$144,897/week selling digital products - here's exactly how
By Richard Yu
Summary
Topics Covered
- No Expertise Required for Niches
- Build Products in 72 Hours Using AI
- Instagram Favors New Accounts Organically
- Scale by Replacing Yourself with Team
Full Transcript
Last month alone, I made a little over 500,000 in sales with done for you digital products. And the thing is, I use free AI tools to run this thing
digital products. And the thing is, I use free AI tools to run this thing for me on semi autopilot, which is why I can quite literally travel the world.
Currently, I'm in Maldives with my wife. But here's the craziest thing. I don't come from some wealthy family. I didn't do well in school. I'm nothing special. I didn't
have some business or technical background. So here, I'm literally going to do a screen recording. I'm going to refresh the screen so you can see that these sales are
recording. I'm going to refresh the screen so you can see that these sales are legit. And in fact, when I just got started, I had no following. I had
legit. And in fact, when I just got started, I had no following. I had
no money, no connections. I was such a broke college student, in fact, that I was charging electric scooters for $5 a pop just so I could be able to save up 50 bucks a month to afford rent. And if you go back on my content and literally watch my entire journey, I have documented over 250 weekly vlogs where I literally show you me living in a one bedroom apartment to over 30
million sales. So, and again, I'm filming with my phone right now, but if I
million sales. So, and again, I'm filming with my phone right now, but if I could just refresh on the screen, my Stripe dashboard, I think you get the idea.
These are real sales. Here's the thing. Most gurus, they don't show you this. They
don't refresh their dashboards and they don't give you real proof. And in this video, I'm going to show you exactly how I built this AI business step-by-step so you can do the same exact thing and just copy me. Now, a little context on my life before I jump into this. I failed dropshipping. I started an ATM business, which ended up getting robbed in its second month. I lost thousands trading and doing
crypto. I basically failed all the things that you probably tried. But the thing is,
crypto. I basically failed all the things that you probably tried. But the thing is, digital products change everything for me. And I'm going to show you how I did it so you can literally just copy and paste what I've done. Now, I'll be very transparent and upfront. The screenshot that you see is revenue, not profit. I run
out of problems probably a 60% profit margin. So about 300,000 and take home, which is still a little insane. It's literally how I'm able to afford five-star resorts that cost me three grand a night because this business makes the money for me. Now,
listen, my expenses, I have a team, I have staff costs, I have software and overhead that I use to make this happen. But even after all that, I'll tell you digital product profit margins is insane compared to everything else. So let's jump into exactly how this works. Here's what you need to understand about building a digital product business. There's only four things that you actually have to figure out. And I'm just
business. There's only four things that you actually have to figure out. And I'm just going to give them to you. The first one is you got to have the right high converting niche. What specifically are you teaching? What problem are you solving? The
second thing you need is you need a product. Obviously, you need something to sell, something valuable that people actually want that can get them results and make you money.
Three, you need traffic. Simply put, people to see your content online and know you exist so they can buy it from you. And four, conversion. You need a way to turn that traffic into actual paying customers. That's it. Niche, product, traffic, and conversion.
And every single person who's made over seven figures with digital products, they figured out these four things. So let me break down each one of these steps. But first,
why digital products in the first place? Listen, I tried other stuff. Dropshipping, you're dealing with suppliers, you're dealing with international shipping fees and angry customers that ask you why their product hasn't arrived after one or two weeks. Agency, every single client is now a new boss. You're constantly on calls. You miss one deadline and your client fires you. With trading, it's a 98% failure rate. The thing about digital products is you
you. With trading, it's a 98% failure rate. The thing about digital products is you make it one time and you can sell it forever. There's no inventory, there's no shipping, there's no talking to clients on the weekends. The product does the selling and the workforce you in delivering. And the thing is, it's a $300 billion industry that's growing 30% year over year. And so while everyone else is fighting over their agency,
their SaaS, the crypto, their dropshipping business, there's literally an opportunity sitting underneath your nose.
All right, so let's start with the niche. When most people here pick a niche, they literally freeze because they think they have to be some type of world class expert. I think they need credentials. They need an MD or an MBA or JD
expert. I think they need credentials. They need an MD or an MBA or JD behind their last name or years of experience. No, That's not how this works. Here's
the framework that I use. I call this the big three categories, which is where people are making literally billions in digital product sales collectively. It is health, wealth, and relationships. Health means fitness, weight loss, even mental health, sleep, energy, productivity, anything that helps
relationships. Health means fitness, weight loss, even mental health, sleep, energy, productivity, anything that helps people become better physically or mentally. Wealth is the second one. So making money online, investing, career advice, how to find your dream job, business skills. And what I do, which is helping people build AI businesses with digital products. This is anything that helps people with making more money or managing it better. And relationships, this be dating, marriage,
parenting skills, social skills, communication, making friends, anything that helps people connect better with others.
