How anyone can afford to hire freelancers

If you think you can’t afford to pay someone else to work in your business, then you’re wrong. 🙂

Fiverr.com was one of the very first ‘microservice sites’ on the internet. It’s also one of the biggest and the best-known. The basic premise is simple: people sign up to Fiverr and agree to carry out certain tasks in exchange for $5, which is about £3.50.

The idea is simple, but the potential is huge. And you’d be amazed what you can have done for just $5.

Here are just some of the many things you could use Fiverr for:

Publicity stunt material

Want someone to temporarily tattoo their arm with your brand’s logo and take a photo of it? Someone will do it on Fiverr.

Want someone to stand half-naked with a sign with your text on it? Someone will do it on Fiverr.

Want someone to sing a song on camera while dressed in a ridiculous outfit? Someone will do it on Fiverr.

You can use all kinds of crazy gigs as material for publicity stunts.

Proofreading and publishing

You can have your document proofread for $5. You can have a book cover designed for $5. You can have a book converted into Kindle format for $5. You can have an electronic book cover rendered for $5.

A lot of the more menial tasks in the writing and publishing process for both web and print content can be outsourced to Fiverr.

Website Building Tasks

Need someone to help solve a WordPress configuration error? There are experts on standby on Fiverr.

Need help moving your website from one host to another? You can pay $5 for it instead of several hundred by going to a system admin.

Some very random things

There are all kinds of random services you can find on Fiverr.

You can find people who’ll sign up for Dropbox using your referral link, so you can get extra storage space.

You can find people who’ll coach you through your business or help talk you through a tough problem.

You can find someone to hula hoop while saying your slogan and upload it on YouTube.

Video and audio

Need someone to read your video script out loud in an exciting voice? Fiverr is a fantastic resource.

Want to add an animated intro to your videos? Someone will gladly create it for you for $5.

The list of things you can find on Fiverr goes on and on and on and on.
Get in the habit of checking Fiverr whenever you find yourself wishing you could hand off a task. If you ever find yourself taking a long time on a task that’s outside your expertise, try checking Fiverr to see if someone would do it for $5. If it’s work that can be delegated online, chances are someone will.

And my personal experience…

I held back from using Fiverr for quite a while because I didn’t believe people would do a good job for so little money. In many ways I was wrong because it’s amazing just how much people will do for $5. But of course there’s a limit to what you can get for $5, so make sure you pick a service provider with a few good examples of their work on show, or at least a good few testimonials. Keep your instructions as specific as you can, e.g. rather than asking for an e-book cover in red, give some examples of the types of covers you like and the kinds of fonts and photo you had in mind. For $5 your provider won’t spend long trying to second-guess what’s on your mind, so make sure you tell them.

While the results are generally very good, I think it’s fair to expect the occasional disappointing one for that price. Not that I’m suggesting the provider’s aren’t good at what they do, but they aren’t going to have time to talk to you in depth and understand what you want in the kind of detail other freelancers might. In fact some Fiverr users get three different providers to carry out the same job and then select the best one.  After all, it’s still only going to cost $15 (£10.50).

Another nice benefit of Fiverr is that it got me over my nervousness of using other freelancing sites and outsourcing in general.

My advice is to give it a go, you’ve got so much to gain and only $5 to lose!