The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Fiverr v. Your own site

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Chaneyof90

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
88%
Aug 19, 2021
17
15
Hello again everybody,

I recently landed my first customer for market research for businesses. I obtained them through Fiverr and a thought occurred to me. Would I be better suited to start my own website with ordering and dealing with the ins and outs of processing and all that or is it better to wait until I grow more customers on Fiverr and continue to have them take a part of my profits to deal with the financial end as well as advertising and listing?

Please advise,
Thanks to all in advance.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

ProcessPro

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
121%
Apr 26, 2018
380
461
Hello again everybody,

I recently landed my first customer for market research for businesses. I obtained them through Fiverr and a thought occurred to me. Would I be better suited to start my own website with ordering and dealing with the ins and outs of processing and all that or is it better to wait until I grow more customers on Fiverr and continue to have them take a part of my profits to deal with the financial end as well as advertising and listing?
My Fiverr Gig

Please advise,
Thanks to all in advance.
I suggest you take the shortest route to your second, third, forth (etc.) sale to build momentum which might be easier via Fiverr. Do a few jobs on Fiverr, build some social proof then try to build your website alongside Fiverr, then you can make a full transition if you choose.

Eventually you can just point people to Fiverr to check out your reviews but you actually do the jobs, etc. through your website.
 

1899

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
150%
Jun 22, 2022
2
3
I suggest you take the shortest route to your second, third, forth (etc.) sale to build momentum which might be easier via Fiverr. Do a few jobs on Fiverr, build some social proof then try to build your website alongside Fiverr, then you can make a full transition if you choose.

Eventually you can just point people to Fiverr to check out your reviews but you actually do the jobs, etc. through your website.
The problem is if they detect you are sending customers away from Fiverr they can ban you.
 

Chaneyof90

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
88%
Aug 19, 2021
17
15
The problem is if they detect you are sending customers away from Fiverr they can ban you.
That is understandable. They want to keep their profit. However, I could just save the reviews of my work on fiverr for later when I decide to start my own website.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Private Witt

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Feb 20, 2018
984
2,168
Oklahoma
The problem is if they detect you are sending customers away from Fiverr they can ban you.

Fiverr is funny. I have a long time freelancer that I do all our conversations and data transfer on the Fiverr chat platform but have not taken a gig out with him for over two years and just Zelle him the payment. I guess he is the one taking the risk but he does not care.
 

ProcessPro

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
121%
Apr 26, 2018
380
461
The problem is if they detect you are sending customers away from Fiverr they can ban you.
Valid point. Whatever OP decides to do, it should certainly be ToS compliant.

I understood OP as meaning that he'll be getting clients via other means that he's direct to his website. I was suggesting that if trust/proof is needed, he could simply link them to his public Fiverr account to see his verified reviews etc. But if he got the clients off Fiverr and is serving them through his site and merely using Fiverr per above, this should be fully ToS compliant.
 

ProcessPro

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
121%
Apr 26, 2018
380
461
Fiverr is funny. I have a long time freelancer that I do all our conversations and data transfer on the Fiverr chat platform but have not taken a gig out with him for over two years and just Zelle him the payment. I guess he is the one taking the risk but he does not care.
I have always gotten a hunch that Fiverr is operating on very simplistic software. I'm not sure how powerful their bots are and if they even have the manpower to keep tabs on everyone's chats. I doubt it.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Private Witt

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Feb 20, 2018
984
2,168
Oklahoma
I have always gotten a hunch that Fiverr is operating on very simplistic software. I'm not sure how powerful their bots are and if they even have the manpower to keep tabs on everyone's chats. I doubt it.

There have been some worries when a comment gets flagged usually cause of a joke but nothing ever has happened.
 

1899

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
150%
Jun 22, 2022
2
3
I would advise you to start a site anyway, even a simple one pager because I have had a situation where someone needed something immediately, messaged me on Fiverr and minutes later (i guess they) googled the name in my fiverr avatar, found my website and called me with the phone number listed on my website. Over time ill probably start pushing my website with paid google ads. Fiverr is a service that could change its ToS or go down at any time, its best to have a backup plan.
 

