We all know the usual suspects; planners, templates, printables. But what tools can you use to get started? You’ve bookmarked fourteen “must-have” apps, and made exactly zero products.
You don’t need fifty-eleven tools. You need three.
These are the three I’d start with. They’re cheap and you can learn them pretty quickly, plus, between them they cover almost every digital product you’ll see for sale on social media and Etsy.
1. Canva: The heavy hitter
It runs in your browser, it’s drag-and-drop, and you don’t need to be the most tech savvy person to make something that looks nice.
What it’s good for: Printable planners, wedding and party invitations, social media templates, resume templates, business cards, media kits, wall art. If it’s a flat, visual thing someone downloads and prints or edits, Canva can make it.
What it costs: There’s a free plan, and it’s not a watered-down demo. Try this first to get the hang of it and see if digital products is for you. Then step up to the paid plan. Canva Pro runs about $180 a year (roughly $15 a month) and gets you the full premium library, background remover, and Magic Resize.
The rule you cannot skip: Here’s where newbies get burned. You find a gorgeous Canva template, swap the font, change the pink to blue, and list it for $9. Don’t do it. Canva’s license says your product has to be your own original design, not their template with a new paint job. And if your design uses any Pro elements — anything with that little crown on it — you have to sell it as a Canva template link, not as a flattened PDF or PNG. If you only used free elements and your own photos, you can sell it either way.
The easy way to deliver a template link on Etsy: make a one-page PDF with a big “Click Here To Edit Your Template” button that links to it. The buyer downloads the PDF, clicks the button, and gets their own copy. Your original stays untouched.
2. Google Sheets: Old reliable
Nobody gets excited about spreadsheets, but nearly everyone uses them. That’s exactly why this works.
Search Etsy for “budget spreadsheet” and peek at the review counts. People will happily pay $8 to $15 for a spreadsheet that does the math for them, because the alternative is building it themselves, and they already tried that once and failed in 2017.
What it’s good for: Monthly budget trackers, debt payoff planners, savings challenges, small business income and expense trackers, inventory trackers for resellers, meal planners, wedding planning checklists. Anything where the buyer wants the numbers to add themselves up.
What it costs: Free! All you need is a Google account.
What makes one sell: Formulas that work, a clean layout, and a “Start Here” tab that tells the buyer exactly where to type. A spreadsheet that confuses someone gets a two-star review. A spreadsheet that makes someone feel organized gets a five-star review and a screenshot on TikTok. Lock the cells with formulas in them so your buyer can’t break the math with one bad click.
You deliver these the same way as Canva templates: a PDF with a link. Use Google Sheets’ “make a copy” link so every buyer gets their own version instead of overwriting yours.
3. An AI Assistant: Level up
Get the bot to do it: ChatGPT or Claude.
What it’s good for:
- Brainstorming niches. “Planner” is too broad. Ask it for 20 specific planner ideas for dog groomers, or new homeowners, or people training for their first 5K. Some will be useless. Two or three will be gold.
- Writing the words inside your product. Journal prompts, checklist items, the instructions on your spreadsheet’s Start Here tab, the text in an ebook.
- Writing spreadsheet formulas. Describe what you want the cell to do in plain English and it’ll hand you the formula. This alone saves hours.
- Listing titles, descriptions, and tags. Give it your product and your target buyer, and have it draft options. Then edit.
What it costs: Free versions go a long way. You don’t need a paid plan to start.
The catch: It doesn’t know what’s actually selling right now, and it will confidently make things up. Check and double check anything factual. Proof read every word before it goes into a product with your name on it. Never sell something straight out of an AI tool without reworking it — buyers can smell a generic, copy-pasted product, and so can Etsy’s review section.
Pick One Product and Make It This Week
Canva for anything visual. Google Sheets for anything that does math. An AI assistant to help you figure out what to make and fill in the words. That’s the whole toolkit.
Your total startup cost can be under $200 dollars. The only thing left is to stop collecting tools, and instead get motivated and make something. Pick one product, build it out, and list it. You’ll learn what works and what doesn’t, and how to improve way faster than watching another YouTube tutorial would ever do for you.
