How I Made $11032 In 2 Months With Less Than 1.30 Hour Of Daily Work

[Damian Pros]

It was longer than the forum's limit and I had to break it down into 2 parts. I hope that's not a problem.

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THE Tragic Mistake I Made That Almost Ruined The Whole Thing (And How To Avoid It)

As with any business you start, you will make mistakes.

You can't avoid making mistakes. You aren't the God. You don't know everything and can't predict everything.

However, what matters is 1) to get back on track as soon as possible and 2) to predict what could possibly happen before it does.

Learn from my mistake, and don't do what I did.

What was my mistake?

I became incredibly complacent.

As soon as I had my first guy working for me, I thought I had succeeded. The first 3-4 days, I didn’t work at all.

After all, I had the freedom to do anything I wanted. Someone else would do the hard work and money would keep coming in, right?

Well, after 20-25 days, that someone told me that he couldn't handle the volume of orders I was sending to him. He told me he could only do HALF of what he was doing before.

I was left flabbergasted.

I had to go back to work and help him with the orders for a couple of days. It only took me 2-3 hours of my time, which wasn't so much.

But, it slowed me down. I had other things to take care of. My schedule was suddenly messed up.

I lost myself in the freedom I have won, thinking that everything would work automatically from now on. That I would just watch the money coming in.

And I couldn't be more wrong.

I paid the price by missing a very important deal I was working on.

These 2-3 hours for a couple of days cost me a lot of money I could have earned if everything has gone as I have planned.

I forgot one of the most important laws of nature. That things change fast.

Things were changing and I remained static.

Never, ever remain static. You will have to pay for it sooner or later.

Never become complacent with your success. You should always be hustling for more.

So, what should I have done to avoid this disaster?

I had no other choice than finishing the remaining orders for my Fiverr customers.

If I cancelled them, I wouldn't only lose money, but this action would hurt my reputation.

What should I have done?

I should have found a back-up guy from the beginning.

I should have thought that something might happen to my one and only worker.

He could get terribly sick. He could have a car accident. Whatever, it doesn't matter.

If for any reason he couldn't work, what would I be left with?

Angry customers on Fiverr, asking for refunds, posting negative reviews and losing their trust on my service.

But I was too busy enjoying the extra free time I have earned, that I forgot to think rationally.

Key Takeaway: You should always be prepared for shit to happen. Things change fast. If you don't predict the changes, you will pay for it.

And all this brings us to the next, super important lesson.

The Only 1 Rule You Need To Follow To Eliminate 90% Of Your Trouble In Business

It's funny.

A couple of weeks before all this happened, Victor Pride recommended me to read a book called "Ruthless Management" by Dan. S. Kennedy.

I picked the book immediately (I always act on the advice I am given from successful people) and started reading it.

One thing that really stuck in my mind was a rule Kennedy says you MUST follow in business and life.

The rule was:

One is the worst number. Never have just one. Always have two of something.

Here is exactly what he says:

The worst number in business is one. One of just about anything is a bad thing.

In my little home office, where I work under deadline pressure as an advertising copywriter, I do not have one Mac. I have three.

Why?

So when Mac #1 freezes up, crashes, or requires an exorcism, I can move what I'm working on and urgently need to print out before the day's FedEx deadline to Mac #2.

And in case Mac #2 has indigestion or PMS or leprosy that day, I have Mac keep them in different rooms to prevent contagion. My Mac is my employee.

If Mac were a living, breathing human employee who, say, printed what I wrote in booklets on a printing press, I'd want at least two of those Macs and two printing presses. NEVER one.

Do you see his point?

The funny thing is I read that. I had that in my mind. Yet, I finally experienced what he said, first-hand.

Now I can personally vouch with pride that his advice was more than correct!

However, it would be 10x better if I couldn't vouch for it. It would be 10x better if I have simply followed it.

Fortunately, I have learned from my mistake.

Here is how I fixed it and started following "The rule of one":

For each service I sell, I now have two guys working on it.

Some of them work on multiple services. It doesn't matter. What matters to me is to have two people who can do the same job.

However, I put in some extra effort and did more than that to ensure the prosperity of my business.

I took just 10 minutes to write and post an ad on a site like Craigslist.

Immediately after the add was published, I received dozens of messages from applicants interested in the positions I was offering.

(FYI, the word «ΒΙΟΓΡΑΦΙΚΟ» means “Biography” and is the Greek translation of CV.)

I even had to shut down the ad in less than 24 hours because I was getting too many applications!

Afterwards, I took 3 more minutes to thank everyone for applying. I told them that I will check out their CV and will contact them anytime in the future that the position is open.

(I only picked one of them - I didn't need more)

What happened now?

I have two guys responsible for each of my services. If one of them leaves or can't work for a day, I will have another one to handle the whole work.

