Need some TRS positivity, show the dream is possible...?

[williambryan392]

I think most people on fiver are aspiring freelancers, rather than established.

We may have full time jobs, we may not, but a lot of sellers dream I think of going full time freelance, earning enough and ditching the 9-5.

I was wondering if the sellers that are full time fiver, and happily live off the earnings could share their story briefly? What did you do before? What do you sell now? How long did it take you to give up the day job? What % of your earnings come from fiver? (I expect TRS sell on UpWork, TopTal, PPH etc too) Do you now depend on fiver?

Just to be clear, this is not a thread for tips or advice! This also isn’t about showing off either 🙂 It’s to show the dream is possible of becoming full time freelance… (subject to hard work etc etc)

So, who’s got a good story about their growth!?

(If this is terribly nosey I apologise. Also, I’m level 1 so I’ll keep my mouth shut re the experience!)

[marinapomorac]

I think most people on fiver are aspiring freelancers, rather than established.

We may have full time jobs, we may not, but a lot of sellers dream I think of going full time freelance, earning enough and ditching the 9-5.

I was wondering if the sellers that are full time fiver, and happily live off the earnings could share their story briefly? What did you do before? What do you sell now? How long did it take you to give up the day job? What % of your earnings come from fiver? (I expect TRS sell on UpWork, TopTal, PPH etc too) Do you now depend on fiver?

Just to be clear, this is not a thread for tips or advice! This also isn’t about showing off either 🙂 It’s to show the dream is possible of becoming full time freelance… (subject to hard work etc etc)

So, who’s got a good story about their growth!?

(If this is terribly nosey I apologise. Also, I’m level 1 so I’ll keep my mouth shut re the experience!)

and ditching the 9-5.

and replacing it with 24/7 or 18/7 for some.

If you search forum you will see that they already shared their stories each in her/his own topic. Most of them did that when they reached TRS level or after being TRS for 5 or 10 years.

I understand it is easier to post new topic but I hardly believe they will come here and copy paste their 5000 words topic as post.

[williambryan392]

I’m an idiot. I apologise. I did search and saw some threads from 2012-2018 but nothing story like.

Could you share a link? I’d appreciate it!

[Guest lloydsolutions]

I’m an idiot. I apologise. I did search and saw some threads from 2012-2018 but nothing story like.

Could you share a link? I’d appreciate it!

I was wondering if the sellers that are full time fiver, and happily live off the earnings could share their story briefly?

If you type “fiverr success stories” in the search bar above there are over 50 topics on the subject which you may find interesting and inspiring.

[williambryan392]

Aside from a Forbes article highlighting a few sellers making 5K+ a month most of the success stories in the category are about reaching level 1 or 2 after a couple of years. Also, most of the stories are (years) old so I thought there may be new views.

I’m not knocking them, it’s great work. But I don’t see anyone beyond Forbes or recently saying ‘I quit the rat race, I’ve gone full time freelance and it’s enough to pay the bills and give me a better quality of life. Hooray’

Maybe I’m searching poorly though.

[frank_d]

I think most people on fiver are aspiring freelancers, rather than established.

We may have full time jobs, we may not, but a lot of sellers dream I think of going full time freelance, earning enough and ditching the 9-5.

I was wondering if the sellers that are full time fiver, and happily live off the earnings could share their story briefly? What did you do before? What do you sell now? How long did it take you to give up the day job? What % of your earnings come from fiver? (I expect TRS sell on UpWork, TopTal, PPH etc too) Do you now depend on fiver?

Just to be clear, this is not a thread for tips or advice! This also isn’t about showing off either 🙂 It’s to show the dream is possible of becoming full time freelance… (subject to hard work etc etc)

So, who’s got a good story about their growth!?

(If this is terribly nosey I apologise. Also, I’m level 1 so I’ll keep my mouth shut re the experience!)

I was wondering if the sellers that are full time fiver, and happily live off the earnings could share their story briefly? What did you do before? What do you sell now? How long did it take you to give up the day job? What % of your earnings come from fiver? (I expect TRS sell on UpWork, TopTal, PPH etc too) Do you now depend on fiver?

I can answer all those questions for sure, but as a disclaimer:

you should try to not compare your journey with anyone else’s.

My suggestion would be to try and figure out what your short and long term goals are, before looking for inspiration or trying to emulate another seller on here.

