Three years ago, I shared my daily writing process in Notion online.

Nothing fancy - just my system for capturing and organising ideas. But something unexpected happened: my audience went crazy for it.

Every time I wrote about my process or system people were fascinated. They asked me questions, they wanted to hear more.

And when I announced I would make it available as a template over 50 people bought it before I had even finished making it.

I was surprised.

These were other writers & creators. Some had been writing longer than I had. I assumed they had their own systems dialled in.

But I learned a valuable lesson from that first digital product: It's often the processes we use everyday that we think are ordinary that make the best digital products.

I saw this again last week on a coaching call with a client who is a maintenance manager at a resort. He had this brilliant system for managing maintenance tasks - all in his head. When we turned it into a template, he realized other resort managers would love a shortcut to his years of experience.

"But Will People Really Pay For My Process?"

Let me stop you right there - because YES 🎯

People don't want 12-hour courses anymore. They want quick solutions to specific problems.

Think about it: A restaurant manager doesn't want a massive course on "Restaurant Management" - they want your exact inventory spreadsheet that saved you 3 hours every week.

I should know. I've made over $100k over the past 3 years selling simple digital products & templates on the internet.

But most people still have no clue that they could be sitting on a goldmine with the ordinary processes they do everyday.

Here's My Quick-Win Product Spotter 🔍 Framework I Use to Spot Ideas for Digital Products Almost Daily

Most people I talk to have an idea in there head for a course they should put together one day. Let's not mention the fact that putting together a course is hard work - but people aren't really looking for big, long courses anymore.

People don't want to learn. They want shortcuts that will help them get their work done quickly & easily.

Here's four things you should look out for to find digital products hiding in your current processes & systems:

Does It Save Time?

Time is our most precious resource. And people want to claw as much of it as they can back. So Which of your spreadsheets, templates or processes help you to cut hours off your work?

Like my writing template that cut my content creation time in half?

Think about what tasks do you do in half the time others take? Note that down as a potential product.

Does It Save Money?

Apart from time, money is the secondary driver for most people. So if you can save them money - they are very likely to pay you for your solution.

Got a method that cuts unnecessary spending? Like our maintenance manager's system that prevented costly repairs.

What system helps you reduce waste or costs?

Will It Reduce Mistakes?

After gaining back time & money most of us also want to improve the quality of our work. And we'll pay for a shortcut to that.

Any kind of checklist or template is the perfect process to turn into a digital product that helps other reduce mistakes & increase quality.

Does It Solve A Frustration?

We all have day to day frustrations that we live with while doing our work. I've found some people are better at solving frustrations than others. If you're one of those people - who naturally looks for interesting solutions you probably have a digital product hiding somewhere.

If you're an HR manager maybe you have an onboarding system that replaced 20 scattered documents.

Once you've spotted a process it's just a matter of matching the process to a type of product. Here's my handy list of process to product match guide:

Step-by-Step Processes

What it looks like: You follow the same sequence every time

Best Product Match: Templates, Checklists, SOPs

Perfect for: That maintenance inspection routine

Decision-Making Processes

What it looks like: Your system for evaluating options

Best Product Match: Frameworks, Tools, Calculators

Perfect for: How you prioritise tasks or plan resources

Planning Processes

What it looks like: How you organise complex activities

Best Product Match: Planners, Schedulers, Templates

Perfect for: Project timelines, event planning

Analysis Processes

What it looks like: Your method for spotting patterns

Best Product Match: Spreadsheets, Dashboards

Perfect for: Inventory analysis, performance tracking

Teaching Processes

What it looks like: How you explain concepts repeatedly

Best Product Match: Workshops, Guides

Perfect for: Training materials, onboarding guides

Still Need Help Spotting Your Product? 🤖

If you've made it this far and you're still wondering if you have a digital product in you. I've created an AI prompt to help you easily uncover digital products hiding in plain site. Try this in ChatGPT or Claude:

"I'm a [profession/role]. Help me identify valuable processes in my daily work that could become digital products. Ask me specific questions about:

• Tasks I do repeatedly
• Problems I solve regularly
• Systems I've created to make my work easier
• Methods I use that others often ask about
• Frameworks I use without thinking"

I hope I've been able to convince you that you could be sitting on a valuable digital product.

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Whenever You're ready here are a couple of ways I can help:

1. Want to get Sparked like this each week? Sign up to my weekly newsletter - The Spark Newsletter where I share simple systems, frameworks & strategies that help you turn your knowledge into independent income.
2. Transform AI into your ultimate creative partner with my ​AI Creative Co-Pilot Workshop​. Build an incredible tool that doesn't just write like you, but thinks alongside you (so you can finally get all those creative projects out into the world).
3. Learn how to turn everyday ideas & notes into your own unique insights in ​The Knowledge Alchemy Course​. Don't just collect other people's ideas - create the ideas worth collecting.

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