"Escape Velocity:" Reaching Orbit on Fiverr
Part One: Preparation for Launch
Is your Fiverr gig still just sitting on the launchpad, fizzling? Or maybe you managed to get it up into the air a little once or twice, but could never quite get it into orbit, and it's been sitting on the ground ever since. These things happen, but in most cases, they needn't. Read on...
Merriam Webster defines "escape velocity" as, "the minimum velocity that a moving body (such as a rocket) must have to escape from the gravitational field of a celestial body (such as the earth) and move outward into space." You've got to put out enough thrust (and speed) to lift from the launchpad, clear the gantry, and streak into the sky. Once you're in orbit, far less thrust is required because there is less gravity. However even there, if a body in orbit doesn't make adequate effort through additional occasional retro thrusts, it will eventually fall back to earth.
That's not a terrible analogy, actually. Like a rocket launch, the greatest amount of "thrust" on your part must come at first, until you ultimately reach your "escape velocity." Once you are established in orbit (showing up well in searches, solid reputation and sales numbers, and lucrative pricing), Fiverr will tend to reduce the gravity you're under and keep you "up there." But of course, if you begin to neglect your clients, or fail to show activity, you can find yourself in lower orbit, struggling in the clouds, or back down on terra firma.
Welcome to Rocket School!
Fiverr is, in my opinion, a wonderful platform for freelancers. It is quite straightforward and easy to grasp, and makes it quite easy to begin offering our services to the world. It's criticized for being an "anything for a buck" platform, but those who see it in that light are looking at from the outside in, and don't realize its potential. That was me, a few years ago, when I first got started. I took the simplistic view when I read about Fiverr. "It looks like a place for chumps who can't get hired in the real world and are willing to work for essentially nothing." I'll say it now, and plainly. I was the chump. I've done a quarter of a million dollars in sales on Fiverr in just a few short years, and am hopeful to just continue to accelerate those gains as I move forward. How? Let's talk about it.
Fiverr's Booster Rockets: Be Ready!
It's not widely known, but is worth knowing, that launching poorly on Fiverr is a rather unfortunate mistake. If your gig isn't set up correctly to start with...with everything tweaked for success, you'll miss out on an important opportunity. on launch day. Why? Because when you initially hit Publish and introduce your first gig, Fiverr gives it a boost to help you out. Fiverr promotes you to the front in searches, just for a brief, brief while. If your gig isn't maximized for success, you'll have no reserve fuel to continue your ascent, and down you'll go! Granted, you can (and should) work yourself up regardless, but you'll have missed an important initial opportunity.
What can we conclude from that? Don't be in too much of a hurry to hit that launch button. Take the time to understand the best way to present yourself in your gig. You must word every aspect of your gig in ways that will not only convince, but help you be found.. You need a wonderful gig image that will grab peoples' attention and interest. You need a demo that is professional looking/sounding. You need a video demo, not just a photo or a slide show. Ask me about a way to do that really really inexpensively. I know of a Fiverr seller who can create a demo video that's pretty amazing for $10! Research your pricing by looking at the gigs of others who are in your $5 starting price range, and whose review numbers show they are already getting some good initial sales. How are their extras priced? What's their turnaround time?
It'll sound self serving, but I truly believe that I can be of special help to people who are that this stage of the process. Gig Doctor checkups can breathe life into fizzling gigs, but I think they be especially beneficial to new sellers who still preparing for launch. If we can make "all systems go" before you start your countdown, you'll be in the best position to be able to take advantage of the Fiverr booster engines when they kick in.
Once you've launched, expect to pass through some "London fog" on your way to orbit:
Prepare for Humility
Starting out on Fiverr is a humbling experience for someone who is used to getting nice chunks of change for what I offer. As a voiceover artist, I was used to getting hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars an hour for my work. But as with any gig-based occupation, there are gaps, and I wanted to fill them with something. I took a course that helped me to grasp the possibilities on Fiverr, and...thinking, "hey, I can do this!", I decided to go after it. I believed what I had learned in the course; that it's not only possible, but very possible, to make a good income on Fiverr. So I committed myself to doing the bull work, consistently, and not being discouraged by any initial "fizzling" on the launchpad.
As humbling as it was for me, I set up my gig at $5 for 200 words with free commercial rights, and 24 hour delivery (I can do that without trouble, since I"m self-employed and can take the time to get brief jobs done in that amount of time). Initially, I understood it was not about income, but numbers. I needed to provide the "social proof" on Fiverr that I could convert customer (make sales), deliver the goods, get good reviews, could turn repeat business with my buyers.
I'll admit that, as a $5 seller, I felt a little like a pathetic Dickens street urchin at first; standing on the corner in London selling matches, and striking one occasionally to "warm me fingers." That feeling was reinforced by the rough, jostling treatment I received from buyers. At the lowest price point of $5, you get your share of exposure to some very Dickensesque patrons. They expect much, give little, and show scanty respect. Not everybody you encounter is an Artful Dodger, a Quilp, and Miss Haversham, but you're much more likely to run across them in the $5 range than even at a $10 starting price. All the same, I understood the reasoning of it, and put up with my share of humility, and to a degree, ill treatment "in them days." Expect it, and don't be discouraged by it. Concluding my Dickens allusions for now, have, "Great Expectations!"
And that, my friends, is how we go from space launches to 19th Century England in a single article. We return to our space theme next time, for more on getting that gig of yours into the outer stratosphere, and beyond.
There's so much you and I can do together to improve your gig's performance. Schedule your Gig Doctor appointment by hitting the Gig Checkup link at the top of this page for an inexpensive personalized checkup and consultation!