Also, if one of them leaves permanently, I have 3 dozen of CV's in my inbox.

I can contact some of these people and quickly find a replacement.

One final safety measure that I have taken is that I ask my employees to sign an agreement. If they want to leave, they should notify me 2 weeks before the day they stop working.

No complacency any more.

Everything in your life changes. If you don't adjust yourself and try to foresee things before they happen - you are screwed.

Key Takeaways: The worst number in business and life is one. Never remain static. Always be hustling for more.

How To Deal With Your Employes Even If They Are Much Older Than You:

One of my employees is 42.

That man could be my father. He has a wife, a family and kids close to my age.

In common terms, I am his "boss". I give him the work and pay him at the end of each month.

I have to admit that when I started conducting interviews to find my employees, I felt intimidated talking to people older than me.

It was like I was interviewing my father or something like that. It felt uncomfortable.

Also, I felt intimidated when I started to deal with accountants and lawyers. (If you are a young entrepreneur, you will probably experience this.)

What I found out is that it's all in your mind. It's just your perception of life. And if you want, you can change it.

If you are in your 20’s and feel the same way I did, then what I will tell you is going to help you a lot.

It's all about your self-image.

We have been conditioned to believe that success is something that depends solely on your age or experience in life.

For instance, let's take the job of the waiter. Mark could say that he has 10 years of experience and he should be paid more than John who has only 2.

However, John gets more work done, hustles more and serves the customers better than Mark.

Why should Mark be paid more for doing less?

No logical reason.

Anyway, John feels intimidated in front of Mark.

He gets paid less even if he does more. When he is around Mark, he feels intimidated, angry or whatever because he is being treated “unfairly.”

Here is what I want to say:

Sometimes, young guys think they are of less value just because they are younger.

That's not always true.

In the same way - when I started meeting lawyers and accountants who were 10-20 years older than me - I felt like I was of less value.

There are four things that helped me deal with that.

1. Power Posing

Your body language affects the way you feel about yourself.

In essence, taking specific poses called "power poses" can affect your brain's state and push your body to produce testosterone while also lowering cortisol (the stress hormone).

I could talk about this for hours, but to save you time I will only ask you to Amy Cuddy's Ted Talk.

Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist, has worked many years on that and this 20 minute Ted Talk will get you through the basics.

2. Building Your Physique

In a world where most people neglect their physical appearance, taking care of your body is one of the best things you could do to improve your self-image.

It instantly boosts your confidence, self-esteem and makes you feel more self-assured.

Believe me, the guy on the right has more confidence than the guy on the left ever had.

3. Dressing Sharp

I used to dress like shit in the past.

I gradually started to improve it, but only fully understood the importance of dressing sharp when I heard about the Halo Effect.

The way you dress hugely affects how people behave around you. This is called the Halo Effect. You can’t go to a high-end lawyer and be dressed in athletic pants and trainers.

I like to do 3 things to improve my style.

1. I go to Instagram and search for the tag [HASHTAG]#menstyle[/HASHTAG] or [HASHTAG]#style[/HASHTAG] or something like that. I get ideas on how men dress to impress.

2. I try to dress simple. The casual style will never disappoint you, especially if you have a great physique.

Take care of your appearance and dress as sharp as possible every day. It can make a huge difference in the way you feel.

4. Self-Talk

This tip is a little “cocky”. But it worked for me and it might as well work for you.

Feeling intimidated when working with people who have 2x your age is a self-imposed struggle.

You create it by the way you think. The 3 tips above can really help you change your self-image.

But even if you have the most incredible body, the most outstanding style and trick your brain with power poses - you could still fill intimidated in front of many people.

(Just imagine being in a room alone with someone like Donald Trump)

Even with guys like him, he could still control your thoughts and say: "FU, I am better than you".

I don't mean that you should disrespect the other party, tell him FU or start arguing about who is better.

Obviously, that’s not the point.

I mean that you should think yourself as “ Superior" - even if you are not yet or will never be.

No matter who you have to deal with.

If you are much younger, think about what you have done, that the other party hasn't done at your age.

Think about it multiple times. Think of at least one thing that makes you superior.

It doesn't matter if you are better at only this one thing and the other guy is better at 12 other things. You want to focus only on the one that you dwarf the other guy.

(If you can't think of anything, then you must probably work more to accomplish more.)

Again, don't tell them that you are better. Don't disrespect their power or authority. Don't argue.

All you want to do, is to manipulate your thoughts and convince yourself that you are not inferior just because you are younger.

In reality, you are not. Your brain is stupid though, and has been conditioned to think in another way.

Manipulate your brain. You are free to believe whatever you want.

Deal with others like you would deal with your little brother or best friend. You won’t feel intimidated by the age difference again.

Final Words: “Could This System Work For My Business?”

This question should be wandering in your mind from the moment you started reading, right?

