but it meant the world to me if they paid.

Fast forward two days and the first payments came in. People paid for the free stuff.

Now, before you go nuts here. It wasn’t much. Not at all. Within this whole first year on Gumroad, I made around $150 from these free products.

It still amazes me. Money for free stuff.

That’s wasn’t The only thing though.

#2 Future proof

Something else came out of these free products that did already and will make me more money in the future: the customer list.

See, Gumroad keeps a list of people who download your stuff, even the free stuff. Within a year, I gained an incredibly large (for my case) customer list.

That already paid off. The moment I released another digital product – this time paid – I send it to this large customer list. And boom, downloads and money started rolling in.

The bottom line

Making money online is not as obvious as it sounds.

Even though I offered products that I put a lot of effort into for free, having a strategy in the long run and a plan for future releases and ideas has paid off.

I didn’t earn much money from the free products directly, but I have indirectly through donations and the ever-growing customer list.

And I‘m not the only one who knows the power of free stuff. Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi can tell you a thing or two about this very topic as well.

Next time you think about launching a digital product or service, keep this in mind!

P.S.: First of all, you should get my posts in your inbox. Do that here! Secondly, if you like to experience Medium yourself, consider supporting me and thousands of other writers by signing up for a membership. It only costs $5 per month, it supports us, writers, greatly, and you have the chance to make money with your writing as well. When I started, I made $3000 in 6 months. By signing up with this link, you’ll support me directly with a portion of your fee, it won’t cost you more. If you do so, thank you a million times!

$400 for 15 Minutes Of (Easy) Work

Side-hustling and time constraints

bettermarketing.pub

How Much Medium Paid Me For 125K Views

9 months on Medium. Time flies. I still feel like a newbie most of the time. And compared to some of the most prolific…

medium.com