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My two-year seller anniversary

jamesbulls

By jamesbulls
in Tips from Sellers

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jamesbulls Apprentice

jamesbulls

Posted
Posted

Hey, everybody! I’ve been selling on Fiverr since February of 2015 and it’s been a great ride. If you care to do so, you can read what I wrote about my one-year anniversary here: 1 Year Seller Anniversary on Fiverr Since almost this time a year ago, I’ve doubled my prices, doubled my average daily work queue, and made close to $20k net revenue. Considering that I made less than $4k net-revenue in my first year, I think that’s pretty good. My goal for the coming year is to net over $30k, and I’m on track to getting it. So when I share these tips, I’m not Mr. Rando Nooby copy/pasting whatever Google could find at the bottom of the interwebs - this is straight from my life experience on Fiverr. There are sellers who make a lot more than I do on Fiverr, but then, this is exactly the kind of income I want to be earning so that I can work at home, spend time with my children, let my wife work her job when I’m not working, and generally be able to enjoy my life without stressing about working for a corporate overlord.

So now that I’ve turned 2 as a seller, what have I learned?

  1. Work when it’s time to work.
    heigh_ho.jpg.aa116223807eb78b6233dc4fecff9998.jpg
    Close your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Close all chat programs, and put your phone on silent ringer. Do your work. Just do it. If you were employed at a 9-to-5 in a corporate job, you’d have a supervisor monitoring you to ensure you stayed on task, but since you’re a free-lancer you have to be your own supervisor. If you don’t have the self-discipline to work when it’s time to work, then free-lancing isn’t going to be a very profitable or enjoyable job for you. You’ve seriously got to learn how to focus and DO YOUR WORK. Don’t check your social networks for status updates between orders: once you get started working, keep working. If you’re going to take a break, keep it short and then get back to work. I don’t think anybody really likes to work - that’s why we enjoy taking time off, right? - so do your work when it’s time to do your work and you won’t have to work all day.

  2. Don’t answer messages before you complete your work
    Focus.png.041ffb79a6813ec6d73512ae806c2d6c.png
    This is going to seem counter-intuitive, but seriously: DON’T EVEN OPEN YOUR INBOX until you’ve cleared your work for the day. Responding to messages from new and repeat buyers is an important part of maintaining a steady queue of work, but speaking for myself it takes as much time to respond to messages, fix problems, and send custom offers as it does to actually do my work. For this reason, I almost never open my inbox until after I’ve completed my work. If I start my Fiverr work-day by answering messages, it exhausts me. It throws me out of focus, breaks my equilibrium, and leaves me feeling tired and scattered by the time I’ve finished my work for the day. If new buyers have sent you a message asking for a custom offer, trust me: they’ll still be there in a few hours. If they have to have the work and they have to have it now, then chances are excellent that they sent that same message to multiple sellers and were going to beat you up on price, anyway. If they’re a reasonable person who understands that you always complete paid work before answering unpaid emails, then they’ll expect that it’s going to take a few hours to get a response from you. Complete paid work first, and leave unpaid emails last - I promise you’ll thank yourself for it.

  3. Don’t work when you’re not working
    240_F_107484412_OlkEw8Fzo4im5GwQFiS5q1q7ancEuuP8.jpg.4bd5abe4e0ce7a27fa4ca35fe61469d5.jpg
    It’s great that we have a Fiverr app for our phones and the Fiverr website for our computers, but let’s be honest with ourselves: How much of our time do we really want to spend working? Speaking for myself, I’m self employed so that I can enjoy more of my life as opposed to less of my life. You’re welcome to tell me if I’m wrong, but I’d wager money that you do, too. So what this means is that you should respect your limits and remember that buyers don’t get 24/7 access to you via Fiverr inbox. You don’t have to advertise it on your gig (although some sellers do), but you should pick a time of day when you figuratively go home and aren’t at work anymore. Once this time hits, don’t respond to buyer requests and emails. Relax. Sit back, enjoy your dinner, watch some Netflix, and maybe even get some coitus un-interruptus. You don’t live to work - you work to live. So LIVE! And don’t forget: vacation mode exists for a reason, and contrary to what whiny and unsuccessful sellers say, it doesn’t do a single thing to impact your gig placement and number of sales. Take one or two days off from Fiverr work every week - whether it’s a steady Saturday/Sunday weekend, or if it’s split-up during the week, whatever - you must take time off from Fiverr work or else you’re going to suffer burn-out, you’ll resent the time you spend working, and you won’t be motivated to give your best effort on the work you complete. Take regular time off - you deserve it. If you’ve got clients beating you up for 24/7/365 availability, you should fire those clients. They’ll beat you up on price, harass you for immediate delivery, and probably never even thank you for your time. You deserve better than stress and anxiety - that’s why you’re a free-lancer! Remember to take care of yourself - I promise you’ll regret it if you don’t.