So, it's time to answer it, because nothing of these matters if you don't apply it to your unique situation.

I believe that any of the above can be applied to almost any business.

Of course, there are businesses in which you can't outsource all the work you have to do.

You can't outsource everything, but there are things you can outsource.

If you want to make more money and have more free time, outsourcing is a must-use strategy.

As I said in the beginning, it's impossible to do everything on your own.

As Robert Greene says in the 48 Laws Of Power: "Put others to do the work, but take the credit".

You should think of ways to outsource as many tasks as possible in order to free yourself time. That's the point of having a business.

Freedom.

If you can't detach yourself from your business, then you don't have a business.

You have a J-O-B.

Your business should be able to operate and bring in money without putting your personal time into the financial equation.

Also, you should be able to scale your business to increase your profits. Outsourcing helps with that too.

If I worked on my own on Fiverr, I could only deal with X customers a day.

If I have 10 employees, then I can deal with 10X customers = MORE MONEY!

Note: To understand the concepts of Time and Scale I would recommend reading the classic business book The Millionaire Fastlane .

Conclusion

Stop being afraid of outsourcing. I see many businessmen not moving forward because they are driven by that fear. They get trapped in their work schedule.

They end up working 14 hours a day and eventually lose their fire, give up or become miserable.

Outsource. Start from the things you don’t like much, so you can spend more of your time on the things that matter.

Lastly, remember to not have only one of something as one is the worst number.

Don’t become complacent after your first small success. Keep hustling!!!

And spend some time to design a system that will help you get the MOST value out of the time you invest.

Talk Soon,

Damian Pros

 

[Damian Pros]

Hello Fastlaners!

This is my first post here (even though I read the forum for a year or so). By the way, I talked with MJ and he gave me permission to post this here.

I will try to keep the intro as short as possible while giving you some background info to understand what's going on.

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My name is Damian Pros.

I am a 20-year old entrepreneur from Greece. One year ago, I read MJ's book.

Around that time I started my website, Dare and Conquer, and also run into other business ventures.

At this time, I was living off $200 per month my parents were giving me and I was going to college just to be be "respected" among the society and don't argue with my parents about what I really wanted to do.

I didn't have money for a house and lived in the awful dorm of my university (not even close to the university dorms of other countries - I had cockroaches in my room).

I started freelancing.

I tried Fiverr.com and accomplished pretty good results really fast. I made about $1600+ in my first month.

I have never seen so much money in my life.

At this time, Victor Pride, the proprietor of the popular manosphere website known as Bold & Determined published the story on his personal blog with the title "How This Kid in Greece Makes Full-Time Money on Fiverr Working Only Part-Time".

Well, even if that wasn't good enough for me - my freelancing endeavor eventually took off and turned out into what I call a Fiverr Business.

It certainly violates the 1st commandment, probably the 2nd too. It's fine with the other three though. But anyway, I have a lot more way to go. That's not so important at the moment.

Note: What follows is an article I had originally written for my blog. It's 5000 words long. That's 100% what I did. That's how I see the world of business as a newbie 20-year old entrepreneur.

Why Do I Post It Here?

Because I believe there are so many young people out there who have the drive and abilities to excel, but are dragged down and remain mediocre due to various reasons. My hope is that this can inspire you to get started even if you are young. Age doesn't matter much.

Also, this advice could help you overcome some obstacles I faced in the beginning as a new entrepreneur with almost no help (rather than a few tips and books I read).

Again, this was written to be a website article. Keep that in mind when reading.

With that said, let's dive into it. Let me know what you think in the end!​

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How can a 20-year old guy like me make $11032 in only 2 months with such a low amount of work?

Unless you are some kind of a pro athlete, a genius, a high-end consultant or whatever – it’s unlikely you can make that money just by getting paid by an hourly rate.

Even if you could, but it would take you more than 1.30 of daily work. Actually, it would probably take you even more than 8 or 10 hours.

There is a way it could take you less, but only if you did this one thing.

Before I tell you what it is, think about this:

How many hours do you and I have in our day?

Just twenty-four hours each. If you sleep 8 hours, you are left with another 16.

That's not much. Even if you were working during all these 16 hours, there would be a limit to what you could make.

But what if you had 32 hours in one day? Or 48? Or 64?

You could make 2x, 3x, 4x and more, more, more. Right?

But wait!

You don't have 64 hours in one given day. You can't change the laws of physics.

Hmm, ok. There is a way around it.

If each human has 16 hours a day without sleeping, then two humans have 32 and three humans have 48.

Do you see where I am going with this example?

Your time is limited. Other people also have limited time. So, why don’t you take advantage of other people's time?

Why don’t you grab the opportunity to grow your business - whatever this is - by letting others do a part of the work for you?

Start delegating! (I know, easier said than done.)

There are many factors you have to consider.

