First time this happened

[writer99025]

I’m surprised at how financially illiterate otherwise smart freelancers are. You must save, remain debt free and prepare for the rainy day. Because trust me, the only thing certain in this job of ours is the uncertainty.

[mae_creativity]

You can buy a decent Lenovo or Dell laptop for $500. I have bought only two laptops in my whole life, both Lenovo, both around $500, and have made tens of thousands with them. Don’t take a loan, avoid getting into debt. To become financially independent, it is essential that you are debt-free. It’s preferable to have a low income with zero debt than to have a high income with debt.

@writer99025

Thanks so much for your reply.

I’ve had 3 laptops - Acer, HP and Lenevo.

Since what I have currently is Lenevo, and I bought it just a year ago, and I already need a new one. . . I don’t want another Lenevo.

But since the HP was perfect for 6 years, I can’t bring myself to buy any other brand.

The laptop I think I want is: hp 15-ay109nj (which in Israel costs $800).

I think it is the most basic I can buy for my needs–It doesn’t have anything fancy (unless it does and due to my ignorance don’t know it).

Payment options - I don’t have a credit card because I don’t want one.

The shop offers 6 monthly installments if u pay in checks (which I can’t afford either), or taking a loan for $800–the monthly installments I CAN afford, but the interest is ridiculously high.

😕 (confused face)

[miiila]

I´d not take a loan for a laptop for a broken camera (my camera has a sticker over it actually ;)) or even keyboard if I can plug in an external one. If it´s so broken you can´t work on it without it costing you time=money, try to find one you can pay right away. If you absolutely need one with working camera etc. (and Anna´s suggestion to ask family or friends is a great one!) or absolutely can´t pay upfront for whatever one, I´d maybe not go the bank route, but look around, I regularly get mails from an eletronics store that does 0% financing on their stuff, so if you got say 1000 $ from your bank and would have to pay them back 1200$ to buy the same 1000 $ laptop the store would have sold you for 1000 $…
But yeah, in theory writer is right, only that´s easy to say if you got ‘background’. 😉

[mae_creativity]

Oh yeah it def. can be a pain if you don’t have a working laptop. Maybe you have someone in your family with a great cam or a mic which would allow you to produce your video/audio.

This way you wouldn’t have to spend the money on a new laptop right away. Plus I think the quality would be much better than trying to record it through a laptop anyways.

But anyways these are just my thoughts, I am sure all the other wonderful people here will pop in with great suggestions as well.

P.S. Don’t forget about the gig of yours. Maybe we can help you improve it, just make a post in IMG 🙂

ooh! That’s a good idea. Am I allowed to post a link to the IMG thread here?

[mae_creativity]

I´d not take a loan for a laptop for a broken camera (my camera has a sticker over it actually ;)) or even keyboard if I can plug in an external one. If it´s so broken you can´t work on it without it costing you time=money, try to find one you can pay right away. If you absolutely need one with working camera etc. (and Anna´s suggestion to ask family or friends is a great one!) or absolutely can´t pay upfront for whatever one, I´d maybe not go the bank route, but look around, I regularly get mails from an eletronics store that does 0% financing on their stuff, so if you got say 1000 $ from your bank and would have to pay them back 1200$ to buy the same 1000 $ laptop the store would have sold you for 1000 $…

But yeah, in theory writer is right, only that´s easy to say if you got ‘background’. 😉

@miiila and @annai80

Borrowing a friend’s camcorder is a good idea for a one time thing.

But I don’t just need it for the gig video. My plan is to build up my youtube channel and fb Page. That means daily videos (and sporadic–it’s all about creativity so depends when creativity strikes).

[miiila]

Oh okay, I looked at your gigs, if you sell language courses on video, obviously you need a camera/equipment/someone who has that and will help you. Maybe if any of your friends or family have what you need, you could make a deal with them, like doing some kind of work for them in exchange for them lending you their equipment or helping you filming it.
Just until you´d have enough money to buy your own of course.
Mh, okay, daily and sporadic is a problem then of course, unless their equipment is buried in their wardrobe apart from the yearly vacation anyway, might not hurt to see if that´s the case with one of them.