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mrproofreading Contributor

mrproofreading

Posted
Posted

Hey, everybody! I’ve been selling on Fiverr since February of 2015 and it’s been a great ride. If you care to do so, you can read what I wrote about my one-year anniversary here: 1 Year Seller Anniversary on Fiverr Since almost this time a year ago, I’ve doubled my prices, doubled my average daily work queue, and made close to $20k net revenue. Considering that I made less than $4k net-revenue in my first year, I think that’s pretty good. My goal for the coming year is to net over $30k, and I’m on track to getting it. So when I share these tips, I’m not Mr. Rando Nooby copy/pasting whatever Google could find at the bottom of the interwebs - this is straight from my life experience on Fiverr. There are sellers who make a lot more than I do on Fiverr, but then, this is exactly the kind of income I want to be earning so that I can work at home, spend time with my children, let my wife work her job when I’m not working, and generally be able to enjoy my life without stressing about working for a corporate overlord.

So now that I’ve turned 2 as a seller, what have I learned?

  1. Work when it’s time to work.

    309901611bce0546549742464749cf927f1952a7.jpg

    Close your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Close all chat programs, and put your phone on silent ringer. Do your work. Just do it. If you were employed at a 9-to-5 in a corporate job, you’d have a supervisor monitoring you to ensure you stayed on task, but since you’re a free-lancer you have to be your own supervisor. If you don’t have the self-discipline to work when it’s time to work, then free-lancing isn’t going to be a very profitable or enjoyable job for you. You’ve seriously got to learn how to focus and DO YOUR WORK. Don’t check your social networks for status updates between orders: once you get started working, keep working. If you’re going to take a break, keep it short and then get back to work. I don’t think anybody really likes to work - that’s why we enjoy taking time off, right? - so do your work when it’s time to do your work and you won’t have to work all day.

  2. Don’t answer messages before you complete your work

    8065431cf726fc1045c2eecb4e7642a293e97b04.png

    This is going to seem counter-intuitive, but seriously: DON’T EVEN OPEN YOUR INBOX until you’ve cleared your work for the day. Responding to messages from new and repeat buyers is an important part of maintaining a steady queue of work, but speaking for myself it takes as much time to respond to messages, fix problems, and send custom offers as it does to actually do my work. For this reason, I almost never open my inbox until after I’ve completed my work. If I start my Fiverr work-day by answering messages, it exhausts me. It throws me out of focus, breaks my equilibrium, and leaves me feeling tired and scattered by the time I’ve finished my work for the day. If new buyers have sent you a message asking for a custom offer, trust me: they’ll still be there in a few hours. If they have to have the work and they have to have it now, then chances are excellent that they sent that same message to multiple sellers and were going to beat you up on price, anyway. If they’re a reasonable person who understands that you always complete paid work before answering unpaid emails, then they’ll expect that it’s going to take a few hours to get a response from you. Complete paid work first, and leave unpaid emails last - I promise you’ll thank yourself for it.

  3. Don’t work when you’re not working

    f38a3c2c7282cb6b923bb71b78df16c8c1e27efe.jpg

    It’s great that we have a Fiverr app for our phones and the Fiverr website for our computers, but let’s be honest with ourselves: How much of our time do we really want to spend working? Speaking for myself, I’m self employed so that I can enjoy more of my life as opposed to less of my life. You’re welcome to tell me if I’m wrong, but I’d wager money that you do, too. So what this means is that you should respect your limits and remember that buyers don’t get 24/7 access to you via Fiverr inbox. You don’t have to advertise it on your gig (although some sellers do), but you should pick a time of day when you figuratively go home and aren’t at work anymore. Once this time hits, don’t respond to buyer requests and emails. Relax. Sit back, enjoy your dinner, watch some Netflix, and maybe even get some coitus un-interruptus. You don’t live to work - you work to live. So LIVE! And don’t forget: vacation mode exists for a reason, and contrary to what whiny and unsuccessful sellers say, it doesn’t do a single thing to impact your gig placement and number of sales. Take one or two days off from Fiverr work every week - whether it’s a steady Saturday/Sunday weekend, or if it’s split-up during the week, whatever - you must take time off from Fiverr work or else you’re going to suffer burn-out, you’ll resent the time you spend working, and you won’t be motivated to give your best effort on the work you complete. Take regular time off - you deserve it. If you’ve got clients beating you up for 24/7/365 availability, you should fire those clients. They’ll beat you up on price, harass you for immediate delivery, and probably never even thank you for your time. You deserve better than stress and anxiety - that’s why you’re a free-lancer! Remember to take care of yourself - I promise you’ll regret it if you don’t.

