Share some advice

[dolyjahin7]

It's very difficult to rank new gigs on Fiverr, isn't it?

[smashradio]

On 9/15/2021 at 4:41 PM, dolyjahin7 said:

It's very difficult to rank new gigs on Fiverr, isn't it?

It's supposed to be. Starting a new business is difficult. If it wasn't, anyone could do it. You are competing with skillfull people who know what they are doing. If you're not one of them, you don't deserve success. Success is earned through hard work, dedication, investments and knowledge. 

So yes. It's difficult. And it should be. In fact, I feel it should become even more difficult, by making anyone who wishes to sell on Fiverr pay a monthly fee. 

This isn't a welfare platform. It's a business platform.

[smashradio]

On 9/15/2021 at 4:56 PM, pritamdesign227 said:

How to rank my gigs

You rank your gigs by being good at what you do. This should start with some basic knowledge about the platform, which is easily located on this forum if you just look for it - something I'm willing to bet you haven't tried to do. 

[katakatica]

Difficult depends on your mentality, too. Working 12 hours a day chasing kids around, keeping them safe for little to no money was difficult for me.

'Ranking' a new gig, to me, is much easier than that - even though I have no idea what I'm doing half the time. Being genuinely talented at something that others might not be so great at is what's hard. Understanding what even the toughest customers who struggle with English (or are always in a rush) is what's hard. 

Making a gig in a popular category is 'easy', especially if you are spoonfed that information. 

(that being said, yes, the competition is REALLY tough. Still not harder than dealing with a screaming toddler though) 

(take this with a pinch of salt, obviously the two cannot be compared. Both require vastly different skillsets...)

[dolyjahin7]

I was at level one, but now fiverr has made me a new seller. I haven't been getting new orders for a long time and the gigs are also far behind in rankings. Also my buyer request page is always empty, how do I get a buyer request?

What can I do now, please provide valuable advice.

[jonbaas]

First of all, there is no set gig ranking in the Fiverr search system. That's not how Fiverr works.

Second, Fiverr does not guarantee orders, or buyer requests, to anyone on this site. 

If you want more orders, go find your target customers, show them how you can solve their needs, and bring them to your Fiverr gigs. YOU are 100% responsible for your success, not Fiverr, and not the buyer request section. YOU. 

If you want success, treat your gigs like a business, and start thinking like a businessman. No one is going to make you successful. You do that through the actions you take to meet your business goals.

On 10/13/2021 at 4:44 PM, dolyjahin7 said:

how do I get a buyer request?

You don't. Requests that you can respond to will appear IF you qualify to respond to them.

[hudakhan035]

On 1/31/2023 at 1:32 AM, mabelma said:

Hello, my name is Antonio "Mabs" and today I am going to tell you how I made over $50,000 on Fiverr.

Fiverr.com is the world's largest marketplace for digital services, which makes it a wonderful tool for all entrepreneurs and freelancers that sell their services online. They have amateurs and professionals from all over the world and offer a huge variety of services like, sound production, photo editing, animation, graphic design and much more.

I am an illustration and graphic design professional focused on the creation of characters, merchandise, book illustrations and posters. I have worked with over 3,000 clients ranging from solo-preneurs to hobbyist and corporate agencies. Fiverr has been the backbone of my art services business for well over 8 years now and continues to be a place to offer my services to wonderful clients and help make their dreams a reality.

Today I will go over the 7 tips I have implemented to make my business on Fiverr a thriving and successful one.

Throughout this guide we will be making several references to my own Fiverr gigs keep them handy so you too can see what I’ve done and how you can implement such things to your own gigs.

1. The Task Trifecta

The Task Trifecta as I like to call it, is the first major tool you should command if you want to succeed on Fiverr.

Picture a pyramid, this pyramid has 3 sides, and each side represents one thing any given customer might want.

At the top they want Quality, next they want it in a Timely Fashion, and lastly, they want your service at an affordable price. These 3 corners of the pyramid should dictate all interactions you have with your clients. However, there's a catch, clients can only have 2 of the 3 points at a time.

If they want your service done at high quality and fast, then it won't be affordable. If they want it at high quality and affordable then it won't be fast, and if they want it fast and affordable then you'll have to cut a few corners to achieve that.

