Patience and success

[shawon_leo]

After complete 7 orders, I was sitting idle for at least two months. In between, I send numerous buyer request, some of them also contact with me to share samples; I also shared samples but somehow customer not communicating or accept my offer even after confirm that my work is found OK. Some cases customer contact me to share samples, I did ASAP but no response and in the end few buyer sometimes show courtesy to let me know that they did the job from some other sellers. Two occasion client wasn’t satisfied even after delivery the work so I mutually canceled orders. That time feel little bit sad about my performance but never give up.

Spending time day/night at fiverr buyer request didn’t work for me. But I was determined, never demoralized… I, you, we all have our different kind of skills but in Freelancing most important thing is that believe in your ability and have PATIENCE, PATIENCE, and PATIENCE. Definitely, we all can achieve our goal.

My all 7 orders come from buyer request. But one day all of a sudden, I got a request from a buyer for an emergency request. The work was critical and need meticulous attention but payment was less. However, I did full effort to break the barrier of 7 orders. And I succeed.

This message is for those who felt tired after stuck at some point (particularly initial stage) of his freelancing. For them, I just want to say - Actually, not every person are skilled but if you have patience and faith in you that is the key to success in freelancing!

Happy Freelancing!

[mariashtelle1]

Well, I can see 2 lessons to be learned from your story:

1. Never work for free and send samples (no one will pay after they already received work for free)
2. Being a freelancer is a huge effort and just siting on Fiverr and sending buyer requests might not do much. Work on many other streams of your work to gain visibility and different types of income. 

[shawon_leo]

Well, I can see 2 lessons to be learned from your story:

1. Never work for free and send samples (no one will pay after they already received work for free)
2. Being a freelancer is a huge effort and just siting on fiverr and sending buyer requests might not do much. Work on many other streams of your work to gain visability and different types of income.

1. Thanks, I just forgot to mention that I do share samples but ALWAYS PUT WATERMARK ( anything even my name) to ensure delivery of clean image only when parties are agreed to pay otherwise will not share clean image.
2. You are absolutely right. However, I just share my experience to those freelancer who always blame himself and asking here & there why he/she is not getting order! I have seen someone is getting orders frequently and someone with good skills not getting much. Whatever the circumstance just we have to stick with our dream and goal.

[fastcopywriter]

If you like buyers requests, there’s a bunch of other websites like Fiverr where you can bid all day.

I think it’s better to work on your gigs, change tags, change prices, lower them, raise them, change the gig description, try new gig images, delete the gig video, ad a gig video, add a gig, delete an unpopular gig, and maybe you’ll see orders coming back.

Imagine that Fiverr is your personal store with a robot that never sleeps. Now imagine that store is in a crowded street with thousands of stores like you. What will you do for customers to come in and order? That’s how I approach Fiverr.

[shawon_leo]

If you like buyers requests, there’s a bunch of other websites like Fiverr where you can bid all day.

I think it’s better to work on your gigs, change tags, change prices, lower them, raise them, change the gig description, try new gig images, delete the gig video, ad a gig video, add a gig, delete an unpopular gig, and maybe you’ll see orders coming back.

Imagine that Fiverr is your personal store with a robot that never sleeps. Now imagine that store is in a crowded street with thousands of stores like you. What will you do for customers to come in and order? That’s how I approach Fiverr.

Thanks a lot brother for your valuable comments. Whatever you mentioned, I gained such knowledge from here in this forum from peoples like you or sitting with successful fiverr freelancer and act accordingly. But somehow it wasn’t working. There is still long way to go and improvement has no limit.

Definitely all freelancer has knowledge about multiple freelancing sites. But you know among us some freelancers are thinking within a day orders will be flooded. I personally know some sellers gigs content is much better than others but still not getting orders. I always try to encourage them to overcome such situation and gain success.

[fastcopywriter]

On 1/2/2019 at 4:29 AM, shawon_leo said:

Thanks a lot brother for your valuable comments. Whatever you mentioned, I gained such knowledge from here in this forum from peoples like you or sitting with successful fiverr freelancer and act accordingly. But somehow it wasn’t working. There is still long way to go and improvement has no limit.

