Mayhem to Money

08/08/2026

I have watched people spend longer choosing the name of their first digital product than it would've taken to make the bloody thing.

Then comes the font.

The mockup.

The bonus nobody asked for.

The sales page they suddenly need to “research”.

Three weeks later, still no product.

Meanwhile, the scrappy little Canva template they originally thought was “too simple” probably could've been listed by Sunday.

Your first product gets to be small.

A template you already use.

A prompt pack you've actually tested.

A spreadsheet that saves someone twenty annoying minutes.

A checklist you made because you were sick of forgetting the same s**t.

You learn an absurd amount once something is actually sitting there with a price on it.

What people click.

What they ignore.

What they ask about.

What needs fixing.

What they actually want next.

Much more useful information than staring at version 14 inside Canva wondering whether the heading should be three pixels lower.

Make the little thing.

Put it up for sale.

Then go make it better.

05/08/2026

Passive income is the biggest catfish on the internet.

Not because it isn't real.

Because everyone skips the bit where you have to actually make the bloody thing first.

For some reason my brain thought passive income looked like this...

✨ Make product.

✨ Upload product.

✨ Money arrives while I sleep.

Cute.

What actually happened was...

I made the product.

Changed my mind.

Changed it again.

Made new graphics.

Rewrote the sales page.

Decided the whole thing wasn't good enough.

Opened Canva.

Closed Canva.

Watched three YouTube videos about pricing.

Googled "best digital products 2026."

Questioned my entire career.

You know... passive.

It finally clicked that I wasn't stuck because passive income was hard.

I was stuck because I kept moving the finish line.

Every time something was almost ready, I'd think...

"Maybe I should just add one more thing..."

Which, translated from ADHD to English, means...

"I will now delay launching this for another three weeks."

I reckon this is where a lot of people get trapped.

They're waiting for the product to become impressive.

Instead of letting it become useful.

Because useful sells.

Useful gets feedback.

Useful teaches you what to make next.

Impressive usually just stays in your drafts while you keep "making it better."

These days I ask myself one question.

"Would this genuinely help someone today?"

If the answer's yes...

Out it goes.

Because the first product isn't supposed to change your life.

It's supposed to prove you can actually finish one.

Then the next one gets easier.

And the next one.

That's how passive income starts.

Not because the work disappears.

Because eventually you've got enough useful little products out in the world that they keep working while you're busy building the next thing.

Save this before you accidentally spend another month improving something nobody's even seen yet.

05/08/2026

I spent a stupid amount of time thinking I was behind.

I'd scroll Facebook.

Someone had launched a course.

Someone had hit six figures.

Someone else was posting from Bali with a laptop balanced next to a coconut for some reason.

Meanwhile I was trying to remember why I'd opened my laptop in the first place.

It honestly felt like everyone else had received some secret handbook on how to build an online business...
..and mine had been lost in the mail.

Then one day I had a slightly uncomfortable thought.

What if I'm not behind?

What if I'm just trying to carry twelve different businesses around in my head at the same time?

Because apparently I was simultaneously trying to become...

A blogger.

A YouTuber.

A Pinterest expert.

An email marketer.

A product creator.

An affiliate marketer.

An AI educator.

And whatever personality I thought LinkedIn wanted me to be that week.

No bloody wonder I felt behind.

I wasn't running one business.

I was mentally running an entire shopping centre.

I reckon this is where a lot of creators end up.

Not because they're lazy.

Not because they're not capable.

Because they've accidentally made everything feel equally important.

So every day starts with...

"Right... where do I even begin?"

These days I'm trying really hard to make my business feel smaller.

One offer.

One piece of content.

One next step.

One thing to finish before I go wandering off looking for another brilliant idea.

Because I've realised something...

A business that actually fits your life will beat the imaginary perfect business every single time.

Especially when you've got kids, appointments, a house to run, a brain that collects side quests like Pokémon cards, and approximately 47 tabs open for absolutely no reason.

I'm not trying to become one of those people who colour-codes their calendar six months in advance.

I'm just trying to build something that still works on the weeks where life decides to life.