This is not at all a bad thing, and knowing what your client needs are will allow you to make the right decision when it comes to the time of delivering your orders.

An example for me comes in the form of black and white sketches versus fully rendered digital illustrations. Whilst many of my clients come to me looking for fully rendered high quality illustrations, I often also get teenagers and hobbyist that just need a quick sketch or a black and white image to give as a gift or to better visualize their comic story. If I were to offer everyone my highest package, I would be pricing out my clients and shooting myself in the leg. So instead, I offer them what they need even when they don't know that's what they need, and almost 100% of the time everyone comes out happy with the art they receive and the money they spent for it.

It is important to be able to effectively explain your prices and services to your clients which brings us to tip #2.

2- Communicate Clearly and Consistently

Clients know they need a service done, in my case, they may need an illustration for their next shirt design or a music video animation for their next hit single. What they don't necessarily know is the little details that go into making such things possible. That is why it is your responsibility as a working professional to explain what you need to not waste anyone's time as well as deliver exactly what your client is expecting from you.

The first point of communication with your buyers is not the first message but instead it's your gig page, more specifically your gig description. A well-crafted gig description will allow potential clients to tell whether you are the right person for the job or not and will save them a lot more time than having to message and discuss the project with tens if not hundreds of potential freelancers. Let's go over the different parts of a gig page and how to best craft it so your potential clients turn into paying customers more often.

Gig Image:

Your gig Image is probably one of the most important parts of your Gig page if not the most important part of it. It showcases your work to every potential client on Fiverr and is not only used on your Gig Page but it's also the image that Fiverr uses when it advertises your services on social media, their newsletter, and any other venues they may use for promotion. So be very mindful of that first image, a good rule of thumb is to display an example of your best work, minimal text, and keep the image as uncrowded as possible. You want potential buyers to look at your image at a quick glance, understand what they are looking at and appreciate the quality of your work all before blinking and moving to the next thumbnail. One to two examples in your main gig image is enough to grab the attention of buyers. Also keep in mind that once you've grabbed their attention you can use the rest of the images in your gig page to dazzle them so don't go overboard with what you put in that main pic.

Extra tip: Keep all talks of pricing and delivery time off your images, as you continue growing on Fiverr you will be updating your prices and time regularly. Having to update each image every time you raise your prices or go on vacation will create an unnecessary hassle for you, and if not done can create confusion for your potential customers and lower your sales.

Gig Title:

Next comes your Gig Title, which is just as important as your Gig Image, and it comes with all the potential SEO that any piece of text on the internet comes with so choose that Gig Title wisely!!! Use the space you're allowed efficiently. No; “I will make a cool, awesome, great, piece of art for you or your friends or family”. Keep it short and to the point. In our case, my best-selling gig goes with the title of: "I will draw anything you want" quick and to the point, yet general enough that you'll be intrigued to look further and see if indeed what you need drawn is something I can do. Along with that example here are 3 more of my gig titles for you to get a gist of how the whole thing works:

I will design a unique character

I will paint a caricature of you

I will design a unique and creative shirt design.

Price Packages:

Once your client has landed on your gig page, the next thing they are probably going to be looking at is your pricing. Right off the bat, if you think just because it's called Fiverr that you need to charge $5 then you are very mistaken. There are gigs on Fiverr that can cost upwards of $1,000. Fiverr does have its root in the affordable services business, and one should make good use of that. Fiverr tends to attract clients looking for one-off services that aren't too expensive but are specific enough that an agency will not do them alone. Say for example, if like myself you are used to doing work for the comics business, a gig that promises to create a full comic along with the script, inking, character design, coloring, and formatting for $5,000 might not do very well on Fiverr. However, if you split that up into 6 different gigs where each one offers to do part of the full service for $30 to $100 then you're going down the right road.

To further explain let's talk about the character design example.

In my character design gig, I offer 3 services.

• 1- Black and white character drawing or a bust
• 2- Full body drawing without a background
• 3- 3 View character turn around sheet

The price for these goes up based on the complexity of the illustration and I make use of the extras options to add value to each service. For example, at the basic level, you get a black-and-white image or a colored bust of your character for $40, but you can easily turn that into a full body for an extra $15, or add color to the black-and-white image for an extra $5. This allows clients the possibility to mix and match their services in order to get exactly what they need within the budget they have. Another major benefit of this is that very often you will have repeat buyers that came for the black and white option and then messaged you for that color option later down the road in a new order. Giving you two positive reviews from the same client and the same project which will boost your standing on the Fiverr algorithm, thus putting you in the eyes of even more potential clients in the future.

