Can You Make a Career Out of Fiverr?
Yes, you can, but you will need these three things to succeed
Before starting as a freelancer on Fiverr at the beginning of 2021, I spent a lot of time researching the platform’s money-making opportunities.
Questions that interested me were —
- How much money can you make on Fiverr? and
- How difficult is it to make money on Fiverr?
Invariably, this lead me to consider —
- Is it even possible to make a full-time income on Fiverr?
My goal was not to become a full-time freelancer, but the income ceiling did interest me nonetheless. I think knowing about the range of income opportunities something offers can really inform whether that project, idea, or job is worth pursuing in the first place (would you rather join a platform where top earners make $1 million, or $100,000?).
If you are interested in freelancing, you may have already come across some of the grand Fiverr success stories that the media love to toot about:
“How this 35-year-old dad made $1.5 million off a simple Fiverr side hustle.”
“How These 3 People Make 6 Figures A Year On Fiverr.”
And, perhaps most famously:
“How this 28-year-old went from $36,000 a year to $378,000 a year on Fiverr.” (Yes, the Alex Fasulo story).
I think most people realise that these freelancers are the exception, not the rule.
After all, on a platform where over 96% of sellers don’t cross the $500-a-month threshold, is it even worth trying to make a career out of it? The range of opportunities may be there, but the distribution is looking really quite heavily skewed towards less than full-time income earners.
So, can you make a career out of Fiverr?
I strongly believe the answer is yes, but there are three attributes which you will need to succeed.
One: Time
Very few freelancers on Fiverr will make a full-time income right out the gate.
Levi Newman, a Fiverr copywriter who now makes between $10,000-$15,000 per month, says the following about his experience:
“You’re not going to make a million dollars overnight. Start with $5 gigs and keep doing it until you build your reputation.”
Statistics on what most Fiverr sellers make per month have shown that:
- Roughly 70% make between $0 and $99
- Roughly 26% make between $100 and $499
- Roughly 4% make between $500 and $999
- Less than 1% make more than $1000
Naturally, it will take time to make it into that top 1% of earners. However, it is very well possible, even within just 1 year of working on the platform. One seller writes:
Two: Patience
Fiverr has a level system that requires you to have been a seller for a set number of days before you can level up. You start as a “New Seller” and to reach each level, you must fulfil the following criteria (among others):
- Level 1: Must have been an active seller for at least 60 days
- Level 2: Must have been an active seller for at least 120 days
- Top Rated Seller (chosen by Fiverr): Must have been an active seller for at least 180 days
Patience here is key — because your seller level is intrinsically tied to your prices. Most sellers use their newfound seller status to justify increasing their prices, like so:
Being an active seller on the platform for at least 3 months (120 days) will ensure buyers don’t mind paying a little premium for a proven quality service with a track record of 5-star reviews. This premium means you can start earning more (twice, or even thrice as much at times) per order.
Three: Business skills
Nothing on Fiverr works without some basic level of business and marketing skills. All the time and patience in the world will not allow you to make a full-time income on Fiverr if certain skills are not up to par and you are unwilling to invest in steadily becoming a better seller.
Keep trying to work on yourself, and orders will come.
Improvement can take on many forms, including
- Boosting your punctuality in delivering orders (key for the algorithm’s ranking of your gig(s)). If you tend to deliver orders late, work on that!
- Ensuring your gig descriptions and communication is error-free, so that your online presence looks professional. If English is not your first language or you struggle with proper grammar, spelling, punctuation etc., take some online courses, read, or check anything you send through a writing assistant, like Grammarly.
- Taking some time to learn about consumer psychology, pricing your services, and marketing yourself, your skills, experience, and profile.
In conclusion, if you are willing to put in the work, time, and effort it takes to build a successful Fiverr profile and improve your skills as a seller, there is really no reason why Fiverr should not become a full-time career option.
