Bear Grips Pro ShopsPrint on Demand vs Digital Products: Which Side Hustle Fits You
- Digital products (templates, ebooks, courses) require zero fulfillment but need audience trust or expertise to sell.
- Print on demand apparel requires only a design, with fulfillment handled entirely by the printing partner.
- Digital products carry a higher margin ceiling per sale, apparel carries a lower barrier to a first sale.
- Many creators eventually run both, using a physical drop and a digital product as complementary income lines.
Print on demand and digital products both get pitched as low-overhead side hustles, and they solve different problems. Digital products (templates, ebooks, presets, courses) remove fulfillment entirely but demand real expertise or an established audience willing to pay for information. Print on demand apparel keeps fulfillment simple (no inventory, no shipping to manage) and appeals to a much wider first-time buyer than an information product typically does.
What counts as a digital product side hustle
Digital products include templates, ebooks, presets, planners, and paid courses, all delivered as a file or access link rather than a physical item. There is no shipping and no printing cost, but the seller needs either genuine expertise or an audience that already trusts them enough to pay for that expertise before ever making a sale.
What counts as a print on demand side hustle
Print on demand apparel needs a design and a shop, with printing, packing, and shipping handled by Bear Grips at no inventory risk. The barrier to a first sale is lower because a follower or customer does not need to trust the seller as an expert, they just need to like a design enough to wear it.
Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.Digital products vs print on demand apparel
| Digital products | Print on demand apparel | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront skill needed | Expertise or established audience trust | A design, no expertise claim required |
| Fulfillment | None, automatic delivery | Handled by Bear Grips, no inventory |
| Refund/support burden | Can be high if content underdelivers | Low, standard apparel returns |
| Margin per sale | Very high, near 100 percent after platform fees | Retail minus base price, typically $8-30 per piece |
| Barrier to first sale | Higher, needs buyer trust in the expertise | Lower, needs only an appealing design |
Where the two overlap
Many creators bundle a small digital freebie (a workout plan, a template, a guide) with a physical apparel drop, using the free digital piece to build the email list that then gets marketed the apparel drop. The two are not mutually exclusive, and the crossover is where the strongest income lines tend to form.
Which one to start with if you only have time for one
If there is no existing audience or established expertise yet, print on demand apparel is the lower-barrier starting point, since it needs a design rather than a credibility case. Set up a shop at shops.beargrips.com and layer a digital product in later once an audience exists to sell it to. See the margin breakdown for what realistic apparel profit looks like at this stage.
Start the Lower-Barrier Side Hustle First
A design and a shop, no inventory, no expertise claim required. Free to start.
Start FreeFrequently Asked Questions
Which side hustle has a higher margin per sale?
Digital products, since there is no printing or shipping cost, but they require an audience willing to trust and pay for that information first.
Do I need an existing audience to start print on demand apparel?
No, though having one helps. A design that resonates can still sell to cold traffic through a marketplace or social discovery, apparel has a lower trust barrier than an information product.
Can I run both a digital product and a print on demand shop?
Yes. Many creators use a free or low-cost digital item to build an audience, then sell apparel to that same audience.
Which one has less fulfillment work?
Digital products, technically zero fulfillment. Print on demand apparel still has no inventory to manage, but Bear Grips (not the seller) handles the physical printing and shipping.