A huge congratulations to you! I hope you have another successful year on Fiverr.

Also, I couldn’t agree more:

And don’t forget: vacation mode exists for a reason, and contrary to what whiny and unsuccessful sellers say, it doesn’t do a single thing to impact your gig placement and number of sales.

I use vacation mode regularly (even right now) to stem the flow of orders. It has never been detrimental to my search ranking or overall sales.

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fonthaunt Proficient

fonthaunt

Posted
Posted

Hey, everybody! I’ve been selling on Fiverr since February of 2015 and it’s been a great ride. If you care to do so, you can read what I wrote about my one-year anniversary here: 1 Year Seller Anniversary on Fiverr Since almost this time a year ago, I’ve doubled my prices, doubled my average daily work queue, and made close to $20k net revenue. Considering that I made less than $4k net-revenue in my first year, I think that’s pretty good. My goal for the coming year is to net over $30k, and I’m on track to getting it. So when I share these tips, I’m not Mr. Rando Nooby copy/pasting whatever Google could find at the bottom of the interwebs - this is straight from my life experience on Fiverr. There are sellers who make a lot more than I do on Fiverr, but then, this is exactly the kind of income I want to be earning so that I can work at home, spend time with my children, let my wife work her job when I’m not working, and generally be able to enjoy my life without stressing about working for a corporate overlord.

So now that I’ve turned 2 as a seller, what have I learned?

  1. Work when it’s time to work.

    309901611bce0546549742464749cf927f1952a7.jpg

    Close your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Close all chat programs, and put your phone on silent ringer. Do your work. Just do it. If you were employed at a 9-to-5 in a corporate job, you’d have a supervisor monitoring you to ensure you stayed on task, but since you’re a free-lancer you have to be your own supervisor. If you don’t have the self-discipline to work when it’s time to work, then free-lancing isn’t going to be a very profitable or enjoyable job for you. You’ve seriously got to learn how to focus and DO YOUR WORK. Don’t check your social networks for status updates between orders: once you get started working, keep working. If you’re going to take a break, keep it short and then get back to work. I don’t think anybody really likes to work - that’s why we enjoy taking time off, right? - so do your work when it’s time to do your work and you won’t have to work all day.

  2. Don’t answer messages before you complete your work

    8065431cf726fc1045c2eecb4e7642a293e97b04.png

    This is going to seem counter-intuitive, but seriously: DON’T EVEN OPEN YOUR INBOX until you’ve cleared your work for the day. Responding to messages from new and repeat buyers is an important part of maintaining a steady queue of work, but speaking for myself it takes as much time to respond to messages, fix problems, and send custom offers as it does to actually do my work. For this reason, I almost never open my inbox until after I’ve completed my work. If I start my Fiverr work-day by answering messages, it exhausts me. It throws me out of focus, breaks my equilibrium, and leaves me feeling tired and scattered by the time I’ve finished my work for the day. If new buyers have sent you a message asking for a custom offer, trust me: they’ll still be there in a few hours. If they have to have the work and they have to have it now, then chances are excellent that they sent that same message to multiple sellers and were going to beat you up on price, anyway. If they’re a reasonable person who understands that you always complete paid work before answering unpaid emails, then they’ll expect that it’s going to take a few hours to get a response from you. Complete paid work first, and leave unpaid emails last - I promise you’ll thank yourself for it.

  3. Don’t work when you’re not working

    f38a3c2c7282cb6b923bb71b78df16c8c1e27efe.jpg

    It’s great that we have a Fiverr app for our phones and the Fiverr website for our computers, but let’s be honest with ourselves: How much of our time do we really want to spend working? Speaking for myself, I’m self employed so that I can enjoy more of my life as opposed to less of my life. You’re welcome to tell me if I’m wrong, but I’d wager money that you do, too. So what this means is that you should respect your limits and remember that buyers don’t get 24/7 access to you via Fiverr inbox. You don’t have to advertise it on your gig (although some sellers do), but you should pick a time of day when you figuratively go home and aren’t at work anymore. Once this time hits, don’t respond to buyer requests and emails. Relax. Sit back, enjoy your dinner, watch some Netflix, and maybe even get some coitus un-interruptus. You don’t live to work - you work to live. So LIVE! And don’t forget: vacation mode exists for a reason, and contrary to what whiny and unsuccessful sellers say, it doesn’t do a single thing to impact your gig placement and number of sales. Take one or two days off from Fiverr work every week - whether it’s a steady Saturday/Sunday weekend, or if it’s split-up during the week, whatever - you must take time off from Fiverr work or else you’re going to suffer burn-out, you’ll resent the time you spend working, and you won’t be motivated to give your best effort on the work you complete. Take regular time off - you deserve it. If you’ve got clients beating you up for 24/7/365 availability, you should fire those clients. They’ll beat you up on price, harass you for immediate delivery, and probably never even thank you for your time. You deserve better than stress and anxiety - that’s why you’re a free-lancer! Remember to take care of yourself - I promise you’ll regret it if you don’t.

