To complement this Substack Live, I also wrote another post: Gumroad Growth Secrets: Create Lead Magnets and Email Sequences that Convert (By Understanding the 5 Stages of Customer Awareness).
There’s a lot of valuable information between both pieces.
Take the time to go through them, and reach out if you have any questions.
I recently went live with Veronica Llorca-Smith of The Lemon Tree Mindset to talk about how solopreneurs can build digital businesses on Gumroad.
The conversation revealed two very different, but equally effective paths to success.
Why Gumroad?
Gumroad is more than just a checkout tool.
It’s a marketplace where creators can sell templates, e-books, guides, courses, and even masterclasses.
The advantage is reach.
Unlike hosting products only on your own site, Gumroad has its own organic traffic.
That means you benefit both from your community and Gumroad’s discovery engine.
The trade-off is cost.
Gumroad takes 10% of every sale, and up to 30% if the sale comes through their recommendation system.
For many creators, this model works better than paying a fixed monthly fee elsewhere.
The Path I Started With: Create Fast, Test Fast
When I first started, I had no audience and no idea what would sell.
So I created one digital product every week for months.
Over time, I built more than 50 products.
Most didn’t survive.
Some did.
The point wasn’t perfection, it was speed.
By creating fast, I could test ideas quickly and learn what worked.
A free hook generator I built in six hours turned into one of my most effective lead magnets.
I now use multiple lead magnets.
Sometimes seven for one product, just to attract customers at different stages of awareness.
My funnels run for months, guiding people from “problem aware” to “product aware.” Gumroad’s built-in email workflows make this possible, even though its UX isn’t perfect.
Veronica’s Path: Validate First, Build Later
Veronica took the opposite approach.
She started with Substack, built a community, then listened to their requests.
When her readers asked for a structured roadmap for new Substack creators, she turned her content into a digital course on Gumroad.
Her key lesson: test demand inside your community before investing energy into creating a product.
Validation comes first.
Building comes after.
Two Strategies, Same Outcome
Both approaches work.
Bias for action: If you’re fast at creating, start building and testing. Speed becomes your edge.
Bias for validation: If you have a community, ask what they want first, then create with confidence.
Either way, success comes from iteration.
Products don’t need to be perfect.
They need to be functional, take people from A to B, and deliver clear outcomes.
Now that I have a community, I also move towards validating first.
But if I can create a product fast enough, might as well validate with a powerful MVP!
Ecosystem Thinking
Both of us agreed that Gumroad works best when integrated into a larger ecosystem.
I bundle products together and use lead magnets to feed into bigger offers.
Veronica ties her Substack to Gumroad and gives paid subscribers discounts on her Gumroad courses.
Both of us use Gumroad’s affiliate system, though it requires extra hand-holding for affiliates because the UI isn’t as smooth as dedicated platforms.
When you think ecosystem-first, every product strengthens the others.
Final Takeaway
There isn’t one formula.
The right approach depends on your strengths.
What matters is motion.
Either create quickly and learn by doing, or validate carefully and build from demand.
Both paths lead to growth if you stay consistent.
Thank you Tripty Rasaily, Andrea Breaux, Steve Kelly, and many others for tuning into my live video with Veronica Llorca-Smith!
Thanks for reading! Ready for the next step?
Let’s crack the growth equation and build a thriving one-person business on your terms!
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