[mae_creativity]

I’m surprised at how financially illiterate otherwise smart freelancers are. You must save, remain debt free and prepare for the rainy day. Because trust me, the only thing certain in this job of ours is the uncertainty.

I entirely agree with you.

The issue is (and there’s nothing new about this): if you want to invest in your business in order to possibly succeed one day in the future, that means incurring debt now.

[miiila]

Maybe you could try to focus on the gigs that don´t need camera/good laptop first and earn the money for the investment, or find some additional jobs off fiverr to get it, else I guess that just leaves debt for that.
Your bestselling gigs don´t seem to be ones that really need ‘camera work’ I think?
For the proofreading gig, do you often get orders for the Standard or Premium package? Looking at that, I´d assume most people would go for the 2K words you offer in your 5$ gig vs. the 500 / 800 in the standard/premium, but I don´t know, of course. Maybe you could leverage your bestsellers more, but maybe you’d better go to ‘Improve my Gig’ to get more ideas for that.

[mae_creativity]

Maybe you could try to focus on the gigs that don´t need camera/good laptop first and earn the money for the investment, or find some additional jobs off fiverr to get it, else I guess that just leaves debt for that.

Your bestselling gigs don´t seem to be ones that really need ‘camera work’ I think?

For the proofreading gig, do you often get orders for the Standard or Premium package? Looking at that, I´d assume most people would go for the 2K words you offer in your 5$ gig vs. the 500 / 800 in the standard/premium, but I don´t know, of course. Maybe you could leverage your bestsellers more, but maybe you’d better go to ‘Improve my Gig’ to get more ideas for that.

Interesting ideas.

Thing is–what I need the video + mic is not for the gigs. I want to build up my youtube channel + fb page, and that’s mostly why I need the videos.

These two things didn’t even occur to me till a few months ago when I read here on the forum about so many instances of sellers having their accounts banned for no legit reason. That made me realize that if we want to be successful online freelancers, we need to build up our reputation elsewhere online as well

[miiila]

Absolutely, it´s no good idea to rely completely on one thing, but while you´re busy and earning with the one thing mostly, you can as well try to make the best of it and maybe earn more to help you with other ventures.

[fonthaunt]

@annai80 , @leahemme , @miiila , @fonthaunt , @frank_d , @miacmht , @djgodknows , @silberma1976 , @silkroute , @yashahmed

Hi all 🙂

Arg! :rolling_eyes: –

I knew about the private feedback (found out cuz I ordered a gig from someone else myself). But I didn’t know it was a feature for a mutual cancelled gig as well.

Sigh.

Well, in any case the gig of mine I’m referring (not allowed to say which one cuz of course fiv will accuse me of trying to promote myself :rolling_eyes: ) to isn’t taking off and I have no more ideas about what I can do about it–have made the gig as best as I can.

All that’s missing is a video, but my laptop has broken so can’t record a video. 💻

I know this is not directly related to this thread, but I see intelligent and nice people here commenting, and I like talking to you rabbits.

I’m at war with myself about whether or not to take a loan from the scary bank for a new and excellent laptop. I can’t decide!! The investment would only and maybe show results in who knows how long from now and the interest on the loan is ridiculous. 😕

I know this is not directly related to this thread.

But I see intelligent, well rounded. creative and nice people here commenting,

• we freelancers are wont to understand each other (especially online freelancers, and Fiver freelancers)

  . . .and I like talking to you penguins. 🐧

  ♥️ May

@mae_creativity I think you are getting plenty of helpful advice on the laptop thing, so I’ll offer a thought to get more and better input anytime you have a question. This isn’t really just for you, but all of us. 🙂

I would suggest just posting a new thread in Conversations for a new question. You’ll get a broader array of responses and you might be able to add to your opinion gathering and find even more people who can give advice based on their experiences. That way you don’t have to tag anyone in particular, either, and it doesn’t exclude those who might have great ideas for you in a category that fits.