Definitely all freelancer has knowledge about multiple freelancing sites. But you know among us some freelancers are thinking within a day orders will be flooded. I personally know some sellers gigs content is much better than others but still not getting orders. I always try to encourage them to overcome such situation and gain success.

You’re welcome. The only advice I have is try doing a little less. Not remove the backgrounds of 10 images, but maybe 1-5, or 1-3, and not in 1-day but 3. Let them pay you extra for one day delivery.

Also, if you can take some English courses, that would help you. It’s “graphic design” not “graphics design.”

I don’t think most people are bothered by it, but there’s always one or two that might. 

[shawon_leo]

You’re welcome. The only advice I have is try doing a little less. Not remove the backgrounds of 10 images, but maybe 1-5, or 1-3, and not in 1-day but 3. Let them pay you extra for one day delivery.

Also, if you can take some English courses, that would help you. It’s “graphic design” not “graphics design.”

I don’t think most people are bothered by it, but there’s always one or two that might.

I agreed with your point. But sometimes kept error intentionally to them who made mistakes 😉

Anyways, Thanks for your suggestions. It will work for me and others.

[humanissocial]

You’re welcome. The only advice I have is try doing a little less. Not remove the backgrounds of 10 images, but maybe 1-5, or 1-3, and not in 1-day but 3. Let them pay you extra for one day delivery.

Also, if you can take some English courses, that would help you. It’s “graphic design” not “graphics design.”

I don’t think most people are bothered by it, but there’s always one or two that might.

Great advice. Most people will probably only need a few background-free images. You should always design gigs around what people’s needs are.

[visualstudios]

You’re welcome. The only advice I have is try doing a little less. Not remove the backgrounds of 10 images, but maybe 1-5, or 1-3, and not in 1-day but 3. Let them pay you extra for one day delivery.

Also, if you can take some English courses, that would help you. It’s “graphic design” not “graphics design.”

I don’t think most people are bothered by it, but there’s always one or two that might.

The ones willing to pay well definitely are. Pro tip #1 to increase earnings is to deal with buyers with more money to spend. More money on the buying side, better deals for the seller. And there’s a strong co-relation between english proficiency and available capital, it’s widely available statistics.

[fastcopywriter]

On 1/2/2019 at 9:51 PM, visualstudios said:

More money on the buying side, better deals for the seller. 

I always like to read the reviews of the people charging $50 and more. You’d be surprised, some expensive sellers have gigs rated at 4.7, which isn’t necessarily their fault because some gigs are subjective, they’re not objective like removing a background, but a matter of opinion.

I’ve seen reviews like “I can’t believe I paid $100 for this!”

So sellers charging more, are expected to deliver more and sometimes that’s not feasible.

If you ask me to write book titles for a book about entrepreneurship, my work will be the same whether I get paid $10 or $100, because my abilities are the same, and the time I spend on that order will be the same.

I’m not going to deliver crap just because I’m getting paid $10, every job matters, but if I wanted to spend 8-hours on an order, I would get a job that pays a salary instead of doing gigs. Besides, I don’t believe spending 8-hours would result in better work. Sometimes the first 5 or 10 ideas are the best ones, I heard stories of clients that got 100 whatever, and they didn’t like any of them. In fact, if you were to product 100, and present only the best 5 or 10, you run the risk of eliminating a lot of good ones. This may be OK in an office setting, but I don’t think it works on Fiverr. 

[visualstudios]

On 1/2/2019 at 11:21 PM, fastcopywriter said:

I always like to read the reviews of the people charging $50 and more. You’d be surprised, some expensive sellers have gigs rated at 4.7, which isn’t necessarily their fault because some gigs are subjective, they’re not objective like removing a background, but a matter of opinion.

I’ve seen reviews like “I can’t believe I paid $100 for this!”

So sellers charging more, are expected to deliver more and sometimes that’s not feasible.

If you ask me to write book titles for a book about entrepreneurship, my work will be the same whether I get paid $10 or $100, because my abilities are the same, and the time I spend on that order will be the same.

I’m not going to deliver crap just because I’m getting paid $10, every job matters, but if I wanted to spend 8-hours on an order, I would get a job that pays a salary instead of doing gigs. Besides, I don’t believe spending 8-hours would result in better work. Sometimes the first 5 or 10 ideas are the best ones, I heard stories of clients that got 100 whatever, and they didn’t like any of them. In fact, if you were to product 100, and present only the best 5 or 10, you run the risk of eliminating a lot of good ones. This may be OK in an office setting, but I don’t think it works on Fiverr.

