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My Story: $100,000 earned in my first year of being a seller


andrewcarpen756

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Today I surpassed a huge milestone in my Fiverr career passing $100,000 of earnings in my 1st year as a seller. I wanted to share my story with the community to hopefully inspire other sellers and provide some advice from my experience.

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The beginning

Back in January 2020 I got my first order for $200, I was so excited at the prospect of earning money during my free time, as I had a fulltime job at the time (more on that later).

I fulfilled my first order and received my first review, my heart was beating so fast waiting to see what my customer would say about me as I knew the importance of customer feedback for continued business. After leaving my review on the buyer, I saw that I received my very first 5 star review, I was immediately hooked and wanted more.

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All I earned in that month was $200 but the idea of being self sufficient started to develop in my mind and reading other success stories on the forum made me think, why not me?

The next few months I started working with a wide array of customers and several that I managed to secure repeat business from. Creating success for their businesses made repeat business easier and with that came positive reviews helping improve my gig position within the marketplace.

I recall when I also received my first $10 tip, an amazing feeling, not matter the amount.

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By the end of March 2020 i had skyrocketed my earnings to on par with what I earned per month in my full time job and that seed of self sufficiency started to grow.

Covid
The global pandemic reached the stores of the UK and the world started to change before my eyes. Previously in my career I was somewhat of a “globe trotter” 40+ flights around the world each year in charge of Global Sales. Overnight my travel stopped, events cancelled and a new reality started to emerge that maybe my once comfortable career might not be “secure” or able to continue developing and climbing the “corporate ladder”.

We entered a national lockdown and this was pivotal for my growth not only as person but as a seller on Fiverr. Being locked in my house pretty much 24/7 allowed me to double down and focus harder at the weekends/free time to grow my profile.

Level 2 seller & Fiverr’s choice

Reaching Level 2 was a fantastic achievement which took around 7 months of hard work to achieve. This promotion allowed me to add an extra layer of trust & expertise to my gig. My order volume continued to increase month on month however i experienced some new learning curves (both positive and negative) that I will touch on later.

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One day I received an order that has a “Fiverr’s Choice” badge, I had not seen this before and turns out that my gig had been selected to be a Fiverr’s Choice service. I was so ecstatic to see that customers and Fiverr recognised the quality of my craft and awarded me this awesome little badge. I felt so proud and continued to ensure i was delivering quality to my customers around the world.

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Deciding to quit my job

I have always wanted to run my own business and ultimately be my own boss, this was a dream that has always sat at the forefront of my mind.

Achieving success within the corporate world before even turning 30 years old was a lifechanging experience. This early development allowed me to grow beyond my years and transfer skills into the world of Fiverr/freelancing that not a lot of people would have had the opportunity to experience (which I am truly forever grateful for).

However the more success you earn that more you question your own value which at the time i was not earning although creating huge success in my job. In the end working for someone else’s dream and not mine made me question my position and left me with a hard decision to make.

I took the biggest leap of faith in my life, during one of the most unstable economic moments in generations and decided to quit my job and go full time on Fiverr.

Challenges

Over the last 12 months its not been all “sunshine and rainbows” there have been times that have been extremely challenging (and sometimes out of my hands).

  • First chargeback experience. I delivering a 5 star reviewed project, a customer decided months later to file a chargeback on the order which resulted in me losing thousands of dollars.

  • I experienced a good few “endless extensions” these happened while working on orders where the customer takes up your time but does not progress the project forward and sometimes even ended up with the customers cancelling the order.

Losing my gig rank.

This challenge is possibly the biggest that we see posted throughout the community and often seems to be a lot of conflicting information about this, so here is my experience.

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When gig analytics became available once again I was able to see that my gig was averaging a good 1000/1500 impressions per day. As we entered November 2020 I started to notice my gig performance was heading into a worrying direction. I had tested using the promoted gigs feature and this seemed to have an effect on my gig rank or maybe me as a seller subconsciously as I started to update my gig far too frequently (6 times) as I battled to regain some exposure.

This made everything worse and I ended up going from 1000/1500 impressions per day to only 5-10.
I made the decision to stop focusing on changing my gig and continue on what I knew works best, providing excellence to my customers. Sometimes a week on fiverr can feel like a long time when your gig has been pushed to the back page but remember if you focus on the quality of your work this will help you in the long run.

My advice

Some may read this story and think this is a short amount of time to achieve “success” but in reality this has been a long road, full of mistakes, learning, developing and pushing myself forward. It has taken me around 10 years of learning a multitude of creative and business skills to be able to succeed in this competitive arena.

Here are some key tips i live by.

  • Remember the artform that is business, always overdeliver to your customers, going the extra mile in any walk of life has huge benefits.

