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Pros & Cons of Fiverr

OK. So what are the pros and what are the cons of using the fiber platform? Now, listen, I would love to sit here and tell you that using the fiber platform is all champagne and roses. But the reality is that it just isn't. And there are some things that you need to be very careful of if you're thinking about using fiber as a platform to build your career as a freelancer. Now, obviously, there are a couple of other platforms out there that you can use to actually further your freelance career and connect with new clients to sell your services. But is by far, I think the most popular and if you use the platform correctly, you can really get ahead from all the other freelancers out there offering the same type of service as you. So let's go through a few of the pros about using the fiber platform and then we'll go through some cons and some negative things about using the platform. But then we'll also explain how to overcome them later on on the call so that you can essentially create th...

e best possible experience for yourself as a freelancer on fiber So the first pro of being a freelancer on fiber is fiber, ultimately pays for your marketing for you. Now, what do I mean by this? I mean that basically as a freelancer, you need to find clients somewhere somehow. And if you've used fiber before, you'll know that they take 20 per cent of all the money that you make through the platform. Now, this can seem like quite a lot. And I actually felt be bad when I first started out on fiber because I felt like they were taking 20 per cent of everything that I earned and worked for. But it isn't quite like that. If you think about it, logically, if you think about most businesses, they spend anywhere between 30 to 40 per cent to actually acquire a new customer. And if you didn't have fiber or another platform to actually get clients, then you'd ultimately have to spend a ton of time marketing yourself on social media or maybe making youtube videos or reach out to new clients to offer them services and creating all of that content and market yourself on social media can take an incredible amount of effort and energy. And once I understood that I began to realize that the 20 per cent takes from you is simply just to spend on marketing to get you more clients in future. So once you start thinking about it that way, it actually makes it far more bearable to give that 20 per cent to five. So they can bring you more clients in future. So you could see that as a pro, but you could also see it as a con. But hopefully that puts in the context that the 20 per cent that you're giving is actually for your own benefit. Now, another pro which I actually mentioned in the previous point is that you can connect with clients that will want to work with you directly later on. One of the most important things that we're going to be covering later on in the course is how to build your digital presence and brand outside of the fiber platform. Now, some clients that find me on five end up finding my youtube channel, my courses and then eventually my website and some of them get in contact with me directly. Now, obviously, I don't know which ones have seen me on fiber first or maybe found me through youtube. But I do know that fiber does bring a lot of attention to you for your particular expertise and the services that you provide. So it certainly can't hurt to have a website for them to check out after they've found you on fiber just to build that credibility and trust. So another pro about fiber is the fact that it simply allows you to get more exposure for the services that you want to provide and positions you as an expert in your field. And that leads me on to another pro about the fiber platform that I absolutely love. Now as a freelancer, you can sometimes be in a position where clients maybe don't want to pay everything up front and maybe they want to pay 70 per cent at the end of the process, which is obviously a little bit daunting for most freelancers. And I'm going to teach you a couple of methods later on in the course as to how to get paid up front every single time for every single project so that you never have to deliver a project, hoping that the client is going to pay you after delivery. And one of the great things about the fiber platform form is that you have to get paid upfront for them to start the project. Now, obviously, fiber holds that money, but as far as the client's concerned, they have already paid for the service. They don't know that that money is going to be held for 14 days before it is released to you or seven days if you're a top seller or a pro seller. So that's actually a really great pro in regards to using the fiber platform, the client is paying for the services. And as far as they're concerned, they've already paid you upfront. So they're fully committed to the project. So now we've covered some pros, let's move on to some cons and some negative things about using the fiber platform so that we can then counter them and find solutions for them later on in the course. So the first thing that is a little bit of a con about using the fiber platform is that clients can sometimes be very budget sensitive. Now, as I mentioned a little bit earlier on, in this course, it tends to get a little bit easier as you become a top seller and then eventually pro on fiber. And even if you're a level two people tend to not really try to knock you down in regards to price. Once you've got a little bit of credibility and trust and you're really good at what you do on the platform. But especially when you're a new seller, you will get some cheeky clients who try to basically put you down and try to get you a really cheap rate because ultimately, they know that you're new to the platform and you're just trying to get as many clients as possible. And to be honest, when I first started out as a new seller on fiver, I was just doing gigs for whatever people would pay me. All I cared about was getting the five star reviews and really building my credibility on the platform form, which is exactly what I would recommend you do too. Now, another con about the fiber platform is there is tons of competition. However, the solution for this is to simply be great at what you do. There's a great saying and a great quote that I love, which is the cream always rises to the top. And eventually this is the case if you were great at what you do and you provide a great service and you really care about your clients. Ultimately, you can't feel you have to succeed over the long term because you're going to be getting the five star views. You're going to be getting the great write ups. Clients are going to be coming back to you again and again, fiber recognizes that fiber notices when you are really driving great service and great value to your clients. They will put you in front of more clients. If you really take care of the people who are working with you, trust me. I know I've experienced this first hand. Now, obviously, one of the more instant cons is that fiber does hold your payment for 14 days. But this is only really a problem if you need the money there and then if you don't need the money and you can just hold on for 14 days, then it's actually much better to get paid in full. As opposed to worrying that you're going to actually get the money in the end. It's more of a pro than a con for me. But obviously, it's specific to each person's situation. Now, some of my friends who are freelancers say that the fiber platform can sometimes be a little bit negative and toxic. So what do I mean by that, well, a kind of fiber is that clients sometimes, especially when you first start out as a new seller, they tend to think that they can boss you around and get you to do lots of free things. I think that this is definitely the case, especially when you first start out. But as long as you are polite professional and you are very clear about what is included in your package. When you first start the process, don't think clients actively go out to try and trip you up and try to get free stuff. I think most of the time, it's actually just down to the fact that the seller that's me and you, we basically don't state things as clearly as we maybe should. So for example, when I used to sell logo design on fiver, you know, many years ago, I put in my gig that you would receive two concepts. Now, two concepts to me personally means two different ideas for your logo. Now, the client thought that that meant that they could get two logos for two different businesses. So once they secured the gig in their mind, they thought they were going to get two different concepts for two different businesses instead of just one business. And that is obviously a little bit of a problem because that's double the work. And I have to create two logos for two businesses as opposed to doing two different ideas for the single business that the gig should be for. Now, there are two ways that you could approach this particular problem. The first is you could cancel the order or the second approach is basically the one that I took, which is taken on the chin, complete the order and apologize to the client and say, ok, lesson learned I will change and be a little bit more clear in regards to what my package includes and get a great review. You know, just be honest with the client and say, listen, this is what it actually includes, but I understand that this is my fault. Accountability is a really important thing when it comes to fiver and just being a freelancer in general. So being accountable and just say, listen, I understand the mistake. I'm going to complete this gig with you because I know it's not your fault. But in future, this is basically what would be included in future. Is that ok? They're going to say yes and then you just continue as normal. So just take the hit on the chain, learn from your mistake and deliver the extra elements that the client thought they were going to be getting. And ultimately, you're going to end up with a five star review and you're going to be getting more clients after that anyway, as a result of that five star review. So it's a win win. Now as you go through this course, there are going to be solutions to each of these cons. So you never have to worry about them, especially managing expectations and setting up your gig so that they're super clear and that there's no confusion on your client's end. There's nothing worse than a client securing your gig and basically expecting to get XY and Z when the gig that they have secured actually only delivers X which can be a little bit of a problem as I'm sure you can imagine. So we're gonna cover everything. Do not worry, but those are the pros and cons of using fiver and I will see you in the next lesson.