It’s very dependent on your line of work. In the video world, you always price for value, never for time or other considerations. “How much is this video worth to my client?”. The richer the client, the more it will be of value to him, because 1) money is relative and 2) higher chances of the video actually making money if you are dealing with a bigger company (better ad management, more reach, better product, etc.).

You will spend the same amount of time on a book title about entrepreneurship regardless of price, yes. But will you charge the same to write the title for Mr. Nobody’s book as you would for, say, a book by Elon Musk? This is an extreme example, but obviously you should charge Mr. Musk much more, and he probably wouldn’t even want to go with you if you didn’t - he expects to pay. (Again, this is an extreme example - maybe in this case you would even do it for free just to be able to say you had worked with him, huge future benefits potentially).

You don’t need to spend 8 hours on an order to make the same money of 8 1-hour orders. You just need to find a client to which your service is worth 8 times more. There’s nothing shady or dishonest here, it’s simply the way things work. If you have more money, everything will be comparatively cheaper from your perspective.

And I’m not sure why you singled out $50 orders and above, those are not particularly big for most jobs, our cheapest gigs at the moment start at $100, and that’s the minimum we’re allowed (on the pro platform). The key to being successful on Fiverr (or in any business) is to keep delivering quality while looking for ways to make it faster (so, in time terms, to cost you less) and to sell it for more.

Finally, this mindset requires creative work. Video, audio, design, creative writing are perfect for this. For repetitive, mechanic tasks, you basically have to price by the hour, because any typist / data entry guy will be basically the same as any other. Book titles will lie somewhere in between the two extremes - there’s creativity, but the scope is much narrower, there’s a relatively limited pool of words that will work for any given book title, after all lol 

[fastcopywriter]

On 1/3/2019 at 12:56 PM, visualstudios said:

But will you charge the same to write the title for Mr. Nobody’s book as you would for, say, a book by Elon Musk? 

A guy like Elon Musk would work with an established book publisher, who already employs editors, proofreaders, and marketing people that help with titles, covers, etc.

Also, if Elon Musk created a Fiverr account, he would most likely use an anonymous name like the rest of us, so I wouldn’t known he’s the one hiring me. Even if I did, I can’t charge him more than I charge my other clients. Send a custom offer for $20 when your gig says $10, and things could go south really fast. Client might demand a refund on that basis.

On 1/3/2019 at 12:56 PM, visualstudios said:

You just need to find a client to which your service is worth 8 times more.

True, but think about this. When a Hollywood celebrity wants to buy real estate, they often use a proxy company, that way the home owner doesn’t know the buyer has millions and can afford to pay full price. This also protects confidentiality for a while. There are ways to find out who owns a proxy company, but it’s not easy.

I do see your point, maybe with a better gig description, I could target richer clients. I don’t do that because I’ve seen those gig descriptions, and they tend to brag a lot and create really high expectations, which lead to trouble later on.

In fact, one of the downsides of being a Top Rated Seller (I was for a while), is that people tend to expect a lot more with their deliveries. They think they’re hiring Mozart, Shakespeare, Einstein, when in reality they’re hiring someone who was level 2 for a while, who delivered on time, had a high volume of sales, treated his customers relatively well, and was rewarded by the editors who noticed him or her, most likely out of luck, since I don’t believe most level 2’s are noticed. 

[humanissocial]

On 1/3/2019 at 1:00 PM, fastcopywriter said:

I always like to read the reviews of the people charging $50 and more. You’d be surprised, some expensive sellers have gigs rated at 4.7, which isn’t necessarily their fault because some gigs are subjective, they’re not objective like removing a background, but a matter of opinion.

I’ve seen reviews like “I can’t believe I paid $100 for this!”

So sellers charging more, are expected to deliver more and sometimes that’s not feasible.

If you ask me to write book titles for a book about entrepreneurship, my work will be the same whether I get paid $10 or $100, because my abilities are the same, and the time I spend on that order will be the same.

