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AI paid Rebecca Beach up to $20,000 a month for printables and workbooks she vibe codes

Self-reported Source: Business Insider (as told to Jane Fazackarley) (Aug 5, 2025) Facts re-checked Oct 15, 2026

Jump to the step-by-step guide

AI PAID ME · RECEIPTCHECKED OCT 15, 2026

Paid to
Rebecca Beach, a former UX designer and developer who runs shop.mombeach.com
For
Printables, fillable workbooks, private label rights (PLR) products, and courses sold on Shopify and Etsy
Tools used
ChatGPT, Midjourney, Ideogram, Recraft, Canva, Shopify, Etsy
Type
Income, as she describes it

Amount, exactly as the source states it

“double my income to up to $20,000 a month”

  • “I was making $10,000 a month until I started vibe coding, which enabled me to double my income to up to $20,000 a month.”
  • She sells most printables on her Shopify store “for $7 to $37.” Courses start at “$97” and go “up to $997.”

This is an as-told-to essay in Business Insider, based on her own account. The article doesn't say BI reviewed financial documents.

Self-reported

Who she is

Rebecca Beach has been designing and developing apps for more than 25 years, including work for Verizon and American Airlines. She also studied fine art. She left her last corporate job in 2020, but she’d been selling printables and private label rights (PLR) products since 2018.

What she does

She sells digital products: printable planners and journals, fillable workbooks, clip art, stickers, seamless patterns, coloring pages, and courses. Most printables sell on her Shopify store, shop.mombeach.com, for $7 to $37. She also sells on Etsy. She says AI helped her grow her catalog to more than 1,500 products.

How AI fits in

Beach “vibe codes,” meaning she tells an AI what she wants and it writes the code.

  • ChatGPT writes Python that turns her workbooks into fillable PDFs that customers can type into and save. She also builds custom GPTs, including one she calls her “Fillable PDF Creator GPT.”
  • Midjourney, Ideogram, and Recraft help with images and design.
  • Canva is where she finishes the design.

She says she can now make a printable workbook “in under 20 minutes,” where a single course or printable used to take weeks or months.

Her process

  1. Research what her audience is struggling with. She surveys her email list and reads Facebook groups in her niche.
  2. Sketch the product idea, then upload the sketch to ChatGPT so it can see what she means.
  3. Use AI to help write the content.
  4. Design it in Canva.
  5. List it for sale. She uses Etsy research tools like Sale Samurai and E-Rank to spot demand.

Worth knowing before you try this

  • She had a big head start. She has 25+ years of design and development experience and an email list of more than 170,000 people. Most beginners have neither, so expect much smaller numbers at first.
  • “Up to” matters. She says her income is up to $20,000 a month, not $20,000 every month.
  • It’s income, not profit. The essay doesn’t break out her costs.
  • Trends aren’t everything. She points out that something trending (like 1970s “groovy” designs) isn’t always right for your audience.

Try it yourself: step by step

Make one small, useful printable with AI and list it on Etsy, before you build a catalog.

What you'll need

  • A specific group of people you understand (homeschool parents, new gardeners, a hobby)
  • ChatGPT (the free plan is fine to start)
  • Canva (free, or Pro at US$144/year)
  • An Etsy seller account. Each listing costs $0.20.
  • A free PDF reader to test your files
  • About 6–10 hours for your first product (our estimate)

  1. Step 1: Find a real problem

    Read the questions people ask in Facebook groups or forums in your niche. Write down five problems you see again and again. Beach surveys her email list and reads Facebook groups in her niche.

    • Cost Free
    • Time 1–2 hours

  2. Step 2: Brainstorm product ideas with AI

    Give ChatGPT one problem and ask for 10 printable product ideas (checklist, planner, tracker, workbook). Pick the simplest one that clearly solves the problem.

    • Tool ChatGPT
    • Cost Free plan available. Plus is $20/month.
    • Time 30 minutes

  3. Step 3: Sketch the layout

    Draw the pages on paper. Beach uploads her sketch to ChatGPT so it can see what she means. Uploads are limited on the free plan.

    • Tool ChatGPT
    • Cost Free
    • Time 30 minutes

  4. Step 4: Draft the content, then edit it yourself

    Ask ChatGPT for the wording, prompts, or checklist items. Then rewrite them so they're accurate and sound like you.

    • Tool ChatGPT
    • Cost Free
    • Time 1–2 hours

  5. Step 5: Design it in Canva

    Lay out the pages and export a print-ready PDF. Before you sell, check that the templates and elements you used are licensed for products you resell.

    • Tool Canva
    • Cost Free plan, or Pro at US$144/year (US pricing)
    • Time 2–3 hours

  6. Step 6: Optional: make it fillable

    Ask ChatGPT to write Python that adds typeable form fields to your PDF, the way Beach does. Test every field in a free PDF reader before you list it.

    • Tool ChatGPT
    • Cost Free
    • Time 1–2 hours

  7. Step 7: List it on Etsy and know the fees

    It costs $0.20 to publish a listing, which lasts four months. When it sells, Etsy charges a 6.5% transaction fee. US sellers using Etsy Payments also pay 3% + $0.25 processing. On a $7 sale, that's roughly $1.12 in fees. Read Etsy's seller policies on digital items before you list.

    • Tool Etsy
    • Cost $0.20 per listing, plus fees when it sells
    • Time 1 hour

  8. Step 8: Learn from the first 30 days

    Check which listings get views and favorites. Make variations of what gets attention instead of starting from scratch each time.

Beginner pitfalls

  • Copying other sellers' designs, characters, or brand names
  • Selling AI text you haven't proofread
  • Using templates or graphics whose license doesn't allow resale
  • Listing 50 products before one has sold. At $0.20 each, the fees add up.
  • Vague titles and tags that buyers never search for

Realistic expectations

Expect slow sales at first. Beach has more than 25 years of design and development experience and an email list of over 170,000 people. That's a big reason her numbers are so high. Your first goal is one sale, then one review.

Prices and plan details come from each tool's own pricing page or help docs, checked Oct 15, 2026. They change often, so re-check before you pay. Time estimates are our rough guesses for a beginner. Sources: What is ChatGPT Plus? (OpenAI Help); Canva pricing; Etsy: Fees & Payments Policy; Etsy: How fees work (Sell on Etsy).

Tools mentioned

Plain links to each tool's homepage. We don't earn anything from these links. Affiliate disclosure.

Source and verification

I earn up to $20,000 a month by vibe coding products to sell online. It's saving me weeks of time., Business Insider (as told to Jane Fazackarley), Aug 5, 2025.

Self-reported: The numbers come from the person themselves. No documents were checked by the outlet. How we verify.

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