  • Unbelievable Customer support! I cannot stress this enough even with difficult customers. Remember "the customer is not always right, but they are always the customer" p.s i heard that from a Fiverr seminar (apologies I forgot the name of Fiverr Staff that said this but it stuck with me). Not only does this reflect in your reviews but it allows potential buyers to feel at ease that you will be with them every step of the way through good/bad and challenging situations.

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  • Be a great salesperson This is a huge part of generating revenue which is being able to sell yourself to clients, I was fortunate to gain these skills through my life (even as a waiter). Selling is the key element that will help you grow, keep learning this skill, you do not need to be an business person, sales are in all walks of life.

  • Work hard, sacrifice and be a master of your craft I know this sounds cliché but its a very important element and if your not willing to put in the work, it simply wont happen. Sacrifices are also needed to be made, you cannot burn the candle at both ends and ultimately running a business is very stressful and priorities need to be set.

  • Make mistakes learn from them but never make the same mistake twice, i cannot tell you the amount of mistakes i have made but without those i would never be able to grow.

  • Enjoy yourself (most important) life is very short, do things that make you happy and breathe passion into your work. At the end of the day a monetary amount is just a number, I am proud of this but being the person I want to be is something that gives me joy.

Sorry for the long post but if you have made it to the end, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my story. I hope this inspires people and i also hope that it does not come across as self glorifying as this is not my aim.

I am truly grateful for all the people in my life who have supported me and given me the the courage to take this leap of faith. To Fiverr and the community, thank you for always being here and providing endless opportunities.

My goal is to continue expanding my Fiverr career and keep growing 🙂

Thanks,
Andrew

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Wow.

That’s remarkable, Andrew. I just had a look at your profile, and I must say, it’s amazing. Though, I have a few questions if you don’t mind…

  • Do you work alone or do you have a team working for you? How many people?
  • Do you do any marketing outside of Fiverr?
  • Do you have an income stream that does NOT rely on Fiverr?

Once again, thanks a million for sharing your story and wisdom. I cannot help but feel inspired and wish you more of that success in future.

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Thank you everyone for the kind comments, it is truly appreciated. I have been reflecting on my thread and there was a few things I missed out that i feel is worth mentioning.

The burnout effect

I believe this stage is inevitable in all walks of life, no matter if your a CEO, Rockstar or Fiverr Seller, there will come a time when workloads will be extremely stressful and can take their toll on you both mentally and physically. It is not just about the workload but life at some point will throw a curve ball at you and understanding/coping with this is a very important stage for longevity. Society has somewhat recently pushed /influenced many entrepreneurs to embody mindsets such as;

“no sleep team” “grind it out” “no weakness” “adapt or die” “sleep is for the weak”

I appreciate the motivational aspect to these quotes and I do live by the subtext of some of these but the reality is you need to keep healthy (mind and body) to continue delivering excellence to your customers.

There is very little value in running yourself into the ground because there will come at point no matter how committed or driven you are that you will hit a wall. A healthy life work balance is very important and can often help improve your skills.

It is ok to say no

I forgot to mention in my customer support section that you do not always need to say yes to everything. I understand the concept behind saying yes to all customers because we all want to do a good job however there is positives in saying no. I pride myself with telling my customers when their idea/request might not actually be good or outside the scope of work.

Remember you are the professional of your skill, your opinion does count and you are here with your customers best interests in mind. That being said, how you choose to tell your customers “no” is an artform that requires understanding, explanation, comprehension and ultimately showing respect.

Often customers will request extra work without the understanding the extra costs / extra work related to the request. If you find a customer is requesting well outside the scope of the project use this as a catalyst to upsell your work, remember be a great sales person.

Do not be reactive

We are all human and when someone is unhappy with your work we often become defensive, reactive and all which can lead down a path to hostility. No one likes being told by a customer that they are not pleased with your work. Everyone’s expectations can be different but the worst thing you can do is to react to negative communications with equal negativity or aggression.

We have all been there with a difficult buyer, you have given the customer everything (even free work) delivered everything they have requested but they are not happy. Some buyers can be rude, insulting and nasty about your work and its natural to become hurt or offended. My advice is to not message back until you are calm, level headed and in a positive mindset. You will be surprised at the results if you are clam and understand the issue while attempting to solve the problem together. It is always a good idea to try see it from the customers point of view as well which will allow you both to come to a positive solution.

Hopefully these tips helps, thank you once again.

Andrew

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On 1/26/2021 at 8:01 AM, andrewcarpen756 said:

There is very little value in running yourself into the ground because there will come at point no matter how committed or driven you are that you will hit a wall. A healthy life work balance is very important and can often help improve your skills.

Very important and true words! This is one of the reasons why staying online 24/7 can never work. We are limited as humans. Work cannot be everything in our lives. Thanks for sharing.

