Gold City Ventures E-Printables Course Review
This is my in-depth review of the Gold City Ventures E-Printables Course
I learned about the Gold City Ventures E-Printable Course in the fall of 2020, when the world, as we knew it, had basically ended and was (still) shut down because of a worldwide pandemic.
Like many others during 2020, I found myself with a whole lotta free time on my hands. My pet sitting business that I had started back in 2004 came to a crashing halt. In case you were wondering…no one needs a pet sitter when the whole world is shut down and no one can travel or even go to work!
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How I stumbled on to Gold City Ventures E-Printable Course
After spending way too much time watching TV, binge-watching shows on Netflix, doing puzzles, baking too much, and walking my dogs so much they no longer got excited about going for a walk anymore, I decided maybe I should do something productive with my newfound freedom.
That’s about the time that I opened an email from another blogger I follow who mentioned earning a passive income selling printables online with a link to the E-Printable course. That’s when I decided to enroll in the Gold City Ventures E-Printable course and learn how to create and sell printables on Etsy. And who knows, maybe I’d even make some extra money!
My Experience with Gold City Ventures E-Printable Course
I enrolled in the course back in October 2020 and I managed to open an Etsy shop (you can find my shop here if you are interested) and list my first item the same day that I had purchased the course!
To be fair, back in 2010-2015 I had an Etsy shop selling physical products so I wasn’t entirely new to the Etsy platform….but it had been a while. Plus selling digital products was a whole new beast and has been a fun, new adventure.
As a blogger, one of my favorite blog chores has always been creating blog graphics, Pinterest pins, and printables to use as freebies for my various blogs.
Back when I first started blogging my design tool of choice for creating these blog graphics and printables was PicMonkey or Microsoft Word. Somewhere along the way, I was introduced to Canva and the rest is history. I freely admit to being a bit of a Canva addict now. I easily lose hours of my day creating stuff in Canva. But now all that time that I spend creating things in Canva goes towards creating new products for my Etsy shop.
I’ve always been on the lookout for legitimate ways to earn extra income, especially after the last year and a half we’ve all had. But if I can earn extra money (passively) while doing something I love and sitting home at my computer, then why wouldn’t I give it a shot? And what kind of friend would I be if I finally found a good way to earn some extra cash and didn’t share it with you?
What (or who) is Gold City Ventures?
Gold City Ventures is an online course company founded by Julie Berninger and Cody Berman. They are Etsy sellers who specialize in creating digital files and selling them on Etsy for near passive income.
Julie is a mom, an Etsy seller, a blogger, and just recently left corporate America to focus on her family and her many side hustles. When she started her Etsy shop back in 2017 she was selling temporary tattoos. Eventually pivoting from selling physical products to digital products and avoiding having to manage product inventory, shipping, etc. Today, her Etsy shop, The Swag Elephant has grown to offer a variety of digital items (from bachelorette party games to digital planners and stickers and so much more) that you can purchase and download instantly.
Cody is a podcaster, Etsy seller (his shop is Pinto Printables), and dabbles in real estate ventures. He also left corporate America to focus on his many side hustles. When Julie and Cody first met, Cody had no idea what printables were or about selling them on Etsy. Cody had ZERO graphic design skills but decided to give it a go anyway. After gaining some practice and skills creating printables, he managed to have one of his biggest sale weeks during the week of Valentine’s Day selling his printable love coupons, all while he was snowboarding on vacation.
They both have proven that selling printables on Etsy can be a great source of passive income. The success they have found with their Etsy shops and their business experience is all wrapped up in their Gold City Ventures E-Printables Side Hustle course where they teach others how to earn a passive income from selling printables on Etsy.
What are printables?
Printables are digital files that you make on your computer and list on sites such as Etsy, Shopify, blogs, etc. Customers can download that file and print them out on their home printers or at a print shop. Examples are coloring pages, scavenger hunts, kid’s games, cards, wall art, and more.
These printable and digital files could be anything. Things like weekly or daily planner pages, worksheets for kids, gift tags, budget trackers, habit trackers, stickers, coloring pages, party decor, and greeting cards to name a few. But the ideas are endless really!
Customers love printables and digital products because they can purchase, download, and print them INSTANTLY without leaving their house.
Why should you sell your printables on Etsy?
Etsy has millions of customers and brings those customers to you with their powerful search engine. Some Gold City Ventures students have made sales in their first day or even first week on Etsy, whereas if you sell printables on your blog, you are responsible for going out and finding your customers and bringing them to your site.
That’s not to say that one day, you can’t branch out and start selling your products on your own blog or even a Shopify store or some other platform. However, Etsy is a simple way to get started with very little overhead costs to test the waters and see if this is the best side hustle for you.
