Gone are the days when people all over the world only know about working as commuting to some distant office, pulling their weight from 8 to 5, commuting back home and getting ready for the morrow’s same exact process. Nowadays, freelancing, outsourcing of projects and offsite working are several of the more popular trends in the industry. People of today’s world are searching for fresh ways to earn money on their personal terms.
Such was the idea used as basis of the microcontracting site Fiverr.com. This website was founded by two internet entrepreneurs from Israel: Shai Winninger and Micha Kaufman. It was February 2010 when the online business world first knew of Fiverr.com. About a year after its launch, the website has already hosted more than half a million of different gigs.
In order to use the services of Fiverr, you first need to register. Registration is open to everyone and will cost nothing. A ‘gig’ refers to the small service you are agreeable to accomplish and perform for the fixed payment of $5. A seller creates this gig by posting it on the website. If someone orders your service, you will receive due notification. Forty eight hours after the gig has been accomplished, your $4 will be delivered to your account. That $1 is obviously kept by Fiverr as their profit. You can withdraw your earnings through PayPal. In this realtionship, both you and the website benefit from the opportunity.
If you would like to order a gig, you need to pay $5 to the website using your credit card or PayPal account. As a buyer, you can track your order’s progress and the seller’s work. You can also communicate with the seller and exchange necessary files with each other.
Pros of Fiverr.com
- Less hassle in getting a task done
The genesis of the site was purely practical, says Micha Kaufman, cofounder and CEO. The entrepreneur says he was irked by having to convert a chart in Microsoft Word into Excel. The task was too small to hire a separate employee or contractor, but large enough to be annoying and relatively timeconsuming.
Based on the article by Mary Pilon, Fiverr.com makes the process of hiring a freelance to do a small task so much easier. Other outsourcing sites like Odesk may offer a somehow similar service, but there are biddings involved before a task is successfully granted to the winning bidder. In Fiverr.com, every task or gig has a fixed price of $5, regardless of its nature. Based on the gigs listed on the website, you will discover that a lot of people are actually willing to perform some cool and unconventional tasks.
- Economical
- A great earning opportunity especially for the unemployed
If you are looking for a nice way to earn money online, this website is simply one of many similar ones that you can check out. You can register for free and earn money by performing gigs, all without any amount of investment. Buyers of gigs seek the website to look for people offering services at very low prices.
…there wasn’t a place for people who don’t necessarily see themselves as professional freelancers to make money off their skills.
Troy Janisch has an online article that features an interview with Micha Kaufman. In this article, the cofounder said that the success stories they receive from their users are truly inspirational. The site has given earning opportunities for the unemployed. Underpaid employees are able to supplement their income through Fiverr. Some were even able to earn and save money for their dream vacation. Students are also able to make money for repaying their student loans. Fiverr, essentially is a place where individuals who do not think they can pass for professional freelancers are able to use their skills to make money; which they would otherwise not be paid for in the offline business world. If you are serious on making money, you may even consider working as fulltime Fiverr and earn thousands of dollars per month.
- No restrictions of gigs to sell
- Ease of use
- Entertainment and humor
The website offers ease of use. From creating an account to offering and buying a gig, these tasks will not consume a lot of your precious time. Gigs can range from crazy and silly, to serious and technical. A few examples of crazy gigs are creating a video testimonial wearing a plastic bag and singing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song while wearing an absurd costume. Examples of serious and rather technical gigs are PowerPoint editing and microbugging. With the wide variety of gigs posted on the website, you may even find yourself entertained and amused by hilarious people offering to perform some crazy antics.
- Monitoring of entries
The founders themselves, Kaufman and Wininger, browse through the gig entries ensuring that all are appropriate. They also highlight gigs to be featured.
- An opportunity to earn valuable lessons
We have been seeing a growing trend of kids that work with their parents on some very cool gigs. And, being a father myself, I know that the experience of having someone you don’t know pay for something you do is a life changing even for adults. Not to mention the value of it for kids. I think it gives them a very – a great sense of accomplishment. And at the same time they learn what it takes to make a buck, which is also a very good lesson in life.
— Micha Kaufman
Since Fiverr is open to everyone, even the young ones can think of a gig and then possibly earn money from it. At their young age, they will already discover about the hardships in earning a living. Not every kid is given this opportunity to see early in life the reality the world holds for them.
Another important lesson that Fiverr can teach is the principle of professionalism and dedication. To succeed in Fiverr, one key formula you need is to put effort into every service you offer. Regardless if your task is crazy simple or seriously hard, it cannot be doubted that you still have to invest hard work so you can satisfy the buyer. Once you have accomplished a gig, you can think of other much better services to offer.
Humor Break:
One of Microsoft’s finest technicians was drafted and sent to boot camp. At the rifle range, he was given some instruction, a rifle, and bullets. He fired several shots at the target. The report came from the target area that all attempts had completely missed the target. The technician looked at his rifle, and then at the target. He looked at the rifle again, and then at the target again. He put his finger over the end of the rifle barrel and squeezed the trigger with his other hand. The end of his finger was blown off, whereupon he yelled toward the target area, “It’s leaving here just fine, the trouble must be at your end!”
Cons of Fiverr.com
- Undervalued services
As previously mentioned, there is a fixed price of $5 per gig. Offering a crazy gig would seem that $5 is just reasonable, sometimes even too much for a simple task. There are serious gigs, however, such as offering business consultation, medical consultation and song writing that may cost more than $5.
- Banning of account
Fiverr banned my account permanently all of a sudden without reason or explanation.
A rip off report from one user said that despite being a dedicated seller, his account was still banned by the website without any apparent reason. This will cause other users to believe that Fiverr is simply a scam site. Nevertheless, one thing you can consider a benefit from Fiverr is that even though you were banned, you will still be able to receive your payment. In order to avoid being forbidden from using the website, it may be useful to first read and thoroughly understand the website’s terms of services. Banning may also result when you work for selfpromotion.
- Possible changes any time
According to the terms of condition of the site, the site can be changed at any time. This is probably why some users happen to be banned. They were not aware about the possible changes in the website and unconsciously violated any new restrictions of the site.
- Delayed withdrawal of earnings
You have to wait for two weeks before you can actually withdraw money through PayPal.
- Website bugs; file size restriction
Some people report that the website is loaded with bugs, thus, resulting to slow uploading of files. There is also a restricted 50Mb file size for videos. If you have created a video for a buyer and it exceeded this limit, you will not be able to upload it on the website.
- Fake testimonials
Fiverr simply requires an email address in order to register. This then gives ample opportunity for some people to create bogus accounts. Some can create fake buyer accounts and then buy from themselves (the buyer and the seller are one and the same). This then allows users to post phony reviews and testimonials.
Final Verdict:
In making money online, not only are you exposed to lucrative opportunities but some drawbacks aswell. Any website has its own advantages and disadvantages. With Fiverr, the same principle follows. It is up to you to decide if you are going to pursue it, despite some unwanted problems and glitches. As for me, I just set up an account on Fiverr. You would not really know for sure, unless you try, right?! If you have also tried using Fiverr, then the best of luck for us! May our gigs be sold and our earnings multiply!
References
What Will People Do for $5? Fiverr Lets You Find Out