Sidewalk Lessons from Fiverr

[mayana]

This is just a little rant.

So, I've been supplementing my income with Fiverr gigs for the past few months, and it's been a pretty interesting experience. Sometimes the things that we do (even Ebay!) can teach us really important business lessons. I'm kind of surprised at what I've been making on the site, since I had previously written it off as a waste of time.

Just for inquiring minds, I've been doing ghostwriting, fixing Wordpress problems, setting up Facebook Fan pages (yes, people actually pay others to do this), proofreading, and translating.

Things I've learned:

1. The internet is filled with wantrepreneurs that are seriously lazy. I've written affiliate marketing articles recently that will make you vomit. There are are thousands of people out there that just pretty much feed off of each other about 100% commissions and "automated systems" that only take 10 minutes a day to run. And all you have to do is pay $24.96 a month for a training package... you get my drift.

I guess this is network marketing on steroids. The lesson is that the only person actually "Fastlane", as we call it here, is the guy that came up with the idea.

2. Don't buy a stupid pre-made site. There are SO many people out there that are so desperate that they will believe anyone out there "selling dreams". There is a particular forum that's been mentioned a lot on here that is pretty much crawling with people like that. You get what you pay for! If you pay $100 for one of these ready-to-go websites, chances are you won't even get your money back. I've had customers buy multiple crap websites at a time and just nickle and dime themselves and get nothing in return. :sigh:

3. Don't outsource stuff that you don't know how to do, at least marginally, yourself. I'm not joking about this - I did a gig the other day for a "social media marketing" company. The gig? Setting up their freaking Facebook page that took all of 25 seconds. If this is what the competition is like, we are golden! :icon_super:


The good news for us is that the majority of the people that find this forum and stay here are going to be different that the folks that you'll find somewhere else. If you aren't falling for all of those tricks above, you are probably 75% done on your way to the Fastlane.

There is NO substitute for hard work, no matter what anyone tells you. Ever!!

 

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[The-J]

Oh... so true. The writing gigs aren't too bad but the worst was when I was writing reviews. I got so many requests for negative reviews for their competitors and stuff... some people want to lie, cheat and steal their way to the top, I guess.

 

[deepestblue]

Sounds like you have been coming across lots of 'action fakes'. As you alluded to, the real value is built from substantive, original creations. I wish many of the biz-opp seekers would just look into their own hearts and minds at all the real value they possess and offer that value to the world as opposed to jumping from one 'opp' to another.

 

[Ivan]

I'm still waiting for the "Jackass"-style gigs to roll around.

Ie. I will run into this brick wall at full speed for $5

 

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[Stayer]

mayana, do you promote your gigs using any external ways outside fiverr listing?

 

[mayana]

I'm still waiting for the "Jackass"-style gigs to roll around.

Ie. I will run into this brick wall at full speed for $5

Haha! I've seen a guy who will promote your business while tossing around live chainsaws. That seems pretty jackass to me! Lol...

mayana, do you promote your gigs using any external ways outside fiverr listing?

No, not at all.

Sounds like you have been coming across lots of 'action fakes'. As you alluded to, the real value is built from substantive, original creations. I wish many of the biz-opp seekers would just look into their own hearts and minds at all the real value they possess and offer that value to the world as opposed to jumping from one 'opp' to another.

Absolutely! Sometimes, I almost want to say something about it, but my advice would probably fall on deaf ears. I think a lot of these people will probably jump from one thing to another for the rest of their lives, always wondering why they never really make progress.

 

[nzerinto]

I'm also astounded by some of the things people will do for $5.

I've order some hand drawing gigs from Fiverr (for gifts), and they were SERIOUSLY good. Perhaps it's because I'm no artist, but I can't imagine doing something like that in under 10 minutes. Any more time spent on it (some of these look like they would take at least 30 min to an hour to create), and you would make more money flipping burgers...

Also Fiverr sellers only make 80% from the sale, the site takes 20%.....

I know some sellers do it purely to build up their client list though, and if that's the case, more power to 'em.

 

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[mayana]

The better money comes when the higher seller levels allow you to add gig extras. I'm still learning how to maximize this, but it has helped A LOT in increasing the gig amount. I usually get a few $20 gigs each day, which barely take longer than the $5 gigs.

 

[cautiouscapy]

Mayana

I saw that you were a Fiverr seller from previous posts of yours and I did wonder if you might be using Fiverr more as a catalyst to learning, though here you say you've been supplementing your income.