I’m not going to deliver crap just because I’m getting paid $10, every job matters, but if I wanted to spend 8-hours on an order, I would get a job that pays a salary instead of doing gigs. Besides, I don’t believe spending 8-hours would result in better work. Sometimes the first 5 or 10 ideas are the best ones, I heard stories of clients that got 100 whatever, and they didn’t like any of them. In fact, if you were to product 100, and present only the best 5 or 10, you run the risk of eliminating a lot of good ones. This may be OK in an office setting, but I don’t think it works on Fiverr.

Very well said! Much of my work is in strategy, so it’s quite subjective and I’ve found that strategy is very abstract for many people who aren’t willing to pay much. Also, a lot of people tend to associate price with the number of pages in a strategy delivery. That isn’t at all how you measure value, but unless you are a professional, it’s hard to understand that. 

[visualstudios]

On 1/3/2019 at 1:09 PM, fastcopywriter said:

A guy like Elon Musk would work with an established book publisher, who already employs editors, proofreaders, and marketing people that help with titles, covers, etc.

Also, if Elon Musk created a Fiverr account, he would most likely use an anonymous name like the rest of us, so I wouldn’t known he’s the one hiring me. Even if I did, I can’t charge him more than I charge my other clients. Send a custom offer for $20 when your gig says $10, and things could go south really fast. Client might demand a refund on that basis.

True, but think about this. When a Hollywood celebrity wants to buy real estate, they often use a proxy company, that way the home owner doesn’t know the buyer has millions and can afford to pay full price. This also protects confidentiality for a while. There are ways to find out who owns a proxy company, but it’s not easy.

I do see your point, maybe with a better gig description, I could target richer clients. I don’t do that because I’ve seen those gig descriptions, and they tend to brag a lot and create really high expectations, which lead to trouble later on.

In fact, one of the downsides of being a Top Rated Seller (I was for a while), is that people tend to expect a lot more with their deliveries. They think they’re hiring Mozart, Shakespeare, Einstein, when in reality they’re hiring someone who was level 2 for a while, who delivered on time, had a high volume of sales, treated his customers relatively well, and was rewarded by the editors who noticed him or her, most likely out of luck, since I don’t believe most level 2’s are noticed.

It depends on how you look at it. All our prices are merely representative, and we disclose that. We don’t do orders without previous contact and discussion either. So far we haven’t had any problems - we see what the client wants, we send a quote, either he accepts or he doesn’t - sometimes the quote is in line with our prices on the gig, sometimes not, different clients need different things. The less objective your work is, the more you should do this.

Elon Musk was an hyperbole just to prove a point. Between Mr. “I want to create a book for $5” and Mr. “I want to make a good book for $5000” you have a lot of leeway, and both of those will probably not got through proxies. If you are aiming at 6 figure deals then yes, you’ll deal with the big boys. But there’s a sweet spot in the middle somewhere, and that’s where we try to get our clients from.

One thing that is cristal clear to us, though, is that the more a client is willing to spend, the less of a pita he will be, statistically. If we get a client haggling on price aggressively, we immediately wish him a good day and let him know that we are not interested in working with him. Our biggest orders so far have all been with very understanding buyers with great communication skills, and they are usually the ones that need less (or more concrete) revisions and end up leaving the best reviews. You would think expectations increase linearly with price, but this simply isn’t the case. Clients with less money tend to value their time less, and therefore value your time less as well. 

[fastcopywriter]

On 1/3/2019 at 3:49 PM, visualstudios said:

We don’t do orders without previous contact and discussion either.

That’s surprising, most of my orders are without prior contact, and I tend to prefer it that way. What do you do when people order without messaging first?

I agree with hagglers. The only exception are people who want half the work, so if they want 5 things instead of 10, I’m willing to give a discount, but if they want me to do 10 and pay me for 5, that I don’t do.

On 1/3/2019 at 3:49 PM, visualstudios said:

Clients with less money tend to value their time less, and therefore value your time less as well.

I disagree. Think of Steve Jobs, he didn’t have a lot of money when he got started making computers, from his garage, yet he was as serious as a Fortune 500 corporation.

Lack of money doesn’t indicate the buyer isn’t serious or strategic or has big dreams. Very few people are ordering logos or whatever just for fun.

