Do you love what you do?

[chellevanhoy]

I’ve seen a lot of posts here on the Fiverr forum about how to make more money, more sales, more money, more sales, and how to make obscene amounts of money.



I’m curious, though.



How many Sellers are here to make obscene amounts of money doing $5 gigs, and how many are here to make a modest sum doing something they love?



I see a lot of ranting about Fiverr devaluing Sellers, exploiting their precious skills, and wasting their precious time. Maybe that’s true. However, I knew what Fiverr was when I signed up. I’ve been much more successful than I expected, and I’m doing what I love to do. That’s why I started in the first place.



I’m a writer without a degree. That’s a hard sell anywhere but here. Fiverr lets my skills speak for themselves, and I’m thankful. Do any of my fellow Sellers feel the same? If so, tell your story here. If not, take it to the Ranting Pot 😉



What do you love to do, and why do you do it on Fiverr?

[Guest hanashivoice]

I’ve always found joy in editing videos. I taught myself just about everything I know and have been searching for a way to get paid for doing what I do. I tried to become super-duper popular on YouTube but that didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. Then I found Fiverr and much to my surprise, I got my first sale a week and a half after signing up. Orders have been rolling in since then!

For the first time ever, I’m getting paid to sit on my butt and edit videos, something I LOVE doing! Fiverr is a Godsend!

[chellevanhoy]

Reply to @hanashivoice: I’m glad you found a way to do what you enjoy! Keep it up, and I wish you all the success that Fiverr can bring to you!

[fonthaunt]

I have some comments based on your post. You said:

chellevanhoy said: How many Sellers are here to make obscene amounts of money doing $5 gigs

I would guess that the answer to that is zero or pretty close, but only because of your wording. First, you'd have to define "obscene" which varies a great deal. I live in the U.S. but in an area where the cost of living is one of the lowest in the nation. What would be an obscene amount to me would not be the same either direction compared to someone living in Los Angeles, CA or a tiny village in Nepal or.....

Secondly, those who do make large sums of money for their region probably don’t rely heavily on $5 gigs. Personally, I love base gigs because I like to do fast work that isn’t boring, takes me 10-15 minutes to do, and given that I could make $15-20 an hour give or take which is good in my region.

Most sellers who are literally getting rich on gigs sold lots of $5 gigs in their first months to years, but later on were able to raise prices. Now they make some tip money with new buyers who get a base gig to test them, but most of their income probably comes from repeat buyers who spend anywhere from $25-250 per job. Note - not per gig but per job. Custom offers or gig extras are key for those.

Your other option was:

chellevanhoy said: how many are here to make a modest sum doing something they love?

Again, modest sum depends but I do understand what you mean. Some people are willing to work super hard and lots of hours even on boring tasks to make whatever is a LOT of money to that person. On average, I would bet that lots of sellers start out with expectations that are too lower OR too high.

Many expect to make basically nothing just like they did when they tried the other internet money machines. Others read something or take some course and think they’ll make 5-10K in their first month on Fiverr. When they realize that as a Fiverr newbie you CAN make money in moderate amounts with reasonable effort by doing what they love, they adjust those expectations. Some move on to make “obscene” amounts, most keep making just enough to live on or do Fiverr part-time as a supplement, and the rest don’t make enough to satisfy them and give up quickly.

[landongrace]

I absolutely love what I do. Yeah about 1 in 20 of the orders are problematic, just like on any platform. I started out wanting to earn an extra $500.00 a month. Then after I saw that it was possible to make more, I put into action a plan to achieve it.

I think there is a myth that to make good money you won’t be able to do what you enjoy doing. I think you can find things you like that a customer puts a high value on. Usually it is a skill that not many people can do and you do really well and quickly. I think if you pursue the business category, those clients will value your work more because they are directly making money off of your work.

Being Self-employed, I have about 3-5 streams of income each month. Fiverr has consistently been about $2000.00 per month and the work usually generates about $30.00-$60 per hour. My average sale is about $28.00. The majority of my work is repeat customers, some have ordered over 400 projects.

None of it has been quick or easy. It is more about your skills in your craft and your people skills. It is less about Fiverr.

[idesigngraphic]

In my experience, I am doing something I love. Definitely not all the jobs I do, I love doing many and it is rewarding work to me when they give me an artistic license and I like the finished product or just whenever I like the finished product. When they direct me to make something I personally think won’t look great it frustrates me, but jobs a job and gotta do what they want not what I want. I think I’d enjoy it more if I made a gig that somehow involves me taking photos (something artistic rather than testimonial etc), had a few ideas but haven’t gone through with it yet. If I do that I’ll love working here even more.

& For your money question, I’m making ok money, far from obscene, at least in London anyway, have a feeling it may go up as I’ve only just finished my first month here.

[chellevanhoy]

Reply to @fonthaunt: The thing is, I understand that “modest” and “obscene” are subjective. I worded it that way because I wanted individualized feedback from other sellers as to what their monetary expectations are of Fiverr. To me, 30K a month is obscene, especially because the combined income of my household is less than 30K per year. I have a hard time imagining any conditions in which 30K a month is not an obscene amount of money.

I also understand that base gigs generally don’t yield that much money. The “$5 gigs” part of that statement was a little bit of hyperbole based on the Fiverr platform, and the fact that there are many other freelancing platforms that don’t start at $5. People often complain about the starting price for gigs because they feel they are being exploited when they chose this platform over others that were available to them.

The meat of the post, though, is about whether or not people actually enjoy what they do here on Fiverr, or if it’s just another way to make money. I, personally, enjoy what I do. I like writing for a living, even if it is part-time. I don’t have the necessary credentials to do it elsewhere professionally, except in my own business, so Fiverr is allowing me the opportunity to live my dream, so-to-speak. I was merely curious if anyone else felt the same way, because it seems like all I see in the Forum are money-centered posts.

[chellevanhoy]

Reply to @landongrace: I agree that skills are essential to making money on Fiverr. I wonder, though, would you still do it if your income was less than that $2000/month?

[chellevanhoy]

Reply to @idesigngraphic: I agree that some gigs are a little distasteful, and they definitely remind you that Fiverr is a job, along with anything else it may be. I think that the photography gig sounds like a wonderful idea, and you should definitely pursue it.

My personal income from Fiverr is fairly modest. I’m going to experiment with my pricing a little bit and see if I can generate a little more revenue to make up for the 20% commission, but if I can’t, I’m still happy building a portfolio that lets my talent speak for itself, rather than through a degree.