“Start With Selling a Digital Product.” – Richard, acquiring digital assets

1. How and when did you make your first dollar online?

I quit my job at the end of 2009 and did client work for the first couple of years, selling websites, design, and then SEO. But I consider my first dollar made online when I sold my first product.

This was on a Shopify store that sold panoramic prints of photos that people took when this new iPhone feature launched in 2012. The store was live for 3 months before I had a sale and I felt like quitting, but then I got the first sale notification on the Shopify app and it kind of changed everything. I then got the second sale within days and continued until I sold the business in 2016.

2. How long did it take between the idea and this first dollar?

A good 3 months. But I’d been in the online / website space for 2 years prior.

3. What best actionable advice would you give someone who wants to start TODAY?

Start with selling a digital product.

Build an audience on a social platform, leverage that into an email list, and then it’s just a numbers/conversion game until your first sale.

It can feel like this whole game is fake until it happens, however!

4. What resources would you recommend to a beginner?

Twitter and Substack for audience building, and Gumroad for selling a digital product.

5. Who would you recommend to follow?

Jaisal from Startups.fyi – he’s a serial product/newsletter guy with a number of exits.

---

About Richard