How to Make Money on Fiverr: Make $1000’s Selling Crazy Gigs

But if you take it a step further, you might be wondering: Can I make a full-time income on Fiverr?

Yes, you can!

How to Make Money with Fiverr

Here’s what you need to know to start making money on Fiverr.

And if you’re worried about not knowing the tricks of the trade, fret not, because I’ve made a list of five tips that are sure to improve your bottom line using Fiverr.

1. Consider What You Can Do Well and Quickly

Ideally, the service that you’re going to offer on Fiverr should be something you’re familiar enough with to complete quickly.

The name of the game here is efficiency.

Sure, you might really impress your client if you do an amazing job, but your bottom line won’t be great if it takes you three hours to complete a $5 task. Be mindful of your own pace when setting up your gig.

However, you also need to consider how well you perform the task. While efficiency is essential, quality still matters.

Another crucial aspect of succeeding on Fiverr is upselling. Sure, you’re offering $5 gigs, but you’d like to earn more, right?

Ensure that what you offer for $5 is basic, so you can charge more with “gig extras” to increase the total cost. This strategy isn’t a trick; it’s a fundamental part of how the platform works.

Some people push themselves to complete a few $5 tasks a day—don’t be that person.

Set up your gig so that it naturally encourages upselling.

2. Target a Niche

Targeting a niche is a fundamental tenet of business, and it applies to many situations, including this one. This is a business venture, after all, so make sure you’re prepared to approach it with a business mindset.

Spend a few hours browsing Fiverr to see what services people are offering and identify a space where you have something unique to provide.

Ideally, it should be something you’re at least somewhat passionate about, as that will be reflected in the quality of your work (or at least make producing quality work easier).

But how do you find a niche?

At a glance:

• A. Understand what people go to Fiverr for. Usually, this is short-order content creation.
• B. Of the services people seek on Fiverr, what can you do quickly or potentially automate? (More on this later.)
• C. Choose something you have an interest in or passion for.

If you can come up with a gig that combines all three of these traits, that’s great news for you!

Many people slowly churn out gigs they don’t even enjoy, which can make it harder for them to produce high-quality or high-volume work.

3. Effective Marketing & Client Handling

OK, here’s where the hook comes in: the gig you offer on Fiverr is only half the battle.

The other part of the process involves securing customers for your gigs. With over 4 million “Giggers” on the site, you’ll need to do something to stand out.

You have a couple of basic options— the Fiverr forums, Twitter, Facebook, or a personal blog.

While you’re no doubt looking into this because you want to get paid, it’s really not so crazy to invest a little money in a marketing plan at this point in the process. I know, I know. Nobody wants to spend startup money. But again, this is business, and you have to spend money to make money.

Realistically, your money will get you exposure on any social media network. You can pay a large fan page on Facebook to link to your Fiverr profile, commission a blog post somewhere, or pay for banner ads on a website.

It doesn’t really matter how you do it, but make sure you’re targeting the right demographic. Most of your potential clients are actually businesspeople themselves, and they want your content as part of their larger profit plan.

That ties into the last part of #3: clients.

We’ve got more to say about clients in #4 and #5, but for now, remember that a lot of your money will come from repeat clients. Just because you’re working for small money doesn’t mean your service isn’t valuable to the client; in fact, many clients will want you, specifically, to perform that service for them! If you can, find a way to exchange contact information.

I’ve personally spoken to people who graduated from Fiverr into comfortable $4k-a-month jobs through proper networking.

4. Use Expectations to Your Advantage

You probably understand from the outset that Fiverr isn’t exactly a service where you kick your feet up and rake in the big bucks. It requires shrewd thinking, good planning, and the ability to manage your time in a way that is profitable.

Part of this ties into what people’s expectations of your work will be. You don’t have to follow my tips in this section; it’s perfectly understandable if you don’t. However, these tips can help level the playing field, so read on if you’re interested.

Some workers on Fiverr approach the situation with complete earnestness. They promise to deliver in a day, push themselves hard to meet that deadline, and earn their modest $5.

It’s honest, but not very profitable.

Clients usually won’t go out of their way to tip you just for meeting expectations. Instead, consider altering their expectations. If you can complete a task in 6 hours, tell them 12 hours, or even 24. Not only does this give you a buffer in case something unexpected happens, but it also makes you look like an exceptional worker. Completing a task within the time promised is fine, but delivering 24 hours’ worth of work in just 6 hours? Now, that’s impressive.

Additionally, many Fiverr sellers may not deliver high-quality work because, after all, it’s only $5. You can stand out by providing better service than that.

Clients familiar with Fiverr’s inconsistencies will be doubly impressed when you deliver faster than promised and with high quality. Managing client expectations is a tactic used by top Fiverr sellers, and you don’t have to do anything dishonest—you’re simply managing how you present yourself.

5. Streamline and Automate as Much as Possible

Streamlining is something you can do regardless of the service you offer. Anything can be streamlined; it’s just a matter of organization.

And as mentioned earlier, efficiency is the name of the game!

So, how do you streamline your process?

A basic way to approach this is with an “assembly-line” method. Have a set process for tasks you always do, and modify them as needed for each client.

Do you create videos? Develop a workflow so that you can make small adjustments to produce unique results efficiently. If you push yourself to make every piece of work entirely original, you may end up earning very little.

But let’s talk about automation.

You can partially automate your service using the assembly-line approach mentioned earlier, but let’s explore it further.

The extent of automation will depend on your specific Fiverr service. If your work is creatively focused, like writing or making videos, you can only streamline so much. But what if your gig involves something different?

For instance, if you offer a service like, “I will provide you with a stock photo for your product/article,” you retain ownership of your photographs and are only selling the right to use them commercially. This means that if you build a substantial collection of photos, you can repeatedly sell them to different clients and generate significant income.

You could even offer an additional gig such as, “I will personally take a photograph for your product,” and then add that photo to your stock collection for future use.

Even for gigs like “I will illustrate you as an anime character,” you can save time by starting with basic templates. You might have a male and female base model and only customize the features as needed for each client.

This is another form of automation.

Automation is key when it comes to making money efficiently.

For a more famous example, look at Henry Ford; his adoption of the assembly line, modular approach (and the creation of universal parts) is one of the fundamentals of the industrial world.

If that doesn’t inspire the entrepreneur in you, maybe nothing will!

Closing Thoughts

Fiverr is a goldmine for those who are willing to put in the effort.

It might require a bit of ‘gaming the system’ (I know an artist or two who would feel guilty if they didn’t create each gig from scratch), but that’s sometimes necessary to get ahead in the Fiverr world.

If your work isn’t incredibly original—well, you’re getting paid less than minimum wage, right?

But if your work is great and satisfactory, then who should mind?

It’s entirely possible to make $500, or even $1,000, or maybe even more a month on Fiverr. In fact, it’s a more straightforward business avenue than almost anywhere else!

Supply, demand, marketing, networking—it involves it all.

Even if you don’t end up making your fortune on Fiverr, you can still earn some pocket change and sharpen your business skills in the process.