I'm guessing that sometimes you get e.g. a WordPress problem that forces you to learn new knowledge; so you get the $4 but also an expanded skill set? Is that a benefit you're getting? Or is it more tedious than that?


It had occurred to me to become a Fiverr seller offering gigs more for experience and to experiment with ideas than income:

- to verify and expand my experience in areas I think I have some skill/knowledge in but no real-world experience (e.g. come up with 8 marketing ideas for your business, evaluate your branding against your defined target market)

- or make "how-to" videos in a particular cookery subject I'm great at, that would force me to produce content that I could re-use to populate a blog with. (and to learn video editing from scratch...maybe start to learn that first!)


I am also intrigued with the idea of using Fiverr as a marketing / list building tool also, without being too pushy.

If using it as a bait for larger pieces of work, there's obviously a balance to be struck between offering a great gig for $5 and giving too much.
I once received a wildly impressive logo via Fiverr with rework included, but the talented designer put too much of her time in to her gigs, and when I went back to ask her if I could contact her through other means to give her more work, she'd closed her account with a "not worth my time!" comment. I felt that she didn't "get" it, she could have played it differently and sent out smaller but still amazing pieces of work.
(This was in the original days when a gig was $5 and that was it).

 

[LightHouse]

On using it to get new clients, do you even get the buyers details or any way to contact them again?

I can't imagine it would work that way as it would destruct Fivver's business.

 

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[cautiouscapy]

I think it's actually against their Ts & Cs...

I am not a big bender of the rules myself, that's fair enough else the site would not exist.

But I think there are ways - like having a portfolio site you can refer people to. Then the customer can initiate if they want?

 

[CEBenz]

All I can say is, "don't dig for gold. Sell the shovels." Lol

 

[cautiouscapy]

Sure, I don't think it's Fastlane...but I can see some uses if you are still pulling yourself out of the slowlane...

 

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[The-J]

On using it to get new clients, do you even get the buyers details or any way to contact them again?

I can't imagine it would work that way as it would destruct Fivver's business.

Yeah, it's against their TOS. I'm sure people do it but it's against the rules to send phone #s, e-mail addresses, or any type of contact info.

 

[The Autobahn]

2. Don't buy a stupid pre-made site. There are SO many people out there that are so desperate that they will believe anyone out there "selling dreams". There is a particular forum that's been mentioned a lot on here that is pretty much crawling with people like that. You get what you pay for! If you pay $100 for one of these ready-to-go websites, chances are you won't even get your money back. I've had customers buy multiple crap websites at a time and just nickle and dime themselves and get nothing in return.

Youre looking to the wrong place.. i configured a pre-made-website under 30USD and it looks proffesional.

 

[mayana]

Youre looking to the wrong place.. i configured a pre-made-website under 30USD and it looks proffesional.

I probably should have been more specific. I have seen a bunch of these quasi-network marketing/affiliate marketing sites that give you a "website" for only a small amount of money, or even worse, guys who buy domains from people with affiliate-type stuff on them. And the people know that the same website is being re-sold to others to be put on different domains. I don't know... maybe someone has a use for it, but I don't see the point.

I saw that you were a Fiverr seller from previous posts of yours and I did wonder if you might be using Fiverr more as a catalyst to learning, though here you say you've been supplementing your income.

I was kind of just experimenting with it, at first. Then, this one guy started ordering like 10 articles a day and since I got so much feedback from him, it kind of started snowballing. It's turned out to be a good way to learn various business lessons, and make some extra cash.

I'm guessing that sometimes you get e.g. a WordPress problem that forces you to learn new knowledge; so you get the $4 but also an expanded skill set? Is that a benefit you're getting? Or is it more tedious than that?

Bingo! The article writing, too, actually forces me to learn about different topics - usually things I wouldn't even typically read about. A lot of the time, the subject is business-related, too. The Wordpress gigs can be a little annoying, since a lot of people don't know how much work goes into various things - their expectations can be kind of ridiculous. But sometimes, I stumble on a problem that pushes me to learn something new, too.

- to verify and expand my experience in areas I think I have some skill/knowledge in but no real-world experience (e.g. come up with 8 marketing ideas for your business, evaluate your branding against your defined target market)

People would probably go for that! Give it a shot!! Maybe, if people like your ideas, they will hire you for consulting.

On using it to get new clients, do you even get the buyers details or any way to contact them again?

I can't imagine it would work that way as it would destruct Fivver's business.

