It was a dream come true.
For some time now, I have had the dream of setting up automated income systems. That is, I wanted to be able to go to bed and wake up with money deposited in my account. Today was my first experience of that.
Yesterday, I shared with you that I published my first book.
I wrote it myself over a few days last year. I started learning about the self publishing industry. I dove headlong into podcasts, consulted with professional editors, and even recruited beta readers. Months passed, and I kept “working” on it.
I ultimately decided I was moving too slow. I decided to go straight to the market. No professional editing, no beta reading. A sketchy edit with my LLM. I created the book cover myself on Canva (and I’m really proud of it). I published on Gumroad without much planning, and promoted it on LinkedIn.
I know a lot about product launch, but I was done delaying this release. I decided to drop it and come back to proper launch and rewrite later on.
I listed it for free. The aim of the publication was not profit. It was authority signalling and market capture (fancy words for ‘passion’).
However, Gumroad has this feature where, even when a product is listed for free, it nudges visitors to ‘name a fair price’. I was not comfortable with that, but I couldn’t turn that off. Perhaps I should have added a line in the copy to say “This is a free book—please list $0 in the price section and proceed to checkout.” That way, visitors would not feel tricked, or guilty, and generous ones would still be able to contribute what they wanted.
I decided to put on my big boy solopreneur pants and forget about it.
This morning, I got an email from Gumroad informing me that someone had paid $5 for the book.
Wow!
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Listen… I was amazed. Grateful, shocked and glad. I went to bed and woke up $5 extra in my account just for being myself and taking a few extra steps. Wow.
I am sure you know it’s not about the $5, though I will not sit here and act like I don’t appreciate it. It’s about what this means. Imagine if 50 people made that contribution. Imagine if I listed it for $10 and a thousand people got it.
And this book wasn’t even perfect. Listen, I am $5 richer than some incredible authors whose work lives on their laptop.
There are so many possibilities. Best believe my taste buds have woken up. Maybe digital retail is going to be one of my main income pillars. Of course, it is. And this happened from stumbling around online.
Naturally, I spent about two hours this morning brainstorming with ChatGPT about my next product.
I thanked my donor. I messaged him and said “This means the world to me!” He responded, “Thanks for sharing your message with the world.”
Ladies and gentlemen, it works.
To just put yourself out there. And add an income channel.
I’ve always listed ‘Product Launch’ as one of my service offerings. I’ve launched several products in the past, but none retail like this. I feel more bonafide. And it’s getting better from here.
If you could sell something today, what would it be?
Let’s grow together.
Taiwo.
PS: grab your free copy of ListenIn here.