Do you guys ever just get burnt out of working?

[joshvoices4you]

As the title says, do you ever get burnt out of repetitive jobs?
I’m tired of dealing with people who try to swindle me, or who request 16 revisions for changing “see you in the inside” to “see you on the other side” - that was an irritating one today, tried to make a VO for a business sound literate, and then they got mad at me for doing so.

They also wanted ME to message CS to ask them why they didn’t get a receipt of purchase.
Even easy VO jobs are just starting to seem like a hassle more than anything.

I’m tired of the low microphone quality that my mic has degraded into, and waiting another month to get my new audio equipment is a nightmare, especially since I am becoming a level 2 seller tomorrow, and would really like to raise my prices, but I feel no where near justified to do so with my current audio.
Any tips to get more enjoyment out of my experience here? Especially with the upcoming of level 2 seller.
Thanks!

[graphtersawyer]

Taking frequent breaks is a must. I don’t work weekends and try to keep my Fridays clear whenever possible. I also always take a couple weeks around holidays or every few months. Like, if you’re in school, take a break whenever school isn’t in session. I think more enjoyment will come with being a level two seller and being able to raise your prices, as you may get a higher quality of buyer; such was the case for me, anyway. Best wishes!

[patrick_klein]

Wow, that’s some crazy stuff you have there with your customers.
And yes, I feel pretty burnt out because I make the mistake of not really taking days off. I only take half a day off about once a week. The difference is my customers are awesome. I get so many requests that I can choose freely with whom to work. And, well, yes, what @graphtersawyer wrote is absolutely reasonable. Should rethink my approach as well soon.
And yeah, about the seller level, satisfied every requirement for level 2 except the time period you need to be an active seller. Only need to sit around for about 20 more days and then wait for the manual review before I get there.

[miiila]

Not really of working, more of the peripherals. Sometimes I really need a day off from messages and stuff.

If you don’t feel it’s good to raise your prices before you get your new equipment, maybe just wait that one month (it’s not really long at all …) and maybe use it to also (in an offline text editor) completely overhaul your gigs and edit everything then along with the prices, when you’re ready.

[english_voice]

Hi Josh. I’ve read a few of your posts in recent weeks and I must say I tend to respect what you say. I don’t want to turn my own post into a CV but I’m in my late 40s - so probably double your age - and have spent many years as a media freelancer, and yes that includes time as a voice over.

I think your problem is that you’re charging just $5 for 350 words. We all start somewhere, but that is mega cheap in the voice over world. You’ve got some excellent feedback and I think it’s time that you consider doubling your price.

350 words is around two minutes. That’s the equivalent of four 30" radio commercials. Even a cheap bargain basement production house would pay £15 for each 30"… so £60 or about $75 for two minutes. That’s the cheap end of the industry.

I’ve said it many times… the $5 gigs attract the inexperienced buyers (those who don’t have the confidence to know what they want), the scammers, etc.

Once you double your rate you will probably find that your level of sales decreases a little to start with, but you will still make more money overall, and then as your feedback grows and people see that you’re worth $10… then your sales will grown beyond now.

The big difference though is that people who pay $10 and beyond are an entirely different class of buyer. Seriously, they are in a different league. Yes, you will still occasionally get the scammer types… but far more rarely.

[uk1000]

You could limit the orders in the queue more if you’re being overworked, or pause the gig for a while. If they’re asking for lots more revisions than you offer free you could try charging them for revisions after they ask for too many. You could try explaining that x is the correct phrase to them.

[uk1000]

Hi Josh. I’ve read a few of your posts in recent weeks and I must say I tend to respect what you say. I don’t want to turn my own post into a CV but I’m in my late 40s - so probably double your age - and have spent many years as a media freelancer, and yes that includes time as a voice over.

I think your problem is that you’re charging just $5 for 350 words. We all start somewhere, but that is mega cheap in the voice over world. You’ve got some excellent feedback and I think it’s time that you consider doubling your price.

350 words is around two minutes. That’s the equivalent of four 30" radio commercials. Even a cheap bargain basement production house would pay £15 for each 30"… so £60 or about $75 for two minutes. That’s the cheap end of the industry.

I’ve said it many times… the $5 gigs attract the inexperienced buyers (those who don’t have the confidence to know what they want), the scammers, etc.

Once you double your rate you will probably find that your level of sales decreases a little to start with, but you will still make more money overall, and then as your feedback grows and people see that you’re worth $10… then your sales will grown beyond now.

The big difference though is that people who pay $10 and beyond are an entirely different class of buyer. Seriously, they are in a different league. Yes, you will still occasionally get the scammer types… but far more rarely.

I think your problem is that you’re charging just $5 for 350 words

I agree though most people buying a voice over probably will use it commercially so need the commercial rights option so it will be $15 including that. Plus it will double that price to $30 if they need it in 1 day (eg. maybe for an explainer video or something). Maybe it’s worth changing the default number of words to a lower number (eg. around 200 words) and so earning extra for scripts with a higher word count.