Welcome to the new forum, James! First, it’s nice to see you around even if you are dropping by. Best of wishes on your anniversary and your success too!

I’m going to respond to some of your tips just from my own perspective, but I think they are useful and interesting for anyone who has the experiences you have. You have many more sales than I do, so while I do consider myself successful in the sense that I am doing as well part-time as I need to on Fiverr for right now, your tips may apply differently to different people.

My take:

Close your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Close all chat programs, and put your phone on silent ringer. Do your work. Just do it.

I totally agree with this and I think it derails many who go straight to self-employment. Many people do not manage their time well enough to be a full time freelancer.

This is going to seem counter-intuitive, but seriously: DON’T EVEN OPEN YOUR INBOX until you’ve cleared your work for the day.

If I start my Fiverr work-day by answering messages, it exhausts me. It throws me out of focus, breaks my equilibrium, and leaves me feeling tired and scattered by the time I’ve finished my work for the day.

I don’t actually disagree with the above if it works for you. It wouldn’t work for me. When I did work at a full time “real job” I always spent time with my morning coffee and my email. It allowed me to pay attention to clients fast even if it only told them I received the message and would be in touch later. On Fiverr, I do the same. I try to relax, have my snack, and even let the TV play for a limited time (an hour-ish) while I answer messages before I work. Just for me, that is time to let my brain warm up for work and is the opposite of exhausting. It works for me since at the end of the scheduled time I may not have answered all, but I’ve gone through the critical ones and sent canned replies to others. If I work first, sometimes I end up answer messages a day late and that doesn’t work for my mindset. If it works for yours and others, go for it! We aren’t all the same.

Don’t work when you’re not working

I agree heartily with giving yourself off-time! I am not one of those people who keeps my online “light” on and answers everything on mobile. I did sell faster and perhaps more when i worked that way and it helped me hit level 2. it sucked away my family time, so I don’t do it anymore.

don’t forget: vacation mode exists for a reason, and contrary to what whiny and unsuccessful sellers say, it doesn’t do a single thing to impact your gig placement and number of sales. Take one or two days off from Fiverr work every week

On this one, I think perspective makes a big difference. Vacation Mode can be useful and even necessary although limit orders works better for me in most cases. Your comment makes more sense to me on the “take one or two days off a week” part for established sellers who keep gigs in queue or have regular buyers waiting. I think that would affect ranking little under those circumstances.

For part-timers like me or new sellers who have great gigs but are starting out, I don’t think the “whiny and unsuccessful” phrase applies at all and I think it’s downright cold when written that way. There are far too many sellers from beginning to TRS who have mentioned that VM doesn’t work well for everyone and some people get burned by it badly. Granted, most of those are probably talking about needing 3-14 days off, not a couple of days. It happens, though, and there are plenty of sellers who have had to contact CS when they return, ask to be shown in search again, and still have to push really hard to regain some ranking. People move, they get seriously ill, they get married, they have a baby and a couple of days may not cut it. Even a seller with thousands of reviews should be aware that you might have to push hard when you return from a longer stint on pause or VM.

For sellers who are new or who don’t use Fiverr full-time, they may find that 1-2 day Vacation Mode has a bit of a sting unless you can get multiple orders immediately and delivery them fast. Sometimes even then you’ll need to contact CS and you’ll be slower than usual for a little while right after those off days. A new seller trying to hit levels or a seller who may get a few sales a week instead of a few a day might have trouble working this out. As long as you have multiple streams of income, are prepared for the slowdown, have some savings in the bank - by all means take a day or two off once a week if you need it. i still think it’s worth saying that it doesn’t make you whiny or unsuccessful to have a bit of trouble making it work, and it doesn’t snap back fast for every seller.

No offense meant to the OP at all, these are my opinions from a different sales category and a different way of working. 🙂

Remember to take care of yourself - I promise you’ll regret it if you don’t.

Absolutely!! Even with my cautions about vacation mode, make use of limit orders, pauses, VM or just a few hours away from the computer every evening or whatever time of day suits you. Be sure to EAT and pound water! Take time to stretch your computer-chair stiffness and take a walk. Get SLEEP (one of my problem areas) and don’t let Fiverr take you over. If you have family, spent time with them every single day. I agree with James on this and if you don’t take care of yourself, your success will limit itself when your body pays you back!

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