Good luck with your laptop decision. It’s tough. I have had to try all kinds of things to make gig videos since that’s not my best talent! It would be tougher to be in a category where you really needed it. I’ve had to bug my own forum buds like @eoinfinnegan but got some of it figured out. At least in my case I could technically hire another user to make some of my videos, but I like a personal touch! Hope you get something worked out.

[mae_creativity]

@mae_creativity I think you are getting plenty of helpful advice on the laptop thing, so I’ll offer a thought to get more and better input anytime you have a question. This isn’t really just for you, but all of us. 🙂

I would suggest just posting a new thread in Conversations for a new question. You’ll get a broader array of responses and you might be able to add to your opinion gathering and find even more people who can give advice based on their experiences. That way you don’t have to tag anyone in particular, either, and it doesn’t exclude those who might have great ideas for you in a category that fits.

Good luck with your laptop decision. It’s tough. I have had to try all kinds of things to make gig videos since that’s not my best talent! It would be tougher to be in a category where you really needed it. I’ve had to bug my own forum buds like @eoinfinnegan but got some of it figured out. At least in my case I could technically hire another user to make some of my videos, but I like a personal touch! Hope you get something worked out.

Thanks–great idea.

I just particularly liked the little community that this thread developed. (Most threads on the forum make me anxious lol.)

[fonthaunt]

Thanks–great idea.

I just particularly liked the little community that this thread developed. (Most threads on the forum make me anxious lol.)

No worries. 🍵

Some threads do get intense, but part of the reason the mods are here is to guide disruptive users or posts back into a reasonable discussion. We are working on more ways to gradually let people know if they are off track so there are less surprises, too!

(@djgodknows can now offer a meme of a nice chilled out cat or dog or SLOTH.) 🙂

[mae_creativity]

Thanks to @annai80 's suggestion – here’s the link to my new forum post about this gig 🙂
Fiverr Forum

Gig not taking off - stuck on runway

Hi all ? My forum friends who replied to my latest forum post suggested I ask for your suggestions on how to improve this gig. I did get two orders--both 5 stars. But the buyers did not order more than once: One due to not being able to afford it...

Reading time: 3 mins ? Likes: 6 ❤

[djgodknows]

No worries. 🍵

Some threads do get intense, but part of the reason the mods are here is to guide disruptive users or posts back into a reasonable discussion. We are working on more ways to gradually let people know if they are off track so there are less surprises, too!

(@djgodknows can now offer a meme of a nice chilled out cat or dog or SLOTH.) 🙂

[fonthaunt]

Perfect!!! How did you know I was hoping for a sloth?

[djgodknows]

Perfect!!! How did you know I was hoping for a sloth?

(This was one of the toughest meme yet to find, 95% of the related memes were NC-17… lol)

[fonthaunt]

(This was one of the toughest meme yet to find, 95% of the related memes were NC-17… lol)

You may need to starting making your own. It would be delightful, they could be more Fiverr specific, and then you could have a gig for that!

[catwriter]

Making memes for the Fiverr forum for just $5?

Do they come with a commercial license?

[fonthaunt]

Making memes for the Fiverr forum for just $5?

Do they come with a commercial license?

I vote $5 for a REALLY simple meme where the buyer provides the text. Then the extras could be great, one for license, one for writing a funny meme phrase based on their topic, etc. DJ could put his talents to good use!

[djgodknows]

Making memes for the Fiverr forum for just $5?

Do they come with a commercial license?

Do they come with a commercial license?

[miiila]

But would you have to have your own sloth then, just to be sure about the IP/copyright issue? 🎰 (Yeah sorry, it´s a slot machine but the closest icon that came up when typing…)