Fiverr blog about mistakes to avoid as a freelancer, and #4 is as unexpected as it is good

[miiila]

4 of the 5 mistakes you should avoid as a freelancer, according to Fiverr make sense and probably aren’t news to many of us:

Not Treating Your Freelance Business Like a Business
Not Setting Clear Expectations
Not Knowing the Right Questions to Ask
Not Knowing How to Price Your Services

But #4 of 5 is out of line a bit, and I like it:

Not Practicing Self-Care

That paragraph has a rather interesting link too, to a Google Chrome extension to help protect your vision. I guess many of us could do with a little help with avoiding too much eye-strain, so maybe you’ll find this useful.
Not sure about posting the link but you’ll find it in the blog, and the rest is worth a read, or at least a scroll, too:
https://blog.fiverr.com/5-mistakes-you-should-avoid-as-a-freelancer/

[tamer_islam]

From me a request, explain about proper pricing the services.

[miiila]

It’s explained in the blog:

5. Not Knowing How to Price Your Services

An inspiring and empowering way to price your services is to work backward from your desired lifestyle. You can use an income calculator like this one from NPPA to calculate your expenses and the salary you want to earn.

In the beginning, you may take jobs at a lower rate to build your experience and this is ok. After all, you’re building a portfolio and want to gain clients’ trust. That being said, living that way forever isn’t ideal. Over time, you can slowly start to increase your prices and find a comfortable average.

Unless you are the only one in the world who offers your particular service, you may not be able to charge super-premium prices, so find a happy medium between the amount of work you are willing to put in, the value you offer, and the lifestyle you desire.

[uk1000]

The bit about “execute any check-ins along the way” doesn’t really work properly on Fiverr. ie. on normal orders there is no “check-in” or something to show work in progress or something that would stop them asking for >=30 revisions to it (30 things to change) before the delivery had been made. And questions along the way might not get answered in time with some buyers. Basically questions/“check-ins” along the way won’t stop the countdown but can lead to increased things along the way or more waiting for an answer with the clock still running. Only gigs with milestones have “check-ins” but they’re only for >=$100 orders and I’m not sure if they’re available for everything yet.

Also maybe the way Fiverr is set up could help sellers more in some of the things suggested in it. eg. the way Fiver is currently set up limits sellers (in terms of number of gigs they can create etc.) and also prevents sellers putting their own limits properly. The way Fiverr works, its limitations and the evaluations limit how sellers work (eg. maybe a seller could easily do a buyer request that isn’t currently being shown to them but because it isn’t shown, maybe because they don’t have a gig in that category, maybe because of the limits on gigs, they never see that and can’t apply for that request).

[miiila]

There are many blogs that aren’t specifically written “for Fiverr use” but generally for freelancers.
The point about self-care and more specifically eye-care, though, is relevant for anyone.
It might even be possible to avoid eyesight issues, and glasses too, to an extent, by taking care of one’s eyes, and many people who look at their screen all day or night long, aren’t even aware that their are some exercises which could prevent trouble there. I recently got myself a book with some good tips and exercises and I’m trying to implement them.

[uk1000]

There are many blogs that aren’t specifically written “for Fiverr use” but generally for freelancers.

The point about self-care and more specifically eye-care, though, is relevant for anyone.

It might even be possible to avoid eyesight issues, and glasses too, to an extent, by taking care of one’s eyes, and many people who look at their screen all day or night long, aren’t even aware that their are some exercises which could prevent trouble there. I recently got myself a book with some good tips and exercises and I’m trying to implement them.

Maybe they should also take into account in the blog/Fiverr that their gig videos don’t give a volume control on Chrome until you click to play the video, and when you do it’s automatically set to the max volume and if you change it and then click to another video that too will be defaulted to the max volume instead of remembering your previous setting. Maybe that could affect the “take care of yourself” section since that could affect hearing probably.

[miiila]

Maybe they should also take into account in the blog/Fiverr that their gig videos don’t give a volume control on Chrome until you click to play the video, and when you do it’s automatically set to the max volume and if you change it and then click to another video that too will be defaulted to the max volume instead of remembering your previous setting. Maybe that could affect the “take care of yourself” section since that could affect hearing probably.

Would be nice if it defaulted to the last volume you picked, right.

[cyaxrex]

There are many blogs that aren’t specifically written “for Fiverr use” but generally for freelancers.

The point about self-care and more specifically eye-care, though, is relevant for anyone.

It might even be possible to avoid eyesight issues, and glasses too, to an extent, by taking care of one’s eyes, and many people who look at their screen all day or night long, aren’t even aware that their are some exercises which could prevent trouble there. I recently got myself a book with some good tips and exercises and I’m trying to implement them.

There are many blogs that aren’t specifically written “for Fiverr use” but generally for freelancers.

The point about self-care and more specifically eye-care, though, is relevant for anyone.

Eye care has nothing on the amount of exposure to electrosmog and dirty electricity most freelancers get. I’m sensitive to EMF radiation to the point where I do not have wifi at home or ever have my phone on indoors. I also only work in areas of my home which get the least amount of exposure to my neighbors wifi.

I’m also down to my last two incandescent bulbs. This means I have 2x working light bulbs in a two bedroom apartment with two bathrooms, lounge, and kitchen.

While not everyone is sensitive to EMFs, everyone gets the same adverse health effects. Anyone I have ever met who suffers recurring headaches (who I have been able to convince to try it) has had them disappear in a few days by simply turning off the wifi and going wired.

Sadly, trying to convince people that it is not healthy to be bombarded all day by super convenient wifi, is pretty much impossible in 2019.

As for eye-care, I have an application on my linux desktop called Redshift which automatically dims blue light being emitted by the screen throughout the day. That paired with use of incandescent light bulbs or candle light can keep your eyes relatively healthy. That is of course, so long as people remember to go outside for a good few hours a day. 😉

[miiila]

There are many blogs that aren’t specifically written “for Fiverr use” but generally for freelancers.

The point about self-care and more specifically eye-care, though, is relevant for anyone.

Eye care has nothing on the amount of exposure to electrosmog and dirty electricity most freelancers get. I’m sensitive to EMF radiation to the point where I do not have wifi at home or ever have my phone on indoors. I also only work in areas of my home which get the least amount of exposure to my neighbors wifi.

I’m also down to my last two incandescent bulbs. This means I have 2x working light bulbs in a two bedroom apartment with two bathrooms, lounge, and kitchen.

While not everyone is sensitive to EMFs, everyone gets the same adverse health effects. Anyone I have ever met who suffers recurring headaches (who I have been able to convince to try it) has had them disappear in a few days by simply turning off the wifi and going wired.

Sadly, trying to convince people that it is not healthy to be bombarded all day by super convenient wifi, is pretty much impossible in 2019.

As for eye-care, I have an application on my linux desktop called Redshift which automatically dims blue light being emitted by the screen throughout the day. That paired with use of incandescent light bulbs or candle light can keep your eyes relatively healthy. That is of course, so long as people remember to go outside for a good few hours a day. 😉

That’s an interesting point about electrosmog.

I use blue light filters on my desktop and phone, plus my phone automatically switches to black and white at a time I’ve chosen to make late-night browsing less attractive…

I’m all for going outside, I’m trying to stick to my own rule of 3 park walks during the work day.