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← Make money with AI · Mission 11 of 37

Make and sell templates people actually buy: tax trackers, invoices and planners

People pay a few pounds for a template that saves them an evening and doesn't break. The sharpest version is selling into a law change, as Making Tax Digital pulls UK sole traders and landlords into quarterly digital records. Find what already sells, build a template that works in Excel, Word and Google Sheets, and list it within the UK rules.

175 minBeginnerTools: Free tools. Platform fees per sale, and your time: about 5 to 8 hours a weekStep 1 free
A niche picked from real demanda keyword sheet built by reading Etsy search, reviews and Google Trends by hand
A finished sample product to copya UK invoice template in Excel and Word, VAT and no-VAT, with locked, tested formulas and a buyer guide
Listing images and copya mockup template that renders 2400 x 1800 images, title and description templates, 13 tags
  • The money and the rules: a fee calculator for five platforms, UK VAT and cancellation wording, a launch checklist, a 30-day plan and a weekly scoreboard
Before you start
  • Excel, Word or the free LibreOffice to build and test in (Cancel Microsoft 365 installs LibreOffice), plus a free Google account to test in Google Sheets
  • Optional, for the scripts in the kit: uv, from Install anything from GitHub
  • About 10 hours for your first product, then 5 to 8 hours a week
  • A niche you know something about helps: your trade, your degree, your wedding, your revision
01/08Find templates people already buy0 done
STEP 01 of 08~30 min

Find templates people already buy

Don't guess what will sell. The marketplaces already show you, if you know how to read them.

  1. Templates are a real, unglamorous marketA sole trader who needs an invoice tonight, a couple drowning in wedding spreadsheets, a parent printing a revision timetable. They'll happily pay a few pounds for something that works first time. Most templates for sale are pretty but break the moment you type in them. That's the gap.

  2. Two things to know firstEtsy had 5.6 million active sellers at the end of 2025 (annual report ↗), so a generic listing starts at the back: you win with a specific buyer and a gap the bestsellers leave open. And this is a range business: plan on 10 to 20 listings, a few a week, and judge them after 8 to 12 weeks.

  3. How to read Etsy search like a buyerOpen Etsy in a private window (so results aren't personalised) and work through 10 to 20 phrases. Log each in the kit's keyword-research.csv:

    • Type slowly and note the suggestions that drop down. They come from what people actually search.
    • Page 1 only. Count how many listings have 100+ reviews. Lots means proven demand, and strong competition.
    • Open the top 3 and check the newest review date. Reviews from last week mean it's selling now. A year ago means it isn't.
    • Note the labels Etsy shows, like Bestseller or in X baskets, and the price range on page 1.
    • Read the 1, 2 and 3-star reviews. This is the most valuable 20 minutes of the whole course. "Formulas broke in Google Sheets", "US Letter not A4", "no instructions": each complaint is a feature for your version.
    CarefulDo it by hand. Etsy's Terms of Use ↗ forbid crawling or scraping its pages. Ten phrases is one evening, and you learn far more by reading than by running a script.

  4. Then check the trendOn Google Trends ↗, set United Kingdom and Past 5 years, and look at the shape: rising, flat, falling or seasonal. Seasonal is fine if you list 6 to 8 weeks before the peak: planners before January, revision planners from February, tax-year trackers before April. On Pinterest, search the phrase and note the suggested words under the search bar.

  5. Pick one nicheSpecific beats broad: "UK sole trader invoice with VAT and no-VAT versions" is easier to win than "invoice". Ideas to research:

    • Making Tax Digital quarterly records tracker: the strongest idea on this list, because the demand arrives on a date. Step 7 covers it.
    • UK sole-trader invoices: A4, pounds, VAT and no-VAT versions, a deposit line. US templates are everywhere; UK-correct ones less so.
    • Tradesperson quote and invoice sets: labour and materials lines, terms, a quote that turns into an invoice.
    • Self-employed income and expenses tracker: tax-year tabs from 6 April, categories, totals for the Self Assessment return.
    • Wedding planners: budget with formulas, guest list with RSVP counts, supplier tracker.
    • Student revision planners: exam countdown, subject tracker, printable weekly pages.
    • UK CVs: A4, single column so job sites can read them, Word and Google Docs versions.
    TipThe keyword sheet scores each phrase: Demand x 2 + Gap x 2 - Competition. A clear complaint you can fix (the gap) matters more than raw demand. Pick from the top few scores, and pick a buyer you understand.
✓
CheckpointYou've logged 10 or more phrases in the keyword sheet, read the bad reviews on the top listings, and picked one niche with one gap written down.
If it breaksEvery phrase I try has thousands of results + 1 more
Every phrase I try has thousands of results
Add the buyer or the place: "invoice template" is crowded; "plasterer invoice uk", "cleaner invoice template uk" or "invoice template vat uk" are narrower. Then look at the review complaints, not the result count. A crowded search where buyers keep complaining about the same thing is still a gap.
I can't tell if anything is actually selling
Look for recent review dates on the top listings and the Bestseller or basket labels. Reviews only come from purchases, and a steady stream of recent ones is the best public sign you'll get.
Still stuck? Ask the community
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