How Julie Makes Five Figures Per Month Selling E-Printables on Etsy and Shopify
Today’s interview is with Julie Berninger, a mom of three little ones who started her business in a way that feels so relatable: selling temporary tattoos on Etsy. Super creative, and it worked, but it had a ceiling. She wanted something that could actually grow into full-time income without needing more hours from her day.
Then she went to a conference, heard one idea that made everything click, and she pivoted. In 2017 she switched her Etsy shop to digital printables and basically never looked back. Since then she’s brought in over six figures selling digital products, with her best month hitting five figures, mostly from editable templates she creates once and sells over and over.
Here’s exactly how she does it.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you first got started selling e-printables online? Did you stumble into it or were you looking for a way to make income from home?
I’m Julie Berninger and I’m a mom of 3 under 6 years old living on the East Coast.
I started selling printables back in 2017 when I converted my Etsy shop selling bachelorette party temporary tattoos to an Etsy shop selling printables.
Someone who was selling printable planners gave me the idea at a conference and that is when I decided to switch my shop over and I never looked back.
What was your first sale like, and how did that feel? When did it go from “a few dollars here and there” to real money, and about how much have you made so far?
My first sale was just a few dollars but it felt magical! I love the concept of creating a product from scratch and it was much easier and quicker to design the printables than it was to design and make temporary tattoos.
It started translating into real dollars a bit into my journey when I started to be more strategic about selling templates.
It was always a side hustle for me since I worked in tech during the day so my target was $10,000 per year in side hustle revenue which I passed quickly.
I’ve now made over six figures selling digital products of some sort with the majority of the income coming from editable templates.
For someone who’s never heard of an e-printable business, can you explain in simple terms how it works? What exactly is a printable, where do you sell it, and how do you get paid?
A printable is a digital file that a customer buys from you. It can be a printable baby shower trivia game, wall art, lunch box notes – there are so many different types!
You can make and sell them on Etsy as well as through your own site or Shopify. I do all of the above! We recommend new sellers start out with Etsy since it has built in traffic.
You first decide what product to sell and then you make that product using Canva. Most of us use Canva Pro but you can start out with the free plan and that is totally fine for making printables.
You get paid by Etsy when the customer buys the product. It costs 20 cents to list the printable and Etsy has a small activation fee for new shops that is around $15. There is no monthly fee to be an Etsy seller unlike Shopify.
Can you walk us through your best month financially; what did that look like in terms of what you sold, how you got traffic, and how much effort it took?
I made five figures in my best month and my top products were editable products that received a boom due to a cultural event that was going on.
I always recommend thinking about what is happening in the news and in real life and seeing if that could spur any product ideas.
For example, if you hear interest rates are going down, then you can imagine that real estate demand is growing and more realtors may buy marketing templates on Etsy.
In my best month, I made versions of my best product based on keywords that I saw on eRank. I was the only one who saw that “fishing” and “golf” versions of my product were searched for but were not yet available on Etsy. So I turned my product into a niched down version with slight variations and it sold really well!
The niching process only took an hour.
I also stacked that with products that I was selling to a different audience on Shopify and through my website. That created the five figure payout.
Do you need to be a designer or have a big audience to start, or can a total beginner learn and still succeed? What tools or skills matter most early on?
Most of us are not graphic designers when we start. We purposely stay away from the wedding niche if we’re not a graphic designer and it’s been totally fine. The only skill you need coming into it is the willingness to keep trying.
We see some students get a sale on their first listing every month (for real, we’ve been doing this for years and there is always someone), but it’s not the most common scenario. That is why we offer audits so we can give you feedback.
The most important thing is to keep trying and then by taking in the feedback you’ll get the next one right and selling.
Are there certain printable niches you’ve found work better than others (budgeting, kids, weddings, planners, teacher stuff, small business, etc.)? How do you choose what to create?
Kids products are easiest for new sellers to make and they align with our seasonal strategy the best. We tell people to think of a holiday 2 months away and start designing for that holiday.
For myself as a more advanced seller, I typically do market research and find a high volume low competition keyword. Most of us coming through the Gold City Ventures program don’t believe in having a niched down shop or multiple shops.
We keep things all in one shop and organize by sections. We have students who have 30,000-60,000 sales with that strategy and you don’t need the extra work!
How much time does someone realistically need to spend each week to start making money with printables? What does a realistic weekly routine look like?
I’d spend 4 hours per week at least. Either one hour per weekday or maybe a long block on a Sunday. Try to spend more time creating than consuming after you complete a course.
That’s why we recommend a course instead of YouTube because on YouTube you’re wasting time searching for the information you need that is out of order and you end up spending your only block of free time watching videos instead of making stuff.
What would you say to someone who thinks the printable market is “too saturated” or that it’s too late to start an online business like this now?
The printables market is only growing as more and more people look to Etsy for DIY decor for parties and celebrations. We see students getting their first sales and reaching our “100 Sales Club” every day in our Facebook group.
You mentioned that you sell a course about this. Can you tell us more about your course? Who is it for, what does it help people accomplish, and who would you say should buy it (or not buy it)?
Our course helps people start a printables shop from scratch with no background knowledge or Canva experience needed. We teach you how to list your first products and your goal is to get to 100 Sales on Etsy.
We give you a free 30 days in our membership so you can get your first listing audited and attend some live events for motivation and extra learning. We give you the membership and all benefits completely free when you reach 100 Sales on Etsy.
We also send you a gift in the mail to celebrate your accomplishment!
Julie’s Course: E-Printables Side Hustle
👉 If you’re interested in Julie’s course, check it out here: E-Printables Side Hustle Course
Her course is currently on a waitlist, but you can sign up to get notified when it’s open again!