[jafnon57]

I faced this type of situation …

but 5 june , 2020 I increase my price …
The order and message become 2x now and also I can’t lose my gig ranking…
It was irritating when you work on a low budget . But when it is big budget order it is okay and you feel well also . …
5$ * 100 orders = 500$
25$ * 20 orders = 500$

INCREASE GIG PRICE !
MUCH HELPFUL!

[joshvoices4you]

Hi Josh. I’ve read a few of your posts in recent weeks and I must say I tend to respect what you say. I don’t want to turn my own post into a CV but I’m in my late 40s - so probably double your age - and have spent many years as a media freelancer, and yes that includes time as a voice over.

I think your problem is that you’re charging just $5 for 350 words. We all start somewhere, but that is mega cheap in the voice over world. You’ve got some excellent feedback and I think it’s time that you consider doubling your price.

350 words is around two minutes. That’s the equivalent of four 30" radio commercials. Even a cheap bargain basement production house would pay £15 for each 30"… so £60 or about $75 for two minutes. That’s the cheap end of the industry.

I’ve said it many times… the $5 gigs attract the inexperienced buyers (those who don’t have the confidence to know what they want), the scammers, etc.

Once you double your rate you will probably find that your level of sales decreases a little to start with, but you will still make more money overall, and then as your feedback grows and people see that you’re worth $10… then your sales will grown beyond now.

The big difference though is that people who pay $10 and beyond are an entirely different class of buyer. Seriously, they are in a different league. Yes, you will still occasionally get the scammer types… but far more rarely.

Hey, I really appreciate the feedback, same goes for everyone else! One question I feel needs to be asked, and I do hate requesting tips is do you think I should wait to raise my prices until I actually get my new audio equipment? As I said I’m pretty unhappy with my current audio quality, some people seem to be fine with it, but I’m an audiophile.

I should have mentioned in my post that the quality of my audio is what is contributing to being burnt out, it’s not bad, but I just don’t feel I CAN raise the prices.

Thanks again for the feedback!

[jephu100]

Take a break. Use the “out of office” feature and giver yourself a day off. Raising your prices by even a bit may help filter buyers.

[cyaxrex]

Hi Josh. I’ve read a few of your posts in recent weeks and I must say I tend to respect what you say. I don’t want to turn my own post into a CV but I’m in my late 40s - so probably double your age - and have spent many years as a media freelancer, and yes that includes time as a voice over.

I think your problem is that you’re charging just $5 for 350 words. We all start somewhere, but that is mega cheap in the voice over world. You’ve got some excellent feedback and I think it’s time that you consider doubling your price.

350 words is around two minutes. That’s the equivalent of four 30" radio commercials. Even a cheap bargain basement production house would pay £15 for each 30"… so £60 or about $75 for two minutes. That’s the cheap end of the industry.

I’ve said it many times… the $5 gigs attract the inexperienced buyers (those who don’t have the confidence to know what they want), the scammers, etc.

Once you double your rate you will probably find that your level of sales decreases a little to start with, but you will still make more money overall, and then as your feedback grows and people see that you’re worth $10… then your sales will grown beyond now.

The big difference though is that people who pay $10 and beyond are an entirely different class of buyer. Seriously, they are in a different league. Yes, you will still occasionally get the scammer types… but far more rarely.

I think your problem is that you’re charging just $5 for 350 words.

This.

I’d tell any new seller to start at a minimum price if $20 and IMMEDIATELY dispense with the idea that you need to gradually increase prices in $5 increments and/or only when you reach X level or X amount of reviews.

I did this and if I could go back in time, I’d push myself off a high building.

I told myself that I needed to start out at $5 and I took 3-years to go up to $15. Then I started seeing what my peers were delivering for $15 and all the way up to $100. In the vast majority of cases, their work is GARBAGE.

The simple facts are:

• An extraordinarily small number of buyers know how to gauge the quality of what they take delivery of on Fiverr.
• The vast majority of buyers associate higher prices with higher quality.
• The cheaper you are, the more narcissistic, bullying, and unreasonable buyers are.

Think about it this way. A large percentage of buyers on Fiverr are re-sellers. Did they start their re-selling agency charging their clients $5 to gradually build trust? NO. They knock up agency websites for industries they usually have no experience in whatsoever and charge $70 to $700 right off the bat. Then they outsource all their work to people like you.

If they can do that, why can’t you?

That said, you will still burn out occasionally. One way to prevent that is to just shut down communication with problem buyers who message you immediately. 90% of people who message me get a generic "sorry, I can’t help" message.

Any tips to get more enjoyment out of my experience here?

Get your new audio equipment faster and raise your prices ASAP.

That might sound a bit Catch22, but it really isn’t worth fooling around on Fiverr for $5 in 2020. I know that might upset some people, but it is a fact.

[english_voice]

Hey, I really appreciate the feedback, same goes for everyone else! One question I feel needs to be asked, and I do hate requesting tips is do you think I should wait to raise my prices until I actually get my new audio equipment? As I said I’m pretty unhappy with my current audio quality, some people seem to be fine with it, but I’m an audiophile.

