mark_sgp

I have spent my career in various aspects of IT consulting, mostly around governance, risk, compliance and security. I am entering a pre-retirement phase of my life now, and working to build up a consistent income though freelancing which would allow me to keep busy enjoying what I am doing, without having formal salaried job obligations from an employer. Maybe it will be just a "side" income, but hopefully it will amount to more. I also do affiliate marketing, for Fiverr and many other unrelated products and services.

Congratulations! I also recently got my first gig here -- after about 4 months of actively trying -- from a very unexpected source. It was a legitimate request from an experienced buyer on Fiverr -- for a gig that I thought was my worst idea. It turned out to be a custom order, and worth a lot more than my stated offering price. It was a one-day effort, turned out to be a fun experience, and the client was happy and willing to consider more work over time. Up until this point, all my Fiverr income was from my affiliate efforts, finding first-time buyers and getting commissions for that (4 so far, one of which keeps providing ongoing commissions from new orders). Things are starting to get real for me here, after dozens of nonsense scam messages and a lot of "silence" in between from no apparent interest from anyone.

Not sure, but Fiverr only requires payment when you actually buy something, whereas its main competitors either operate on a subscription basis or force the seller to bid for clients (this doesn't necessarily curtail scams or problems with clients). I also think that a significant percentage of new sellers are from countries that are relatively low income/per capita GDP (PPP), and often "ridiculously cheap" pricing by North American or European standards (as a benchmark) equates to significant money in the local currencies of those countries. If buyers expect that pricing, or are from lower income countries, I can see where that becomes an issue.

As an affiliate (as well as a seller and buyer) for Fiverr, I was told by a member of the team that manages affiliates that their main buyers come from the following markets (not necessarily in any order, but US is the foremost at this point). I have targeted my ads for first-time buyers accordingly: US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, Puerto Rico (US territory). My own experience so far: Since I started earlier this year, I have received commissions for first-time buyers from: Namibia, Kuwait, Serbia. I also have over 700 new registrations associated with my affiliate account, overwhelmingly from Africa-Middle East-Indian subcontinent region. I was told that most of these are likely seller accounts, but FTB buyer commissions may occasionally be generated over the course of the year.

I would probably devote it to market research and fine-tuning targeted marketing/ad campaigns for products and services I offer as an affiliate marketer (outside of Fiverr, and Fiverr itself -- I am a buyer, seller, and affiliate here).

I started using Android phones several years ago when our local mobile company offered them for free with a contract signup for mobile service. They used to be name brand Samsung but then they started charging for them, so I switched to their latest free option - a Vivo Y76 5G, which is also Android. It does everything I need it to do but as with any smartphone, I find the small keypads cumbersome for writing long documents or creating presentations with sophisticated graphics. My wife and daughter use Apple products and they seem just as happy with their choices (phones/tablets/laptops).

There is very little that I don't eat 😄 but my consistent favorites fall into Mexican, Mediterranean regional (Italian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Middle Eastern, North African) and Indian subcontinent regional food. In terms of snacks - wine, cheese, olives (not canned or from a jar), nuts (pistachios, almonds).

I will be fine-tuning some marketing campaigns for products and services I promote as an affiliate (outside of Fiverr), that are in completely different industries and serve completely different target markets. I am also a Fiverr affiliate and monitor the clicks and any new FTB commissions daily. I don't typically use a physically written to-do list, unless I have priority items to address before going away on vacation, for example.

As an affiliate, as well as a buyer and seller here on Fiverr, I recently had an interesting conversation with an affiliate representative about where the new buyers (FTB) are actually coming from -- commissions from FTB purchases being how I make money as an affiliate on Fiverr. While I have nearly 700 new registrations in my downline, most of those are likely "sellers" registering accounts (very heavy Africa-Middle East-Asia focus), from which purchases may or may not be forthcoming over the course of the next 12 months. I was told that the following countries and territories are the main "buyer" markets for Fiverr services, particularly FTB (not in any specific order): USA, Puerto Rico (US territory), UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, France, Germany, Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hong Kong. From my own personal experience: 2 FTB -- Namibia and Kuwait -- so far. I have fine-tuned my marketing efforts more specifically to these, and to the other countries and territories suggested to me. I am interested to see what fruits this will bear 🙂.

What did the e-mail say?

I had a good, reputable recommendation from Fiverr Neo for a gig promotion service; the seller was excellent...however, when I asked Fiverr Neo to recommend/describe my own profile, it was WILDLY inaccurate, totally irrelevant and suggested that I had already completed over 200 successful gigs on Fiverr. I think some fine tuning and official review is in order for the AI logic on this.

I find that the Microsoft suite of tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is adequate for most of my business needs. However, I don't carry my laptop everywhere, and the tiny keyboards on my mobile phone can be cumbersome and annoying for anything lengthy notetaking or correspondence. I use my mobile for calls, chat such as on Whatsapp, and any immediate "Google research" that I may want or need at any given time. I don't personally feel the need for constant office presence or face-to-face interaction; video calls are fine. I find AI decent for general information on a given topic, for creating basic frameworks and templates for further embellishment, but I do not blindly trust it without vetting its output. AI for process automation, such as factory warehousing and inventory management, is a different level of sophistication altogether and is well ahead of mere chatbot logic. For payment processing, I prefer to use cash for small monetary amounts; point-of-sale debit/credit card for larger purchases.

The potential issue I see is that people are motivated to give out "5 star" ratings like free candy bars...for work that really doesn't exceed anyone's expectations, but it is just an expectation and reflects badly if they don't do it.

I just started my journey here on Fiverr earlier this year - as a buyer, seller, and affiliate. In recent weeks, I have been delving into the Forum in attempt to gain insights from real users about their successes, pitfalls, and general tips for "beginners". I am struck by some pervasive themes here: 1. "Fiverr used to be awesome but now it sucks and you should find the soonest opportunity to leave and prosper elsewhere". 2. "I am a new seller and after xxx months I still have no business". 3. "Fiverr customer service sucks, is too slow, and favours unreasonable buyers rather than reputable sellers". Well --- while I have encountered a certain degree of scam nonsense and disingenuous "buyer" offers in my first few months here, and sellers offering services of questionable long term value, I will say that, Fiverr is a far more globally diverse platform than its main competition, and offers distinct advantages in that: 1. As a seller with Fiverr, I don't have to pay to bid (pay) on contracts/offers when trying to find work as a seller. One of its main competitors has this business model and I hate it. 2. As an affiliate, I am not directly scrutinized regarding the quality or quantity of potential new business leads I introduce to Fiverr. One of Fiverr's main competitors screens and openly rejects requests to join as an affiliate, even though you can be registered as a buyer or seller in good standing with that platform. 3. As a buyer, when dealing with legitimate sellers, I don't feel obligated to accept excessive fees and can openly communicate with the engaged seller on timelines, expectations, and other engagement-related matters with impunity; funds are essentially held in escrow until work is completed satisfactorily. I am also free to lodge a complaint if I encounter unscrupulous or deceptive practices on the part of the seller. 4. With regard to soliciting new business, I am not limited to the Fiverr platform itself, although certain restrictions apply. I understand well that no platform is perfect --for those that have many years of experience, I am sure they can decide for themselves what they really want, need and expect in terms of engaging their services -- and are free to go elsewhere if Fiverr no longer serves their purpose. As for new joiners, it's a matter of self-reflection regarding what you are looking for, what you need, what you expect, how suitable Fiverr is for fulfilling these requirements, and how viable potential alternatives are in doing the same. As with mainstream salaried office employment, if it doesn't fit, you're gonna have a hard time, regardless of where you work, who you work for, or under what circumstances.