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I never knew I'd have so many caveats I'd learn I need for my gig


garciavo

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This isn’t a rant, just an observation. I had no idea I’d learn I have to put so many different things into my description and FAQ section to specify what I do and do not do for a voiceover. Today I learned I need to put in that I don’t break up my recording to fit into specific timestamps in your video. I only record from start to finish, to fit it into your whole video.

I got a job that I ended up sending the person a cancel link so that if they want to cancel and find someone who can help them better that they can do that. I did the recording and it sucks with the lost time but it was a good lesson to learn. $5 is not enough for a request to have to record 1 section for 5 seconds, the 2nd section for 10 seconds, the 3rd section for 20 seconds, the 4th for 4 seconds, and so forth. My brain just isn’t capable of doing that without wanting to hide from my work. 🙂 Maybe at a later date but certainly not right now.

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I can understand how you feel. I have learned all about voiceovers since I first came to fiverr, and they are not the easy simple gigs they seem to be. You could look at some gigs of top rated sellers of voiceovers to see the extras they offer and try to figure out how to offer some of them to your clients. I imagine it is a big learning curve.

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This isn’t a rant, just an observation. I had no idea I’d learn I have to put so many different things into my description and FAQ section to specify what I do and do not do for a voiceover. Today I learned I need to put in that I don’t break up my recording to fit into specific timestamps in your video. I only record from start to finish, to fit it into your whole video.

I got a job that I ended up sending the person a cancel link so that if they want to cancel and find someone who can help them better that they can do that. I did the recording and it sucks with the lost time but it was a good lesson to learn. $5 is not enough for a request to have to record 1 section for 5 seconds, the 2nd section for 10 seconds, the 3rd section for 20 seconds, the 4th for 4 seconds, and so forth. My brain just isn’t capable of doing that without wanting to hide from my work. 🙂 Maybe at a later date but certainly not right now.

I had no idea I’d learn I have to put so many different things into my description and FAQ section to specify what I do and do not do for a voiceover.

Don’t stress yourself out about it. If I had to include everything in my gig description that I don’t do, I’d still be writing it.

That said, I can’t stress enough what a difference escaping the purgatory of $5 pricing makes. Most people are more reasonable and discuss what they want before ordering when you charge more. By comparison, a lot of people see $5 prices as an open invitation to make you move a mountain for them.

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I had no idea I’d learn I have to put so many different things into my description and FAQ section to specify what I do and do not do for a voiceover.

Don’t stress yourself out about it. If I had to include everything in my gig description that I don’t do, I’d still be writing it.

That said, I can’t stress enough what a difference escaping the purgatory of $5 pricing makes. Most people are more reasonable and discuss what they want before ordering when you charge more. By comparison, a lot of people see $5 prices as an open invitation to make you move a mountain for them.

Yeah, I figure as I learn I can price differently. Right now I feel the most comfortable being at the $5 level since I’m new to all of this. 🙂

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I had the same experience when I first started. Book trailers was my first, most consistent, and current gig. Like you, I started with a $5 very basic video (which only sold once due to its extreme simplicity). As orders became more consistent, more and more people were requesting or demanding things that the cost just couldn’t justify. And they would come up with things I never dreamed of putting into my description.

For example, I had to define what a revision was and how many little changes I would do before charging for each additional change. I got to the point where I would change all the little things you wanted, as long as you sent me the entire list at once. Changing everything on the list would be one revision. Before that, I had people that would be like, “Oh, I don’t like the color on that slide,” or, “Thank you for changing that slide; now I need different wording at the beginning,” or, “Now that you’ve changed those two things, I’d like a different picture at 0:26.” You get the idea. It was irritating and exhausting getting these tiny changes one at a time. Changing it the way I did has saved a LOT of headache.

Once I had a handful of “cheap” gigs under my belt, I was able to charge more and offer more. It is really nice to get out of that $5 rut! It’s an ongoing learning experience, and you will always get surprises now and then. You just gotta keep going and adjust as you go. 🙂 Good luck!

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I had the same experience when I first started. Book trailers was my first, most consistent, and current gig. Like you, I started with a $5 very basic video (which only sold once due to its extreme simplicity). As orders became more consistent, more and more people were requesting or demanding things that the cost just couldn’t justify. And they would come up with things I never dreamed of putting into my description.

For example, I had to define what a revision was and how many little changes I would do before charging for each additional change. I got to the point where I would change all the little things you wanted, as long as you sent me the entire list at once. Changing everything on the list would be one revision. Before that, I had people that would be like, “Oh, I don’t like the color on that slide,” or, “Thank you for changing that slide; now I need different wording at the beginning,” or, “Now that you’ve changed those two things, I’d like a different picture at 0:26.” You get the idea. It was irritating and exhausting getting these tiny changes one at a time. Changing it the way I did has saved a LOT of headache.

Once I had a handful of “cheap” gigs under my belt, I was able to charge more and offer more. It is really nice to get out of that $5 rut! It’s an ongoing learning experience, and you will always get surprises now and then. You just gotta keep going and adjust as you go. 🙂 Good luck!

Thank you for sharing your story. That would make me crazy too to keep getting asked for little changes again and again and again.

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