How To Sell Canva Templates With Maliha of The Side Blogger

I first started selling my own Canva templates back in 2015 and it has been a very lucrative side hustle turned business over the years.

Today there are so many different types of Canva templates to sell! Today I am interviewing Maliha and asking questions about her Canva templates business.

Hi Maliha! Can you share a little about yourself and your website, The Side Blogger?

I started my blog—The Side Blogger—back in June 2018 as a way to create a side income stream. The goal then was to make a few hundred bucks per month, something to add a bit more pocket money to my wallet.

After three and a half years, my blog pays my rent, bills, and more! 

You focus quite a bit on Canva on your blog, including your course. How did you first learn about Canva and what about it appealed to you?

It’s been a while, so I can’t recall exactly who may have mentioned Canva to me; let’s just say that I heard about Canva through the grapevine.

I was freelancing those days as a WordPress designer and developer and was part of a lot of Facebook groups where I used to hunt for gigs.

It must have been one of those groups! 

At first, I was skeptical of a graphic design tool that made things look too simple.

“But I spent so many hours trying to learn PhotoShop and Illustrator!”—I thought.

I guess, back then, I was a little bitter. Something that took me so much effort to learn, could now be accomplished in minutes!

But once I started using Canva, I couldn’t help falling in love.

The simplicity of the tool made design and creativity more accessible than ever, and I had to accept that Canva, as an idea as well as a product, was simply revolutionary.

Canva achieved the impossible—it made us self-sufficient, and enabled us to do what we couldn’t before: Create beautiful things without having to rely on someone else to bring our visions into life. 

You have a course called Side Income with Canva Templates. In a nutshell, what does the course teach students how to do?

While Canva is easy to use, the truth is that not everyone has the time nor the wish to spend time creating graphics or documents. I realized this after I started giving away a media kit Canva template for free to my email list subscribers.

I was still a new blogger then and had little traffic and blogging know-how. And yet, within just four months, I was able to go from 200 something email list subscribers to over 1,400 thanks to this free template.

Once I had this realization, I decided to try selling Canva templates. Within a year, I was making well over $1,000 every single month from selling Canva templates.

What’s even better is that I only made perhaps one or two template bundles per month, which took up no more than a few hours per week on average.

People left and right started asking me about my Canva template business. They wanted to know if they could also start selling their Canva designs, and if so, how.

I was getting so many emails and comments on my blog that I decided to teach how I do what I do: Sell Canva templates and make at least $1,000 per month, on the side, working no more than a few hours per week. 

In my course, I teach how to get started, how to decide which templates to make, good design practices and Canva-specific usability tips and tricks, as well as selling tips specific to the Etsy and Creative Market platforms.

I also do monthly group coaching calls where I answer questions, and periodic template critiques to help my students learn to be better designers.

Many of the students in my Pinterest VA programs start without any graphic design knowledge, but they learn how to use Canva and become great Pinterest pin designers. Can someone without any graphic design knowledge learn how to sell Canva templates?

The idea is the same: if you want to do something, you put in the effort to learn and you get better really fast. Also, with Canva being as easy as it is to design beautiful things, the process is even simpler!

And if you do not believe me, take me as an example! I have zero graphic design background (I went to college for engineering) but here I am, making a pretty decent income every single month selling my Canva designs as templates.

If someone has about ten hours a week to spare on their Canva template business, what is a reasonable amount of income to expect after they get things up and running?

Well, I spend a lot less than 10 hours per week and make anywhere between 1-3K per month.

However, please understand that it is impossible to guarantee income based on time alone.

If someone is a great graphic designer from the get-go, they’ll likely be able to make more templates within 10 hours than someone who is just starting out.

It would be irresponsible of me to predict how much people can make. 

But, if someone puts in the time and is consistent in their efforts, I’d say they should start making at least a few hundred dollars within six-eight months.

Potentially, they can make much more once they have 30+ templates in their shops. 

What are the best places to sell Canva templates?

I personally sell on my own website, on Etsy, and on Creative Market.

I also have templates on Canva’s native template library.

In my course—Side Income with Canva Templates—I teach selling tips for these three platforms. But of course, there are more places to sell too!

One more Pinterest-related question 🙂 – Can Pinterest be used to promote Canva templates?

Absolutely! In fact, I do a lot of my product promotions through Pinterest! I have folks on my email list who came to my website through Pinterest.

Many of them saw a product pin, bought a template, and then fell in love with my blog too! So yes, Pinterest is definitely a great way to promote Canva templates.

This all sounds really exciting! If someone wants to purchase Side Income with Canva Templates, where can they do that?

That’s amazing! Please visit my course page here. You’ll find more details about the course and what to expect, and you’ll also be able to sign up for the course. 

Author Bio

At The Side Blogger, Maliha teaches people how to bring in a side income stream with a blog or Canva templates. She also designs and sells Canva templates in her shop and Canva’s template library.