The Internet has allowed every Tom, Dick, and Harry to become a businessman. Today people are opening websites like crazy, selling their own products or doing affiliate marketing. Some will become hugely successful, some will make a little money, and some will fail.

Our job is to mine the miners, sell them everything they need to go out and find that gold. 

[visualstudios]

On 1/4/2019 at 5:57 AM, fastcopywriter said:

That’s surprising, most of my orders are without prior contact, and I tend to prefer it that way. What do you do when people order without messaging first?

I agree with hagglers. The only exception are people who want half the work, so if they want 5 things instead of 10, I’m willing to give a discount, but if they want me to do 10 and pay me for 5, that I don’t do.

I disagree. Think of Steve Jobs, he didn’t have a lot of money when he got started making computers, from his garage, yet he was as serious as a Fortune 500 corporation.

Lack of money doesn’t indicate the buyer isn’t serious or strategic or has big dreams. Very few people are ordering logos or whatever just for fun.

The Internet has allowed every Tom, Dick, and Harry to become a businessman. Today people are opening websites like crazy, selling their own products or doing affiliate marketing. Some will become hugely successful, some will make a little money, and some will fail.

Our job is to mine the miners, sell them everything they need to go out and find that gold.

As I said, it depends on what you do. If you always do the same thing, probably you don’t need to be contacted before, your prices will be mostly fixed, etc.

For us, a combination of our prices (nobody orders $100+ gigs by mistake) and pretty much “contact us before ordering!!!” everywhere. If somebody orders without a previous agreement, we cancel (but nobody does it, fortunately).

Your point about Steve Jobs is completely unrelated to what I said, though. When he started he didn’t have a lot of money, sure, but when he started he wasn’t delegating and outsourcing work online anyway. And he did steal like $1500 from Wozniak on the Atari deal precisely for being broke, so I have no idea what you are on about.

Clients with more money pay more. That’s just a fact. And your comparison with the gold rush is flawed - 99% of them will fail. Most are too cheap for us to even sell them a shovel. Simply not worth it. 

[businessreserch]

You’re welcome. The only advice I have is try doing a little less. Not remove the backgrounds of 10 images, but maybe 1-5, or 1-3, and not in 1-day but 3. Let them pay you extra for one day delivery.

Also, if you can take some English courses, that would help you. It’s “graphic design” not “graphics design.”

I don’t think most people are bothered by it, but there’s always one or two that might.

Thanks for your valuable comments… Thankyou so much again…

Can i know something about English courses… Can you send me a link of some courses…

[fastcopywriter]

Thanks for your valuable comments… Thankyou so much again…

Can i know something about English courses… Can you send me a link of some courses…

I don’t think we’re supposed to share links on the forum, that usually gets me in trouble.

For English, there are free options like Duolingo and Babbel.

There are also courses you can take in Udemy, but I can’t recommend any of them because I never needed them.

[businessreserch]

I don’t think we’re supposed to share links on the forum, that usually gets me in trouble.

For English, there are free options like Duolingo and Babbel.

There are also courses you can take in Udemy, but I can’t recommend any of them because I never needed them.

Ok Thankyou very much. Can i know that as what about changing Gig titles?

[fastcopywriter]

Ok Thankyou very much. Can i know that as what about changing Gig titles?

You can change your gig title anytime you want. I try to get to the point quickly with gig titles.

I Will Write A Radio Commercial In 3 Days

See? That’s crystal clear.

Other examples can be

I will design 2 Facebook covers

I will create a minimalist logo

Etc.

I try to avoid adjectives like “great.” I also don’t deliver in 24-hours unless I’m paid to do so, although that strategy seems to work for some.

[stefanmdesigns]

1. Thanks, I just forgot to mention that I do share samples but ALWAYS PUT WATERMARK ( anything even my name) to ensure delivery of clean image only when parties are agreed to pay otherwise will not share clean image.
2. You are absolutely right. However, I just share my experience to those freelancer who always blame himself and asking here & there why he/she is not getting order! I have seen someone is getting orders frequently and someone with good skills not getting much. Whatever the circumstance just we have to stick with our dream and goal.

I think, fiverr puts watemark on delivery photos?

[shawon_leo]

I think, fiverr puts watemark on delivery photos?

