katakatica

Well... I just moved cities (okay, over two months ago) and I know no one here, so you could say that I come to the forum for social interaction - also because going out feels like way too much work.) It's nice during breaks when my brain wants sleep but I'm trying NOT to take a nap. (I admit, I love the rare 'drama' that happens.) It's also really interesting to see how others who work on the site are doing (just in general and work-wise.) I COULD probably spend less time on here and more time working but I'm pretty productive these days so I think I can let myself have some 'fun'.

In the US I prefer Domino's (which apparently seems even less popular(?) but here in the EU I usually go for Italian style pizza. Pizza hut has this... fried base here? (I reckon at least near DC. it was 'regular' pizza, just square). It's tasty, but the smallest pizza is enough to fill me up because of how heavy the crust is. Not sure if that's a Sweden thing though as I haven't really seen this in other countries either. I like pineapple on pizza as well to be honest! Not other fruit though! Strawberries AND nutella would be nice I think! The pizza I had I - think - had one of those canned fruit mixes AND strawberries on it with cheese and ham(?). Kind of strange experience haha. Apparently THIS is the pizza I was referring to as well. I've never seen it on menus but kind of want to try it... Kind of scared, though!

Yes and no. Freelancing (for me) is a way of working. I'm not a FREELANCER, I'm a writer/narrative designer. You can be a freelance anything: a hairdresser, sailor (for all I know), etc. (I was going to bring up a pretty dark example here, but I'll refrain from it.) Freelancing isn't really 'a' thing. It's just a way of doing one (or 10300201201 things.) If the question is whether you can live off freelancing (as in, having that as your mean income/etc.), of course the answer will be yes. Thousands (if not more) people do it. But at least for me, 'freelancing' isn't really my 'passion' or 'carreer', it's just the way I earn a living. My passion lies in writing (and video games.)

Exactly! No worries, I know it's a bit tough getting started, especially in very crowded niches!

So, the story goes, I might have partied a bit too hard over the weekend! We found an arcade bar with decently priced drinks (but half of the games were broken!) It's VERY rare for me to crave Pizza Hut. There are so many better pizzas (even up here in Stockholm!), but yeah, I felt like I NEEDED Pizza Hut yesterday. So that's what ended up being dinner. Here's the thing: Sweden generally seems to have some interesting pizza topping choices. I have heard rumours of bananas being on pizzas (which is... interesting), and I've seen kebab pizzas (and some other funky stuff.), but I'm almost sure we don't have the CRAZIEST stuff here (hotdogs and fries on pizza is a thing in Italy, after all.) Here's the question: what is your favourite topping on pizza, and what's the craziest pizza topping you've eaten? I think the craziest for me was… durian. Strawberries/other fruits in China were nothing compared to that experience!

Think about it from a buyer's side (and no, asking your friends to order from you is NOT the answer, false reviews are against the TOS. Of course, you can say that 'but I will actually work for them' but still.) What would convince YOU to order from someone? When I look for an artist (for personal projects), it's mostly their portfolio that matters to me. Only after making sure I like their style do I check their reviews (however, I do that to make sure they actually provide what they promise.) You only have a few samples up for each of your gigs - and just in general, your gigs look kind of, well.. Generic. If you're a graphic designer, why not use all 7 gigs you can have? Show off your work more (figure out a fun solution to show as many samples as you can.) Try to impress people - and the chance of them trusting you is higher.

https://media.giphy.com/media/1iSaZtCdYhxg4/giphy-downsized-large.gif (here I am hoping the GIF will work.) edit - it doesn't. it's just Snow White and the 7 Dwarves!) I've been getting similar messages a lot lately as well. Claims to be a writer but can't even spell writer right for the most part. I've never been called a HoE though, so that's new.

Because some things (especially art/writing/etc.) can be look/read amazing to you and be crap to someone else. It's all subjective. I've had someone criticise my writing before. Cancelled the order and get 10 other people who loved it. (of course, if this happens a lot, maybe it might be worth re-evaulating what you think of your own work and help you improve/think about things realistically.) If it's one off, it's kind of 'normal' though.

Just came back to work (properly) after celebrating all weekend and then being wiped out, seeing the red clock was like 'wait. DID I HAVE A DEADLINE TODAY?' I saw the dates and calmed down, but it was pretty scary for a second there!