Turns out that's been the goal all along.

Comment CALLED OUT if your laptop currently looks less like a business and more like an archaeological dig. 😂

15/07/2026

I realised there is one tiny flaw in the way I test my own digital products.

I already know how they work.

Of course the instructions make sense to me.

I wrote them.

My brain already knows which button I meant, where the missing step goes and what “set everything up” apparently includes.

Very convenient.

Meanwhile a customer could be three pages in wondering whether they’ve purchased a planner or been enrolled in an escape room.

So now I use Claude to test the product from the customer’s side before I decide it’s finished.

Here’s how:

STEP 1: UPLOAD THE PRODUCT

Upload the PDF, workbook, guide, template instructions, prompt pack or draft.

It doesn’t need to be finished.

In fact, unfinished is useful because Claude can find the confusing bits before you spend six hours making them pretty.

STEP 2: EXPLAIN WHO BOUGHT IT

Give Claude a short description of the intended customer.

For example:

“This product is for overwhelmed creators who have lots of digital product ideas but struggle to choose one and finish it.”

STEP 3: ASK CLAUDE TO TEST IT, NOT REWRITE IT

Copy this prompt:

“Review this digital product as if you are the intended customer using it for the first time.

Do not rewrite or improve the product yet.

Tell me:

1. What you believe this product will help you achieve
2. What you would do first after opening it
3. Any instructions that feel unclear or incomplete
4. Any knowledge I appear to assume the customer already has
5. Any point where you might stop, feel overwhelmed or need an example
6. Questions you would still have after finishing it
7. Whether the product delivers the result it appears to promise

Refer to the exact page or section when possible. Be specific and practical.”

STEP 4: TEST THREE DIFFERENT CUSTOMERS

Then ask:

“Review it again from these three perspectives:

1. A complete beginner
2. An overwhelmed customer who is skimming
3. A sceptical customer deciding whether this was worth buying

Tell me what each person would struggle with or question.”

This is where Claude will politely discover that the “very obvious” instruction on page four requires the customer to possess information you never actually gave them.

Lovely.

STEP 5: FIX THE BIGGEST BLOCK FIRST

Don’t immediately rebuild the entire product because Claude found eleven things.

Pick the one issue most likely to stop the customer from getting the result.

Fix that.

Then test it again.

Because checking whether a product opens is not the same as checking whether a real person can use it without needing to contact you, consult Google and perform a small séance.

Save this prompt for the digital product that currently makes perfect sense because you already know what every missing instruction was supposed to say.

14/07/2026

I have finally stopped asking Claude to build digital products from the approximately four words floating around in my head.

“ADHD creator content planner.”

That was the entire brief.

Then I’d sit there judging Claude for producing something generic as if I hadn’t just handed it the creative equivalent of a damp Post-it note.

So now I make Claude interview me first.

It’s ridiculously simple, but the difference in what it creates afterwards is enormous.

STEP 1: GIVE CLAUDE THE ROUGH IDEA

It does not need to be clever yet.

For example:

“I want to create a small digital product that helps overwhelmed creators plan content.”

STEP 2: ASK CLAUDE TO INTERVIEW YOU

Copy this prompt:

“I want to turn this rough idea into a useful digital product, but do not build or outline it yet.

Interview me first so we can make the idea specific.

Ask me one question at a time about:

1. Who it is for
2. The exact problem they are having
3. What they have already tried
4. What result they want
5. What would make this easier to use
6. What information or experience I can add
7. The smallest useful version I could create

Wait for my answer after each question. If my answer is vague, ask a follow-up question before moving on.”

STEP 3: ANSWER LIKE A PERSON, NOT A BROCHURE

You don’t need to write an essay.

“The person buying this has 47 content ideas but freezes when they have to choose what to post.”

That sentence is far more useful than:

“This product empowers entrepreneurs to streamline their content strategy.”

Nobody speaks like that unless they’ve been trapped inside LinkedIn overnight.

STEP 4: LET CLAUDE FINISH THE INTERVIEW

Don’t skip ahead and ask for the product after question two because you’ve become emotionally attached to the first idea.

