Leading up to our 14th birthday, we've been sharing posts about Gumroad's journey. We also asked some of our long-time creators to share their stories.

The first post in our Creator Spotlight series is by Brian Hahn who joined Gumroad in 2014. Brian transformed his experience as a second-time bar exam passer into Make This Your Last Time, a platform that has helped thousands of aspiring lawyers achieve success in passing the bar exam. Recently surpassing $1 million in revenue, his journey shows how addressing a personal pain point and connecting deeply with customers can evolve into a life-changing business.

10 Years to $1 Million in the Most Boring Niche in the World

By Brian Hahn

Bar exam preparation has to be the least interesting thing on the planet to talk about. Definitely don’t show it to any alien tourists stopping by on their UFOs.

But it’s a huge pain point and hurdle for many aspiring lawyers. As someone who navigated this process twice, I was all too aware of the difficulties involved in this high-stakes exam.

For one, I knew bar takers were often overwhelmed and lacked reliable guidance. This prompted me to create resources that resonated with their struggles and frustrations, transforming my personal journey into an opportunity to help others.

Thus, in 2014, Make This Your Last Time was born.

Make This Your Last Time is a platform for me to share resources where my free materials are often better than others’ paid materials. I publish in-depth and engaging articles and emails that combine actionable strategies with motivational stories, unlike the stuffy and generic listicles floating around. As a second-time passer of the bar exam, and through thousands of conversations with bar takers, I had an idea of what worked and what didn’t work.

I also wanted to share premium tools with those who wanted the extra help, such as the condensed outlines I created for my own studies and polished later on (and still continue to).

I needed an e-commerce solution platform where I could host digital files and collect payments all in one place. Enter Gumroad. It was better designed and simpler to work with than other solutions I had found.

This marked the beginning of a journey that would shape my life in ways I couldn’t have anticipated.

The Highs: Wins and Proud Moments

My proudest moments are undoubtedly the messages of joy I get from my customers.

Over a thousand bar takers have emailed me to tell me how excited they were to study with my resources in hand, and eventually, that they passed the most important exam of their lives—thanks to their hard work along with a bit of help from my guidance and materials.

Through my platform, I got to build a fanbase of changed lives and realized dreams. I get to write case studies of their success stories and inspire future generations of bar takers. I’ve even met some of them.

I’m also proud of the business milestones achieved along the way. Most recently, Gumroad informed me I’d surpassed $1 million in revenue. They were right. I checked:

This reflected not just my consistent hard work, but also the positive impact my resources had on my customers who went on to become attorneys. It means something is working.

Make This Your Last Time has also led to unexpected and serendipitous opportunities. Just this year, I switched from a stressful law firm job to an in-house position that will allow me more personal time and energy to grow my business and relationships. The hiring attorney at the new company asked me to join and advocated heavily for me after experiencing my program as a former customer and seeing other testimonials (including from the daughter of one of the VPs of the company).

You never know what will sprout when you plant seeds by putting yourself out there.

The Lows: Challenges and Growth

Of course, this journey has not been without its challenges.

Balancing a busy law firm job as a patent attorney with customer support, content creation, product development, and marketing on the side stretched me (and personal relationships) thin at times. My attention would get pulled in a hundred different directions for months at a time. I would get burned out after every exam season.

Over the years, Gumroad as a platform also went through some growing pains and changes that were challenging to adapt to.

Since I’m invested in my customers’ success, it’s a bummer to hear when someone tells me that they didn’t pass the bar. But this turns into a rewarding opportunity to help them through their own fail-to-pass quest.

I’ve also met all sorts of characters and personalities. Some will accuse you of spamming them and forget to apologize when they realize they were the ones who signed up. Some will try to scam you in the most obvious ways, such as requesting a refund a few minutes after purchase. Some will file a chargeback with their bank, mistakenly or on purpose. Some will mistake you for someone else. Some will have “interesting” requests for you. Some will run into a lot of technical issues and want you to solve them. Some will need extreme amounts of handholding. Some will treat you like an ATM or AI that spits out answers without engaging in conversation.