Gig Description:

The Gig Description is pretty cut and dry, it's a description of the services you offer and the way you handle business once the order has been placed. Keep in Mind, it is not a description of who you are or who your business is. That is left for the next section. Here you will talk about the tools you use, the process you go through, and what you deliver down to the bone. Set the expectations for your customers here and once they click to purchase from you, they will know exactly what they are going to get from you. Often the Price Packages and the Gig Description share similar information with the difference being that the Gig Description tends to give further insight into the specifics of each package whereas the Price Packages have a bulleted list.

An example template when writing a gig description is:

• A brief description of why your clients may need your services.
• What your gig services offer and what you don't.
• A call to action so buyers can message you beforehand if they have any questions before placing their orders.

Profile Description:

The Profile Description is where you will be able to talk about who you are, and what you have done. Feel free to include details like past notable clients, where you are based in, and how much experience you have working in your field. Keep it brief but be remarkable. It also helps to talk about yourself in the 3^rd person as it gives a higher sense of professionalism than talking about yourself in the 1^st first person. So, no I am this or that. As an example, take look at my description:

“AntonioMabs, is the lead artist and founder at Mabsarts, an art services business focused on helping creators of all types and skill levels reach their full potential through creative solutions. He also creates cultural events in Puerto Rico for the betterment of the arts through live music, community mural events, and social media marketing. With over 15 years of experience as a professional artist, illustrator, and animator AntonioMabs has completed over 3,000 graphic-based projects all over the world. Working with worldwide clients like Marvel, Ferraiouli LLC, Fiverr, and many more.”

You have a limited amount of space so make it worth it.

Past Work Portfolio:

Your portfolio is your track record. It’s the way to show your clients all the awesome stuff you’ve done in the past and give them as much detail as possible on your workflow and how you make things happen for other clients. Here is where you will be archiving all your completed long-form projects. As a rule, I like to keep in mind two things whenever I’m choosing which projects to add to my portfolio.

• Is it better, new, or more complex than the rest of the work in my portfolio?

If the answer is yes, then I can consider adding it to my portfolio however a new piece added comes with a caveat. Even if there’s no limit to how many projects you can add to your portfolio, I like to ensure that I don’t have too much of the same thing. The portfolio is your chance to show what you are made of as a professional and show your range as a creator. If the new project you are adding is better than another similar previous project, don’t keep both, instead make the hard decision to remove the outdated project and only keep the awesome new project. Another thing you can do is group everything together into a single category instead of individual projects. This will make for ease of search when clients go in and look at the awesome stuff you’ve been creating.

• Do I have enough images of the project? Behind the scenes, videos, sketches, and final pieces?

Use your portfolio to really showcase how the sausage gets made. This is where you will put all the nitty gritty details of how your job gets done. Feel free to post sketches, behind-the-scenes images of you working, tests, and studies that go into the final creation of your delivered and completed project. This allows people to see your process more clearly and will help them understand what to expect when they order from you. Show them how skilled you are, and your tools, and if you have video footage include that there as well. This is your time to shine! Be the movie star of your portfolio. Never post a project on your portfolio that only includes one image, that’s better kept on your social media and will honestly go further as a tweet or an Instagram post than on your portfolio. You want your portfolio to be a little story of how you make art. You want potential clients to get in on that story and after reading it feel like you’re the right choice for their next project.

Frequently Asked Questions:

This is just like the title says. Here you will address frequently asked questions in hopes of answering possible client questions well before interacting with them. This serves us very well for two major reasons. The first one is to dissuade possible confusion in your service offerings that may deter clients from buying from you, and the second reason is, to ease and cut time on communication between you and your clients which can go into the actual production of your product offering. By compiling a nice list of frequently asked questions you will be able to convert more clients and effectively sell more as well.