I am really strict about not letting people contact me outside of Fiverr. I've found that my regular clients end up knowing more-or-less how to contact me anyway, so we would probably stay in touch in the future. But we work everything through Fiverr for now... it's only fair! I don't want any bad business karma in the future... lol

 

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[TheTruth]

I know some sellers do it purely to build up their client list though, and if that's the case, more power to 'em.

Yup, some guy's even up-sell affiliate products.

On using it to get new clients, do you even get the buyers details or any way to contact them again?

I can't imagine it would work that way as it would destruct Fivver's business.

What you do is send them a report and in that "report" you give them your skype and to contact you.

I am really strict about not letting people contact me outside of Fiverr. I've found that my regular clients end up knowing more-or-less how to contact me anyway, so we would probably stay in touch in the future. But we work everything through Fiverr for now... it's only fair! I don't want any bad business karma in the future... lol

Can work both way's. Done it both ways and enjoyed the extra 20% and developed customer loyalty better by going on skype though.

 

[cautiouscapy]

Thanks for answering my questions Mayana.

It's a real relief to find someone who pretty much sees the possibilities in Fiverr like I do, rather than just as a place where "why would I want to earn $4 at a time"?

I was kind of just experimenting with it, at first. Then, this one guy started ordering like 10 articles a day and since I got so much feedback from him, it kind of started snowballing. It's turned out to be a good way to learn various business lessons, and make some extra cash.

How long were these articles and how long did it take you to write them?!
...

Bingo! The article writing, too, actually forces me to learn about different topics - usually things I wouldn't even typically read about. A lot of the time, the subject is business-related, too. The Wordpress gigs can be a little annoying, since a lot of people don't know how much work goes into various things - their expectations can be kind of ridiculous. But sometimes, I stumble on a problem that pushes me to learn something new, too.

I have a lot of inertia at the moment, and the being pushed into learning something new because someone's requested it would be a good way of tricking myself into overcoming that.

People would probably go for that! Give it a shot!! Maybe, if people like your ideas, they will hire you for consulting.

I "feared" someone would give me a gentle kick in the butt like that - a wry :thankyousign:

 

[jindo]

Mayana

Have you looked at elance.com or odesk.com as a way to use your talents? Or, if you do design work, 99designs.com?

I have not used these services (elance, odesk), but they supposedly pay pretty well---certainly better than fiverr---for work that doesn't necessarily take much longer

I was just wondering



(BTW, I just noticed that those sites have affiliate programs---I am NOT an affiliate of any of them....just sayin')

 

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[mayana]

Fiverr is still working out well; I like that I don't have to set anything up and I have regular customers now that I write the same type of articles for every day. I guess the reason I haven't looked at elance or odesk is because I always think of those places as a place for more serious freelancers - maybe I'm wrong... lol. Anyhow, I am focusing on my fastlane business

 

[MooreMillions]

Oh... so true. The writing gigs aren't too bad but the worst was when I was writing reviews. I got so many requests for negative reviews for their competitors and stuff... some people want to lie, cheat and steal their way to the top, I guess.

This is just absolutely disgusting. I knew of this...but it didn't just really hit me at how disgusting and dishonest some people are to get, what usually is, just a "little bit" more money.

 

[RHL]

And the sidewalking falsehood here? The belief that people thinking your competition is bad will make them think that your product is good, as though just by being in the market you take a limited quantity of quality and credibility shares available in sales in that niche.

 

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[mayana]

And the sidewalking falsehood here? The belief that people thinking your competition is bad will make them think that your product is good, as though just by being in the market you take a share of a limited quantity of quality and credibility shares available in sales in that niche.

Yeah, I agree with this. It's those people who still have a sidewalk mentality - they still haven't realized that they will attract MORE money by doing things on the up-and-up, and by providing some real, legitimate VALUE to their customers.

I've been too busy to do much on Fiverr lately (and every time I activate my gigs, I get like a dozen orders, so they are on pause right now), but a few weeks ago, a guy requested this really bizarre review. He wanted me to post it from a different IP address than the one that I use to access Fiverr (wtf?). I just cancelled the gig, and I have now specified that I will NOT post fake reviews on any website (I'll still write them, if they want to post it as an article to their own site or whatever - network marketers love to do this kind of thing - talk about the sidewalk mentality).

 

[RHL]

Pitiful.

(Edit: Not mayana, people who pay money to smear their competition. Know what harms your competition more than making them look bad? Making them irrelevant.)