When a prolific creator Anfernee joind me from Singapore for a live conversation last night, I thought I’d get some tips on selling digital products. What I got instead was a complete business model overhaul and a challenge I couldn’t refuse.
Anfernee is a full-time solopreneur who earns 90% of his income selling digital products on Gumroad.
Let that sink in!
Not through his paid newsletter. Not through services. Through digital products. With 35,000 subscribers on his Gumroad email list and products that have sold thousands of copies, he’s built something most of us dream about: a scalable, sustainable business.
And he did it by failing. A lot. Fast.
The 56-Product Experiment
When Anfernee started in 2023, he had no idea what would work. So he did something most people would consider insane: he launched one digital product every week for an entire year. That’s 56 products.
“Nobody knows what to do when they first start,” he told me. “Those who tell you they know what to do are bluffing you.”
Most of those 56 products didn’t work. But that wasn’t the point. The point was to discover what does work—and to do it fast enough that he didn’t burn out or give up first.
His secret weapon? Speed. With AI tools, he can now create an entire email workflow in five minutes that would have taken three days a few years ago. This speed allows him to test ideas rapidly instead of spending months perfecting something that might never sell.
My $139 Problem (And Maybe Yours Too)
Here’s where it got personal. I confessed that in three years on Gumroad, I’ve made a grand total of $139.96. I have a free ebook on ghostwriting that seven people downloaded. A paid guide on pitching that maybe ten people bought, and a free short story set at a Catholic school in Amman, Jordan, that some downloaded.
“So you have a flow problem,” Anfernee said.
He explained that my free products weren’t connected to my paid products. There was no pathway, no natural next step. My ebook wasn’t a good lead magnet because people have to finish an entire book to get value, and most never will.
What works better? A one-page checklist. An infographic. A five-minute video. Something that gives people an immediate transformation the moment they see it.
Then he walked me through the value ladder concept: free lead magnets should naturally lead to low-priced products ($9-20), which should lead to higher-priced offerings. Each step should feel like the obvious next move.
The 1% Rule
Of everyone who subscribes to your email list, only 1% will actually care about what you’re saying. And of that 1%, only 1% will buy something.
That’s why Anfernee has 35,000 email subscribers, and why his best-selling product has around 6,800 sales. The math checks out.
The mindshift here is clear. This isn’t depressing. It’s liberating. You’re not trying to convert everyone. You’re trying to find your people—the ones who won’t ask “Why should I buy from you when I can use ChatGPT?” Those aren’t your audience. Your audience is the people who already trust you and want to learn from you specifically.
The Challenge: 60 Days to Transform
Live on the call, with 20+ people watching, I asked Anfernee to give me a challenge. Here’s what he assigned:
Within 60 days, I must:
Create three lead magnets on memoir ghostwriting (my niche)
Change my ghostwriting ebook from free to $10-19
Upload my ghostwriting course to Gumroad
Build two email workflows: one from lead magnets to ebook (5-7 emails), another from ebook to course (5-7 emails)
Niche down from “ghostwriting” to something more specific—like memoir ghostwriting for business leaders or media personalities
Build in public throughout the process
“When you’re creating your first lead magnet,” he said, “tell all your subscribers immediately. Ask them what should be included. If people tell you to build something different, switch and build that. You’re validating ideas.”
Please watch as I make changes here on Substack and update you as I build in public.
Why This Matters for Writers
Most of us writers have the model backward. We offer high-touch services (ghostwriting, book coaching, editing) as our main income source, with digital products as a side hustle.
But services aren’t scalable. Every client requires pitching, onboarding, and hours of work. There’s a ceiling on how much you can earn because there’s a ceiling on your time.
Digital products flip the equation. You create once, sell infinitely. You serve people at different price points. You build an email list that becomes an asset.
Anfernee still does mentorship, but he limits it to four clients per month at high ticket prices. Everything else is products.
The Mindset Shift
When I asked Anfernee what makes solopreneurs quit, he said it comes down to two things: mindset and speed.
You need the mindset to accept that being a solopreneur means “zero dollars for a long time.” You need savings. You need to experiment without getting discouraged. You need to understand that most people in your audience will never buy—and that’s okay.
And you need speed. You need to test ideas fast enough that you find what works before you burn out and give up.
“Knowledge is free,” he said. “Implementation is priceless.”
What Happens Next
Starting today, I’m building in public. I’ll share every lead magnet I create, every pricing decision I make, and every email sequence I write. In two months, Anfernee and I will go live again to see what happened.
Will I transform my Gumroad earnings from $139 to something sustainable? Will the value ladder work? Will niching down to memoir ghostwriting actually help?
I have no idea. But that’s the point.
Follow along as I document the journey. I’ll be posting updates in Notes and in my regular newsletter. Tag me with your own experiments; maybe we can learn from each other.
Because if there’s one thing I learned from an hour with Anfernee, it’s this: The only way to find out what works is to build it, ship it, and see what happens. Fast.
Want to connect with Anfernee? Find him at Solopreneur Code on Substack, where he shares strategies for building a sustainable solo business. And yes, he replies to 100% of DMs.
Resources mentioned: The $100M Offer, $100M Leads, and $100M Dollar Models by Alex Hormozi
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