The first thing you should do when putting together your F.A.Q. list, is read through your inbox and compile a list of all the questions that you’ve been asked more than once by different clients. This will give you an idea of what people are not immediately understanding when they click on your gig page and you will be able to address those questions right when they have them instead of having them ask you directly or simply walking away because their concerns are not being answered.

Here are a couple of questions I get asked that might help you get started on your own list:

• Do you do free samples?
• Does your standard package include copyright?
• Where can I find more examples of your work?
• Can you do NSFW illustrations?
• Are you open to negotiating price and time?
• Do you offer unlimited revisions?

Reviews:

Reviews are the heart and soul of all Fiverr gigs, and they will make or break your gig. A couple of good reviews can very well put you ahead of the pack when it comes to clients choosing you over other freelancers, or just as well a couple of bad reviews can destroy all chances of you ever succeeding on Fiverr. It is because of this that when you accept all orders you must first make sure that you and your client are on the same page in all possible matters before you start working. Communicating clearly with your clients will help set expectations which will help you deliver exactly what they need thus assuring a positive review. Next comes being on time. Once you take the order, your goal is to deliver the product as fast as you possibly can whilst still retaining a high standard of quality, the best way to do this is by purposely adding a couple of extra days to your order negotiations, so when you deliver earlier your buyer isn’t particularly expecting is and will end up happily surprised because you did it faster and at higher quality. Another great way to increase the chances of success for all particular orders is by communicating with your clients at specific milestones of the project. Don’t just work and communicate at the end once the work is all done and completed, this could lead to misunderstandings, complete re-works, and bad reviews. Instead, be sure to communicate at least 3 specific stages of production. Once you start and have a rough draft, once you refine that rough draft close to being done, and once the full project is completed. This will allow the client to point out issues or revisions they might need and will help you create exactly what they envision, helping you get that all-too-coveted positive review. One last tip for getting positive reviews is unlimited revisions. Unlimited revisions can often seem very daunting because no one wants to keep working on something again and again for basically no pay at all, I personally like to offer unlimited revisions because the method of communicating with clients several times during the production phase of the project usually cuts down on the revisions amount and if anything I only end up doing really tiny revisions at the end that will take me no longer than 3-5 minutes and the clients always ends up feeling happy that I listened to their needs and made exactly what they needed and wanted. Another good measure to unlimited revisions is to make sure that you explain how big revisions and big changes are not included in the unlimited revision package. Things like complete do-overs and extra illustrations are not part of the unlimited revisions package and are either priced at the full amount or at half the full price depending on what the client needs. Each revision should be handled on a case-by-case basis, but personally, the little stuff should be included in the original order price and done without much trouble to ensure the client has a wonderful experience that results in a great review and possible worth of mouth promotion.

3. Consistency is Key:

When you are a freelancer, your entire success will depend on your consistency of action, meaning how well you can do specific tasks for clients again and again. Freelancers that are great once will never secure too much work because they lack consistency and cannot be relied upon, this is why consistency is key, and the only way to acquire consistency of action is through daily practice of your skill. The daily practice of your skill will allow you to increase your consistency amongst all your orders and will guarantee success in your business if you are consistently creating high-quality products for all your clients. The best thing to do is to have personal projects that you can work on when you are not working for clients, these projects will allow you to experiment, and learn new ways of working at a higher rate of quality and efficiency and will make for amazing pieces to add to your portfolio, plus clients always value people that do work they love, so pick a couple of different ideas to work on and get cracking in your off time on these cool projects that keep you fresh and learning. It is also important to keep up to date with your trade and learn as much as you can from it every day. Freelancer is much more an art than a science and one way of doing things today can be completely outdated in a couple of months, that is why reading newsletters, blogs, and books will keep you ahead of the curve and show your clients that you are the professional they are looking for. Personally, I like to take online courses every so often to learn new industry tricks and techniques to maximize my output of completed projects as well as learn new tools and processes I can combine to continue offering unique and highly valuable gig services. A good thing to keep in mind is what other services your clients need after they purchased your gig to fulfill their vision. For example, if you’re a video editor then it might be a good idea to take some classes on sound design as often, once the video is edited your client will need a sound designer. Being there when they need, will allow you to add even more value to their project and will increase your revenue exponentially. Figure out what you can combine to make your services even better and get learning.

