Author | Jackie

How many times have you been excited about starting a digital planner business only to give up before you begin? 

Perhaps, you took one look at the software and ran for the hills!

A digital planner has so many moving parts, where on earth do you start? 

After all, you’re not a trained graphic designer, so you don’t feel qualified to create a digital planner.

You’ve tried using YouTube tutorials to learn how to do it. The problem is, they only tell you so much and well, you don’t know what you don’t know!

As a self-taught designer, I know design theory and software can feel overwhelming as a beginner. 

The wonderful thing about designing digital planners is, you can learn what you need to know as you go along.

Would you love to create your first digital planner but feel anxious about learning new software or design skills? 

Don’t let past experiences deter you. Below, I’ll show you how to remove the fear of learning and finally get your digital planner out into the world.

Make Your Own Digital Planner Course

How to learn something new

1 | Learn only what you need to know

You don’t need to know everything. It is about knowing what to learn to get the job done, and no more. 

One Skill at a Time, One Step at a Time.

It is easy for me to say, I’ve done this many times before. But, that’s sort of the point. I didn’t have a formal design education. I am self taught. I built my skills and knowledge one step at a time, one project at a time.

Experimenting, trial and error, finding designers who were willing to teach me what I needed to know to create a specific project.

Want to know how to create a digital planner? Don’t do a course in desktop publishing. It takes too long and you only need to know a fraction of what’s covered in those courses to create a digital planner.

Rather, do a course in digital planner design and learn what you need to know about desktop publishing to make a digital product and nothing else.

Want to know how to create a style guide for your planner? Don’t do a course in graphic design. It is a huge subject with all kinds of specialisms. 

Learn how to create a style guide specifically for a digital planner. Just what you need to know and no more. 

2 | Don’t reinvent the wheel

Digital planner and stationery design has been done before. People have sat down and worked out what needs to be done and in what order, to create a beautiful, functional digital planner.

You benefit from the time and money they’ve spent working out how to design a digital planner. So, don’t reinvent the wheel! 

Use their knowledge and expertise to jump start your design education. 

Save time by reducing the trial-and-error stage. Save money by getting your digital planner created and on sale in a fraction of the time.

3 | Don’t start from scratch

One of the reasons learning a new skill can feel overwhelming is because you assume you have to learn everything about a subject.

This is understandable. When you are new to a subject, you don’t really know what’s important or relevant. You don't know what to leave out.

You don’t need to start at the beginning. Instead of starting from scratch, get a head start by using a template.

It is much easier to change something that exists than it is to create something from nothing.

I love templates for beginners who are designing their first planner because they:

• allow you to focus on the content of your planner
• reduce what you need to learn about the software
• drastically speed up the production process

Make Your Own Digital Planner Course | Planner & Sticker Templates

4 | Don’t worry about perfection

Although you will have created a digital planner, creating your first planner is largely a learning experience. 

I can almost guarantee you will want to change something about your first digital planner as soon as you’ve finished it! And, that is a good thing. It shows you’ve moved beyond the fear of learning something new and are ready to dive right back in!

So, don’t worry about your first planner being ‘perfect’ - if such a thing even exists. Your skills and confidence are growing. 

Designing a digital planner will unlock the floodgates of your creativity. 

Be ready to have more ideas that you know what to do with! 

5 | Break your goal down

Digital planners are big and complex, but they are not complicated. 

Designing a planner can be broken down into clearly defined, simple steps:

• define the audience
• create planner style
• create planner content
• customise template
• export and check
• package for sale

Because of these clearly defined steps, it means your learning can be broken down into manageable chunks too.

If you think about creating a digital planner and feel so overwhelmed you end up doing nothing, just focus on one step at a time. 

As long as you keep moving through the bite-sized goals, you will end up with a digital planner!

Big digital planner goal >>> break down into bite-sized goals >>> which means bite-sized learning >>> producing a digital planner >>> and a new skill set!

Make Your Own Digital Planner | Planner Templates

Don’t let fear of learning something new stop you

"A critical quality to develop in life is the willingness to try. You simply must find enough confidence to give it a go. The human mind is fabulous at learning. You will get better at whatever you practice. But before you can develop the skill to succeed, you must find the courage to attempt." James Clear

I know taking that first step can feel daunting. Many of us work on our own and going it alone on something new can feel a little overwhelming. 

I hope you can see, you can produce your first digital planner if you learn at your own pace, step by step, with the support of someone who has done it before and is happy to share that knowledge and experience with you.

Don't let fear hold you back. If I can learn how to do it, so can you!

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