But you also meet absolutely wonderful people who light you up. I love reading the incredibly positive and supportive words of affirmation for my work. I love to receive excited emails telling me stories of how my work helped them pass the bar and changed their lives. I love getting emails from old customers who continue to stay on my emails. All of this spurs my own motivation to continue what I’m doing. The way they go against all odds to achieve their dreams is also an inspiration to me, and I’m honored to support their efforts and be a sherpa in their quest to conquer this massive hurdle.

Looking Ahead

The landscape for this niche has changed a lot since 2014. While I enjoyed being a one-of-its-kind resource for years, other creators have taken the spotlight since. I can’t fall behind too much!

My focus will remain primarily on consistency in what works. I’m also looking for ways to support bar takers better. I have four digital products as my main source of revenue. I plan to continue to improve them and explore new offerings that complement my current ones.

An untapped avenue to explore is getting comfortable uploading more YouTube videos, which people have enjoyed but I haven’t had the energy to do consistently.

My Suggestions for Aspiring Creators

A good way to start your journey is to focus on solving a real problem, ideally one that you experienced yourself. This will help you write copy and create materials that resonate with your customers. As Noah Kagan says, “Scratch your own itch.”

Your product doesn’t have to be a completely unique idea. If you have a competitor, it just means there’s a market for it. In my case, condensed outlines had already existed before I offered my own. I even increased prices over the years. Now my flagship outlines go for 3x what one of my competitors charges for a similar product—partly because I offer more than just the information and partly because there’s so much trust and proven results (in the literal sense, with indisputable proof from testimonials and case studies, not just marketing lingo). If you have a competitor, just be more competitive.

On a related note, it’s very important for your own sanity as a creator to enjoy the process.

What does it mean to enjoy the process? Consistency is critical for success. But our desire to get one good result after another causes us to become impatient. So you have to actually like your customers and enjoy serving them (or at least empathize with them) to the point you don’t even notice when you’ve crossed $1 million in sales. My wish is for my customers to succeed. Many people have reached out to tell me that they can tell.

I learned that good customer support isn’t just about identifying pain points and solving problems. It was vital for making my products better over time and building a supportive fanbase that comes to my defense when someone tries to pirate my materials. My biggest sources of traffic and customers include word-of-mouth referrals along with Google SEO and engaging on platforms like Reddit.

Don’t stop engaging with people in your niche. Their feedback is valuable. To this day, I answer 99% of emails. Yes, it’s more work to answer emails personally, but you can gain a lot of insights from what they tell you. Many conversations have also led to sales. Bushra Azhar says that people buy from people who understand them, not people they understand. It’s also fun to connect with people whose lives you’re influencing directly. The communication skills you develop from conversations and refining your content can transfer to other places too, maybe your job and even text messages with your Hinge match.

Engaging with customers and non-customers one-on-one continues to be a highlight of my journey. Hearing their success stories fuels my own passion. A lot of creators for some reason flat out ignore people who have questions, people who take the time to reach out to share their story and why they signed up or purchased the product.

Customer service is a top priority for me not just because it’s good business sense, but because it’s the right thing to do. There’s nothing more of a turnoff to a customer than a company that doesn’t respond or is a jerk about it if they do respond. So commit to excellent customer support and hospitality. Happy customers are the heartbeat of your business and vital for long-term success. Your reputation will precede you.

Lastly, digital products are NOT a source of passive income. This can seem contrary to what they say in those targeted Facebook ads that tickle your urge to start an online business.

Digital products can indeed enable you to step away from trading time for money directly, especially as you scale up. But you must still stay active if you don’t want to be a one-hit wonder.

Remain competitive and resist being out of touch with your target audience. Always be on the lookout for ways to educate and inspire your audience. Keep refining your products or introducing new ones. Ramit Sethi says to have an artisanal craftsmanship mindset with your products. If you rest on your laurels, you will soon find yourself alone. This is another reason you should enjoy what you’re doing and who you’re serving.

My journey with Gumroad has been an incredible ride of a lifetime, reminding me of the importance of innovation, resilience, and community. I look forward to continuing this adventure. Here’s to the next million!