Not sure whether I should feel angry or sad

[zeus777]

So several weeks ago, I posted this, hoping that it will give people a good idea on how to do business here at Fiverr:

http://forum.fiverr.com/discussion/80369/before-you-post-how-can-i-get-sales-please-help-try-reading-this-first-it-might-help-might-#Item_82



Since then I’ve received a lot of messages asking me for help. All of them were very short, something like

Hi I read your post, please help me. Sigh, facepalm



What makes it worse for me is that they said they have read my post ( and I think I made it pretty clear of what people

should do when setting up gigs, like using proper grammar and good quality photos), but when I went to check their gigs,

they all had bad grammar and bad quality images.

In one case a new seller said something like "I read your post. I am new. I don’t know how to start. Please tell me."



This, at first, made me angry. I was like WHAT THE HECK DO YOU MEAN BY YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO START???

Just read the whole website!! When I first started, there was no forum ( or maybe I just didn’t know it existed), I read through

everything myself, nobody taught me how to set up the gigs. I did my own research and did everything myself.

I mean, isn’t that what people do? Aren’t we all grown ups? Do some people need a guiding light for everything?



When people send messages asking for advice,sometimes I will give them some, but when I check their gigs later on,

I find out that no changes have been made, and I see the same people complain at the forum, wondering why they are not

getting sales. Um…if you are not going to change anything, why did you ask for advice in the first place??

or was the advice I gave you not good enough?



Oh no wait. Maybe the advice I gave you required too much work. Bleh.



…So yes, sometimes I don’t give a damn and move on, but sometimes depending on the mood, I get all angry and start ranting,

like I am doing there above. 😛



Sometimes though, I feel bad for them. I seriously do, believe it or not.



When I get angry, I will think stuff like how dumb are these people!?? Are they blind?? Can they not see the quality difference

between their gigs and a TRS?? When I point out a stolen gig, I have had those sellers getting all confused and not understanding

why it is a bad thing to “borrow” an image from another successful seller, it really shocked and amazed me.



BUT. If you think about it, it is sad.

IF those people SERIOUSLY and HONESTLY do not understand what they are doing wrong, DESPITE the fact that

they have been given a decent amount of advice, that is sad. I do feel bad for them. I have read posts and messages where I can

tell that the sellers were really having a hard time and was not getting it. As much as I am puzzled that they are not putting in the effort,

they might be equally puzzled about why we keep telling them to push themselves and try harder.



It is easy for me to say quit whining and just do it, but that is not enough for them.

It seems they seriously do not understand and do not see the point of why things need to be done in a certain way.

I sometimes get the feeling that it’s not that they are simply refusing to fix/change their gigs because they are stubborn or simply lazy,

they don’t do it because they reeeeeaaally believe there is no point in doing so.

Even though the image quality looks bad to me, maybe they think it is perfect. Same thing with the description.

Maybe the advice me ( or other people) give is simply too much in their minds. It’s not that they are being lazy, perhaps

they seriously believe that there must be an easier faster way, and there is nothing wrong with choosing the easier path.

It might also be a cultural thing, maybe in some countries “sharing” success is an important thing, and it is OK to use

other people’s work as their own until they themselves can become successful. If that really is the case, it would be hard to convince

them that it is not right in some countries.



It makes me wonder, seriously. If they really are clueless, I do feel sorry.

Having that said, as much as I am willing to help certain people, I still refuse to spoon-feed the information and

baby-sit them through everything. Am I being mean?? Maybe. Maybe not. Don’t know.



So this is something that goes through in my head every now and then.

Not sure if this is a conversation category or a rant, I’ll let the forum sheriffs decide. 😃

---

[willpower_hk]

Attitude determines altitude. You can’t help those who can’t help themselves.

[sincere18]

I think there are a few things that factor into this.

Yes, many people really do think there images and writing is good. If they are not native then they have no idea how bad their grammar is and no way to fix it. It’s the same like everywhere in life, someone thinks they are a great cook because their friend likes the meal they made but if they tried to serve it in a real restaurant it would taste terrible to most customers. Or someone things they did a good job painting a house but there are messy corners everywhere. Someone thinks they give a great hair cut, but there is a difference sometimes between the people that give $14.95 hair cuts and the high end salons that charge $150 for a hair cut.