First and foremost, you can't delegate everything. And you can't sit back without doing anything while others do the hard work for you.

That won't happen.

But you can save yourself a hell lot of time, make some people happy and make your wallet heavier by taking advantage of other people's time.

After one point - you should hire others to invest their time for you.

If you want to take your business to the next level and maximize your profits, there is no way around it.

Basic example:

You could work with 15 clients in 8 hours of work, but you couldn’t deal with 30 at the same time.

But if you had two employees dealing with 15 customers each, you would still make money without putting in any time at all. (That’s just a theory.)

As I said, you only have a limited amount of time. You can't do everything by yourself.

With that said, let me tell you how I did it and how you could apply what I learned into your business, right now, to make more money.

Here Is How I Made $11032 In 2 Months With Less Than 1.30 Hour Of Daily Work

As some of you know, some months ago I started freelancing on Fiverr.

The money I made there allowed me to start living on my own even during this terrible financial crisis.

I used to live on $200 per month my parents gave me, which was a hell of a struggle.

Anyway, this changed thanks to many factors. Like the people who influenced me to change - as well as the huge personal effort I put it.

I was finally independent, not worrying about money and living comfortably.

This small success made me thirsty for more.

(There was a small "off-line period" that I almost ruined everything, I will tell you about it shortly)

More freedom and more money. I am not the type of guy who compromises with just one small success.

And there is a reason for that. Things change fast. As you will read later on- if you compromise, you could lose it all.

You must be adaptable to changes in your environment and always go for more. You should always "evolve".

So, that’s how I evolved: I started outsourcing the work I did on Fiverr.

I found someone I knew that had a talent and helped him take advantage of it for the benefit of both of us.

He went from not having work and being broke, to making pretty good money working from his laptop.

On the other hand, I enjoyed much more personal freedom while money kept pouring in without much work from my side.

Win-win.

Here is an income/expense breakdown of the last two months:

A.Money Made

· December 2015

· January 2016

$6849 + $7221 = $14070 in just two months and I didn't even count the whole last day of January.

There would probably be another $200-$400. Anyway, it doesn't matter much.

B.Expenses Paid

I had one employee handling all the orders (I have two now.)

I paid my 1st guy twice a month for $749. This means I sent him 4 payments of $749 = $2996 in total for December and January.

Calculate The Difference:

$14070 - $2996 = $11074

I also had some other small expenses like:

$25 for gigs I bought.

$9 withdrawal fees.

$8 money transfer fees.

What's left?

$11032.

Not bad. Imagine if I had more guys working with me!

Not bad at all, considering I only put about 1 hour of work a day on average.

Disclaimer: That’s not an overnight success or easy work. I have been hustling for a year before that happened and it took me about 5 months without making a penny online.

So, how exactly did I accomplish that? And how can you do that in your business?

I created a small system.

I didn’t want my employees to have access to my account. So I had to think of a system that would give them access to their daily work as easy as possible.

It took about an hour to brainstorm it.

The simplified version is:

PHASE A

1. I discovered I could just copy each Order’s Information from Fiverr and put it in a Word file.

2. I marked the word files with a priority number and the customer’s name. (For example: “O1 johnsxk” and “O2 kaleb98s” where O1 means Order 1).

3. I put them all in a zip file called “30.01.16 employee’s name here”

4. In the morning, I used e-mail to send the zip file over to my employee’s e-mail.

5. My employee had 24 hours to get all the orders done.

I also set one requirement for PHASE A.

Requirement: I would send all the orders that had an expected delivery time between one day and four hours and two days and four hours.

This was super important.

It meant that if I sent the orders at 10 am, then they would ALL be supposed to be ready until the next day, same hour.

Even if something happened, I would still have a safety window of 4 hours to deliver the first one. The others had more.

(You should take any measure to protect your reputation. Late deliveries would hurt mine.)

Also, this allowed me to deliver many orders much FASTER than I could do on my own.

When the customer saw that I delivered his order 20 hours earlier, he felt obligated to leave me a 5-star review or even a $20 tip. (This happened often!)

PHASE B

1. Twenty-four hours after I have sent the orders to my employee, he would send them back via email.

2. I just had to download the file, go to Fiverr and mass-deliver. Numbering the orders with O1, O2, O3 etc saved me tons of time as I immediately knew which file was for each one of my customers.

WOW, Damian this whole process should take you ages!

Actually, no.

I don’t know if it sounds complex, but it is super easy to execute.

It only takes me 20 minutes in total.

And I used the rest of my time (40’ to 60’) to answer any customer messages I have.

Key Takeaway: To outsource effectively, you need a system that 1) makes things easy for you and your employees 2) saves you time 3) is efficient.

How You Can Apply This To Your Own Business

This is not something I invented, not something I was the first man to do.

So many businessmen around the world use this strategy to make more money.