Why do you suggest starting with seasonal products?
Printables and holidays go together like peanut butter and jelly. If you look around Facebook and Pinterest you may start to notice people making printables with little treats and gifts they put together for the holidays. For example, Halloween is coming up and people like to make cute “boo baskets” for their kids with printable tags. Or, on Valentine’s day, love coupons and printable cards are big sellers. For Christmas, you see people selling a lot of kid’s games and letters to Santa. Printables are everywhere and they think it’s a good idea for sales to start with the holidays. They talk about this more in their free ebook, Seasonal Product Secret (grab your free copy now!)
What is covered in the E-Printables course?
Cody and Julie cover everything from picking the best idea that will sell to making the printables in Canva (free path) or Adobe Illustrator (paid path), to marketing them on Pinterest, to a bonus section on selling off Etsy on other platforms. They try to make the course a one-stop-shop for all things related to selling printables on Etsy and they even give you templates to get started.
Some of their top students have consistent four-figure and five-figure months selling printables on Etsy after starting from scratch in their course.
What can you expect to learn from this E-Printables course?
Cody and Julie teach you the profitable and simple path to starting a successful Etsy business selling printables. They try to eliminate the fluff since they know people are busy and just want to know what they need to know to get the business going. All of this instruction is in video tutorials or text so it’s your choice how you digest the information in the course.
I mentioned earlier that I had my shop opened and listed one item on the first day of purchasing the course. I had my first sale within the first two and a half weeks that my shop was open. I purchased the course in mid-October and managed to get to 100 sales by Valentine’s Day!
I had been thinking of trying to create and sell printables for quite a while but this course gave me the little push and confidence I needed to actually get started. Cause it’s one thing to create a printable item that is good enough to be sold, it’s quite another to know how to create listing images, package your digital files, and get them listed on Etsy! This course teaches you all that…and more!
Do you offer any bonuses or perks with the course? (FB group)
Yes, the Facebook group is free for the first 30 days for all course members (after that you can either cancel it or continue with the membership for $29 per month) and they have extra instruction and weekly Live Q&As in there on Wednesdays evenings. If you can’t make it, you can always watch the replays later.
With the VIP FB group, you get access to:
- Weekly live Q&A sessions with Julie and Cody each week
- Monthly office hours with graphic design and UX (User Experience) experts
- Etsy printable experts (in addition to Cody and Julie) to answer your questions 24/7
- Regular challenges (usually during the weekly Q&A sessions) with prizes for participating in the challenges to keep you motivated and moving forward (I’ve won twice so far!)
- They also have regular guest speakers from other people in the digital/printable design space to share with the group
Once you reach 100 sales, you become a member of the “100 Sales Club” and your membership in the FB group becomes free. As a reward and encouragement, you will also receive a little gift from Julie and Cody as part of the 100 sales.
Is the membership worth it?
Absolutely! The FB group is probably one of the best parts of the course. The group is a deep source of knowledge from experts and students alike. It is a safe place to ask questions, get feedback, and continue to learn and grow your business!
Who is the course for? Not for?
It’s not for someone who won’t take action on the material. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to make printables but you do have to be willing to give it a try. You won’t know what is possible if you don’t give it a chance!
There is no one way to go through the course. Some students go all the way through the course once before they get started. Some (like myself) jump right in and start creating while going through the course. It doesn’t matter how you do it. It just matters that you get started!
It doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t need to know ALL THE THINGS right out of the gate. It’s ok to open your shop with one item. As the saying goes, done is better than perfect! You can always go back and tweak as you learn more things. I am constantly creating new items and tweaking old ones.
Do you need to be a graphic designer to create/sell printables?
No. Most students in the course are not bloggers, not designers, and hadn’t done a side hustle like this previously. Many have gone on to join their 100 sales club where they send you a prize after reaching 100 sales on Etsy!
The great part is that even if you are someone who has no design skills (like Cody) and has never done anything like this before, this course will walk you through the process of getting your shop up and running, products created and items listed in your shop. You are bound to learn and grow skills just by going through the process.
In Conclusion
This is one of the best purchases I’ve ever made! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning all about creating printables and how to sell them on Etsy. Cody and Julie are great teachers and wonderful about creating a course and FB community that is an encouraging and motivating environment for all of us who want to learn about printables and selling on Etsy! I’m a bit of a course junkie and have taken so many online courses for so many things…but this course is EASILY my all-time favorite and has been the one that I’ve gotten so much out of and continue to learn from every day. My shop is about to turn a year old in a few days and I’m still so excited and motivated to keep creating printable and digital items and can’t wait to see where it will go in 2022 and beyond.
But you don’t have to take my word for it, check out these student testimonials from others in the course.