Also, congratulations on all your amazing success! $100,000 in a year is just mind-blowingly awesome!

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I was very impressed with the article. Your success story motivated me a lot. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I will try harder even though I can not get success like yours right now.But I will try for my future, for my self.

One question.
You are expert of shopify. Do you have your own shopify site for dropshipping? If you start selling with your shopify, what kind of products (niche) would you like to sell at this moment?

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Congratulations on this big achievenemt within a year, which is unbelievable with the ups and downs. More success to come!

You mentioned about the times when your gig was deranked where your impressions dropped from 1500-1000 to 5-10, I would really appreciate if you could share more about how did you overcome that and when and how did your gig ranked again.

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On 1/30/2021 at 7:22 AM, nadia_younus said:

You mentioned about the times when your gig was deranked where your impressions dropped from 1500-1000 to 5-10, I would really appreciate if you could share more about how did you overcome that and when and how did your gig ranked again.

He already said. He provided great work to the customers he already had. If the gig performance is going up, then your ranking goes up too. It might take a week, it might take more.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/14/2021 at 2:48 PM, nickmelodesign said:

That’s amazing. And I am Senior Digital Designer with 10 years of experience in design. And 1 week on Fiverr - ZERO clients. I don’t understand how it works

Well, @nickmelodesign, it seems you just joined the platform. There’s a lot of competition, most of it with established profiles. And for a newcomer, the prices are not exactly accessible for any buyer.

On 2/14/2021 at 2:55 PM, nickmelodesign said:

you think its all about prices?

Do you have a lot of clicks on your gig but no sales? If so, that’s about prices I assume.

If you don’t have clicks, then it’s just because you are rather new to the platform. You will eventually get some sales, but it all comes down to promoting gigs and having patience.

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It’s not about prices only.

You need to experiment with all kinds of stuff, see what works and what doesn’t.

I also feel that every seller learns with each order and adapts towards the Fiverr eco system. Some sellers choose to deliver the order as per the agreement some sellers (like myself) always go up and over on our delivers to ensure good ratings and hopefully a tip. These metrics can help your gig placement, build up relationships with clients for repeat business, increase revenue and so on.

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First… outstanding job on the income! After all it’s why we are all here!

Did CS explain why your rank was taken away? We’re you at that time a Top Rated Seller or Level two?

Quote

i am still level two but not TRS.

Have you reached all the technical milestones to be a TRS? It seems you have worked very hard and making that income on Fiverr is a reason to celebrate for sure but something is going on if you haven’t been promoted to TRS.

On 2/16/2021 at 11:39 AM, corsogr said:

cannot tell you the amount of mistakes i have made but without those i would never be able to grow.

Lol!! I LOVE to learn the hard way! Otherwise how can we move forward if we fear making mistakes? Trips, falls or duhhhhh should be my middle name! Thanks for sharing that nugget of wisdom. 🌻

On 2/16/2021 at 11:52 AM, br65nz said:

Thanks for sharing your story. I joined a few months ago however have not received any assignments. I recently created another gig and I am optimistic that an assignment is around the corner.

@br65nz it took me from about March until about September to get orders. As a new seller you should be getting a little help from Fiverr as they give new sellers a bit of exposure first. Just like @andrewcarpen756 we all started the same way. Perhaps have another Fiverr seller who reviews gigs to review your profile and gigs to make sure it’s just right. Making $100k takes an amazing amount of focus, drive and outstanding people skills.

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On 2/16/2021 at 5:34 AM, melissaharlowvo said:

First… outstanding job on the income! After all it’s why we are all here! Did CS explain why your rank was taken away? We’re you at that time a Top Rated Seller or Level two?

Thank you 🙂 and no my gig just moved position that is all, i am still level two but not TRS.

On 2/16/2021 at 2:28 PM, melissaharlowvo said:

Have you reached all the technical milestones to be a TRS? It seems you have worked very hard and making that income on Fiverr is a reason to celebrate for sure but something is going on if you haven’t been promoted to TRS.

Yes since September last year i have be eligible for TRS and I often wonder what one must do to achieve this final promotion but what will be will be. Thank you for your kind comments, it has been a crazy year to say the least.

 

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  • 10 months later...

Awesome! I basically do not read long story,, infact i cannot hold concentrations to till the end but here is different. Love your story. I wish we all the seller have such story, if not like you fully but at least like you. God bless us and wish you a congratulations from my heart. ♥ 

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On 1/30/2021 at 6:49 AM, evolvingshift said:

Congrats!

One question I have is, where are you seeing that line graph you took a screenshot of under “Gig Performance”

I’ve been on Fiverr since 2019 and have never seen that anywhere.

Click on your ''active gig'' there the gig line graph can show.

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