Now, a logical question should be: "Why isn't everybody doing it?".

First of all, you need an already established business that makes some money and satisfies a market demand.

But let's say you have that. What's next?

Is it really so easy as hiring others, sitting back and relaxing?

You guessed it. It's not.

And here is why.

First of all, hiring others is a move that involves a certain risk.

When you have a business with happy customers, these customers expect you to deliver consistent quality of services.

Let's say I was a web developer. The best at my job. That I designed mind-blowing websites.

Then, I start outsourcing it. I hire someone and pay him to do the hard work for me.

If that someone doesn't deliver the same quality I delivered, then I will lose my customers. It will hurt my brand. And I will lose money.

Simple as that.

Secondly, hiring others requires solid management skills. You have to know how to effectively deal with people.

Sometimes, you will have to be "bad".

You should be smart enough to not get manipulated (Yes, your employees will take advantage of you if they see that they can).

These were the two major issues I encountered as soon as I decided to take my business to the next level.

So, to save you from the hassle I put myself into, let me give you some advice on how to deal with these issues.

1. How To Manage Your Employees Effectively

A. Don't Relinquish Control Over Your Business

You shouldn't trust your employees for anything beyond getting their job done.

Trust them for doing their job, nothing more.

I wasn't a fool to give anybody access to my Fiverr profile. They did the work remotely, via e-mail.

They had no direct communication with my clients. The only job my employees had was to get the work ready on time.

B. Don't Bow Down To Their Demands (NOT EVEN ONCE!)

This is something I learned the hard way.

One day, a guy who started working with me asked me for a teeny tiny favor.

I said YES! (Like a mouse over the mousetrap.)

It was so tiny - I didn't consider it important. A couple of days later, he asked me for something else. I said yes again…

A week later, he asked me to do less work because it was a special day and he had to do X and Z.

I didn't like this, but we had fewer orders for the weekend so it was possible for him to relax a bit.

Soon after that, he told me he will take a day off.

He didn't even ask! He had a solid reason once again. He just announced it to me the day before.

This would mean I would have to completely alter my schedule for the next day and do everything myself.

This time, I went F*cking nuts.

I smashed my desk. The sound was so loud I thought I broke my desk (or my hand).

I got some ice for my hand and went for a short walk to calm down.

I got back, called him and calmly said:

- "Who will do the orders tomorrow if you don't?"

- "Oh, can't you do them Damian? It's just one day and I really have to do X and Z"

- "No. If I do them myself tomorrow, I might as well do them myself for the whole next month".

Silence...

- "Okay, I will find a way to do them."

The next day, he had finished them earlier than he was supposed to.

As you can see, I clearly implied that if he didn't do the work, he would lose it completely.

Magically, he found a way to do the work he was initially supposed to do. Weird…

Key Takeaway: You pay the money, you make the rules. Don't bow down to their demands, because a small request will turn to a bigger one the next day and a much bigger one the next week.

C. Use a "No-Excuses " Policy (Don't Accept Excuses - NOT EVEN ONCE)

Another guy I hired end up getting fired after 3 days.

Why?

I spent 30 whole minutes explaining him what he had to do. He told me he was ok!

The next day, he did a couple of important mistakes.

Okay, F*ck it - I said to myself. He just started. I explained him what he had to do one more time.

I also made clear that I wanted to get the work done by a specific time.

The next day, I woke up and checked my e-mail.

Nothing…

It was empty. I checked back an hour later. Still nothing. After 1 hour and 30 minutes, he had finally sent the work.

I called him immediately and asked him why he was 1.30 hours late.

He told me that he didn't listen to the alarm clock and overslept.

Once again, I made the mistake to say "Ok Damian, it can happen. Give him another chance".

The next day, he did a big, massive mistake.

I called him and told him so.

· He said: "No way, I am sure I did it the right way".

· Me: "Okay then, open your computer and check it now".

· He: "No, I won't do that. I am sure I did it the right way".

· Me: "Please, check it once again…".

· He: "No, I won't. There is no reason."

· Me: "Okay, there is no reason to work with me then. Goodbye."

And I hung up the phone on him.

The mistake I did with him was that I gave him too many second chances.

I should have fired him the time he told me he didn't hear the alarm clock.

After all, I paid him to hear the alarm clock and deliver the work on time.

I am sure he stayed late the night before to party and that's why he couldn't wake up.

No matter what happened, there should be no excuse allowed to not send the work on time.

I had clients waiting.

(And I would be f*cked up without my safety window!)

Key Takeaway: If someone consistently makes mistakes and tells you excuses, kick him out of your business. He costs you valuable time and money. Don't be over-sensitive, or rude. Just tell him he has to go.

Note: It's good to be clear from the beginning about what you expect from your employees to avoid situations like these.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Permission was received prior to this posting, FYI to readers. (Although I haven't read it quite yet due to its length.)