Yes, I am also speaking to myself.

STEP 5: ASK FOR THREE SMALL PRODUCT OPTIONS

Once the interview is finished, say:

“Based only on my answers, suggest three small digital products I could realistically create. For each one, explain the specific problem it solves, what the customer receives and why they would use it.”

STEP 6: CHOOSE ONE BEFORE ASKING CLAUDE TO BUILD IT

One.

Not all three bundled together with nine bonuses and a surprise certification program.

Then ask:

“Create a simple outline for option two. Include only what the customer needs to get the promised result. Keep it practical and easy to finish.”

Now Claude is working with your actual audience, ideas and experience instead of enthusiastically inventing a 63-page workbook from four words.

Save this prompt for the next time your product idea makes perfect sense inside your head but refuses to explain itself to anyone else.

14/07/2026

I swear every “quick little digital product” I plan arrives wearing a fake moustache.

At first it’s very innocent.

One Canva template.
Seventeen dollars.
Could probably finish it before lunch.

Then my brain gets involved.

It needs a mini guide.

And a video tutorial.

And bonus prompts.

And obviously a bundle option.

Then I’ll need a sales page, an email sequence, twelve mockups and perhaps a small membership community for emotional support.

Be serious.

It was one template forty minutes ago and now I’m apparently building Westfield.

By this point I haven’t actually made anything.

But I do have 19 tabs open, half a logo for a product that did not require its own brand identity and a deep sense of exhaustion from the completely imaginary workload I assigned myself.

And I reckon this is where I keep getting stuck.

I confuse making something useful with making something enormous.

Something can solve one annoying problem without arriving with six bonuses, a private podcast and its own cinematic universe.

So my new rule is that I have to finish the smallest useful version before my brain is allowed to start pitching sequels.

Make the template.

Upload the template.

Sell the template.

Save this before your $17 download applies for planning permission.

11/06/2026

Making a Claude Artifact is fun.

Monetising it is where most creators immediately start behaving like an abandoned Sim.

You make a calculator.
Then a dashboard.
Then a quiz.
Then a planner.

Then they all sit in your chat history doing absolutely nothing.

Very on-brand, honestly.

The money isn’t in having a cute little tool.

It’s in packaging it as:
a lead magnet
a paid mini product
a bonus
a template
a resource inside an offer
an affiliate bridge

Build the useful thing.

Then give it a job.

Full list of monetisation ideas here:

Claude Artifacts monetization ideas for turning AI-made tools, quizzes, calculators and mini apps into lead magnets and digital products.

08/06/2026

AI can help you sell digital products.

But not if your offer is basically:

“Here’s a thing I made because I panicked in Canva.”

The product still needs a clear promise.

AI just helps you explain it better.

Use it for:

product descriptions

sales emails

SEO blog posts

FAQs

mockup ideas

social posts

launch content

customer replies

Basically, the bits where your brain starts making dial-up internet noises.

But don’t hand AI a vague product and expect money to fall out.

Give it context.

Who is this for?

What problem does it solve?

Why does it matter now?

What makes it easier than doing it alone?

That’s when AI becomes useful.

Not magic.

Useful.

I wrote the full guide here:

Learn how to use AI to sell digital products with better copy, SEO content, visuals, product demos, chatbots and smarter sales systems.

07/06/2026

Not every Canva template deserves to be a digital product.

I say this with love and several unfinished templates in my own digital junk drawer.

People don’t buy “a PDF.”

They buy:

less confusion

less time wasted

less decision fatigue

less blank-page staring

less “where the hell do I start?” energy

That’s why the best digital products are usually boringly useful.

Prompt packs.

Checklists.

Mini planners.

Calculators.

Templates.

Resource kits.

Not because they’re fancy.

Because they save someone from having a small business-related emotional event at 10:43pm.

Before you build anything, ask:

What specific problem does this solve?

Who needs it?

What result do they get faster?

That’s your product.

Everything else is decoration.

I made a list of 10 digital products people actually want here:

10 actually sellable digital products for 2026 including AI tools, templates, and prompt packs, with honest notes on who they suit and how to get started fast.