Two Dog

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
142%
Feb 15, 2022
436
620
Hello again everybody,

I recently landed my first customer for market research for businesses. I obtained them through Fiverr and a thought occurred to me. Would I be better suited to start my own website with ordering and dealing with the ins and outs of processing and all that or is it better to wait until I grow more customers on Fiverr and continue to have them take a part of my profits to deal with the financial end as well as advertising and listing?
My Fiverr Gig

Please advise,
Thanks to all in advance.
You're providing the service to the buyer, right?

I'm the buyer and have used all the various outsourcing sites over the years for marketing, coding, market research, everything. Elance, Upwork, Fiverrr and many others. We started using Fiverr again about two months ago after several years off. Hired nine people to complete a handful of small projects over a two month period.

Only two finished. The other seven ghosted me, changed their mind, complained, asked for extensions and wanted more money. Due to how Fiverr is structured, it was a hassle to get all the advance payments refunded. Aside from using the two people who actually delivered the work, we will NEVER use Fiverrr again. Never.

The way Fiverr is structured makes sellers rush to provide dirt cheap bids followed by trying to upsell in every imaginable way. That's your competition. From the buyer's perspective, it's almost impossible to even distinguish between someone who will provide excellent work vs. walk away and hope I don't try too hard to get the advance payment refunded. Fiverr takes a cut of every dollar you earn including tips. That last bit really ticks me off.

While thinking through ways of better vetting Fiverr candidates before hiring them, I decided an external website showing their client work was mandatory. Everything else is much easier to fake. A website and references are too much effort for most scammers. Fiverr rant over.

You're going to need to generate business on your own without relying on a platform that consistently treats valuable services as a commodity to monetize. Might as well get started sooner than later. It's simple to get a great looking website running for a few bucks each month. Without knowing your financial position, I'll just say that using a paid website service for under five dollars monthly will save you countless headaches over getting started with something like SpamDaddy web hosting.

You can worry about handling payments after landing another customer. There's endless ways of collecting money online nowadays regardless of where you live. If you're in the US, JotForm + Stripe is an easy way to start. Stripe is also supported in a long list of countries around the world.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

Chaneyof90

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
88%
Aug 19, 2021
17
15
You're providing the service to the buyer, right?

I'm the buyer and have used all the various outsourcing sites over the years for marketing, coding, market research, everything. Elance, Upwork, Fiverrr and many others. We started using Fiverr again about two months ago after several years off. Hired nine people to complete a handful of small projects over a two month period.

Only two finished. The other seven ghosted me, changed their mind, complained, asked for extensions and wanted more money. Due to how Fiverr is structured, it was a hassle to get all the advance payments refunded. Aside from using the two people who actually delivered the work, we will NEVER use Fiverrr again. Never.

The way Fiverr is structured makes sellers rush to provide dirt cheap bids followed by trying to upsell in every imaginable way. That's your competition. From the buyer's perspective, it's almost impossible to even distinguish between someone who will provide excellent work vs. walk away and hope I don't try too hard to get the advance payment refunded. Fiverr takes a cut of every dollar you earn including tips. That last bit really ticks me off.

While thinking through ways of better vetting Fiverr candidates before hiring them, I decided an external website showing their client work was mandatory. Everything else is much easier to fake. A website and references are too much effort for most scammers. Fiverr rant over.

You're going to need to generate business on your own without relying on a platform that consistently treats valuable services as a commodity to monetize. Might as well get started sooner than later. It's simple to get a great looking website running for a few bucks each month. Without knowing your financial position, I'll just say that using a paid website service for under five dollars monthly will save you countless headaches over getting started with something like SpamDaddy web hosting.

You can worry about handling payments after landing another customer. There's endless ways of collecting money online nowadays regardless of where you live. If you're in the US, JotForm + Stripe is an easy way to start. Stripe is also supported in a long list of countries around the world.
This was most insightful. Thank you.
 

Ronnie Bryan

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
64%
May 4, 2015
288
183
54
Oklahoma
I hired Graphic Designers on Fivver the work was decent but many missed deadlines. I think ODesk or Freelance dot com offer better value per dollar just based off personal experience.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top