Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a Graphic Designer Built a 5000 Monthly Side Hustle in Notion Template Design
Transcript
- Lucas: So, Luna, I want to run something by you. You know how Notion has basically become the default workspace for a huge chunk of the startup and creator world? Luna: Oh, absolutely. I think half my freelance clients use it. The other half are on some bespoke Google Docs chaos. Lucas: Right. Well, there's a growing side hustle built entirely around Notion templates. I've been looking at a graphic designer — let's call her Mia — who started selling pre-built dashboards and habit trackers on Gumroad last year. Luna: Wait, like, she designed the layouts and then just… sold them as downloadable files? Lucas: Exactly. She'd been using Notion for her own project management — client tracking, content calendars, that sort of thing. Her Instagram followers kept asking how she had everything so organized. So she cleaned up a few templates, put them on Gumroad for $15 to $30 each, and within six months she was averaging $5,000 a month in revenue. Luna: That's impressive. But is that actually sustainable? I feel like template sales can spike and then drop off. Lucas: That's the key question. And her answer was — she diversified her distribution. She didn't just rely on Gumroad. She also listed on the official Notion marketplace, which gives you access to a much bigger audience. And she built a small email list of people who'd bought from her before, so she could launch new templates with a warm audience. Luna: So it's less about one hit template and more about building a catalog over time. Lucas: Exactly. She started with three templates. Now she has about twenty. And the really smart thing she did was she offered a 'template bundle' — pay once, get all current and future templates. That created a recurring revenue stream even though each sale is a one-time purchase. Luna: I love that. Sort of like a membership without the membership fatigue. Lucas: Yeah. And she priced the bundle at $99. So even if she only sells a few bundles a month, that's a solid base. Plus she still sells individual templates. So the mix works. Luna: What was her time commitment? I'm guessing designing a good template takes hours. Lucas: She said the first template took her about 20 hours. But now that she has a system — a consistent color palette, font choices, component blocks — she can crank out a new one in maybe 6 to 8 hours. And she updates existing templates maybe an hour a month. So it's not passive, but it's not a second full-time job either. Luna: Okay, so she's probably spending maybe 10 to 15 hours a month total on this. That's a nice hourly rate if she's making $5,000. Lucas: Exactly. That's around $300 to $500 an hour effective. But — and this is important — that's after she built the catalog. In the early months she was probably earning closer to $30 an hour because of the upfront design time. Luna: So you need to be willing to invest that initial time without knowing if it'll pay off. Lucas: Right. And the other barrier is you actually have to be decent at design. Not just functional layouts — people pay for aesthetics in this space. Mia has a graphic design background, which helped. But she said you could learn the basics of visual hierarchy and color theory in a few weeks on YouTube. Luna: So what's the actual demand like? Are people really searching for Notion templates? Lucas: Turns out, yes. The Notion marketplace alone gets millions of visits per month. And there are dedicated sites like NotionEverything and Notion Pages that aggregate templates. Plus, a lot of creators on YouTube review templates, which drives traffic. Mia said her biggest single day of sales came after a YouTuber with 50,000 subscribers featured her habit tracker in a video. Luna: That's the dream. One video and you're set for the month. Lucas: It can be. But she also spent time creating her own content — short Instagram Reels showing how she uses her templates. That's how she built the initial audience before any YouTuber picked it up. Luna: So it's not just design skills — you need a little marketing savvy too. Lucas: Absolutely. But the nice thing is the product itself is visual. You can literally show people what they're buying in a 15-second video. That's way easier than selling, say, a software tool where you have to explain features. Luna: Yeah, that makes sense. So what would be your advice to someone listening who thinks they could do this? Lucas: First, start by using Notion yourself for something you actually care about. A personal dashboard, a reading log, a meal planner — whatever. Then ask a friend if they'd pay for a cleaner version. That's the minimum viable product test. And if they say yes, build it and put it on Gumroad for $10. You don't need to be perfect out of the gate. Luna: And if no one buys it? Lucas: Then you learn. Maybe the design wasn't compelling enough, or the niche was too crowded. But you've only lost a few hours. That's the beauty of this — the downside is tiny compared to the upside. Luna: Alright, I'm convinced. I might actually try this for our show notes templates. Lucas: See, that's exactly the kind of thing. I'd buy that. Luna: Don't hold me to it. But it's a real option. Lucas: Okay, so before we wrap up, I want to mention something quickly. And this ties back to what we were just saying about small investments that can grow. You know how this podcast is completely ad-free? Luna: Yeah, and I love that. No awkward mid-roll about mattress companies. Lucas: Right. The reason we can do that is a small group of listeners chip in each month on buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's not a big ask — just that if you've gotten value from the show, throwing a few bucks in the jar helps us keep making episodes like this one. Luna: Totally. And honestly, knowing that it's listener-supported makes it feel more like a conversation than a broadcast. Lucas: Yeah. So anyway, back to the templates. One last thing I found interesting: Mia said her biggest challenge wasn't design or marketing — it was keeping up with Notion's updates. They change features pretty often, and templates can break. Luna: Oh, that's a real downside. So you have to stay on top of the product itself. Lucas: Exactly. She sets aside an hour every month to test her templates and fix anything that's broken. It's like maintenance on a car — you can't just build it and forget it. Luna: That's a good reality check. But still, for someone with design skills and a bit of patience, this seems like a very doable side hustle. Lucas: I think so too. And the best part is, you're creating something that can sell while you sleep. Even if it's just a few sales a week, that's extra income with no boss, no schedule, no commute. Luna: Alright, I'm officially adding 'design Notion templates' to my someday list. Lucas: Let us know if you do. And if any of you listening try it, tell us how it goes. We might feature your story in a future episode.