Need tips in skills verification and specialization

[tosindev]

Hello,
I’m from Thailand (but currently in the Philippines), brand new to Fiverr and looking to learn to work while traveling. I have posted my first gig already but would like some advice in:

1. Skills verification - as I added English to Thai and Thai to English translation, the site says these skills need to be verified, but on the skills test there are none of these skills to be tested.

2. Specialization - as I have different skills that aren’t closely relate to each other such as mechanical engineering, 3D modeling, content research & writing, translation, music production, and iOS app development, I’d like to know if creating gigs that cover such fields would hinder how people perceive my specialization?

Thank you,
Tosin

[miiila]

Hi Tosin,

the skill tests, it could be that you need to do some English test/s, not English-Thai (if there are none available). If it’s not that, you’ll have to contact support to tell them about the issue (on the main site, click your profile pic or scroll to the footer for the Help & Support link and navigate yourself through the Help Center until you find the Contact us button).

Jack-of-all-trades gigs are a gamble; personally, as a buyer, I’d rather order from a seller specializing in one field, expecting deeper vs shallower knowledge then, but it depends on the buyers you want to attract and also, there are so many factors to being successful on a platform like this that it might work, depends on you.

Perhaps simply start with the one or two fields you are the most experienced in/would want to do the most and see how it goes?
You can always decide to add more variety or, on the contrary, specialise more - when you set up gigs, you’ll see that most categories, even subcategories, have options for offering more specialised services. Like, some buyers might be fine with “any writer”, others will only hire one who is specialising in cryptocurrency, etc .

In your place, I’d just start with something you can do really well (the first reviews are the most important ones and can make or break an account) and have a passion for and see where it will take you. Start simple and focus on that, it’s easier to add more later on than it probably will be to juggle lots of very different things and to convince people to hire someone who “thinks he can do everything” - no judgement here, you may well be able to do all that what you list 🙂 but I’m pretty sure that’s what many potential buyers will think when looking at an array of such diverse gigs from the same seller.

Then again, I’m also pretty sure there are buyers who only will see the gig they found you with and won’t even be aware that you have other gigs (if you stay on this forum for a while, you’ll quickly learn that there are buyers who apparently can’t or don’t ever read; sellers, too, tbf 😉 ), so, who knows.

Just try what you feel aligns best with you and your dream clients.

And welcome to the forum!

[tosindev]

Thank you so much Miiila, you reply is definitely helping me to make decisions with simplicity! As I will create the next gig with some relevance to the first one then see how it goes. Your perspective as a seller is invaluable.

You hit the point that I’ve been wondering about being “That new guy who thinks he can do everything” I’m trying to avoid being that until I’ve got some good reviews in and then step up.

Also do you look at sellers’ portfolios?

Thank you

[miiila]

Not all gigs have portfolios, depends on the category, but portfolios certainly are a big factor for buyers to decide whom to choose.

You’ll only have a Fiverr portfolio once you had a few reviewed gigs (not all buyers review and some untick the checkbox that allows the delivery to show on the seller’s portfolio page as a sample, for privacy reasons).

However, you have 3 slots for gig images and another 2, I think, where you can upload PDFs, plus you can upload a gig video, so there’s plenty of chances to create a portfolio to showcase former work you’ve done or you could do “mockups” that show what buyers can expect when ordering your gig.

Also, there is a list with URLs that are approved by Fiverr (I’m pretty sure flickr is on it, so, for instance, a photographer could use that and link to it in their gig description; you may need to make sure there’s no contact information on the portfolio page you link to, though, even if the site is on the approved page, Fiverr is pretty strict with their policies there - talking of which, in case you haven’t read the terms of service, definitely do).
I don’t have the link for "approved URLs handy but a search in the Seller Help Center or forum should come up with it.

Hope that helps. Good luck with getting your first gig soon.