 

[Damian Pros]

What are your goals for the next months?

Kick more a$$.

 

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[Buickestate]

I suppose you know how much effective it is. It saves you from lots of trouble.

It's called covering your a$$, Murphy's law is a female dog and you have to anticipate and be prepared. I learned that in the boy's scouts.....

 

[7.62x51]

Definitely agree about "one" being a bad number. Some other examples I've seen:

- Career choices: ie "I want to be a doctor because I can't imagine doing anything else!"
- Business ideas: Investing time/money in an idea not because it seems good but because it's all one can come up with.
- Jobs: Relying entirely on one source of income

However, I think this is a concept that most people won't understand. Most people stop after they reach one. I guess it's human nature to become complacent and it's something you have to constantly fight in order to keep improving.

 

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[Damian Pros]

Nice post, thanks for sharing.

Here's my question:

How long did it take for you to get your very first Fiverr order? How was it like getting from absolute ZERO (no reviews and stuff) to where you were getting orders every single day?

Thanks, man.

Just a couple of days. I made sure to do a remarkable job from the very beginning so I could get as many reviews as possible and get the ball rolling.

The 1st order came. Then, there was another 2-3 days later. And another 1-2 days later. After that, I was getting 1-2 every day and it eventually took off.

What's important is to open as many gigs as possible to increase the overall page views and exposure you get.

If you just spend 30 minutes to start a gig and then wait for the money to flow without putting any more effort, you will be probably waiting for a long time.

That's a mistake most newbies make. Having the mentality "all I have to do is start a gig and then wait for the work to come because I deserve it".

 

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[Darko Jocic]

1. Yes. You don't play with the law.

2. Can't answer that. What does it matter anyway? It all depends on your lifestyle.

3. It took me about 5 months to make money online. I invested lots of time, yet didn't count how much as I enjoyed the process.

Most of it was invested towards my site as well as reading books, listening to podcasts etc. When I had the knowledge, the money came easily.

See friend, you should let go of that fear.
All struggle is self-imposed.

After I've understood this concept, I was liberated. There is no such freedom, anywhere in the world. As soon as you see that an outcome can only be bad if you make it so, you have no more fear. Whatever happens, it's just as dandy as anything else that may have happened.

To try and explain further: We are mammals. We have automatic responses to certain stimuli. That's because we were built, in our primal bodies, with a tendency to survive. That is why things like pain, fear, hunger, thirst, love, etc. exist. To keep us going, and also keep us from going.

The point is, things are so much more comfortable for most of us today. We've no need for all those things, yet they remain. Not that we needed them back then, either. They simply were there already.
Now, since they remain, we still have tendencies, desires, etc. So, when letting the fear go, someone who tends towards making money, will still tend towards it. The thing is, he won't be waking up at night in cold sweat, every time he's reminded his success is not guaranteed. While that's mostly the worst-case scenario, but stagnated progress, anxiety, etc are still very present in general.

By now, you must be thinking: Yeah, yeah, we get your point, GTFO!

Put in common terms, freeing yourself from fear can result in being clueless one day, and having 2 employed freelancers working for you a week later, with the number ever-growing.

CAN YOU SEE NOW, JUST HOW MUCH FEAR IS SLOWING YOU DOWN? That's my point, friend. Fear is costing you big time, and in this example solely, it cost you more than 4 months!

This truth is difficult to swallow, though. It's not easy to let the fear go, since you have let life-long beliefs go with it, as well. It is by far well worth it!

 

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[Musashi]

Just found out that @Damian Pros' highly successful Fiverr Account had been banned - I guess if you violate the commandment of control it will catch you sooner or later.

Damn.

 

[SweetTooth]

Brilliant post.

You could launch an ebook or webinar course with your knowledge to sell on How To Make X Amount of Dollars On Fiverr In Y Amount of Time.

 

[ljb7]

I really enjoyed reading this post.

Your advice on developing more confidence as a younger entrepreneur is good. I struggled with this a bit in the past too.

I'm always speaking to new suppliers in my biz and have made a habit of calling people to talk about anything of importance instead of just emailing. Reaching out to other businesses can be daunting when you start out so it's really good to get in the habit of doing this (and you'll find shit gets done much faster this way).

 

[Damian Pros]

See friend, you should let go of that fear.

Put in common terms, freeing yourself from fear can result in being clueless one day, and having 2 employed freelancers working for you a week later, with the number ever-growing.

CAN YOU SEE NOW, JUST HOW MUCH FEAR IS SLOWING YOU DOWN? That's my point, friend. Fear is costing you big time, and in this example solely, it cost you more than 4 months!

This truth is difficult to swallow, though. It's not easy to let the fear go, since you have let life-long beliefs go with it, as well. It is by far well worth it!

Indeed, it's worth it.

