Notion Template Creation

TL;DR

What it is: Creating pre-built Notion workspaces that solve specific problems (project trackers, habit trackers, content calendars, budgeting systems) and selling them as digital products.

What you'll do:

• Design Notion pages with databases, formulas, and workflows
• Test templates to ensure they work properly
• Create documentation and tutorials for buyers
• Market templates on platforms like Gumroad, Etsy, or your own site
• Provide customer support and handle template updates

Time to learn: 1-3 months if you spend 5-10 hours per week learning Notion's features and studying what sells.

What you need: A Notion account, understanding of productivity workflows, and willingness to learn what people actually want to pay for.

What This Actually Is

Notion template creation means building pre-designed Notion workspaces that people can duplicate and use for their own needs. You're not building software or apps. You're creating organized systems within Notion that solve specific problems.

Templates can be simple (a weekly planner with a calendar view) or complex (a complete business operations hub with linked databases, formulas, and automations). The goal is to save people time by giving them a ready-made structure instead of building from scratch.

You create the template once, then sell copies to multiple people. This makes it different from freelance work where you're paid once for custom solutions. Here, you build something once and can potentially sell it indefinitely.

The market has grown significantly since 2020, when Notion became more popular. This means there's demand, but also lots of competition. Templates that solve specific problems for specific audiences tend to perform better than generic "life planners."

What You'll Actually Do

Your day-to-day depends on whether you're creating new templates or marketing existing ones.

When creating templates:

• Research what problems people need solved by browsing forums, social media, and competitor templates
• Design the layout and structure in Notion, testing different database views and properties
• Set up formulas, relations, and rollups if your template needs calculations or connected data
• Create visual appeal with icons, covers, and organized sections
• Test every feature to make sure nothing breaks when duplicated
• Write clear instructions so buyers know how to use and customize the template
• Take screenshots or record videos showing the template in action

When marketing templates:

• Post on social media platforms showing your templates in use
• Write descriptions that explain what problem the template solves
• Respond to customer questions and support requests
• Update templates when Notion releases new features or when bugs are found
• Analyze what's selling and what's not to inform future templates
• Build email lists or social followings to promote new releases

Some creators focus on building a large catalog of simple templates. Others create fewer complex templates and sell them at higher prices. Both approaches can work depending on your skills and preferences.

Skills You Need

Essential:

• Proficiency with Notion's core features (databases, properties, views, relations, rollups)
• Understanding of how people organize information and plan their work
• Problem identification to spot what people struggle with
• Clear communication to write instructions and respond to customers
• Basic visual design sense to make templates look clean and professional

Helpful but not required:

• Graphic design for creating promotional images
• Copywriting for product descriptions and marketing
• Basic understanding of formulas if creating complex templates
• Social media skills for building an audience
• Customer service experience for handling support

You don't need coding skills. Notion formulas use their own syntax, which is simpler than programming languages. You can learn the basics in a few days.

If you already use Notion regularly, you have a head start. If not, expect to spend a few weeks getting comfortable with the platform before creating templates worth selling.

Getting Started

Step 1: Learn Notion thoroughly Use Notion for your own life first. Build a task manager, project tracker, or note system. This helps you understand what makes a template useful versus cluttered. Search for beginner tutorials on YouTube or read Notion's official help documentation.

Step 2: Study existing templates Browse free and paid templates on Gumroad, Etsy, and Notion's template gallery. Duplicate them to see how they're structured. Note what works well and what frustrates you as a user. Look at reviews to understand what buyers value.

Step 3: Identify a specific need Don't start with "I'll make a life planner." Start with "I'll make a template for freelance writers to track pitches and invoices" or "a habit tracker for people training for marathons." Specific solves specific problems better than generic.

Step 4: Build your first template Create something simple but complete. Test it yourself for at least a week. Ask friends or online communities to test it and give feedback. Fix issues before selling.

Step 5: Publish and price Start with Gumroad because it's free to use and handles delivery automatically. Price your first template low ($5-$15) to get initial sales and reviews. You can raise prices later.

Step 6: Get your first sales Share your template on social media, Reddit communities (check rules first), or Notion-focused Facebook groups. Offer it free or heavily discounted to the first few buyers in exchange for honest reviews.

Step 7: Iterate based on feedback Read every review and support question. These tell you what to improve and what to build next.

Income Reality

Income varies dramatically based on template quality, niche selection, marketing effort, and luck.

Pricing models:

• Simple templates: $5-$15 per sale
• Mid-complexity templates: $15-$35 per sale
• Comprehensive systems: $35-$75 per sale
• Enterprise or business templates: $75-$200+ per sale

What different creators actually earn:

Some creators report earning a few hundred dollars per month from a small catalog of templates. Others with established audiences and multiple products report earning $2,000-$5,000 monthly. A few well-known creators have reported earnings exceeding $10,000 monthly, though this is not typical.