As a note to this: on Fiverr, your buyer's nationality does NOT matter as long as it goes through the side. As long as your paypal/etc. is linked to Fiverr, you can get your money no matter where they are from AND no matter what they say. Going off the site is against the rules

Oof. Rule one of scam: if they feel like they need to prove that they aren't a scam, they are 99.99% a scam...

May started out 'meh', which I wasn't too fussed about because I had some projects left over from earlier (due to needing more information/etc.) and just in general some health issues that needed to be looked into... (I have mild carpal tunnel now, which is pretty... not great as a writer, ha.) The last week or so (maybe 10 days) have been insane though, so much that even if I don't get any orders through June, I won't be bored. If the project I'm finishing up now gets accepted by the 31st, May will be my best month yet (sitting over 3k for the second time.) That being said, April was lower, so it sort of seems to even out for the most part. Hope your June will be better than May!

No judging here, at the place (shared house with others in the game dev community) I used to have all of my meals made for me, so! Groceries are actually quite pricy here, so sometimes it makes more sense to eat out (for example, a good steak would cost almost the same.) What I miss sometimes is more/better quality veggies so I'm looking into finding a decent farmer's market or something, but it IS Sweden, so... I actually want to give making chili a try, I'm not the biggest fan but it's been a while, so! Made schnitzel for the first time yesterday that was fun (haven't deep-fried anything in ages so it was scary, too!) Ooof. I was about to say that I looked into Hello Fresh for lunches (because it'd be nice to have everything kind of 'prepared' and only have to cook something up quickly. For me, half the work is deciding what to eat to be honest, so I've considered services like that. Meal planning seems to work for now, but sometimes I do feel like I'm running out of ideas (though luckily I'm not deciding alone!) One of the issues is that despite being Hungarian, half of my recipes are... Chinese stir-fries. Luckily my bf has ideas otherwise we'd be stuck eating the same meals. (as for boba tea, I haven't found anyone who delivers it here, or my deliveroo would look similar. I tried making avocado toast (on bagel because that was the only decent looking 'bread' at the time, I went shopping too late) but I would be happy to get more 'authentic' ones tbh.

So - this question popped into my head while digging into some frozen mapo tofu I made last week. As a freelancer, my schedule is...hectic, to say the least, but as my partner works 9 to 17 (lucky), we eat lunch/dinner at 'normal' times (which actually has been pretty good.) Recently, we've started mealplanning - which is a first for me, but it seems to make deciding on dinner WAY easier! So, do you plan your weekly meals? Do you even cook? (we only cook dinner, lunch is either frozen stuff or sometimes take-out). Weekends are usually 'eat-out' or pancake days, which is very fun as well! Basically, with a flexible schedule, I'm wondering if it's easier OR harder for you to figure lunch/dinner out! (I personally struggle to get away from the screen sometimes, so I can see it being a curse, to be honest.) (bonus points if you have any quick dinner/lunch ideas that you'd love to share. We alternate between tricky and simple foods from quite a few countries, but the more recipes the better!)

So... I am currently debating raising my delivery times back (for some of my gigs.) See, I think it was around January that I made them shorter, I finally caught up with the bigger projects completely, and I also increased my prices (by quite a bit) at the time, so it felt like a good deal to everyone. For my biggest packages, I have them on 30 days or so (because for 20k words, I need the time to prepare/etc. - OR if I'm crazy, I can write just two pages a day for the project and have some extra time in case something goes wrong.) Now, this is nice and all, but... lately, I've been getting a LOT of inquires again (and many of them turn into future orders), but I often have to say 'come back in a week or so'. I want to be able to have a bit of a bigger queue, so by doing what you did (extending the delivery times, etc.) I'll likely be able to sleep a bit easier (I won't be in a rush with anything AND will get to work on EVERYTHING.) The other factor for me that often COMPLETELY messes this 'schedule' I'm trying to create though is... inspiration. Sometimes I get an order for 5000 words and in a day it'll be written and edited (even though I have like, 10 days or so for it.) I try to follow my heart when writing a lot, but of course that's not always the best idea.... That being said, a lot of things have changed in the past year or so (I started focusing fully on Fiverr towards the end of 2021), so I think delivery times/prices/etc. will still sort of change as I figure things out more and more.