These months were not wasted at all though. They are a necessary part of the learning process. You can't start now and be rich the next month. As MJ says, there is a process behind each event.

Bill Gates spent 10 years without nobody knowing who he was, before Microsoft became successful. Was that a waste of time too?

I think the answer is obvious.

As for the point you make about fear, it's solid - yet I would add that it's not only fear that holds people back, but ignorance as well.

You can't take advantage of an opportunity if you never know it exists.

That's why it's important to read. Reading opens your mind to new possibilities. MJ's book certainly opened my mind.

 

[Ubermensch]

@Thiago Machado
@axiom

I wonder how fast a salesman could make $11,032.

Faster than two months, I bet.

Not sure how scientifically repeatable the "process" laid out in this thread is.

Why the fascination with such short time spans of moneymaking?

Who cares about making a certain amount of money every week, or every month?

Focus on the big picture, people. Jeeze.

 

[Damian Pros]

@Damian Pros

Hey OP, first of all, thanks for sharing your learnings.

Are you still active on Fiverr? If yes, how's it going?

I'd be interested in reading an update on this thread.

For the ones contemplating Fiverr as an option to start - I did too but moved away just a few weeks later, despite being successful.

I explain why in my progress thread here.

It's booming.

 

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[Damian Pros]

Great post. Mind saying what niche you are in? Logo design, Photo editing etc.

Can't share that.

 

[ChrisJTurner]

3. It took me about 5 months to make money online. I invested lots of time, yet didn't count how much as I enjoyed the process.

Not trying to be facetious but your blog says something different.

If I'm honest, I am skeptical about most of your claims.

I don't doubt for a second that you worked hard to achieve that many orders, in fact I think you worked harder than you let on.
Your initial earnings look great and not many would grumble at that when they are starting out.
However, I don't think you are being completely honest with the hours you personally work at it, how many people work for you and what your real profit and overheads are.

Who's to say, you worked hard on it for a few months, just to get the credibility, so then you can sell your eBooks.
You might already be an well established Fivver, who has built your reputation over a few years.
Lets be real here, the money is in your ebooks, not your Fivver gigs.
Not saying there is anything wrong with selling eBooks but I feel you are masking the truth in order to sell books.
Just seems disingenuous.

Also, I dont believe your real name is Damian Pros.

I might be completely wrong though, who knows but I think this is just another snake oil pitch among millions of other snake oil pitches on the internet.

Hope you are enjoying the weather in LA

 

[axiom]

@Thiago Machado
@axiom

I wonder how fast a salesman could make $11,032.

Faster than two months, I bet.

Not sure how scientifically repeatable the "process" laid out in this thread is.

Why the fascination with such short time spans of moneymaking?

Who cares about making a certain amount of money every week, or every month?

Focus on the big picture, people. Jeeze.

Yeah. Could make x times that on one deal.

@Thiago Machado
@axiom

I wonder how fast a salesman could make $11,032.

Faster than two months, I bet.

Not sure how scientifically repeatable the "process" laid out in this thread is.

Why the fascination with such short time spans of moneymaking?

Who cares about making a certain amount of money every week, or every month?

Focus on the big picture, people. Jeeze.

Just another version of the slowlane mentality in a way. "I'll put in x amount of work, so that I can get x amount of dollars, so that I can then play x hours of golf."

The focus is always on the dollars, when it should be on the work -- which is the most fulfilling part of it all.

 

[Damian Pros]

Thanks @Damian Pros for the insight!
This was a good read, and your personality has some traits which are good to copy (especially the value of being self-assured and assertive) and get into that entrepreneurial mindset. I too have been outsourcing some of my orders, and after I read your story I am inclined to do this more often.
Greetings from Germany, and may your business prosper!

I am NOT outsourcing in the sense of finding someone to do the work for less than I charge.

I am interviewing, screening, training and ultimately hiring employees that I meet and know personally.

Totally different thing.

It involves more hassle, but the output is infinitely better, you have more control and you build a more legit long term oriented company that has a culture, a structure, a purpose and a vision.

 

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[Damian Pros]

That was very sad to hear that the account was suspended! I'm just starting to get serious about this fiverr business and reading a whole lot about it! It has been 3 years since SPXMAC been running and it shuts down last October 2018. May I know what Damian source of income to fund your lifestyle now and what advice would you give to us? Is Fiverr still the viable business to starts with since its violates one of the MJ commandment clearly? @Damian Pros Thank you very much sir! And wish you all the best in your pro fighting journey!

I reversed the suspension.

But as I said, It was about time I exited that business, for the reasons explained in the post above.

All businesses violate the commandment of control.

There will always be some outside influence that has power to cause you trouble. There will always be things that you can't control.

Even with your own website, do you think your hosting provider can't deplatform you?

There are various degrees of control between different business models. You never have absolute control, just illusion of control.

