- Rebecca Beach sells PowerPoint and Canva templates and printables online.
- She started a blog in 2015. Once it gained traction, she realized she could make a living from it.
This as-told-to-essay is based on a conversation with Rebecca Beach, a business owner in her forties based in Dallas, Texas, who sells printables. Insider has verified her revenue and profit with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I create PowerPoint and Canva templates for personal and commercial use that others can customize and then resell as their own. It can be time-consuming to make printables, so my templates speed up the design process. I also sell spreadsheets, courses, and a membership, and I do one-on-one coaching to help others start their own businesses.
I spent 20 years in web design and development before starting my business, PLR Beach. In the beginning, when I was only selling printables with personal-use licenses, I had several people ask if I could also create commercial-use printables, so I added those to my offerings.
My business now brings in around $30,000 a month in revenue. My net sales in 2022 were $350,000, and my gross profit was nearly $200,000. All of my income is passive because I create a digital product one time and then I can sell it over and over forever.
I started out with a blog called Mom Beach, which I launched while pregnant with my son
In 2018, after getting fired from my job as a senior UX designer and developer contractor at Verizon, I took six weeks to fully focus on my blog.
My content is all about working from home and starting an online business. I designed my blog myself — I taught myself HTML, Javascript, and CSS in high school — but I later hired a blog designer to redesign it.
I started a new job as a senior web developer at American Airlines after the six-week stint but continued to run my blog on the side. I noticed I was getting free traffic from Google and Pinterest, so I decided to cash in and start selling printables. If you have a blog but aren't selling products, you're leaving money on the table. In April 2019, I connected a "shop" link in my navigation bar to a Shopify store.
At first, I was only averaging $100 a month in sales. My husband, who's now very supportive of my printables business, was skeptical that it was a good use of my time. One friend told me my blog was a "pipe dream" and I should focus on my full-time job. A close family member laughed and said, "Don't quit your day job!" I didn't let their negativity affect me and kept blogging and creating printables.
I started making six figures in revenue from my business in 2020. Once we were required to come back into the office after the pandemic, I decided to quit my day job.
I get inspiration from a lot of places
I'll look on Pinterest and Etsy to get ideas. I've also checked Amazon, Michaels, and Barnes and Noble to see what planners they have for sale and read fashion magazines like Vogue and Elle to see what colors are in style.
I add at least two new products each month to my store. Sometimes when I create a blog post, I'll create a specific product to sell for that post. For example, I had a blog post on saving money on a cruise, so I made a printable cruise travel planner.
I also sell financial printables and spreadsheets. I fell into the finance niche because I used to live paycheck to paycheck and I've since rebuilt my credit score and savings.
I've grown my printables business via freelancers, email, and memberships
I use freelance designers and artists from Upwork to help me create planners and coloring pages, and so far I've hired more than 20 freelancers. It's completely worth the cost and has freed up my time considerably.
I have two email lists, one with more than 151,000 subscribers and one with more than 7,000 subscribers. To build my list, I wrote blog posts that targeted my audience and then placed an opt-in form within the post at least three times.
I've used emails since starting my blog. Having an email list is more valuable than having followers on social media. Many businesses have lost followers and likes overnight because of algorithm changes, but once someone signs up to your list, they're there until they unsubscribe.
In 2021, I launched two memberships costing $29 and $99 a month, where customers can get access to courses, coaching sessions, and exclusive printables. I launched the memberships after customers requested more help selling printables, and I currently have around 190 members.
I've grown my business 100% organically using Pinterest and Google, but I'm thinking of scaling my business with both Facebook and Pinterest ads this year because Google stopped ranking a few of my top posts on the first page after an algorithm change several months ago. Luckily, it hasn't hurt my income because I collected so many subscribers during the traffic increase.
My printables business means I can be there for my family
I can work as little or as much as I want. I get up at 9 a.m. and write my email to send out for the day. Then I check emails from customers, have lunch, and work on my printables.
I stop working at 3:30 p.m. to pick up my son from school. When we get home, I'm able to give 100% of my focus to him. I don't answer any emails or even go on the computer at night. I want to be present for my family when they're home.
One of my clients, a mom in my membership program, started just last year and was able to quit her dead-end job last month. Anyone can do this.
Do you run a successful printables business? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@insider.com.