With these three buckets, there's quite literally thousands of many niches even within them. And
I've had top students of mine literally make six figures teaching how to play a video game better. I had a student who made over 100,000 a month teaching people how to stop watching a porn addiction. And there's even a lady who made over 2.9 million online. Transparently, she's not a client of mine, but she did it selling a course on how to use Excel spreadsheets. And None of these people are geniuses.
They just simply found a problem with people who wanted that problem solved and they packaged it into a digital product that could help others. So here's how you pick your niche. First, think to yourself, do you have a problem that you solved yourself?
your niche. First, think to yourself, do you have a problem that you solved yourself?
What transformation have you personally gone through? For me, it was actually productivity when I was in high school and university. You see, I used to be a struggling student in school until I figured out how to increase my productivity. And that's how I was able to work out, get better grades, do my extracurricular activities in school. And
so that idea, how to be more productive in school, literally was my first product.
The second thing is, you gotta look online. Is there proof that people will pay pay for this? Go to YouTube, go to Instagram, search up in the search bar and look to see if other people make content on it. And then go to the LinkedIn bio and see if there's a course that they sell in the LinkedIn bio. If they do have that, There's your validation because if there's competition, that's actually
bio. If they do have that, There's your validation because if there's competition, that's actually a good thing because it means that it's actually selling. And third, I want you to ask yourself, can you relate to your audience? You see the best niches are the ones where you were your customer just a few months or even a few years ago. You want to understand their struggles because you lived through them yourself. Here's
years ago. You want to understand their struggles because you lived through them yourself. Here's
the key. You don't have to be the world's leading expert on any of these things. You just have to be a few steps in front of the people that
things. You just have to be a few steps in front of the people that you're helping. Listen, when I started, I was not some productivity guru with decades of
you're helping. Listen, when I started, I was not some productivity guru with decades of experience. I was literally a 21 year college kid who just recently figured out how
experience. I was literally a 21 year college kid who just recently figured out how to get better grades while building businesses. And the thing is, that was enough. So
I want you to pick something where you have genuine experience, where people are already paying for these solutions, and where you actually want to help people. That's your niche.
Now, let's talk about creating your digital products. You see, this is where most people get completely stuck. They think that they need to create a digital product that ends up taking months. They think that they need to film 50 hours of video content and go to some expensive studio. And then they think that it has to be perfect before they can even sell it. Completely wrong. Here's the truth. My top top
students on average build their first digital product in less than 72 hours, not 72 weeks. Let me break down how this works. First, understand what a digital product actually
weeks. Let me break down how this works. First, understand what a digital product actually is. It's anything that's delivered online. It could be a PDF, a video course, coaching
is. It's anything that's delivered online. It could be a PDF, a video course, coaching program, ebooks, templates, communities. If it teaches something and it lives on the internet, it's a digital product. Now, here's the framework for creating something valuable. Step one, identify the transformation. What's the before and after? Where is your customer starting from? And where exactly
transformation. What's the before and after? Where is your customer starting from? And where exactly do they want to end up? You see, for my In my first digital product, the transformation was so simple. It was just going from an overwhelmed college student who couldn't manage his time to a high performer who gets better grades with less stress.
The second step, I want you to map out the steps step by step. What
does someone have to do to get from point A to point B? Break it
down into five to seven main modules. And then step three, just make the content.
And here's where AI changes everything. What used to take teams of people and employees that you had to hire, one person can literally do with AI. You see, AI handles the content creation, the video editing, writing sales copy, even building your website funnel, all of it. Let me show you what this looks like. You can open up ChatGPT and say, let me just type you an example. I'm creating a course about
this topic. Help me outline key modules someone needs to go from point A to
this topic. Help me outline key modules someone needs to go from point A to point B. And I'm gonna hit enter. Look at this. In less than 30 seconds,
point B. And I'm gonna hit enter. Look at this. In less than 30 seconds, you have a complete course structure, not big ideas, actual video modules. lessons, frameworks,
and then you use tools like Allen AI product builder and you paste in the concept and it literally makes you an entire done for you ebook digital product. I'm
talking introduction, chapters, actionable strategies and worksheets. This isn't an outline. This is real valuable contents. And in less than 10 minutes, you've built an ebook or course framework that
contents. And in less than 10 minutes, you've built an ebook or course framework that would have literally taken you weeks to create manually. Now here's the key. So pay
attention. The content still needs to be good. You see, you're not dumping AI garbage and then calling it a product. You're using AI to accelerate the process, and then you're refining it even more with your experience and insights. The stuff that actually makes your product unique is your perspective, your specific frameworks. Remember, people don't buy products, they buy people first. And AI just simply helps you structure and create the product faster.
