Your actual goals are going to vary depending on your skillset and how many hours a week you can dedicate towards your Fiverr business. Full timers will usually progress more quickly than part timers, so it's important to focus on the right improvements in the right order if you only have 15 or 20 hours a week to dedicate to freelancing.
Eventually you'll want to accomplish everything on these lists. You're just going to manage them in chunks that are sized so that you can wrap your head around them. The things that you'll want to do first in order to optimize your business quickly are going to be listed first, and in bold.
Use a digital calendar to track your timeframes for these goals and set reminders that are appropriate to your work style. Google Calendar is free, if you don't have a particular one in mind. Some people like to set two or three reminders at evenly spaced intervals. Others just want one reminder that falls on a day off from their 'normal' work, so they can give that task their entire attention. You do you.
If you don't accomplish something in the allotted time, either push it to the next time period or set it aside for the future, never have multiple tasks in a single slot. This is critical. Never have multiple 2 week goals, multiple 2 month goals, or multiple 2 year goals. If you accomplish one, immediately replace it with your next selection and put the appropriate reminders in your calendar.
So let's start by looking at some goals that you can realistically meet in your first (or next) two weeks on Fiverr.
Here's an example of the goals you could set while building your Fiverr freelancer business:
Whether you're brand new to Fiverr and you're drawing up your very first business plan, or you joined Fiverr long ago and simply never got the success you deserve, setting realistic goals for your Fiverr business is critical to maximizing your results.
In this course, I'm going to help you to flesh out some of the possible benchmarks that you can realistically achieve in 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years on Fiverr. This exercise will not only help you to focus on improving your business' weaknesses, but it will illustrate the weird timescales that freelancers sometimes experience. Most people who I've instructed are surprised just how long it takes to establish yourself on Fiverr... but they're also shocked at how quickly your freelancer business can explode once you have some momentum.
Like the others, this course is completely free. If you want to thank me, use my affiliate links for joining Fiverr, for Fiverr's Learn Courses, for joining Fiverr Business, and for becoming a Fiverr Affiliate.
Have your SEO keyword gigs created and your profile built: This is absolutely critical if you want to do any business on Fiverr. Nobody will find your gigs unless you make them searchable, and nobody is going to trust you unless you have a decent profile. We talk about profile creation in the Crash Course. To get the SEO key phrases you need, you can either examine your top competition or join Fiverr Seller Plus (unlikely for brand new sellers, you'll need to qualify first). To do it manually, check out the top five gigs in your genre. Copy just the text of the gig (title, description, FAQ) and save all five results in one big text file. Then use a wordcloud generator to pick out the top key phrases.
Create and upload a portfolio of your work: Again, this is mentioned in the Crash Course so check that out for details. You need to have your portfolio in order, and it needs to be displayable in formats that are Fiverr and customer friendly. You'll be attaching something from this to every gig you create. Rule of thumb: If you don't have a portfolio item that is appropriate to a gig you're offering, you need to work on broadening your portfolio!
Create or record simple videos for each gig: Remember, 'optional' is never really optional on Fiverr when it comes to ways people find and read your gig. Whether you grab a greenscreen cloth and record the videos yourself with a custom background, or you stand against a blank wall, or you let your clients see the glory of your workspace, record something descriptive. Check out the videos of your competition for details. Alternatives include grabbing an 'explainer' tool (like the one that looks like it's drawing line art to explain something) and just doing a voiceover or text captions, or having someone else help you with a gig video.
Earn your 'Online Freelancing Essentials' certificate: This is essential for any serious Fiverr seller. Having it displayed on your profile means you actually gave enough of a crap to sit through an hour of learning the platform and policy basics. Clients will notice. So will the Fiverr team when it comes time to consider level promotions. This should only be on your two week list briefly, since it's such an easy accomplishment.
Create a suite of useful Quick Responses: Quick Responses are text macros that answer the most common questions that a client might ask with the push of a button. From experience, I can tell you that, at minimum, you want responses for the following subjects: Greeting and thanking a first time buyer who purchases a gig, answer questions about your experience and portfolio, a list of references if they're publicly available, more about yourself including your LinkedIn profile, and your normal hours / days off / vacation dates. Once you start to get rolling, these automatic text replies will help you to answer questions with consistency. It isn't that you won't have the time to type it out, it's about sending the same message to everyone, whether or not you're busy.
Get your tax information together: You're going to need to examine how your business impacts your taxes. Even if you never sell a thing on Fiverr, opening your own business can have tax implications as far as deductions and tax filing responsibilities are concerned. These things will vary from country to country and region to region, but take a little time to research the tax benefits (from equipment purchasing and depreciation, home office space, utility use dedicated to your business, etc.) and tax responsibilities your new business will bring.