I also prefer to break longer projects up into smaller pieces, but on a good day, I write 5-7k words. The 20k word project I'm finishing up took me about a month or so (however, a lot of it was planning/outlining as I was given completely creative freedom.) All in all, the project cost the buyer $1700 (it would be $1200 just for the words themselves.) However, that is creative writing, not articles/copy/etc. I can't imagine writing a single page of non-fiction though, let alone 15k words! I do agree though, that when you order such a huge project, it's best to do a quick test (I always offer a test order, max. 500 words.) I feel like if CS is saying that the seller completed the order, the only way you can 'win' this is to persist. When looking at writers' profiles, it's very important not to miss any red flags as it's very easy to pretend to be a good writer!

Did you order through a gig that advertises resizing images? Or did you order through a logo gig? Sometimes it happens that you get the wrong gig (I've had several buyers do that.) Sellers who's English isn't perfect might not know what you're asking for if it's not what the gig offers. They SHOULD, of course in an ideal world, but give the seller some credit. Be clear and polite in your communication and it might still work out. Misunderstandings happen.

I didn't misread it, just explained my own experience (and that I agree with you.) Just adding the fact that persistence CAN help. I do agree that it could be better, but I can't really blame the people themselves (not saying you are either). It seems to be the system itself that's faulty. (again, in the example I sent, they completely misunderstood what I was trying to ask them. I just... asked again, and tried to emphasize the point of the question, and it got through.) Now SHOULD we have to do this? (not really), but with Seller Plus and stuff existing (and Success Managers being able to help in some cases instead) I can KIND OF see why CS isn't as... great as it could be.

I've had some issues recently as well - but do note that CS likely has less than a few minutes to 'deal' with a single message (as they have... a lot of them.) I definitely think they could hire more people though. (last time, I was asked to write for a contest about NFTs, and as it was a contest I wanted an answer from CS whether it was OK to do so or not, mostly so I could show it to people that it's not allowed as they didn't seem to believe it.) I was told that NSFW stories are fine. (and later, I was told that I can do it, but if it's against TOS, I'll be breaking TOS...) My point is that sometimes they really just copy-paste things that seem to vaguely fit the question BUT if you persist, you'll get an actual person re-read it. Just have patience and know that they are human as well.

This Sunday, I'm turning my lucky number in age (which is terrifying, I'm getting old!), so I felt like prying into others' birthdays a bit more. Since I'm usually abroad (away from my family), my birthdays tend to be very.... different from one another. This year I'm celebrating with friends (we're having ramen and going singing which is very fun but stressful when the friends invited live 6 hours away from you!) The only 'tradition' I really have is that I usually get a haircut around my birthday, and then post a quick 'sad/emotional' post on facebook. Everything else changes depending on where I am, who I'm with (and honestly... how much cash I have!) SO. Are your birthdays like this as well? Or do you have some fun traditions?

Could Fiverr be blocking 'furry' as a keyword in titles? While I know it doesn't inherently mean anything 18+ a lot of the gigs that have it seem to be geared towards that kind of content (which, in terms of art at least might be against TOS.) I realise it's a popuar niche though. Other than that, I'm not sure what it could be.

That's not Fiverr but a 'buyer', but you did receive the custom offer request ON Fiverr. However, this is one of the oldest scams on the internet. I'd probably write a 'no' and then report as spam (as I'm assuming they sent you their contact info...)

It depends on how many orders you've completed/cancelled in a 60 day window. The stats change depending on that (which can be good in some cases, as cancellations only matter for two months.) Did you have less orders after the cancellation maybe? There's still plenty of time until the 15th of June though, so I'm pretty sure it'll be easy to get back on your feet!

I've seen them in China - or people covering up completely in the summer (which to be sounded impossible because even short shorts are too long in 40 degree heat!) but not much in Europe to be honest, though sometimes I've toyed with the idea of getting one (the idea of portable shade is... pretty good!) In some places you might get a look or two for it, but quite honestly I feel like mostly people would just let you be (at least in Sweden.) Smaller villages/towns might be different though! I like getting a tan but burn before that every year, so having a parasol would likely help actually (since I'd probably tan more gradually!)

Sometimes I go out during the week as well, but it's mostly for fika (a coffee break thing, Sweden has the BEST pastries I swear). I try to cook during the week (well, share the responsibilities), but during the weekend I like to not have to worry much about that. It's fairly easy to find tasty Asian food here, to be honest (though I've walked into a couple of traps before as well!) Oof on the taxes though, hope they don't take too long to get through!