Your experience is what makes it valuable. So could I sell something that AI generated as is? 100%. But the products that really perform, they're the ones where you've added
as is? 100%. But the products that really perform, they're the ones where you've added real insights on top of the foundation. The point is this, don't let the product creation stop you. You can have something valuable, ready to sell in less than a weekend, not six months, a weekend. Now you also have a niche in the product.
The next question that everyone asks is, well, how do I actually sell the thing?
This is where people completely get overwhelmed. They think they need to learn how to code or build a website or set up a complicated payment system or even worse, figure out email marketing. Can I just tell you what you need? This is it.
You need a website funnel. Funnel and a website, they basically mean the same thing.
All it is is a pathway to take someone who just discovered you on social media to now being able to sell a product. Here, let me just break down what mine looks like. You see, when someone sees my content on Instagram, they'll see a 7 to 15 second video that went viral online and it gives them value or it speaks to the problem. So they're interested. And so they leave a comment
or they'll send me a direct message that then triggers an automation that I've set up. You can do this on a go high level or many chat and that
up. You can do this on a go high level or many chat and that will offer them a free resource, otherwise called a freebie. This could be a checklist, a PDF, maybe a free video training that I recorded. And when they watch that video and they're interested, I then send them a link to my digital product. This
is the basic flow. You have content that leads to a comment and then we deliver the free And when they go through the freebie, inside the freebie, I offer them the next step. Now, here's what's so cool about this. There's platforms out there that literally handle all of the complicated payments. I'm talking payment processing, course delivery, small automations, email automations, and there's software that does all of it done for you. I
use AI softwares like Allen.store. Literally, go in Google and type Allen.store, hit enter. It
will give you a done free product to sell. It will give you your sales page. It will give you a checkout system, email delivery. All you have to do
page. It will give you a checkout system, email delivery. All you have to do is choose a product and then platform handles the rest. And for higher ticket offers, what I'd recommend is you set up a calendar page where people can schedule a 15-20 minute call with you. You can use free tools like Calendly and you can use a calendar that automatically gets scheduled into your calendar and then you can deliver
a super valuable 15-20 minute consultation where you can then present and tell people about your products. The point is here, you don't need to be technical. You just use
your products. The point is here, you don't need to be technical. You just use done-for-you infrastructure that used to cost thousands of dollars in developers. Now they cost 50 bucks a month, maybe 100 bucks a month, and it requires zero coding. Now here's
the most important part though. I don't want you to overcomplicate this in the beginning.
When I first got started, the word funnel was literally just posting content online and then have people DM and send me a message. That's it. No website, no complicated automation, and people would literally see my content. They'd message me. I'd have a DM conversation with them, and if I could help them, I'd tell them about my program, or I'd get them on a 15-minute call where I'd tell them about my digital
products. You can start that simple. Get some sales, understand what your customers actually want,
products. You can start that simple. Get some sales, understand what your customers actually want, and then build out more sophisticated, complicated stuff. But here's the thing. The truth is, having the fanciest funnel in the world, it doesn't matter if nobody's seeing your content.
The infrastructure is the most important but it's not where you should be spending 90 of your time in the beginning all right so this is the part that everyone wants to know about How do you actually get people to see your stuff? Because
you can have the best product in the world, but if nobody knows that you exist, you're not making any sales. So here's what I learned after years of doing this. Paid ads can work. I've spent thousands on Facebook, Instagram, Google, TikTok, and they
this. Paid ads can work. I've spent thousands on Facebook, Instagram, Google, TikTok, and they can definitely have a scale in your business. But here's the problem with that. Most
people, they don't have any money to spend on ads when they're starting out. And
even if you do, it's really hard to run profitable ads when you're brand new to this, because you don't know what type of language will resonate with your audience and therefore make the ads work really well. And that will cause you to burn through cash fast. So what's the answer? It's organic content. Now, here's specifically why Instagram changed everything. Instagram recently made an update to the algorithm that now favors new accounts
changed everything. Instagram recently made an update to the algorithm that now favors new accounts over established ones. And if you start today with zero followers, you literally now have a complete advantage over someone with 100,000 followers. Listen, they want new creators to onboard onto the platform, so they push new accounts content way more than people used to think. Here's exactly how how you can take advantage of this even if you have
think. Here's exactly how how you can take advantage of this even if you have no following or you don't want to show your face. All you do is post simple 7 to 15 second videos. Here, I'll literally put one on the screen of one that recently did over a million views for one of my top students. You
post valuable content that teaches something, calls out a problem, creates curiosity, and the algorithm literally handles everything else. It pushes the videos to thousands, if not millions of people for free. That means no ads, no large following required. Now, let me show you
for free. That means no ads, no large following required. Now, let me show you what I mean. You see this account right here? You can literally see short videos like this generating hundreds of thousands of views. And this isn't some special trick. It's
just following a simple process. So let me break it down step by step for you. First, you find content in your niche that's already performing. Go to Instagram, type
you. First, you find content in your niche that's already performing. Go to Instagram, type in any type of topic inside of the search bar, and a whole bunch of accounts are going to pop up. And it's going to drop down the recommendations. Again,
you see here on the screen that all of these Instagram recommendations of similar accounts.