Calculate your minimum 'full time' requirements: If you haven't done this already, it's time to assess what role this Fiverr business plays in your life by calculating what you need to get out of it. How much money per week would justify the effort you put into it? How much would you need to be earning in order to make Fiverr your only income stream? Could you move to a lower cost of living area (with good Internet) in order to lower those requirements? How much vacation time do you need each year to keep your head straight? What is your cap on hours spent working per week? You should establish all of these figures and stick to any promises that you make to yourself.
Create a firm daily schedule that includes breaks and meals: I've worked with professionals on Fiverr who are absolute wrecks. They never take days off, they don't take care of their bodies, and they don't rest their minds. You need to avoid burnout, because it will permanently impact your business and your life. Set fixed times to walk away from the keyboard. Build days off into your gig times. If you've done this and you're still overbooked you need to lengthen your gig delivery times and/or increase your prices slightly. You also need to go to your profile, look under your profile image, and click Set Availability. Then take a few days off from taking orders by using the Overbooked option.
Check out the optional tools the Fiverr offers: Fiverr has some interesting tools that might be useful to certain kinds of freelancers. Everyone should at minimum, check them out so that if a client references them you'll understand the context. One example is Fiverr Workplace, a payment and organizational tool which has a free version you can use to check it out. Another is the Fiverr Forum, where you can get tips on how to run your business, share your experiences, and check out new business strategies. Explore every menu option, so that you understand what's available to you.
Now, those of you paying attention might notice that this is only a couple of months worth of short term goals. Once you accomplish these, you need to set speciality and industry based goals for yourself. That might involve improvements to your workspace, documenting your procedures, staying on top of the latest tools available to people in your industry, or making additional work/life balance changes. The important thing is to keep setting two week goals that will make your job on Fiverr easier.
Tune your gigs to achieve your maximum volume: The reason why Fiverr isn't a race to the bottom (dropping prices until nobody makes any money), is that there's a distinct quality/experience-to-price ratio. Your job is to find the price point that attracts the right kind of clients, who will approve of the quality you can deliver, without overloading your available hours. Drop your price too low, and you risk getting lower quality clients who will waste your time and try to scam you. Set your price too high and you risk not being able to deliver on the quality they expect at their pay grade, or scaring off clients who you would actually work well with. The same goes for gig attributes such as the complexity and volume of work that you're offering, the formats that you plan to deliver in, etc. So take a couple of months to fine tune your pricing based on your competition, the feedback you get, and your expected dollar per hour figures. Adjust prices and gig attributes every couple of weeks, record results, check your metrics, and adjust again. At the end of two months, you should have some idea of where you stand, and your gigs should be tuned for your current experience level.
Create a flowchart of your business process in the most common scenarios: There's nothing worse than responding to different clients in different ways when given the exact same scenario... except doping that to the same client across two different gigs. You need to streamline and document your business process. Every aspect of 'onboarding' a new customer should be written down, from the greeting to the first time you ask for requirements, to setting expectations with touch-bases and rough draft reviews, to their first delivery, to explaining revisions. And every aspect of tending to a repeat client also should be documented, from a more streamlined requirements phase, to shorter reminders of your normal gig process, to the little extras that set you apart from other Fiverr freelancers. Consistency is the key to repeat business. Give yourself the tools to stress free execution by documenting and following your own process.
Add at least one additional completed course or professional certification to your profile: This needs to be done sooner rather than later. If you're good at your job, you need to be able to prove it. Why? Portfolios can be subcontracted, AI generated, or ghostwritten. Completing a certification course or Fiverr Learn courses shows that you (or someone in your business with account access) have actually studied the subject matter at hand. Once earned, it can be mentioned in your profile, gig description, and casually dropped into client conversations. Certifications and courses not only further your ongoing training, but they can attract a whole new level of clientele.
Work on your requirements for Level 1 and Level 2 Seller status: Unlike Fiverr Pro status and Top Seller status, Level 1 and Level 2 Seller are purely metrics driven. Unless you've done something wrong, reaching certain minimum thresholds on your Fiverr profile is a matter of time, numbers, and consistency. The current statistics that you need to maintain are explained in the Fiverr Levels help document. You won't achieve an entire level in 2 months, but actively working on improving your metrics is critical to your first year in the business. After that, it will become second nature.
Create a standard brand for your business: Depending on how professional you want to look, it's sometimes a good idea to have a standardize on a single look for your gigs. Take my profile as an example. Every single thumbnail is set to a keyframe in my gig video that has a similar splash screen. The end of each video is the same royalty free music. So when you see that splash screen or hear that outro, you think of my gigs. You need to decide what your particular branding is going to be, and get the help that you need to make it happen in a professional manner. You can create and pick the thumbnail that you'll insert at the end of your videos as your keyframe. Or you can have a Fiverr specialist create one for you. Make sure their gig includes a template so that you can have more made as needed.
