During the holiday season (in my country, it starts with the New Year, because our Christmas is two weeks later than in the Western world), I have turned the Vacation Mode on Fiverr on, so I could relax during the holidays. It's a scary thing to do: when I come back, will I get any orders? Where will my gigs position in the search? Will my business be ruined? It's been less than 24 hours after turning the Vacation Mode off, I have no orders, and I'm worried a bit.
It's scary. Then again, being a freelancer can be scary. And fun. And great.
I've already used the Vacation Mode in September 2014, when I spent some time with my family in another country. That's how I know that sales can be slow after coming back. It's normal. Knowing it's normal doesn't make it any less scary, though, not when you also know that nothing in the freelancing work is certain (although, there's no true safety with the 9-to-5 job, either). The best a freelancer can do is be patient, try not to feel too scared, and be active.
Being active, or advertising, whichever way you want to look at it. No matter how you call it, it may include blogging (in my case here, and possibly a mention someplace else), social media activity, forum activity, possibly changing the Fiverr gigs a bit (keywords, new extras, description change) or adding new ones... Advertising experts would tell you all about targeted marketing, too, but I'm no marketing expert, I'm just a storyteller. What I can tell you is that, whatever you do, you shouldn't spam; spamming is rude, annoying, and harms your business.
If my previous experience with the Fiverr Vacation Mode means anything, it takes some time for the sales to start again after coming back, but they do start again. Old clients seek the freelancers they were satisfied with, and the new clients come, too, as long as the ratings are good and the work is of good quality.
It takes some (scary!) time, but the sales definitely come back.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Friday, November 28, 2014
New Gig: Let's Talk About Coffee
Today I've added a new gig: writing about coffee. Coffee is a popular topic, and as a coffee lover and a former caffeine addict, I enjoy writing about it.
A warm cup of coffee in your hands in the morning, or in the afternoon. The scent of coffee. The scent of cinnamon. The first sip. The aroma of coffee, of cinnamon, of brown sugar. Having fun with your friends while drinking it, or working with a nice smell right next to you. Or, something to do when you're bored, or when you're curled up with a good book. Coffee is a good companion.
Your brain waking up with the help of coffee. The comfort of the warm cup in your hands. The world around you is more clear after you've had your coffee. Or, more scary, if you've had too much.
Caffeine addiction: the dark side of coffee. Some people call themselves caffeine addicts even though they've never experienced the true addiction. Heart beating like crazy (there's also the possibility of a heart attack, if you go too far). Constantly being nervous and irritable. Snapping at others when, without the addiction, you would have just shrugged it off. Panicking when there's no good reason for it. Bowel problems. Serious. And if you try to stop immediately, as soon as you realize what's going on, you can't. Well, you can, if you want to suffer the worst headache of your life for about a week. If you want to avoid the headache, you have to go slowly. Little by little. Reducing the amount you drink every day. Apply self-discipline, or it won't work.
Been there, done that. Managed. Stopped drinking coffee for a while after that. Now, I can enjoy it again. The smell, the warmth, the aroma. The companionship. Good time with friends, or on my own. As long as I keep in mind the possible danger of overdoing it, it's all fine.
Coffee is a pleasure again, and a pleasure I'm happy to write about.
A warm cup of coffee in your hands in the morning, or in the afternoon. The scent of coffee. The scent of cinnamon. The first sip. The aroma of coffee, of cinnamon, of brown sugar. Having fun with your friends while drinking it, or working with a nice smell right next to you. Or, something to do when you're bored, or when you're curled up with a good book. Coffee is a good companion.
Your brain waking up with the help of coffee. The comfort of the warm cup in your hands. The world around you is more clear after you've had your coffee. Or, more scary, if you've had too much.
Caffeine addiction: the dark side of coffee. Some people call themselves caffeine addicts even though they've never experienced the true addiction. Heart beating like crazy (there's also the possibility of a heart attack, if you go too far). Constantly being nervous and irritable. Snapping at others when, without the addiction, you would have just shrugged it off. Panicking when there's no good reason for it. Bowel problems. Serious. And if you try to stop immediately, as soon as you realize what's going on, you can't. Well, you can, if you want to suffer the worst headache of your life for about a week. If you want to avoid the headache, you have to go slowly. Little by little. Reducing the amount you drink every day. Apply self-discipline, or it won't work.
Been there, done that. Managed. Stopped drinking coffee for a while after that. Now, I can enjoy it again. The smell, the warmth, the aroma. The companionship. Good time with friends, or on my own. As long as I keep in mind the possible danger of overdoing it, it's all fine.
Coffee is a pleasure again, and a pleasure I'm happy to write about.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Fear and Loathing on Fiverr
First time when it happened, I was petrified...
All right, not exactly petrified, but every Fiverr seller knows what I'm talking about: the first negative review, which happened while I was still fairly new. The ARS (the 5 stars system instead of thumbs up and thumbs down) was also new, and everyone was desperately trying to keep their 100% rating. People kept saying that everything lower than 100% rating was a complete disaster for a new seller, and being new, I believed them.
Now, on other freelancing sites, a rating of 95% is excellent. I believe that time will come when the same will be true for Fiverr. However, that time isn't here yet, and while I know now that one negative rating would have just slowed me down, not ruined my business on Fiverr, back then, I was worried. Saying that I experienced fear and loathing would be exaggerating, but hey, I'm a writer and a blogger, so I'm allowed to exaggerate.