4. General Gig Services

Throughout my years as a freelance artist on Fiverr, I’ve made several gigs. Some have been very successful whilst others haven’t received any orders at all. More often than not, the gigs that don’t receive any orders turn out to be highly specific gigs. Gigs like 'I will draw anything you want', or 'I will design a unique character', time and time again outrank gigs like I will mockup your design on a shirt, or I will illustrate your hip hop cd cover art. I think the reason this happens is that the gigs are way too specific and tend to be overshadowed by even more gigs like them, whereas the high-performing gigs are easily findable by a large group of people which increases the number of clicks and orders I get over time. Whilst there is a case to be made for dominating a niche market, I think when it comes to the Fiverr marketplace, a general service gig will outperform highly specific gigs 10-1. Being general does not mean doing the same thing everyone is doing. Instead, when we talk about general we go back to something we said earlier in the video about picking one niche market and then offering several packages that break down the process into a more manageable and affordable service that more people can use. For example: If you’re a professional sound engineer you can split your service like.

• Package 1: Add sound to your video or animation.
• Package 2: Mix and master your audio or song for release.
• Package 3: Clean up your audio and add background music.

These 3 packages open more windows of opportunity for potential clients to hire you and will make you stand out from other sound engineers who perhaps either only mix audio, or only add sound design to videos. When you can offer a large scope of services to clients in one general service gig you are that much more likely to get picked by potential clients not only once but whenever they need one or more of the services you offer. That brings us to our next tip.

5. Repeat Buyers

Repeat buyers are the core of all businesses. Not only will they be your best most stable clients, but they will also be free promotion using word of mouth. They will tell their friends which will guarantee more sales and will allow you to hopefully turn those new clients into even more repeat buyers. Whilst there is no secret way to getting repeat buyers other than delivering high quality affordable products. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when working towards establishing a repeat buyer for your business.

1. The first order is the most important one!

When you start working with all clients, the chances of them becoming a repeat buyer will 100% of the time revolve around that first order they get from you. If they have a good experience, they will come back to you time and time again, but if they don’t… You may lose them forever. That is why you must strive to make all first base interactions with buyers the best possible one. Deliver high quality products, be faster than they expect and be clear about your process and your prices. Never give a discount to a new client, instead you give discounts to returning buyers to further strengthen your relationship with them and entice them to order from you again and again. Another great things I’ve seen done is offering discounts or free perks to buyers that refer your services to their friends and family. This will both bring in new possible buyers and strengthen the relationship with your already established clients.

• Keep in contact with them.

Repeat buyers often turn into friends of the business and appreciate a nice message every once in a while. Make them feel at ease by sending them a nice message and a thank you every so often, use major holidays like Christmas or New Years to send all your Repeat Buyers a thank you message. Refrain from offering them discounts or sales pitchy messages, simply and honestly thanked them and send them some good wishes. Your goal is not really to sell with these messages but rather to stay top of mind, if your client needs your services, they will no doubt message you, but being top of mind reminds them that they can count on you to deliver if they do in fact need your services.

• Value your relationship with repeat buyers.

A lot of times repeat customers will give you a little more leeway when it comes to extending delivery time because of family emergencies or even paying higher prices because they know your work is of high quality and will be exactly what they need. That being said, don’t abuse your newfound relationship, sure if you need more time be honest and clear with your repeat buyers but don’t do it all the time or they will quickly find someone else. Instead every so often give them a nice discount or offer something extra that they wouldn’t have otherwise gotten if they weren’t a repeat buyer. Personally I like to throw in an extra sketch, a free coloring or even a couple of extra free revisions, just to acknowledge that I appreciate their commitment to me and my business and to show them that I too am committed to their business. This is easily done through the custom offers tool and some quick communication that they’ll be receiving that special perk for their repeat business. Don’t overdo it though that too can quickly become a problem and turn your repeat buyers into entitled costumers that always expect a discount. The key is to do it every 3 or more orders and to offer something that’s not too much of a discount but at the same time a nice little perk to have that feels exclusive to their unique position as repeat buyers. Everyone likes a $5 off discount, and on a $100 order it feels like a bonus to them and doesn’t hurt your pocket at all.

Speaking of nice little perks, let’s talk about how being a freelancer on Fiverr can work out for your local offline businesses.

