20% of new businesses fail in their first two years.
Very few make it past the 10 or 15-year mark.
While we can agree that starting a business in this day and age isn't easy, it's not as difficult as it once was.
Why? Because the barrier to entry is so much lower. You no longer need to take out a business loan and invest thousands of dollars into it to turn a profit.
One strategy for building a business without much overhead is to outsource as many tasks as many. And one of the best places to do so is Fiverr.
I'll be explaining, just how does Fiverr work and help you leverage one of the greatest resources for small business owners.
What is Fiverr?
Fiverr is a website where individuals can advertise gigs they're willing to do. They can range from graphic design to writing to tech to voice overs.
The company itself was founded 10 years ago, so it has already made it past the place where many businesses fail. It did so by helping business owners fill a gap in the market and help them provide necessary services at a low cost.
Fiverr, based in Israel, is named for the notion that most of the services are priced at $5 USD. However, those who provide services may ask for more money to add on if the job is even more complex or more is asked of them. $5 is the base price for the work.
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So, how can this company help take your business to the next level? Let's take a look at it.
Firstly: There’s No Overhead
Some platforms may make you pay to access content creators or those who can help you with your business. While sometimes this may be necessary to access vital services, Fiverr has no overhead.
You don't need to pay anything if you're getting services or moonlighting as a Fiverr content provider. All you do is pay your fee for the person who is doing the job for you. Simply log in and begin.
How Does Fiverr Work?
With no overhead, how does Fiverr itself, work?
It's really quite simple.
There are thousands of freelancers offering their services on Fiverr, and all are ready to take you up on your offer of temporary employment.
You'll need to create an account to purchase the services, but you can browse without one.
Once you decide what it is you need, you can search for it on the website itself. Say you need someone to create a book cover for a work you're planning to self-publish. Fiverr is the perfect place for that.
Search for people who create book covers. You'll likely be shown the more experienced users first. These freelancers have been working with the site for quite a while now, and they have taken many jobs.
They have a rating next to them, and you can review what other people like yourself thought of the final product.
Typically, Fiverr will show you people who have good reviews first, which makes sense. They want to show you the people who have consistently performed well.
Scenario: Selecting the Perfect Illustrator or Graphic Designer for Your Needs
Going with the premise that you're searching for someone to help you with your book cover, you'll be able to browse a wide selection of people who have lots of experience with book covers. Many of them likely also know what sells.
With book covers, for example, on the main Fiverr page, you'll be treated to a wide selection of book covers, with each profile showing a few covers they have created in the past. This allows you to weed out certain freelancers quite easily.
If you're not looking for a romance book, and that's what they frequently do, you'll want to look somewhere else.
Once you find someone you think will meet your needs, you'll click on their profile. As we stated above, you can see several Fiverr reviews that discuss how satisfied previous customers were with their work.
If a person is very popular on Fiverr, you may not be able to book them in time for what you need, as there may be a lot of people waiting for their services.
However, Fiverr lists a timeframe of when the person can finish the task for you. If this seems reasonable, you can choose to hire the person and begin completing the task.
Personalizing Your Service: More Than Just a Fiverr
As we stated above, $5 is the base price for most freelancers. If you want something that's going to be slick and professional, you'll probably need to pay more than $5.
Although if you're looking for a graphic designer for your book, for example, whatever the individual charges are likely less than what you would be charged for personalized services elsewhere, or if you had an illustrator or graphic designer in-house.
For a service like graphic design, you can expect to pay up to $250 for a task, but many times it is significantly less. The price will depend on how personalized you want the task.
Continuing with the example of a book, the price will be cheaper if you wish to combine several images that already exist on sites such as Shutterstock.
If you want a completely new illustration that is made from scratch, you may have to wait several more days and will pay more toward the $250 end.
If you're not satisfied, you can always ask the person creating it for you to alter it, as this is included in your base price.
Once finished, you'll have a completed project that you have exclusive rights to use whenever and wherever.
How Does Fiverr Get Paid?
Fiverr, like most similar services, gets paid by taking a cut of whatever you pay the person you're hiring. They already know this upfront when they sign up, so there are no surprises.
How Does Fiverr Help My Small Business?
When you start a small business, you wear many hats, and some of the tasks you have to perform are tasks you're not very good at.
In this day and age, you can start businesses for a $100, depending on what industry you're in. And that doesn't leave you with a lot of money for anything else.
You'll need to design a website, create ads, market, advertise and perform the core work of the business all by yourself.
Fiverr offers you a solution to this problem by allowing you to hire people for a nominal fee to perform a particular task, such as helping you create a social media presence by posting to your social media profiles. And since you can keep track of the people you hire, you're able to hire the same people if you so choose and build up a rapport.
The best thing about Fiverr is not just that the cost is so low, but that you have an enormous variety. If you don't like the work of one person, you can find another person to do the same job almost instantly.
While we've long known that freelancers can fill the void of hiring someone to come work in your office, Fiverr also slashes the time it takes to hire a freelancer.
Gone are the days of Googling someone, looking over their portfolio, haggling over pricing and trying to deduce how real their testimonials are. Now you're ready to go with just a few clicks.
Even if you only have a few dollars, you can propel your business to the next level by hiring actual professionals to help you with whatever it is you need.
Why Fiverr?
There are now similar services to Fiverr out there, where you can also look for people to fulfill tasks for you. And while those may work for you, Fiverr offers you the most variety and a degree of personalization that is unmatched.
Additionally, the overhead cost is so low compared to other companies, that Fiverr is a no-brainer solution for quality outsourced jobs.
Leveraging Fiverr For Your Small Business
Now that you know exactly how does Fiverr work, you understand how much of an asset it can be to your business. Depending on your business model, you may never have to hire another person to work inside your office again.
