How to Create Digital Products After 50 With No Tech Skills

If you’re 50+ and have been Googling “how to create digital products,” you might be convinced everyone else got a tech manual you missed. Well, you’re not behind. And you absolutely don’t need to become a graphic designer or spend $100s per month on all these techy tools people are promoting.

What you DO need is already in your head: decades of experience and knowledge that someone would pay to learn from you. The gap between what you know and a sellable digital product is smaller than you think, and it has nothing to do with tech skills.

In this post, I’ll explain to you you exactly how to create digital products after 50 using what you already know, simple tools you can learn in an afternoon, and a simple approach that honors your experience instead of drowning you in software tutorials.

Why Most Digital Product Advice Doesn’t Work for Women Over 50

Most tutorials assume you’re 25, grew up with Canva, and want to “scale to 6 figures in 90 days.” The guru advice focuses on tools and tactics, not on the expertise you already have.

They miss something important. You actually know you’re stuff because you’ve been learning for decades. You understand what makes sense and what creates confusion. You know when someone’s giving you fluff versus real help.

The digital product that sells isn’t the one with the fanciest design – it’s the one that solves a specific problem for a specific person. You already know how to do that.

The real barrier for people our age isn’t tech. It’s knowing which tech matters and which is just noise. You don’t need another tool tutorial to create digital products after 50 years of life experience… You need a knowledge-first method that starts with what you know, not what software you need to learn.

What You Actually Need to Create Digital Products 

So let’s get into what it is you really need to create the digital product you know that you have inside you. You need expertise, a way to teach it and a way to structure it all to share with other people.

The Three Real Requirements

1. Deep, Specific Expertise in Something

This is what you know or what you’re good at:

• Not “life coaching” – but “helping career women navigate corporate politics after 50.” 
• Not “health tips” – but “meal planning for women managing pre-diabetes and joint pain.”

What do former colleagues still text you about? That’s your expertise. You have this already.

2. A Clear Teaching Method

How do you naturally explain things when someone asks for help? Do you use stories? Step-by-step instructions? Frameworks? Real examples?

You already have this. We’re just naming it so you can package it.

3. Structured Thinking

Can you organize information logically? You’ve been doing it your whole career. Can you break down a complex topic into learnable chunks? 

That’s literally the whole skill you need to create digital products.

What About the Tech Stuff?

You might be thinking “But Gwen, I need to know Canva, and Shopify and Kajabi because that’s what all the gurus and videos say I need!”  Well, not really, you don’t have to be complicated (you can be if you want, but it’s not necessary).

You don’t need:

• Canva expertise
• Website design skills
• Video editing abilities
• Fancy course platforms
• Social media following
• Email marketing automation

You do need:

• Google Drive (you probably already use this)
• Ability to create a PDF (file Save As..PDF in your favorite writing tool)
• A simple way to accept payments (PayPal, Stan Store, Gumroad – designed for non-techies)

That’s it. Three things you can learn in an afternoon, if you haven’t used them recently.

A Google Doc PDF from an expert beats a Canva-designed workbook from someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Every. Single. Time.

How AI Helps You Create Digital Products After 50

AI isn’t writing your product, workbook or course for you. Instead, it works like a strategic thinking partner who helps you extract, organize, and structure what’s already in your head.

What AI Will Do for You

1. Helps You Extract What’s Already in Your Brain

It turns “I just know this stuff” into structured, teachable content. Ask AI:

Help me identify the 5 most common mistakes I see professionals make when [your area].

It gets your expertise out of your head and onto paper.

2. Validates Your Ideas Before You Build

It saves you from creating something nobody wants. Ask:

What would someone need to know BEFORE they could successfully [outcome your product delivers]? 

Test your assumptions before you invest weeks in creating your digital product.

3. Organizes Your Expertise Logically

It takes your brain dump and creates a learning sequence. Give AI your scattered insights and ask:

Organize these ideas I have into a step-by-step learning path: [your brain dump].

Let it do the structural work for you.

4. Helps You Make Decisions Faster

Should this be a workbook or a mini-course? What’s the right price point? What format matches how you naturally teach? AI helps you think through these decisions without drowning in options.

AI doesn’t try to replace what you know, instead it helps you package it (and often faster than you could do alone).

Your Biggest Tech Fears About Creating Digital Products After 50

“Do I need a website to sell digital products?”

No. Platforms like Stan Store, Gumroad, or Kit (formerly ConvertKit) give you a sales page in minutes with zero coding. You paste your product description, upload your PDF, set your price – done. Website completely optional.

“What if I don’t know how to use Canva?”

Then don’t use it. Use Google Docs. It works perfectly fine and it’s what I use. Simple beats fancy when you know your stuff.

“What software do I actually need?”

For your first product I suggest:

• Google Drive (free – for sharing a link to the product)
• Google Docs (free – for creating your content)
• A payment platform like Stan Store ($29/month) or Gumroad (free)

That’s the complete list. Everything else is optional.

“What if my product looks ‘homemade’?”

Good. “Homemade” by a 30-year expert is infinitely more valuable than “polished” by someone who Googled the topic last week. Your audience wants your expertise, not graphic design. A simple, clear PDF from you beats a flashy template from a novice every time.

“Am I too old to learn this?”

If you can send an email, organize files on your computer, and use Google Docs, you have 100% of the tech skills needed. Age is not the barrier. Believing the hype that this is complicated IS the barrier. Learning to create digital products after 50 is simpler than you think.

“What about email marketing, funnels, automation…?”

Not for product #1. Launch simple:

1. Create your product (Google Doc)
2. Put it on a simple sales page (Stan Store/Gumroad)
3. Share the link with people who need it
4. Collect payment

That’s a complete business. You can add complexity later if you want. You don’t need it to start.

The Path Forward

If you want to create digital products after 50 you don’t have have to master technology. It’s all about recognizing that what you know has real value. And packaging that value is simpler than the internet and the gurus wants you to believe.

You don’t need to become a designer, a coder, or a tech wizard. You need to:

• Identify one specific problem you solve better than most
• Organize your solution into a simple format
• Use AI strategically to help you structure what you want to teach
• Put it all on a simple sales page and share it

Your first digital product doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to exist in the world/

The challenge is usually knowing which questions to ask yourself at each step. That’s where AI becomes invaluable. Not to write your content, but to help you think through decisions you’ve never had to make before.