The #AskGaryVee video is up!

[emmaki]

Bad luck anyone who can’t handle hyperactive talk and heavy French accents, but there might be subs up in a few days.

[eoinfinnegan]

Wow!
I can’t believe I managed to call it out exactly for what it would be. Pure rubbish dressed up as advice. The answers were so generic and nothing to do with Fiverr specifically that it was like they were reading from a PLR book on marketing or starting your own business.
The only decent thing about this video is that it goes out to his 200k subscribers who may now check out Fiverr, although judging by the comments it is pretty unlikely. Fiverr might have been better spending $5 to get 200,000 youtube subscribers from one of the sellers here. At least someone would have got something useful from it (the seller who made $4).
Maybe I’m just pissed that they didn’t answer my question, it had the most likes which is how competitions are won, right?

[emmaki]

It would have been nice if the top question throughout–“how I mek sells?”–had been addressed. As it was, I liked how he “called out” the scared woman who wanted to be a solopreneur (while obviously thinking she was a he). Someone didn’t read the thread at all. Maybe it was Captain Beard, who laughed nervously at the beginning?

All in all, looks to be a wash with most the comments either calling Gary out for the constant interruptions (the CRO looked pretty awkward at points–did you note the bit where Gary leaned behind him and tapped his imaginary wristwatch? lol) or just saying Fiverr was awful.

[eoinfinnegan]

There were plenty of entertaining points:

1. At the start when Mr. Vee couldn’t keep a straight face because of the CRO’s very strong accent.
2. When Gary’s advice for a Fiverr seller to get exposure was to go somewhere (anywhere?) other than Fiverr, and work for free…
3. The constant interruptions which led to CRO constantly asking which of them should talk is the most passively aggressive way.
4. Gary saying something to the effect of “let’s get on with it, I wanna get out of here quickly to go do something important”.
5. Gary looking around for approval whenever he said anything but especially when he said something about him deserving 6 figures for speaking and others only deserving $10k.

I genuinely feel sorry for the CRO, it was painful to watch but probably worse for him having to be there.

[emmaki]

I wonder if they will film the picking the winners of the competition thing. You can just see Gary railroading over the handpicked jury as the CRO inexplicably has something really important to do and regretfully can’t attend. I mean, the French are masters of passive aggression. I thought he handled it quite well considering. Awkwardly entertaining viewing.

Also the question voice was weirdly robotic, I thought.

#makethishappenfiverr

[misscrystal]

As the CRO is speaking Gary blurts out “We’ve gotta get on with the show because I’ve gotta be somewhere else.” (eoin’s point 4)
I didn’t understand why he told the woman with two kids to only get 6 hours of sleep so she could fit everything in and be in the top 1%, implying she was just lazy.

[eoinfinnegan]

That’s the problem with generic answers, they don’t take people’s personal situations into account.

[emmaki]

listen more carefully, Gary thinks she’s a he and is speaking to her as if he’s a man with a wife to take care of the kids. A lot of that attitude stems from that, I think.

Anyway, Gary’s full of shit, I’m already living fairly close to my dream life which involves none of this constant working and hustling crapola, so he can shove it.

[cyaxrex]

I want a @emmaki to make a video! This was complete and utter garbage. I want selling advice from a real seller in my category (sorry for being selfish). I want real advice injected with actual wit, dirty language, and real insight into what would otherwise be a very informative sales advice video.

Naturally this would likely have to be streamed off Fiverr, but I think @emmaki should actually cash in on this, create a $5 gig for the trouble and only make the video available via Viemo via a secret access passcode given to those who actually pay for the privilege of having their questions answered by a real TRS.

Of course, @emmaki would actually have to want to do this but it’s not like it wouldn’t bring in a few quid. What say you Emmaki?

(Also, I don’t mean to sound a bit presumptuous, but if you did decide to do this and it was as hugely successful, do think about throwing a tenner my way ey?)

[emmaki]

All the questions had been doctored, too. Compare the questions in the video to the actual questions asked. I’m pretty neutral on this point as this is fairly standard, but it can change the tenor of the question and thus the answer.

Plus, Beardface probably vetted it all as Gary is too busy doing Important Things to deal with interacting with his adoring community beyond generic shout-outs.

PS Beardface, if you are reading this, you have a nice beard. I would have liked to have seen more of you, over all. flutters eyelashes

[cyaxrex]

(The stared out word was 10er)

[emmaki]

dirty boy, that’s a lot of *******s!

[emmaki]

OK, so that clarification came after I posted. But in any case, isn’t the podcast kind of doing that now (I never listen to it so I don’t know–I’ve just never really enjoyed podcasts, plus it seems to be more a newbie thing)

Someone should make a parody of this though, it’s ripe for it.

[cyaxrex]

No. I can’t say that I have learned anything from this video. I want real advice. I want to know things like how many reviews you had before you started limiting what you offer in your standard $5 gig. I want advice from someone who isn’t going to accuse me of watching House of Cards when actually I work like a dog most days.

God damn it, I want advice from someone who likes a mojito in the evening and makes passionate love when they are not at work and has structured their pricing in such a way that it allows such luxuries.

Also, I think it would be fun as well as insightful. 🙂

[emmaki]

Oh, I put my prices up at level 2 but I didn’t go crazy with the $$$ and times until I got drowned shortly after becoming a TRS.

…which also came with a massive hike in expectations. It’s not a good combination. I might drop the deliverables back down in November (hey, summer is here in the Greek islands and I embrace the mojito/love/not working stuff)

I haven’t actually watched the latest season of HoC. Do Kevin Spacey and Blondie get even more devious once they have the reins of power? I also need to get with the new season of Game of Thrones.

I try not to work like a dog, those are days wasted. For me, I like to balance my “work time” between the actual writing with researching whatever’s interesting for me (work- or otherwise) and of course, just shouting at stupid people.