6. Bring your Own Business:

Unbeknownst to a lot of freelancers on Fiverr, there is actually a great incentive for you to onboard your already established clients onto Fiverr through their BYOB (Bring your own Business) tools. Here is their official information when you use your special link to bring new costumers to fiverr.

• No 20% service fee

Enjoy commission-free orders forever from new buyers you bring to Fiverr.

• Instant payout

Receive payment immediately from the moment the order is completed.

• More business

Build your reputation on Fiverr by bringing in buyers, and land more work.

All in all, it’s a great opportunity to boost your stats and get the algorithm working in your favor. Another unspoken benefit of using Fiverr as your point of sale for your already established costumers is that you can allow clients to pay through PayPal which allows all major credit card companies. Which will remove the need to have things like Venmo or Cashapp and will give you even more reviews on your order page. It’s a great way to get started if you’re already getting orders offline but are trying to venture into the online Fiverr marketplace.

There are 3 unique ways you can receive BYOB orders.

1. You can set up a custom offer request that has all the details of the project you will be working on with your offline client and either send an email directly to your clients to get started or grab a link directly to the order and send it over through social media or text.
2. Generate a trackable link directly to one of your gig pages that once clicked will allow you to benefit from the perks of BYOB. Just make sure that your client makes their full order through that link, otherwise it will be marked as a normal order from the Fiverr platform, and you won’t benefit like you would from a legit BYOB purchase.
3. Just like with the trackable link to your gig, you can also generate a trackable link directly to your Fiverr profile that will act as your hub for all your offline clients. Works just the same, make sure your client clicks on the link when they are ready to purchase from you or you might lose that BYOB sale when it turns into a regular Fiverr platform sale.

Personally, I think the best way to handle BYOB orders is through the use of the custom offers link/email, not only is it easy to set up and easily trackable but it sends clients to a very specific webpage that only contains the information of the custom offer and is very hard to lose. To use this option at the peak of it’s potential, set up all your details with your offline client in a meeting or through a phone call, and then add all that information into the custom offer you will send them and basically just have them pay the invoice through Fiverr. Works like a charm and will boost your numbers exponentially.

7. Be Fast, Efficient and Affordable:

The last tip I have is to be fast, efficient, and affordable. Now, that might seem to go against my first tip of the task trifecta. However, we are not doing this for the client but rather for ourselves as freelancers in order to have the best possible business practices we can have in order to push our earnings to the maximum. This will not only help you on Fiverr but will help you in all aspects of your business whether you decide to continue Fiverr, move to another online platform or start selling your services locally. Let’s break down the three aspects of this last tip and find ways to be faster, efficient, and affordable.

Be a Fast Freelancer:

Being a fast freelancer means that you will be able to get to work on time, consistently and will be able to deliver your orders to your clients sooner than they are expecting it. There are several ways to do this, but the best and easiest way to achieve quickness of delivery is to become an expert in your field. Whether you are making websites, producing music, or illustrating for books and comics. You need to have all the appropriate knowledge to make this happen at a moment’s notice, without having to spend time first learning how to do it. This is why a daily diet of good quality knowledge will make you the fastest freelancer in the world wide west. There are several ways to grow your knowledge as a freelancer, and any combination of them will allow you to get to the next level. My preferred combination of resources is:

• Youtube Videos
• Podcasts
• Books
• Daily Practice
• Email Newsletters and Blogs

It is important to note that when you are researching for your topic, you also need to research related topics and not simply learn about your skill. You need to learn about business, freelancing, entrepreneurship practices, marketing, copywriting, and your core skill. Being a successful freelancer goes hand in hand with being a successful businessperson, so taking the time to do research in how to run a successful solo business will go far towards raising your annual income.

Being Efficient

Efficiency is like speed of delivery, however instead of being characterized by the things we do in order to be quick. Efficiency is about the way we do things and the tools we have in place to best do our work at high degrees of success. Efficiency is about time management, multiplying marketing and organization skills. Towards this goal, I will share with you the top 3 tools that I use to excel at my business.

