What THIS LITTLE GUY Can Teach us About Fiverr
One of the most important things to "get right" on Fiverr is something very few people ever do, or even think about. That's why this strange new little series of articles about Fiverr might be th most important I've ever written..
A big part of what will make us successful, or the opposite, on Fiverr is our attitude about it. Is Fiverr just a place to try and make money? When it produces a lot of activity, is Fiverr a stick at our backs, or a carrot in front of our noses? Do the "puh-duh-dunk" notifications on our phone cause us to respond like Pavlov's dog (positively), or like the blacksmith's dog (with fear and trembling)? To put it simply, do we LIKE Fiverr, or do we not?
As with people (friends included) there will always be things we do and don't like about Fiverr. But if we do see it as a friend, or friendly, it's a lot easier for us to look past its foibles and focus on its good points. Fiverr as a friend. Or even, Fiverr as a pet! A pet we like.
Fiverr as a Furby
Around 1998, a simple, computerized "companion toy" came out, called Furby. Furbies were a runaway hit for awhile, selling more than 40 million units between 1998 and 2000. They appealed to the nurturing side of children, who could, in some limited ways, interact with and care for them. Children taught their Furbies to speak, fed them, and spent time with them. If a child became indifferent and neglected to meet its needs for an extended period of time, their Furby would die (shut down and no longer respond).
Let's think about the fate of the Furbies. How many of the original Furbies from the late 90s are still around? Of those, how many are still "living?" I'm guessing, not many at all, almost none. People lose interest. They lose patience. Hey, we're people. That's what we do. And, just as there are tens of millions of discarded or inactive Furbies, there are also lots of languishing, starved, brain dead gigs on Fiverr. Of the 3.4 million sellers on the platform, I'd be willing to bet that fewer than 10% of them ever did anything more than initially set them up, And in taking that approach, they were "setting themselves up" for failure. That's actually good news. The fact that the vast majority do little or nothing to develop, optimize, or advance their gigs, plays to the advantage of the rest of us.
Like a Furby, Fiverr isn't a simple stuffed animal we can play with once and then put on the shelf. It has a surprising amount of "life." The computers that drive it are sensitive to many criteria, and they need to be cared for, stroked, looked after, petted, and fed. The people who understand this are the ones who get ahead.
For fun, let's take the next few blog posts to talk about Fiverr like a pet we like, rather than a platform we participate on. I think you'll be surprised how many parallels there are, and how useful they will be in helping you to advance as a seller there.
Let's Name our Fiverr Pet
Between this post and the next, help me out with some ideas for a name for our new pet. It could be a derivative of the name Fiverr, a derivative of Furby, a combination of the two, a reference to some other sort of interactive toy, just a favorite cute name you like, or something completely different. So next time, we'll name our new pet, and then we'll talk about the best ways to care for it, feed it, nurture it, and cause it to PROSPER.
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!
For those of you who do voiceovers, or who are interested in entering that fun profession, I can help there too. Check out my voiceover coaching services.