Anyway, here's what happened: I discovered that I got a 1 star rating for an About Us page I've written for a client. No explanation, no modification requests, nothing. My first impulse was to answer his feedback with my own 1 star rating, explaining that the buyer never even tried to communicate after placing the order, and that he sent me very little information to begin with. I calmed myself down and messaged the buyer instead, asking about his reasons and why he didn't request me to revise the page. He said he thought about asking for a modification, but the page was terrible, it had numerous grammar errors (actually, there was a single typo), the vocabulary was terrible, it was useless to his company (all of this written in not so good English). So, I do the next smart thing and initiate the mutual cancellation, apologizing for wasting his time and offering a refund because my writing was useless to him. That would be it, i thought.
It wasn't. He refused the cancellation. They were going to use some parts of the page I sent him, he said. Some parts of a 296 words page? I didn't ask him that, of course; that would have been unprofessional. Instead, I asked him to remove the negative rating, because the page wasn't so useless, after all. He accepted, but discovered the option to do so was gone. So, I asked him to contact Fiverr Customer Support (I did the same myself), because at that point, that was the only way to remove the bad rating. He did, and I sighed with relief, thinking that it was over.
It wasn't.
He rated the work I sent him with 4.5 stars. It's not a bad rating as such, but it still lowered my overall rating and decreased my chances at success, or so I thought at the time. So, I patiently explained to him what the problem was, and he agreed to contact the Customer Support again. They removed his rating. Then he demanded that I write him a better page than the one I sent him. He did so much for me, he said, he deserved a flawless page. And, he would rate me based on the page I sent him. This time, he sent me more information, as well as some examples of the pages he liked. I did the page again, and I got 5 stars.
Finally.
This entire story went on for a few days. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it taught me a few things. One was not to panic about bad ratings. After all the back-and-forth, I simply can't be bothered to panic about such things anymore. Panic is useless; it's much better to move on, and to keep delivering the best work I can. In the end, the results will show, which is another thing that this experience taught me: one bad rating, or even several bad ratings, don't destroy someone's business on Fiverr. They make it a bit more difficult, but if the sellers explains their side of the story, reasonable buyers will still work with them.
And another, very important thing I've learned from experience with this buyer and several others: never, ever accept to work on the order without enough information. I've tried to improvise, or to write general pages about this or that type of business, but the buyers who are unwilling to provide me with enough information about their businesses (see what kind of information I need) tend to be unsatisfied no matter what I do. It's better to initiate the cancellation immediately with a list of questions (cancellation can be aborted once the buyers sends the answers), so that the buyer either sends the info, or accepts the cancellation and moves on.
Live and learn. I've survived, learned something, and got a story to tell.
All right, not exactly petrified, but every Fiverr seller knows what I'm talking about: the first negative review, which happened while I was still fairly new. The ARS (the 5 stars system instead of thumbs up and thumbs down) was also new, and everyone was desperately trying to keep their 100% rating. People kept saying that everything lower than 100% rating was a complete disaster for a new seller, and being new, I believed them.
Now, on other freelancing sites, a rating of 95% is excellent. I believe that time will come when the same will be true for Fiverr. However, that time isn't here yet, and while I know now that one negative rating would have just slowed me down, not ruined my business on Fiverr, back then, I was worried. Saying that I experienced fear and loathing would be exaggerating, but hey, I'm a writer and a blogger, so I'm allowed to exaggerate.
Anyway, here's what happened: I discovered that I got a 1 star rating for an About Us page I've written for a client. No explanation, no modification requests, nothing. My first impulse was to answer his feedback with my own 1 star rating, explaining that the buyer never even tried to communicate after placing the order, and that he sent me very little information to begin with. I calmed myself down and messaged the buyer instead, asking about his reasons and why he didn't request me to revise the page. He said he thought about asking for a modification, but the page was terrible, it had numerous grammar errors (actually, there was a single typo), the vocabulary was terrible, it was useless to his company (all of this written in not so good English). So, I do the next smart thing and initiate the mutual cancellation, apologizing for wasting his time and offering a refund because my writing was useless to him. That would be it, i thought.
It wasn't. He refused the cancellation. They were going to use some parts of the page I sent him, he said. Some parts of a 296 words page? I didn't ask him that, of course; that would have been unprofessional. Instead, I asked him to remove the negative rating, because the page wasn't so useless, after all. He accepted, but discovered the option to do so was gone. So, I asked him to contact Fiverr Customer Support (I did the same myself), because at that point, that was the only way to remove the bad rating. He did, and I sighed with relief, thinking that it was over.
It wasn't.
He rated the work I sent him with 4.5 stars. It's not a bad rating as such, but it still lowered my overall rating and decreased my chances at success, or so I thought at the time. So, I patiently explained to him what the problem was, and he agreed to contact the Customer Support again. They removed his rating. Then he demanded that I write him a better page than the one I sent him. He did so much for me, he said, he deserved a flawless page. And, he would rate me based on the page I sent him. This time, he sent me more information, as well as some examples of the pages he liked. I did the page again, and I got 5 stars.
Finally.
This entire story went on for a few days. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it taught me a few things. One was not to panic about bad ratings. After all the back-and-forth, I simply can't be bothered to panic about such things anymore. Panic is useless; it's much better to move on, and to keep delivering the best work I can. In the end, the results will show, which is another thing that this experience taught me: one bad rating, or even several bad ratings, don't destroy someone's business on Fiverr. They make it a bit more difficult, but if the sellers explains their side of the story, reasonable buyers will still work with them.
And another, very important thing I've learned from experience with this buyer and several others: never, ever accept to work on the order without enough information. I've tried to improvise, or to write general pages about this or that type of business, but the buyers who are unwilling to provide me with enough information about their businesses (see what kind of information I need) tend to be unsatisfied no matter what I do. It's better to initiate the cancellation immediately with a list of questions (cancellation can be aborted once the buyers sends the answers), so that the buyer either sends the info, or accepts the cancellation and moves on.
Live and learn. I've survived, learned something, and got a story to tell.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)