The Fiverr business is excellent, especially for a beginner.

I outline why in this article that Entrepreneur Magazine wrote about me.

But it boils down to giving away a little power in order to:

- get MILLIONS of potential traffic
- a multi-million dollar website infrastructure
- free advertising (Fiverr runs Facebook ads etc for your gigs!)

Pretty good exchange in my opinion.

Can they exercise some authority over you?

Yes, but only if you blatantly break their rules (which my operation did because I neglected upgrading some systems for a long time).

So, there is nothing to worry about, unless you make some big blunder. Mistakes come with a price.

In my case, my negligence turned out to be a gift.

It gave me clarity about what I should be doing.

Now, armed with the massive knowledge and experience I got from my previous ventures, I'm succeeding in all my new ventures pretty easily.

Fiverr was like a fast pace business university.

The difference is, it was a university that paid me.

 

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[amp0193]

Great post. Thanks for sharing.


I loved the point about having two of everything. There are areas of my business that have immediate use for that.

 

[TKDTyler]

Finally someone made that step by step guide on how to get rich. Now I don't need to work hard a day in my life

/sarcasm

 

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[Greg R]

Once again, thanks for this. You have definitely opened my eyes to the power of leveraging ecommerce platforms. I have probably spent over $1,000 using Fiverr and it did not cross my mind once to leverage this into a business system. Well done.

 

[Damian Pros]

Also, here is a tip on mindset.

Don't see others as "competition" even if they are. It's the best to work on your craft to the point you do not have to compete with anyone because you are simply too good to ignore. That's not only about Fiverr.

Bottom line: focus on developing your skills, rather than winning your competition.

 

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[nas]

Great job and most certainly this is a punch to the stomach to anyone, Greek or not, complaining about job opportunities.

Given the brutal taxes in Greece, what have you done to ensure the government doesn't hold 50+% of your earnings?

Started a company outside Greece or even gotten yourself a bank account in another country?

Got a Greek relative of mine who is searching around and tax professionals or lawyers seem to be clueless about it.

If you were to advise your best friend on how to avoid that joke of tax system, what would you say to him?

Keep kicking a$$ man

Given that this is my field of expertise, I would advice your greek relative to register a company (preferably an LLC) in neighbouring Bulgaria.

The tax on profits there is only 10% and it's flat - it doesn't matter if your company netted 1 $ or 100 000 000 $ - you still pay 10%.

Both countries are EU members so there aren't any legal, business, logistic restrictions between them or whatsoever..

Many people from Northern Greece are doing this for years now, most of them for their offline businesses, so if your relative's business is online I believe that it would be even easier.

I hope that helps.

 

[Damian Pros]

@Damian Pros

I explain why in my progress thread here.

I gave a quick look at your thread. Most of your observations are solid, but you are overly negative and some of the things you said are incorrect. Like (2) and (3).

1) Things like timezones would apply to any business. You could simply not promise 24 hour delivery. Miscommunication with buyers could also happen in any business. You either choose to help them or tell them to go to hell.

2) If you deliver on time, and then a buyer requests a revision 2 and a half days afterwards, the timer shows you are "late" but this is just a bug and doesn't count as late delivery. Only your initial delivery matters.

3) I have cancelled 500+ orders. My rankings haven't dropped at all. They get better every day. And so do my sales. Only when the cancellation isn't mutual and initiated by the buyer, it affects your rankings negtively.

4) What you said about leaving feedback for the buyer is true. Sellers are disadvantaged in this area. You learn to hone your persuasion and customer service skills to deal with this, and you turn a disadvantage into gold. I admit it takes a hell of a lot of patience.

5) Fiverrs takes 20% because they provide the platform, do the marketing and a hell lot of other staff that you would have to do if you were on your own. It's not the best case scenario, but a fair exchange.

With all that said, nothing is perfect. You just have to find what suits you the most.

Wish you all the best buddy!

 

[Focnr]

Thanks for the post. I definitely will take your advice on two of everything. Good point.

 

[Damian Pros]

Brilliant post.

You could launch an ebook or webinar course with your knowledge to sell on How To Make X Amount of Dollars On Fiverr In Y Amount of Time.

Was that irony?

Why should I launch a course if I post it here for free?

 

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[Fox]

Great post. Mind saying what niche you are in? Logo design, Photo editing etc.

 

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[Damian Pros]

It's called covering your a$$, Murphy's law is a female dog and you have to anticipate and be prepared. I learned that in the boy's scouts.....

True.

As Sun Tzu said "Prepare for what's difficult, when it's easy".

 

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[Damian Pros]

We had some basic classes in school.

Other than that, I learned on my own. Writing, speaking with tourists, listening to English podcasts and watching movies with English subs (and then no subs) instead of the easy solution of using Greek subs.

I still need work.