(ASSOCIATED PRESS) Writers, musicians, and designers are among those making good money through Fiverr, a platform aiming to become the go-to network for freelance work. Carrie French earns about $125,000 annually writing product descriptions. Beau Vallis earns a similar amount remixing music. The one thing both have in common? Fiverr , a side hustle platform that used to urge sellers to list their services for just $5, increasingly delivers six-figure incomes to the freelancers doing the work. “It’s been very lucrative,” says Vallis, who first posted a digital profile on Fiverr in 2015. “You don’t have to do any marketing. You wake up and there are your jobs.” At a time when freelancers who work for other gig economy giants, such as Uber and Lyft , say that the legacy companies are becoming increasingly exploitative, Fiverr has gone in the opposite direction. The site boosted its customer service staff; cut its fees; and created special designations for “pros,” or freelancers with advanced expertise or skills. While some sellers still list their services for less than $25 on Fiverr, “pros” are compelled to charge more. Six-figure incomes It’s all part of a strategy to make Fiverr the go-to network for both freelancers and customers in a rapidly evolving freelance marketplace, says Gali Arnon, the platform’s chief marketing officer. “The platform has evolved tremendously and so has the marketplace,” Arnon says. “We started with $5 because it was a way of eliminating the risk [for customers] of buying digital services. Today, you can find services on our platform that cost thousands of dollars.” While not all freelancers earn six-figure incomes on Fiverr, an increasing number say they can easily earn a living wage. Some say that their biggest problem is turning off — or down — the work spigot when they need a break. “I have to buffer clients by going into out-of-office mode,” says Vallis. Broad scope, unique features Freelancers who work with Fiverr say the platform has certain advantages that are hard to find elsewhere. It’s a broad-interest platform offering hundreds of services where you can post your availability to provide, for example, almost any lawful service, including some off-beat ones, such as reading Tarot cards or casting spells. You also are in complete control over your pricing and the limitations of your offer. For instance, you might create advertising jingles for $25 each. However, for that price, you can stipulate that the jingle will have 25 words or less. And, if the customer doesn’t like it, they only get one revision. If the customer wants additional revisions — or more words — there’s an additional charge. The site suggests that freelancers create three separate “packages”: basic, standard and premium. You may want to charge a small amount for the basic package, to draw in new clients and develop a loyal clientele. But Fiverr encourages you to charge more for the more inclusive packages. You spell out precisely what’s included in each package and can offer a menu of […]
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