I started a Fiverr side hustle 6 months ago — Here’s what happened

Six months ago I set out to try Fiverr, again.

I first joined Fiverr back in 2012. I bought gigs and I sold gigs. Due to projects happening at the time, I became too busy to pursue the $5/gig projects I was booking so, I took a long break.

Since then, I have tried (unsuccessfully) to get back on Fiverr several times.

The issue I had was unknown to me.

After setting up the gigs, I got no orders. I got no inquiries, no messages, nothing. I tried this at least 2 or 3 times, trying Fiverr again, with the same result.

I couldn’t figure out what the issue was.

I decided that the platform was too saturated, nearly a decade later and gave up.

I felt like Fiverr was like Etsy. If you’re lucky enough to be one of the chosen few who makes sales as a newcomer, run with it, but, most probably won’t make consistent income from the platform.

I was wrong.

Giving Fiverr a second chance

Again, I decided to go for it with Fiverr.

This time it was different.

Things started as they did in the past.

I put up around 5 to 7 gigs and they sat there in my account with no impressions, no messages from prospective buyers, nada.

Finally, I decided to reach out to Fiverr to see what the issue was.

Apparently, I had some kind of hold on my account where I needed to get the gigs approved.

Had I not taken action and reached out to Fiverr Support, those gigs I set up might still be sitting in my account, dormant.

Once that hold lifted, I started seeing activity on the account.

This is how it has gone so far…

How much I’ve earned from Fiverr

A little over $1,400.

At one point, I was making around $300 to $400 per month from Fiverr. The peak of sales was during the holiday season, around November to December 2021.

Once January hit, sales slowed drastically.

And, that was actually when I had my last sale, in January.

It’s May!

Why did sales slow down?

First, a big part of your earnings comes from your responsiveness.

That means, Fiverr is looking for you to be on the site often. They want you to respond to customers quickly and if you don’t, it can impact your star level rating and impact the number of orders you receive.

Here’s a look at my message inbox rate:

You can see I have a 1 day response time. I have a 50% inbox response rate.

I have answered all my messages but, unfortunately, with getting much fewer inquiries on Fiverr, I’m on the site less and I’m slower to respond to customers.

The drop in my response rate impacted my order rate.

I also have a N/A star rating, which I’m looking into.

Previously, I had a 4.8 out of 5-star rating so the N/A rating is most definitely also impacting sales.

Putting it all out there

I wanted to be totally transparent here.

All side hustles are not winners.

Some flops, like this one, clearly did.

That doesn’t mean I can’t save it and resurrect my Fiverr account. I think it’s worth it, especially if I can get back to earning $300 to $400 per month.

What happens from here?

I’m making time for Fiverr again and I want to make it a priority. I have been on the site for over a decade and many sellers don’t have that history.

I really should take advantage of it and put my all into this so I can make this a steady income stream for myself.

That’s how it has been going this year with Fiverr.

What do you think?

Have you tried Fiverr and if so, how has your experience been?

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