As for the using someone elses images, this is a bigger and bigger issues with younger generations who are growing up from being on the internet when they are like 5 years old. Little kids have no concept of this, and as they grow up and start using social media and facebook, that is ALL about SHARING information. YOu post links, you post photos, you take them from any site and post them on your page. No one is schooled in the difference bewteen personal and commercial use.

YOu are also assuming that many people have basic business skills. There is a reason why some people do well with just having a job, where someone else tells them what to do. I also do a big duh faceplam kind of thing when sellers come and ask what to do since they have no sales and I always tell people to go research and read other gigs that are similar to yours that are high rated to see how yours compares. I am surprised how many people do not do that before even creating a gid. I think many people just do not have independent entrepenuerial business skills in that sense. and many people on here have no idea whatsoever about basic principals of marketing. So that is a factor also.

[Guest rlsalazar]

First, not every country has the benefit of a free public education. It’s obvious a lot of people here have about a 5th-6th year school experience. Second, not everyone speaks English. Third, very few of the people posting with bad grammar and poorly written gigs even read English. They’re just operating off of scripts.

That’s why you see so many, “Hello Dear,” in messages and forum posts.

Although I get your frustrations, and sympathize a little tolerance and patience goes a long way.

Just saying.

[zeus777]

rlsalazar said: a little tolerance and patience goes a long way.

Very VERY true. I do sympathize, and I try to tell myself to be patient in some cases

but I guess I let my frustration build up pretty easily, especially after I get those messages.

It would help me if those people at least followed some of the advice I tried giving them.

I get angry, then I feel bad/sad, I tell myself I should be more understanding,

then I get another help me message and my sympathy goes down the drain.

I need to learn let go of this frustration!!! ~O)

[sincere18]

Reply to @zeus777: Sometimes you just have to repeat it. If you get any messages just send them a link back to the discussion and say, read this carefully and that will help you.

[sincere18]

Reply to @rlsalazar: I totally forgot to mention that, but the education is a big factor in some countries I believe. We take it for granted that some of us get decent free education where we are taught how to figure out a problem or research things. Also I am going to guess that maybe you and zeus77 may have even gone to college as well. As we get older we also forget sometimes how kids are right out of high school and how much they don’t know abut the real world. Although my nephew goes to a regular public school and I was shocked in 3rd grade one of their class assignments was they had to create a business! Make a name, a logo and describe what they do, etc…in 5th grade he had to be using google to do homework tests that involved searching for information, like plan a road trip and look u the distance between 10 places you want to stop and visit along the way…times are changing in some places…but not all.

[sincere18]

Reply to @zeus777: It’s also not necessarily about being patient, but just being detached from their personal progress. YOu have to jsut give out advice knowing it may or may not be followed and you cannot be every sellers personal savior. 🙂

[zeus777]

Reply to @sincere18:
Oh heeeeeck no, I’m not nice enough to be someone’s savior, I just thought I can
give some realistic and useful advice to some people out there. 😃
But I’ll just send them the same link when I get the help message for sure,
that should create less frustration!

[sincere18]

Reply to @zeus777: LOL…yes, I was just joking, but us nice people really come from a sincere place, like I am sure you do with helping people when they email you. Of course you want them to use your advice and make changes, but you can only go so far.

Yes, i think just giving them links where to go on the forums and your own posts will bring that much less frustration and then once in a blue moon there might be a pet project kind of new seller you take under your wings with a more personal email reply now and then.

[julipalmer7]

I guess it also will get annoying when you get the same messages and have to respond to the same thing like spam, if it does persist I normally report them.

[cydoniacinnabun]

This just shows that people consider Fiverr an easy way to get money without contributing effort. I just started two weeks ago on Fiverr as a Freelancing Artist/Illustrator and so far I earned +$50. Why? Because I sell what I present. The art being showed with my gigs are actually mine. What I give to my buyers are accurate and I communicate with my buyers. I give in the efforts. The sellers you described aren’t.