Yes, you are right. But, I am talking about client who knock me via inbox and asking me that can I do something or show some sample on a particular works. I always agree and shared the requirement with my own watermark. Once client satisfied , immediately send him customized offer and ask him to accept the work. That time Fiverr put watermark and ensure my earning.

[humanissocial]

On 1/7/2019 at 12:08 PM, fastcopywriter said:

That’s surprising, most of my orders are without prior contact, and I tend to prefer it that way. What do you do when people order without messaging first?

I agree with hagglers. The only exception are people who want half the work, so if they want 5 things instead of 10, I’m willing to give a discount, but if they want me to do 10 and pay me for 5, that I don’t do.

I disagree. Think of Steve Jobs, he didn’t have a lot of money when he got started making computers, from his garage, yet he was as serious as a Fortune 500 corporation.

Lack of money doesn’t indicate the buyer isn’t serious or strategic or has big dreams. Very few people are ordering logos or whatever just for fun.

The Internet has allowed every Tom, Dick, and Harry to become a businessman. Today people are opening websites like crazy, selling their own products or doing affiliate marketing. Some will become hugely successful, some will make a little money, and some will fail.

Our job is to mine the miners, sell them everything they need to go out and find that gold.

@visualstudios

Thank you both for your insights. You have me wondering which I prefer: messages before orders or orders without prior contact?

With the exception of one of my gigs, I actually tend to prefer to not have prior contact because it tends to be a fairly lengthy discussion, which takes my time from other things. I also just love the surprise of an unexpected order, especially if the client’s goal is really interesting.

That being said, when someone contacts me first, it often turns out that they want more than what they initially asked for, or through our discussion they reveal a problem for which one of my other packages, extras or even gigs presents a solution. I end up making a custom offer with a significantly higher price than what they initially asked for, and they accept the offer. It all happens very organically, based on what the buyer is looking for. I never do a hard upsell.

For this reason I highly recommend buyers create gigs that are a natural extension of their other gigs. There’s a very good chance that a buyer may return to buy something else or will at least ask you about it. 

[fastcopywriter]

@visualstudios

Thank you both for your insights. You have me wondering which I prefer: messages before orders or orders without prior contact?

With the exception of one of my gigs, I actually tend to prefer to not have prior contact because it tends to be a fairly lengthy discussion, which takes my time from other things. I also just love the surprise of an unexpected order, especially if the client’s goal is really interesting.

That being said, when someone contacts me first, it often turns out that they want more than what they initially asked for, or through our discussion they reveal a problem for which one of my other packages, extras or even gigs presents a solution. I end up making a custom offer with a significantly higher price than what they initially asked for, and they accept the offer. It all happens very organically, based on what the buyer is looking for. I never do a hard upsell.

For this reason I highly recommend buyers create gigs that are a natural extension of their other gigs. There’s a very good chance that a buyer may return to buy something else or will at least ask you about it.

The only advantage of messages is that you might lead your buyer into purchasing an expensive package.

For example, today a woman asked me if I could do X.

I told her I can, but she’ll get more value from my standard and premium package because of Y.

She not only ordered standard, but she paid for 1-day delivery. So instead of getting $10 or $20, I got a $40 order.

On the other hand, if I wake up in the morning and find 3-5 orders waiting for me, that’s extremely exciting.

My advice is choose which gigs require previous communication and which ones don’t. In the gigs that do, you can write something like “PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE ORDERING” right at the top or bottom of the gig description.

I prefer the bottom because I want them to read the gig description.

[humanissocial]

On 1/7/2019 at 12:54 PM, fastcopywriter said:

The only advantage of messages is that you might lead your buyer into purchasing an expensive package.

For example, today a woman asked me if I could do X.

I told her I can, but she’ll get more value from my standard and premium package because of Y.

She not only ordered standard, but she paid for 1-day delivery. So instead of getting $10 or $20, I got a $40 order.

On the other hand, if I wake up in the morning and find 3-5 orders waiting for me, that’s extremely exciting.

My advice is choose which gigs require previous communication and which ones don’t. In the gigs that do, you can write something like “PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE ORDERING” right at the top or bottom of the gig description.

I prefer the bottom because I want them to read the gig description.

Good for you! Thanks for that great example.

I personally feel that upselling isn’t the only advantage of messages. I learn sooo much about my market from these messages, specifically their pain points.