I should have mentioned in my post that the quality of my audio is what is contributing to being burnt out, it’s not bad, but I just don’t feel I CAN raise the prices.

Thanks again for the feedback!

This is only my point of view, but based on your feedback, your clients are obviously very happy with your service. They like what they hear. Doubling your price to $10 is not going to change what they hear. And when I say hear, I mean the quality of your voice and also the quality of the audio. They’re happy.

Therefore if the only thing you change about your gig is the price (and you leave your description and samples exactly the same as now), then logically your clients old and new are still going to like what they hear.

As much as it pains me to say this @cyaxrex is also correct when he suggests charging $20 for the same service you’re offering now, and not taking baby steps to get there. Even if the number of clients halve, you will still make double. There is a massive logic and reality in what he says.

However I do recognise that from your point of view at the moment doubling your rate may feel like a giant step and you’re obviously worried that client expectation will change. Based on my experience though, it won’t. If you start charging $50 / $75 / $100 then yes of course it will - that’s a different league of voice over. But the expectations of a $5 gig vs a $10 are the same. Double your price today.

By increasing your gig price to $10 / $15/ $20 you will lose the bottom end of the scammer / really bad buyer territory, you’ll probably see a small fall in sales (please don’t worry about that), but you’ll make more money and feel more satisfied.

When I sold voice overs I included a line in the gig that went something like “Please listen to the sample audio provided and ensure that you are happy with the quality of the audio recording. You can expect a very similar standard of audio quality for your own voice over”. That line was more for my benefit rather than the seller’s.

***** I’ve come back to add another quick thought…

A good compromise for where you’re at right now in your mindset vs your fears might be to double your price to $10 but to reduce your word count from 350 to 250 words per gig. There’s nothing stopping you doing that for a month or two, see how it goes and then maybe asking another $5 or $10 on top later on.

[gwyneth_galvin]

Hey fellow VO pal 👋

I’ve been feeling then same way. I had my busiest months ever in March and April and had a meltdown due to stress. I took half of May off and another two weeks this month. I can’t necessarily afford to but it wasn’t worth damaging my mental health!

If you’re able to take a few days off now and then I strongly recommend it. I used to fret a lot about my stats being affected but after taking several breaks this year I’ve found the cooling off period isn’t so bad. And it does wonders for my sanity :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Oh and to add to what @english_voice said - 100% hike up your prices my friend! I cut out 99% of rude and bossy buyers when I raised my base prices to $15. Trust me, it’s worth it. You may get a few less orders to start - or you may not! - either way, you’ll be making more per order and dealing with much more reasonable clients.

[english_voice]

Hey fellow VO pal 👋

I’ve been feeling then same way. I had my busiest months ever in March and April and had a meltdown due to stress. I took half of May off and another two weeks this month. I can’t necessarily afford to but it wasn’t worth damaging my mental health!

If you’re able to take a few days off now and then I strongly recommend it. I used to fret a lot about my stats being affected but after taking several breaks this year I’ve found the cooling off period isn’t so bad. And it does wonders for my sanity :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Oh and to add to what @english_voice said - 100% hike up your prices my friend! I cut out 99% of rude and bossy buyers when I raised my base prices to $15. Trust me, it’s worth it. You may get a few less orders to start - or you may not! - either way, you’ll be making more per order and dealing with much more reasonable clients.

Good mental and physical health is so important.

Raising prices is one way to control the flow of orders while still achieving a similar if not higher level of income. Less work and stress for more money.

And I know I’m repeating myself here, but the difference in the quality of clients who are prepared to pay $10 and above vs the bottom of the pond $5 is astounding. Really, in general terms they are more polite, more able to give clear instructions, and less likely to ask for revisions.

[wolfhowler]

As others have said, the moment I raised my prices above the $5 starting point, my order numbers dropped down, BUT the quality of my buyers increased. I rarely have difficult buyers now and I can focus on giving more time and quality to the lower number of orders leading to repeat buyers. Raising your prices can be scary but in my case anyway, it’s had a really positive effect on my workload and my mental well being.

Prices are an incredibly good way of filtering out the morons. If someone is paying more they are likely to make their requirements much more specific and useful, rather than, I need a radio advert for my bakery. That’s great, but now I need to spend more time extracting the information I need and it was for only $5, now a $25 gig, the buyer will send me every detail and I can start working from the moment the requirements are sent. Much easier, and more satisfying.

[coerdelion]

Burnout is a serious issue for freelancers - any kind of freelancer. The whole “make hay while the sun shines” :woman_farmer: thing can result in having to take *more" time off than if you’d just taken a day on a regular basis.

As to prices - as others have said, raise 'em. Up your earnings and give yourself some breathing space.

Bear in mind you’re an artist - artists, in my experience, get obsessive about things that no one else notices. Quality is important, obviously, but it’s often the thing the artist is unsatisfied with that makes their art so special. Think Mona Lisa 🎨 - apparently Da Vinci carried that canvas with him for years trying to get that smile “right” (from his point of view) …