Now to answer your questions:

1. I have been working on Fiver full-time since 2013, my income used to be 100% from Fiverr. As I matured, I diversified a bit and now it’s 70% on, 25% off, 5% passive.

2. I used to be a tv/film director, now I am an animator/creative director (a lot of overlap, different tools)

3. I was kind of forced to give up my day job, as my tv show got cancelled and I was trying to find ways to pay the bills.

4. I am not working on any other platforms, tried them all initially, decided to become an expert seller on one platform rather than being a mediocre one on several. I always try to be laser focused no matter what I do.

Here are a couple of links telling parts of my journey:

Hi there! Today marks a great milestone for me, as I am featured in Fiverr’s mini “meet the Pros” series. Here’s the link to the post: https://blog.fiverr.com/meet-the-fiverr-pros-episode-2-2-frank-davis/ I really feel like all my hard work throughout the years is paying off and I feel a sense of accomplishment. Fiverr recognized my efforts and honored me with a feature. I just wanted to share with everyone here on the forum, and I also wanted to take a moment to let you guys kno…

Hey everyone, this is going to be short and to the point. Without much fanfare, I just noticed I reached an important milestone in my freelancing career: [FIVERR 400K MILESTONE] It’s been a bumpy but exciting time for me, with a steep learning curve. When I registered on Fiverr I never imagined I would be selling animated videos at a premium. I am proud for what I accomplished and what I have learned in my journey so far. My skills as a director, an animator and an illustrator have progres…

Hey everyone! [frank hello] Just got a calendar notification that it’s officially been 3 years since my Pro badge. I thought it would be a good chance to look into my journey and see if the data validates my decision to join the Pro section of the website. So I took a quick look into my analytics -the ones that are still working anyways- and came up with these numbers: Number of clients that purchased a Pro gig: 34 (I am not counting return buyers or revision/update purchases) Revenue ea…

[williambryan392]

I was wondering if the sellers that are full time fiver, and happily live off the earnings could share their story briefly? What did you do before? What do you sell now? How long did it take you to give up the day job? What % of your earnings come from fiver? (I expect TRS sell on UpWork, TopTal, PPH etc too) Do you now depend on fiver?

I can answer all those questions for sure, but as a disclaimer:

you should try to not compare your journey with anyone else’s.

My suggestion would be to try and figure out what your short and long term goals are, before looking for inspiration or trying to emulate another seller on here.

Now to answer your questions:

1. I have been working on Fiver full-time since 2013, my income used to be 100% from Fiverr. As I matured, I diversified a bit and now it’s 70% on, 25% off, 5% passive.

2. I used to be a tv/film director, now I am an animator/creative director (a lot of overlap, different tools)

3. I was kind of forced to give up my day job, as my tv show got cancelled and I was trying to find ways to pay the bills.

4. I am not working on any other platforms, tried them all initially, decided to become an expert seller on one platform rather than being a mediocre one on several. I always try to be laser focused no matter what I do.

Here are a couple of links telling parts of my journey:

Hi there! Today marks a great milestone for me, as I am featured in Fiverr’s mini “meet the Pros” series. Here’s the link to the post: https://blog.fiverr.com/meet-the-fiverr-pros-episode-2-2-frank-davis/ I really feel like all my hard work throughout the years is paying off and I feel a sense of accomplishment. Fiverr recognized my efforts and honored me with a feature. I just wanted to share with everyone here on the forum, and I also wanted to take a moment to let you guys kno…

Hey everyone, this is going to be short and to the point. Without much fanfare, I just noticed I reached an important milestone in my freelancing career: [FIVERR 400K MILESTONE] It’s been a bumpy but exciting time for me, with a steep learning curve. When I registered on Fiverr I never imagined I would be selling animated videos at a premium. I am proud for what I accomplished and what I have learned in my journey so far. My skills as a director, an animator and an illustrator have progres…

Hey everyone! [frank hello] Just got a calendar notification that it’s officially been 3 years since my Pro badge. I thought it would be a good chance to look into my journey and see if the data validates my decision to join the Pro section of the website. So I took a quick look into my analytics -the ones that are still working anyways- and came up with these numbers: Number of clients that purchased a Pro gig: 34 (I am not counting return buyers or revision/update purchases) Revenue ea…

Thank you @frank_d , incredible story! No offence to anyone else’s achievements but this is exactly the kind of journey/success I hoped someone would share.