Trello for to-do lists:

Trello.com is an online and smart phone app that allows you to create visual boards to hold all your tasks in one place. I use Trello in a very specific way. At any given moment I only have 3 boards, they are called: Doing, To-Do, and Done. It’s a straightforward process, I put all I want to do in my To-Do board. Even if it’s something I want to do a year from now. I put it all in that board, and then I pick the most important tasks and I move them to my Doing board, and I work on them 1 hour at a time, cycling through them as I go. Meaning I work one hour on a task and then I move it to the end of my Doing board and work on the next task, and then I’ll move that task to the end again, and I keep doing that throughout the week, quick enough I will have completed several tasks at the same time or at the very least made some astonishing progress on a bunch of my tasks. Once a task is completed, I then move it to my Doing Board, and finally I pick a new task to work on from my To-Do Board. This keeps things fresh and highly efficient for me. Sometimes there will be task of huge priority that must be completed before a specific date. For this what I do is add several of the same task to my Doing tasks so instead of working on one of those tasks a day, I end up doing 2- or 3-hour long sessions on it. The more copies I have of the task on my board the more I will work on it throughout the week and the faster it will get completed, plus I then get to move 2 or 3 tasks to my Done board once the project is completed and that always feels very good.

4-8hr of focused work every day:

That brings us to our next topic, focused work versus multi-tasking. The idea of multitasking is often very wrong in the sense that we picture a person doing several things at the same time, however this is impossible when our minds can only focus at one thing at a time or else be distracted and fail at all things. Instead, I like to do focused work sessions, focus work means choosing 1 thing to direct all my energy towards for a short amount of time. This can be anywhere from 1 hour to 30 mins. However long you choose to spend time on this task, your aim is to do think of the problem at hand and only the problem at hand. I find that even 1hour a day spend on only one task helps me lots when it comes to making significant progress on that project. Once the task is done, I take a short break, check my phone, or watch a little tv, or go for a short walk to reset for the next hour of focus work and then I pick another thing on my to-do list and get cracking on it. This continuous process of focus work allows me to get many things done daily and often leaves people perplexed when they see I can deliver orders, consistently update my blog with content and have a fun life as well.

Buffering Content:

Speaking of consistently updating my blog, this last trick is probably the most efficient of efficiency tools and that’s buffering content. When we buffer, we are essentially creating more content than we would otherwise need and posting them at future dates instead of dumping everything on our social media or websites all in one day. The way the algorithms online work, is by rewarding consistent use of their platforms and consistent posting. Writing more than one blogpost on blog writing days or setting up all your pictures to be posted on a daily schedule instead of all at once, tells the algorithm that you are committed to posting a lot of content throughout the year and keeps you fresh in the minds and eyes of your fans and customers. For social media platforms I like to use a website aptly named, Buffer.com and it allows you to buffer several posts on a timed schedule for platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, twitter and many more. This is my trick for posting daily on a number of platforms that I run, whether I am updating my Podcasts Twitter page with daily affirmations (https://t*********m/5MinsSelfLove) or posting new daily comics on my online comics store  all of it gets done automatically through Buffer, and I simply have to set aside about an hour a week to get the whole month of content ready. This gives me even more time to work on my other projects and continue delivering high quality services to my freelancing clients whilst also building my other passive income streams. Other websites like Facebook and WordPress have an integrated buffering and calendar option which I too make great use of. Simply sit one weekend and write a couple of extra posts and then set them to go up once a week and you’ll have your whole month of content set up. Do these enough times throughout the month and you’ll be posting content twice every week, every month and only needing to do your writing sessions every 2 or three weeks. The more you buffer and calendar the further ahead you will be with your content and the more time you will have on your hand to craft even more quality posts to market your business.

Affordable Versus Cheap

Lastly and to close off this roadmap to making $50,000 and more on Fiverr is the topic of Affordability. When we think of Affordable, we always associate it with cheap services, and yet that is not necessarily true. Affordable to a millionaire is not affordable to a regular person, and yet it remains affordable. So how do we define affordability? Personally, I define affordability as value versus cost. If something has a high cost but includes several items that will bring value in the long term for the client, such as more money, more customers, or a higher social standing that far exceeds the cost of the services rendered then this is an affordable product because in the long term, the investment your client makes today can end up doubling or even tripling their overall income. If you want to build a successful freelancing business or really any business at all, it is your task to create services and products that bring so much value to your clients that they will pay whatever you ask because their value is so high that in contrast to the cost it will still be affordable. So how do we create services that our value to our clients?