My only advice to anyone has always been to do what feels right and follow your gut. But the mek sells crowd don’t like that. Nor, I suspect, do they like a heavily-accented Frenchman constantly being interrupted by Mr Generic Hype 2016 (who spent a not inconsiderable amount of time telling one questioner to use Medium–a website with which he has no affiliation with at all, oh no, not at all).

You owe me a mojito now!

[cyaxrex]

Yes, this is my main problem. At the moment, it feels like I am being absorbed by Fiverr and don’t have time for any of the personal pursuits which I quit my day job for. Also, I’m getting so many $5 and bulk orders that I’m starting to worry that I am compromising on quality just by trying to get so many things done on time.

Your right, though, the gut’s the way to go. I think I’m just going to be done with it and activate gig packages for my writing gigs and see what happens.

As for the last season of HoC, I wasn’t that impressed actually. There were a couple of epic moments but the season itself felt rushed somehow.

Next time I’m in the Greek Islands I’ll get you a mojito. Alternatively, if you ever want to hop skip and jump over to Malta, you can enjoy a home made mojito with me in my boat. That said, in the interest of full disclosure my boat is an inflatable kayak held together with lots of puncture repair kit glue.

[emmaki]

Aren’t you moving over to Cyprus though? I have always wanted to visit Malta, if only to experience its super-weird language which appears to only use the last half of the alphabet and consonants.

Yeah, the bulk orders and $5 was what did me in. It’s fine to offer all that quality when you’re starting out and its slow and you have time, but once it starts to overwhelm you (and ideally, you should be able to recognize it before it does, but that’s never gonna happen for any of us) you need to switch everything up.

Like I kept my prices at $5… I think my main gig started at 500, then went to 300, then 100, then 50. I thought 50 was fine. No. I got compound basic orders from cheap bastards who wouldn’t pay the extra to get 400 (or whatever it was). So I dropped it to 10, and made 100 $20.

I still get people who do the 10 x 5 stuff, but they massively overpay so I massively over-deliver. My two most recent 4.5 stars are from braindead buyers who didn’t read that it was 10 words and moaned about their missing 400 words. I have an auto-response of unlimited patience and kindness for them, which mitigates it somewhat (my actual response is less kind and very limited).

No experience with gig packages. I’ve got one and it’s doing OK (2 reviews? I’ve had 5 orders, and those 2 reviews are for $5 basics, the other orders have been in the $100s–but no reviews!). I might start a couple of others soon to further test it, but I’m unwilling to test the feature with my moneyspinners. It’s not like Fiverr’s going to help me if they suddenly drop off the face of the search, after all…

But yeah, if you feel Fiverr is swallowing you up just play with your bits and pieces. By which I mean adjust your delivery times, prices and offerings. Not… the other stuff.

[fonthaunt]

Suuureee, it was. I had no idea you had this kind of feeling for @emmaki. I am not sure you should invite her to throw THAT your way on a public forum!

[emmaki]

It might liven things up a bit if I did, though.

BTW, I hope you approve of my new helpful method of aiding the new lost sellers, simply by linking to this wonderful official video.

[cyaxrex]

Well, you have made me feel like a right idiot. For some reason, I hadn’t thought of creating a new writing gig to test out packages. Cheers.

As for Cyprus, that’s definitely off the cards for this year. Me and the missus actually broke up just before I got sick a couple of weeks ago which was interesting. This being the case, everything is up in the air and made even more mad by the fact that we are still living together. (Think Mr & Mrs Smith, just with lots of shouting instead of guns and throwing knives).

To make matters worse, there is also a pretty huge money issue (i.e. who is going to get what) which I think I should have taken a bit more seriously as I think I’m about to get fleeced. - If I haven’t been already.

Anyway, my plan for the year now is simply to batten down the hatches and work and scrimp and save and see what comes along.

To get back on topic, (kind off) Malta is just a big building site really and the people are…erm, lovely. That’s why I live on the much quieter and much more unspoilt sister island Gozo. What’s more, I do love the area where I live, it’s just hard to meet people and it’s probably going to get harder now since the missus will have the local Hungarian mafia on her side. (There are a staggering amount of Hungarians on Gozo).

Anyway, thanks again for the advice!

[emmaki]

Hmm, that does sound rather dicey and difficult. I would hunker down in my work and avoid reality as much as possible in this situation.

But yeah, set up a meaningless new gig and play with it. Won’t hurt to test the waters before putting your prize gigs to the test and all that. Besides, you may just create your bestseller that buys you a car/house/island and get you a coveted spot on the Fiverr blog, which is a known cure for all ills.

Right?

No takers?

Was I lied to?

[esthernyambura]

The video is not fitting well. I think its a good idea to right click and copy url of the video and watch from the original source

[writer99025]

Sorry to know that, it’s very good that you are taking it in the right spirit. Don’t take anything in life too seriously. But yes, try to become financially independent, even if that means going back to a job for 5 to 10 years. You don’t have to be rich, but should have enough to be able to have an above average income from your interest bearing assets. This should be the same or more than your freelance income and should last you till the very end. Financial security, trust me is the cure to all problems. My suggestion - get back to your old high paying job and work tirelessly for 10-15 years. Then you can relax.

[fitrigwrites4u]

Yup to this: ˝Financial security, trust me is the cure to all problems˝

[emmaki]

Bah, financial blah blah blah, it’s in the hands of psychopaths. I’m close to being able to afford to buy a home outright, and that’ll do me.

Once that’s done, I’ll have a base to be a “digital nomad” or whatever noxious nomenclature is the mot du jour and have pad to crash in my true home country–Greece.

That’s not financial security. It’s a roof over my head no matter what in a place where my soul lives. That’s much more important.