You want to find videos that have way more views than the follower count, typically a two to one ratio. The second thing that you want to do is you want to do what I call M&M, model and modify. You take the original concept of the viral video, namely the hook, the structure, what the person was wearing, the music, how the camera was positioned, and then you make your own version of it.
This is where AI helps Like crazy. Here, you pop in your Instagram, it will analyze a top performing video, and then it will literally rewrite another version of the script, but in your voice. What's already proven to work, but you're not copying, you're simply modeling. And AI did all the heavy lifting for you. And third, you just
simply modeling. And AI did all the heavy lifting for you. And third, you just have to stay consistent. I recommend two to three videos per day, though I've seen some top students of mine, if they make one quality video, they just crush it with one video a day. Most people post once a week and then they wonder why nothing happens. Listen, the algorithm rewards consistency. So show up every day and give
yourself more chances to allow for something that hits. And if you don't want to show your face, that's totally fine. I've seen people do this faceless and crush it.
Like Lila, one of my top students did over 20,000 in the last few months and she's never showed her face online. Now, when people engage with your content and then they comment, they're going to go ahead and land inside of your DMs if you have an automation set up the right way. And this is where the sales process begins. And when I first got started, I sent every single DM myself. Someone
process begins. And when I first got started, I sent every single DM myself. Someone
would comment below or message me. And then I'd have a genuine conversation with them, even send them a voice note and genuinely understand the problem. And if I could help and I tell them about my offer, if I knew I could help them, that's exactly how to sell my product to my customers. Hundreds and hundreds of conversations.
And eventually you get to a point where you build a system on this. You
automate the message to start the conversation and then you can eventually even have an assistant handle the volume for you or to use an agent to do the DMS for you on your behalf. That way you don't have to do anything yourself. That's
where you learn the language of your customers. So learn to handle their objections. handle
the concerns, understand their fears and their pain points. Now, here's where things get very interesting. You see, when I started, me posting content, answering DMs, getting on calls, delivering
interesting. You see, when I started, me posting content, answering DMs, getting on calls, delivering coaching, everything. And that used to work up to a point. Now, you can definitely
coaching, everything. And that used to work up to a point. Now, you can definitely get to 10,000, 20,000, even 50,000 a month, by yourself if you grind hard enough, but eventually you hit a ceiling because there's only so many hours in a day.
If you're doing everything, the business can't grow without you working more. This is where most people get stuck. They either burn out trying to do everything or they plateau because they can't scale themselves. Here's what I learned. The key to scaling past the ceiling is building a real solid team. And building a team is really about just one thing, not trading your time for money anymore. think about it. If you're the
only one who can close as many deals as you have hours, if you're the only one who can create content, you can only post as much as you can eventually personally handle and create. And if you're the only one who can answer DMs, well, guess what? You have only as many conversations as you can physically handle. But
when you have people helping you, now you're not limited by your own time anymore.
Here's how I like to think about it. The first hires should be things that free up your time, but don't require specific expertise. I mean, customer support, basic admin, scheduling, video editing, things that are important, but you don't actually personally need to do.
And then what you do is you move into things that multiply your outputs. Content
creators who can post more than you could ever do alone. Setters who can qualify leads before you get to. And coaches who can literally deliver results to your customers.
And eventually you get to people who can eventually run entire departments themselves. Managers, marketing
leads, operators. I went from just me to now over 60 full-time employees across three different companies that I own.
So my camera ended up dying last night. Here I am from my phone. I
got some notes. I'm gonna finish this video for you, all right? And by the way, how beautiful does this water look here in the Maldives? This is insane, right?
Most beautiful water I've ever seen. Look, I'm gonna tell you, this takes work. There's
no magic button that you're gonna press and all of a sudden you'll be a millionaire overnight. This takes hard work and it's taken me seven years to get to
millionaire overnight. This takes hard work and it's taken me seven years to get to a point where I've done well over 30 million online. with this business model. And
if you like my personal help in helping you scale up this business, I actually have an accelerator application program where I take on a few mentees every single month.
I'll leave a link, the first or second link down below where you can actually apply for that mentorship. I cannot guarantee any spots because again, we only have a few of them open on a monthly basis. That link is there for you. And
if you want to know step-by-step exactly how you can take this business from complete zero, where you're a beginner right now to getting to your first couple of sales and eventually hitting past that 10,000 month barrier, I put together a full masterclass here so you don't have to go anywhere So tap that and I'll see you on the other side.
Loading video analysis...