The first step is knowing who you are selling to, and why they require your services. This can be done through the creation of buyer personas. A buyer persona is a hypothetical client that might require your services. Start with 3 at first and create more unique and niche buyer personas as you go. Let me give you an example of my own services.

In my Draw anything you want gig I can think of the following buyer personas:

• Gifty Gertrude – This buyer will often come either once a year or every so constantly looking for a gift for their loved ones. They are looking for something highly personalized that showcases their loved one, or at the very least something their loved one holds dear. It can be their car, their pet, or their dream house. In any case Gift Gertrude will be willing to pay up to $100 for a highly customized illustration, often one they have already thought of and just need to get done, and if satisfied with your product will tip generously up to 50% of the original cost. Gertrude will often come a couple of weeks to a month in advance looking for their original piece of art, to give the artist enough time and not disappoint their friend.
• Business Bill- This buyer is often a businessman and may come to you on a more regular basis or only when they are starting up a new business. It all depends on whether if Bill is a business starter or an employee, in any case, Bill always needs work done quickly and is more than willing to pay high prices for quick and quality services. They will have a particular concept in mind but are often not very creative and will leave a lot of the specifics up to me to figure out. The best way to keep Bill happy is to deliver the next day or at the very least 3 days before the actual deadline is set. They value projects done fast and with minimal changes, so keeping them in the loop with sketches at the beginning of the project before jumping into the final image is the best way to make sure you are both on the same page. Whilst they are not the best tippers, they will return with more business in a very short span of time and can easily become a recurring client if you deliver high-quality work time after time.

• Annual Annie- This buyer is mostly a hobbyist, a college student, or simply a person looking to get a cool piece of art done for fun. They don’t have that much of a budget but will have very specific ideas. They may come to you once a year (hence the name) and will require several revisions in order to get exactly what they want to be done. The best way to handle Annie is to give me plenty of time to work on the project because they don’t have a big budget but a lot of specific details go into their illustrations, they will often not need the art for a couple of weeks, sometimes up to a month or two. They’re just doing it for fun, so with them, I tend to take my time, working on my priority clients first like Bill and Gertrude, and working on their pieces with patience. Always send them updates along the way so they can give feedback as I am working on the piece rather than at the beginning and the end like with Bill and Gertrude. This leaves them feeling happy and taken care of because I didn’t charge them too much, and was consistently showing them progress and asking for their feedback in order to give them exactly what they need.

These are just a few examples of what buyer personas are and how you can sell the same service but tailor it to each individual client so they leave enjoying your process and your customer service. Good customer service is an experience, a method of steps that must happen in order to for someone to enjoy the work you deliver. The added value that will keep bringing people to you is how they feel at the end of the transaction. If you deliver a high-quality product but were mean or uncommunicative throughout the process there is very little chance they will come back. However, if you deliver a high-quality product and were easy to work with and a delight to communicate with, clients will come back again and will very often refer even more clients to you.

Creating buyer personas is an art, and requires that you do research into your current clients, the clients of your competitors, and the clients you want to attract. By having buyer personas for your freelancing business figured out, you can then create content like videos, blog posts, and social media marketing that targets those buyer personas. Speaking your message to the right people is always more meaningful than screaming your message to anyone that will listen. So take the time to figure out who your clients are and who you want to attract more of, and create marketing material that goes in line with that. You can also use this information to craft better gig descriptions and gig images that speak to the right audience.

Knowing who your buyers allow you to actually add value to their experience instead of treating them like just another client that walked through your door. Do this exercise for your own business and you will see your numbers skyrocket.

These were my 7 tips to earn real life-changing money, not only on Fiverr but on all online and offline business ventures you may launch this year. I hope you enjoyed it and if you’d like to tell me what you think, feel free to leave a comment down below.

I am Antonio “Mabs”, a 15+ year veteran freelance artist, illustrator, and animator, and may these tips allow you to grow your businesses exponentially.

With the proper mindset, tools, and dedication I believe that anyone can thrive in the online market. No matter what your service offering is if you’re adding value to your clients, being efficient with your work process, and delivering high-quality consistent work you will reach success.