(Apologies for making you repost)

[marinapomorac]

Thank you @frank_d , incredible story! No offence to anyone else’s achievements but this is exactly the kind of journey/success I hoped someone would share.

(Apologies for making you repost)

I was going to share Franks link since his is most recent and most cohesive written with details but as I was typing I got message from client for new order so…sorry; lost track. I am glad he joined and replied.

[frank_d]

Glad I could help Will

Thank you @marinapomorac

[lenasemenkova]

Worked as a designer in digital advertising for 10+ years. Mostly web/app design with some logos on the side. Got hired by the top (at that time) local agency and instead of feeling ecstatic, I had a nervous breakdown. It wasn’t pleasant but it made me stop and realize how miserable I was. So I quit, took a few months off to reflect on things, and became a freelancer by accident.

I had a hobby of making posters for a local bar/music venue. Got paid in beer and peanuts (literally) but it allowed me to accumulate a cohesive portfolio over time. So I took it and showed up to fiverr in 2015. Got my first sale the same day, quit my job in a few months (or decided not to look for a new day job rather).

It’s 70/30% fiverr/other for me in terms of income. I still take local projects as well, both solo and as a part of a team.

I think you can do it if you have a skill to sell, self-discipline and are not overly reliant on live interactions with people for your mental stability.

[looseink]

Great question!

I have 40+ years experience in the Media Industry from Broadcasting to Print to Digital. I owned a small-town newspaper for just over 12 years. When business got bad I turned to freelancing as a part-time side hustle to help pay the bills.

Before long, freelancing was making me more than the paper so we closed the paper in July 2016 and I turned to full-time freelancing two months later. I L-O-V-E it.

I normally only have to work half-days (9 AM - 1 PM, including a lunch break) six days a week to keep up with the work I have. Not all of it comes from Fiverr, either.

So, yes…it is possible to “ditch the 9 to 5” and do well as a freelancer.

Good luck!

[williambryan392]

Thank you for the wholesome, positive & detailed responses @lenasemenkova @looseink

[weformat]

@ williambryan392 I am Deepak (weformat)

I am a freelancer for many years and now a full-time freelancer with a goal to become a TRS here but that goal is really hard to achieve because you need to earn 20000 in 180 days and a minimum 100 orders without any warnings issued by Fiverr.

Let me get back to my story!

I had started as a freelancer when Fiverr had a very basic platform and look. I was working as a full-time technical writer and layout designer when I had joined Fiverr to earn something extra during my free time. Slowly this journey has started and then I got a break from my full-time job and started working as a full-time freelancer. It has been 2 years I am a full-time freelancer with a hope to earn at least 5000 USD per month, which I know is really hard and like a dream come true because so far I can make hardly 1000 to 1500 (some times when Fiverr is really nice on me and God is willing to help me earn more).

When I had started here as a book formatting expert, the competition was not much and there were only a handful of freelances like me but today the competition is really high that I need to spend money advertising my gigs on fiverr. Without that, it is now hard for me to get projects. In fact, sometimes, I feel to go back and think again as the flow of projects has been reduced a lot.

WHY the flow of projects is reduced?

No answer BUT some pointers I know are

1. late delivery
2. order cancellation - I often face this because of some over smart buyers who used to place orders when I am in sleep and when I get up, I also see their order cancellation request. When I ask them for a reason, either they do not reply or reply too late that order had already gone into late delivery, impacting my rating. So, I have to cancel the order by myself. And, some buyers do reply, I placed the order “Accidentally.” What a pity, how an accident can happen here? Whatever, only I have to bear the loss because when an order is cancelled, you bear loss not only because the funds are refunded to the buyer but also you gig is pushed back in the queue and you hardly appear in search on Fiverr so easily.

there are also buyers who do not read gig details and expect everything in $5 even though they know the fact that the amount of the work they need could not be done in less than $25-$50 but they still play over smart games as they have understood the fear of order cancellation. BUT, i really do not let them take advantage of me and I cancel their orders.

3. Late deliveries also impact.

So, in short, if Fiverr removes the penalty of order cancellation, I trust I could achieve my goal of becoming a TRS.

That’ my long story in short BUT really these days getting new clients is hard due to competition.

Thanks
Deepak
weformat