TheRodinhoods

My 11 business learnings from generating ~20 Cr in digital product sales online

Saurabh Bhatnagar

My 11 business learnings from generating ~20 Cr in digital product sales online

I wanna share with you a thing that’s really making me feel proud at the moment.

So a crazy thought just came to my mind to calculate the number of sales I have done ONLINE so far. On random prediction, I thought it would be 20 Cr. I thought of actually calculating it. I noted down every single product that I have OWNED (full ownership or in partnership) & SOLD ONLINE. The total amount came down to 19 Cr 37 Lakh 20K. This is the revenue generated from the sale of my OWN products online. This does not include all the sales I have generated as an affiliate or I have helped my brother or friends or students or my former clients generate in the process.

Moreover, I have been authentic in the calculation. Like if the dollar rate was 68 at the time of the sale, I have added it accordingly & not at the current price.

I sold my first ever digital product in 2015. Then after 1 & a half years of working with clients, I moved completely into digital product creation in September 2016.

Lessons I learned in the process:

1.) My first full ownership digital product “FB page like Domination” sale of Rs 1199 (total 5 copies sold) gave me the most confidence. I actually created that product to make my “free with invite option” look like a no-brainer but 5 people actually bought the paid one gave me the confidence that people trust me & are ready to pay for my products.

2.) My first international product launch was at a loss financially. But as long as you are learning new things, it’s never a loss.

3.) My partners have seen me grinding every single day throughout the sales generation period (launch period) working on optimizing the copy & making it better, even when the launch has taken off & sales are coming in like anything. I have always told them that even if I can get ONE extra sale with my efforts, even though it is on top of thousands, I will still grind for it, simply because you never know who that one customer can be & that one customer can actually turn out to be your biggest success story. I don’t understand why people don’t understand the value of “ONE”. Probably sometime I will write a post specifically on this.

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4.) Digital products are . I don’t want to demean physical products eCom in any way, it’s just that I have fallen in love with the ~100% profit margin* that comes with digital products sales which are far far superior in comparison to 5-10% profit margin in eCom product sales. So if any eCom guy actually does close to 200 Cr worth of sales with a 10% profit margin, that actually becomes equivalent to 20 Cr worth of digital product sales. Ad spends, tools, team & other expenses are of course there & it’s equivalent in both the businesses. Sidenote – our own physical eCom venture is coming this year. I love new challenges.

5.) Resources that you develop over time are much more valuable than the cash in hand. The software that you have bought or the coaching programs you have joined or the masterminds you have attended, etc – these are all the non-tangible super valuable assets that cannot be seen but they hold far superior value than cash. In the early days of your Entrepreneurship Journey, you will need to make plenty of investments with the money that you don’t even have (you may need to borrow), but go for it. Yes, it will be hard to explain to your loved ones that your bank balance is zero but you own a new software or a new piece of information. But consider it to be a medicine that tastes sour but the patient needs it to continue the journey.

6.) Never give up!!

I don’t think anything needs to be explained here. Just never give up.

7.) Keep on learning & upgrading yourself. Watch good YouTube channels, take courses, programs, Mentorship, spy on funnels & do everything in your capacity (or even outside) to become better every day. It can be business learning or becoming better health-wise or communication-wise or in negotiation or networking & meeting new people or anything that you know is a real-world skill that’s required for you to grow to the next level. If you fail to do so, then failing in your Entrepreneurship journey would be 100% your responsibility.

8.) Don’t mess with your health. After aggravating my shoulder injury last year, I have learned I need to take care of my body as well. I am still quite stubborn though when it comes to targets & put more emphasis on momentum over good routine health practices. But at least I am doing better & putting more emphasis on it than what I used to do until 2 years ago when I never even cared for health or food timing, etc

9.) Networking is a huge key to success. There are so many people I wanna say thanks to for playing a huge part in my journey. Most of the time it was a mutually beneficial relationship. But what’s better than becoming good friends & also playing a part in each other’s success. All the networking that I have done all over the world has played a key role in my Journey. And I am never gonna stop doing Networking. I am eagerly waiting for physical events to resume & run in full flow so I can once again start going to the events in India & abroad & build logical connections. A quick tip that I learned from a friend – before I am going to any event, I always plan before going there. You will always know who all “main” people are coming to the event. Go to the event with a plan that’s mutually beneficial & more inclined in their favour than yours when you want to begin a relationship with someone. That’s when reciprocation kicks in.

10.) Traffic, funnel, copywriting & business strategies is what you need to learn. Out of them “traffic” is the easiest because it’s nothing but just a bunch of rules. Put more money, you get more traffic. Simple. Real thing is automated funnels, copywriting & business strategies. That is what you need to learn. The more you learn & practice it, more your business & earning would become better.

11.) Your results will grow with time. Out of ~20 Cr overall, ~15 Cr is in the last 2 years. So if in your initial few years, you are barely surviving but not giving up & learning continuously & building your assets online, trust me you are doing absolutely fine. Your earning will shoot up with time. Keep the journey going.

Just in case you are wondering the names of all the products I have owned (full or partially), here they are –