Individual template performance varies widely. Some templates sell a few copies per month, while others may sell dozens or hundreds depending on demand, marketing, and competition.

Factors that affect earnings:

• Niche specificity (business templates often sell better than personal productivity)
• Marketing channels and audience size
• Template quality and uniqueness
• Reviews and social proof
• Timing (being early in emerging niches helps)
• Consistency in creating and promoting new templates

Most creators don't replace a full-time income from template sales alone. It typically functions as supplemental income, though exceptions exist for those who build large catalogs or develop strong personal brands.

Passive income claims need context. Templates require ongoing marketing, customer support, and updates. Sales rarely happen without continued promotional effort unless you've built significant audience or marketplace presence.

Where to Find Work

You're not finding "work" in the traditional sense. You're selling products directly to customers through various platforms.

Direct sales platforms:

• Gumroad: Popular with digital creators, handles payment and delivery automatically
• Etsy: Large marketplace with existing traffic, good for reaching buyers who don't know about Notion yet
• Your own website: Keeps all revenue but requires you to handle payment processing and drive all traffic

Marketplace listings:

• Notion Template Gallery: Official Notion marketplace, free to list but competitive
• Notionland: Community marketplace for Notion templates
• Creative Market: Broader digital marketplace that includes Notion templates

Building your own audience:

• Social media platforms where you share Notion tips and showcase templates
• Email lists where you notify subscribers about new releases
• Content marketing through blogs or videos about productivity

Platform selection affects your strategy. Gumroad requires you to drive traffic but takes lower fees. Etsy provides built-in traffic but has more competition and takes higher fees.

Note: Platforms may charge fees or commissions. We don't track specific rates as they change frequently. Check each platform's current pricing before signing up.

Many successful creators use multiple platforms simultaneously, listing the same templates in different places to maximize reach.

Common Challenges

Oversaturated niches: Basic planners and trackers have thousands of competitors. Finding underserved niches requires research and creativity.

Marketing fatigue: Creating templates is only part of the work. Consistent marketing on social media or other channels takes significant time and energy.

Support requests: Buyers need help with customization, run into bugs, or have questions. Each template sold can create ongoing support needs.

Feature updates: When Notion releases new features or changes functionality, templates may need updates. This creates maintenance work.

Low initial sales: Your first templates likely won't sell much without an existing audience. This can be discouraging when starting out.

Pricing pressure: Race to the bottom pricing where creators undercut each other makes it hard to charge premium prices unless your template offers clear differentiation.

Template complexity vs. usability: Making powerful templates with lots of features often makes them harder to use. Finding the balance is tricky.

Standing out: With so many templates available, getting noticed requires either exceptional quality, unique positioning, or strong marketing.

Intellectual property: Templates can be easily copied or shared. Some buyers purchase once and share with others, reducing your potential sales.

Tips That Actually Help

Solve one problem extremely well: A template that does one thing perfectly beats a bloated template that tries to do everything poorly.

Create clear documentation: Include setup instructions, usage tips, and customization guidance directly in the template. Video walkthroughs help significantly.

Use real examples: Don't ship empty templates. Include sample data so buyers can see how it works before clearing it out.

Test with actual users: Before selling, have someone unfamiliar with the template try using it. Watch where they get confused.

Focus on a specific audience: "Content calendar for YouTubers" sells better than "content calendar for creators" because it speaks directly to a defined group.

Build in public: Share your template creation process on social media. This builds audience before launch and creates marketing content.

Collect emails from buyers: With permission, build an email list to announce new templates to people who already bought from you.

Price based on value, not hours: If your template saves someone 10 hours of work, $30 is reasonable even if you built it in 2 hours.

Keep iterating: Your first template won't be your best. Each one teaches you what works.

Study what sells: Regularly check best-selling templates on marketplaces. Look for patterns in what problems they solve and how they're marketed.

Respond to all feedback: Every review and question is free market research telling you what people want.

Is This For You?

This side hustle fits if you:

• Already enjoy organizing information and building systems
• Have patience for slow initial growth while building reputation
• Can handle the marketing side, not just the creation side
• Like the idea of creating once and selling multiple times
• Have specific knowledge about what certain groups need (students, small business owners, content creators, etc.)

This probably won't work well if you:

• Expect quick profits without marketing effort
• Hate repetitive customer support questions
• Only want to create without doing any promotion
• Need guaranteed income immediately
• Don't use or understand Notion yourself

The barrier to entry is low, which means competition is high. Success usually comes from either being exceptional at marketing, serving a very specific niche, or consistently creating quality templates over time while building an audience.

Most people who try this make little to nothing. Some make enough for nice supplemental income. Very few make full-time income from template sales alone. Realistic expectations help avoid disappointment while still giving this a fair shot.