Create a website that will host your portfolio: It doesn't have to be expensive. But you will want some way to show clients that you exist outside of Fiverr. It's important for them to know that this is what you would be doing, even if Fiverr didn't exist. Once they know that you're a professional that transcends a single platform, you'll get a lot more respect and leeway from them. There's a tangible difference between 'someone who does gigs on Fiverr' and 'a freelancer who uses Fiverr as one of their platforms. So get at least a simple website with a domain name, even if it's not an expensive .com address. It can be quite simple; just your name, your Fiverr information, a contact form, and your portfolio.
Incorporate LinkedIn and other professional social media platforms into your business: Building a professional network is one way to get gigs when you need them the most. Have a client that promised a big order and then backed out? Have a client who unexpectedly had their payment method declined? And did you already set aside time for the project that they proposed? That's when you reach out to your professional network and let them know that you have availability this week. Offer a slight discount if you want to put the cherry on top. You can even offer them a coupon if you're part of the Seller Plus program. Either way, offering your time to your professional contacts can turn a disaster of a week into a healthy profit. It takes time to foster the right network, but its well worth it. Remember your branding!
Develop the confidence to say 'no': At first you're going to be tempted to stretch your comfort zone and do things that aren't strictly defined in the gig. That's great. But if you find that these stretches aren't for you, or that they aren't profitable, you need to start saying 'no' to clients who ask for them. After your first five or ten positive reviews, you need to focus on quality work that is profitable in a reasonable timescale. That means saying 'I don't do that' and adding reasonable restrictions to your FAQ. That means no last minute gigs that will disrupt your life without significant overtime pay built in so that you can order out for food and pay for some off time later in the week. That means never discounting your gigs below your market rate without a damned good reason. If someone doesn't value your time, say 'no'. Say it confidently. Otherwise you're setting yourself up to be a doormat who can never raise their prices as rising cost of living and inflation slowly forces them to work more hours year after year after...
Some of these two month goals will be undertaken multiple times. But figure that this is at least a year and a half of goals to churn through, and that's before you add your own industry specific medium term goals to the list. Remember to update your established properties (brands, gigs, portfolios, etc.) periodically, so that you aren't showing clients terribly outdated information.
Participate in, and pass, an external certification course: In addition to Fiverr courses, it's critical that you keep up with your trade's continuing education. Otherwise your skills will stagnate and you won't understand the tools and techniques that are being used around the world. External certification shows clients that you have a life outside of Fiverr, and part of that life involves achieving professional excellence. Your qualifications will allow you to create new gigs that will be taken seriously by clients. These certifications also weigh into your consideration for Fiverr Pro status.
Prepare to scale your business to Top Rated Seller status: Two years of consistent performance on Fiverr, and of course climbing through the Level 1 Seller and Level 2 Seller ranks, is the best way to prepare yourself for the big time. Top Rated Seller is not an automatic rank. You'll likely go through several monthly reviews at or above the minimum thresholds required before you're seriously considered for Fiverr's top level. But hang in there, because it's absolutely worthwhile. Keep tuning your gigs, optimising your time, and managing your clients professionally, and you'll get all of the perks associated with Top Rated Seller status: Entry to invitation-only programs, unparalleled gig flexibility, and fastest possible pay outs without accessing premium services.
Shoot for Fiverr Pro status: This title is optional, but it has some serious clout associated with it. Some clients only work with certified Pros. You'll be able to raise your prices even as you gain regular, repeat clients who will appreciate your excellent customer service skills and quality work product. Pros get invited to private roundtables, advertising opportunities, and beta projects that the general public doesn't have access to. It's also far easier to build a subcontracting and sub-affiliate team if you pass Fiverr's vetting. Note that if you already have an excellent track record outside of Fiverr, you can apply for Pro status right away. But for most people, your verified Fiverr track record will be a major component if your Pro application is to be successful.
Develop an affiliate network: Once you get to know (and perhaps use) reliable Fiverr sellers, you may want to help them to get new business. Why? Because you can make extra income by becoming a Fiverr Affiliate. This can be a simple referral page from your existing portfolio website, or you can do something more specific and detailed. This is an easy, no nonsense way to provide your business contacts and clients with services that you don't have time to do yourself, or that you don't cover as part of your normal portfolio of services. If you don't plan to expand your business via subcontracting, the Fiverr Affiliate model is the most hassle free alternative that will still earn you some money on projects that you yourself can't fulfil.
Some of these goals will take less than two years, while others may be ongoing, particularly if you're a part timer on Fiverr. Remember to focus primarily on short term goals, while keeping the long term goals on your radar whenever you take the time to review your business' progress.
The next step is to learn how to avoid common Fiverr scams if you want to avoid losing the cash reserves and reputation that you've worked so hard to build. Or if you've done that, head over to my free course hub to select your next topic.
If you want to thank me for these free courses, use my affiliate links for joining Fiverr, for Fiverr's Learn Courses, for joining Fiverr Business, and for becoming a Fiverr Affiliate.
