On first glance, you might wonder why you would need someone to dress up in a hot dog costume and perform an interpretive dance on the subject of your choice, or if you really need someone to read your poetry of despair but dig a little deeper and you’ll soon be hooked on all the little things you can do for five dollars. Within a few days you’ll wonder how you ever did without it which is why we’ve come up with six good reasons why the world needs sites like Fiverr.
Good solution to unemployment problems:
Let’s face it, the global economic downturn has taken its toll on many people, jobs are more cherished than ever and hardly a day goes by without another company announcing ‘restructuring’ plans, which is corporate speak for laying off lots of hard working and loyal workers.
Fiverr can and has become a lifeline to hundreds if not thousands of people around the world to put food on the table or a roof over their head. Sure, $5 isn’t going to make you rich but if you can package your skills or offer a service which only takes 15-20 minutes to do you could easily be on the road to earning $50 or more a day.
Even if you think you’ve got no talents to offer, many people are making money just by doing voice over recordings or even making a 1 minute video testimonial about a product. Fiverr and the army of clones have also helped people working full or part time jobs generate a little extra cash by doing things like sending postcards from their city or talking to people in other parts of the world on Skype for 10 minutes to help them practice their English.
Social services:
In the age of austerity, Fiverr and other micro job portals can be your way of giving back to the community if you are financially better off than many other people. Many doctors are donating their time and for $5 you can speak to a doctor about a medical problem and get proper medical advice – a service that as we all know can cost a lot of money and something many of us put off because of the expense.
Connect, share and help:
Around the world there are plenty of people looking for small jobs to be done and thanks to Fiverr there is an army of people ready and willing to get it done.
Thanks to the social networks of Facebook, Fiverr, LinkedIn and Digg, the gigs can be shared around the Internet and promoted for free which means the gig sellers have no upfront costs to getting buyers and also means that they have the chance to earn even more money at no extra cost.
Fiverr clone and alternatives:
Fiverr hasn’t just helped a large number of sellers make money to beat the recession blues, it has also kickstarted a wave of clone sites using similar software to run their own fixed price job sites. Without Fiverr these budding entrepreneurs wouldn’t have had a market to capitalize on and as Fiverr grows and more people become aware of it the need to create niche specific fixed price job sites is growing.
According to one industry blog, the top 5 alternatives of Fiverr are,
- GigBucks
- Zeerk
- TenBux
- Uphype
- Dealerr
At the last count there were some 200+ Fiverr clone type sites out there but these 5 above are thought to be the biggest ones.
Fun “Yes”, Spam “No”:
Fiverr doesn’t take itself too seriously and the same can be said with a number of sellers offering some really weird and wacky gigs on the site but there is a line drawn somewhere so you won’t find any unethical gigs, harmful gigs or gigs that provide no value.
If you plan to post your jobs on Fiverr make sure they offer value and you can deliver them in a reasonable amount of time otherwise you might find you and your gigs are swiftly removed from the site.
Brand promotion & expert advice:
Many sellers on Fiverr have used the site as a spring board to honing their own talents before venturing out on their own. For example if you think you are good at logo design, after 100 gigs you will know for certain whether you have a talent for it and not only that but you will have a nice portfolio to venture out with.
One seller has branded himself as “Mr. Whiteboard” and the response to his 1 minute pitches has meant that he is being swamped with requests and people are prepared to pay him a premium to do their promotion quicker.
Just because you are charging five bucks now doesn’t mean it won’t lead to a real $500 dollar in the future.