Summary

Christina Ward shares her journey and insights into freelancing on Fiverr, transitioning from initial doubts to finding success and enjoyment in editing poetry.

Abstract

The author, Christina Ward, recounts her experience with freelancing, particularly through Fiverr, after facing challenges on platforms like Upwork. She initially offered poetry editing services at a low price point but soon realized the need to raise her rates to reflect the value of her work. Despite feeling intimidated by more established competitors and experiencing imposter syndrome, Ward found that focusing on her strengths and delivering quality work led to repeat clients and personal growth. She offers practical advice for new freelancers, emphasizing the importance of knowing one's strengths, setting boundaries, maintaining professionalism, and gradually building a reputation. Ward concludes that while gaining confidence as a freelancer takes time, the key is to be willing to do the work and explore new opportunities.

Opinions

The author found Upwork to be unsuitable due to its fee structure and lack of job opportunities for her resume.
She credits B. Michael Logan for introducing her to Fiverr, where she found more success.
Ward initially undervalued her work by setting a low price, but later increased her rates to attract more serious clients and reflect the effort involved in in-depth poetry analysis.
She experienced imposter syndrome upon receiving her first significant editing job, questioning her qualifications and expertise.
The author advises new freelancers to be available and responsive, as Fiverr penalizes slow response times.
She suggests setting clear limits on revisions to prevent clients from extending the scope of work indefinitely.
Ward emphasizes the necessity of accumulating positive reviews before increasing prices, which is a strategic move to ensure sustainable income.
She recommends maintaining professionalism and courteousness in all interactions and suggests organic growth over aggressive marketing to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
The author believes that self-doubt is natural when starting out, but it should not prevent one from pursuing freelance work.
She encourages diversifying income streams and being open to discovering new talents and opportunities through freel

You Don’t Have to Have Faith in Your Work to Freelance — Just Do It.

How Fiver is turning me inside out — but paying me for the disruption.

As writers we try it all. Pimping out our work to any bidder. Our pockets need the attention, for sure.

Upwork was a big bust for me — I’m simply not going to pay someone to allow me to find jobs there — I didn’t find any jobs for my limited resume anyway.

B. Michael Logan introduced me to Fiverr and helped me to get started there. I posted a few gigs on poetry editing. I took a deep breathe — and waited.

First — Jessica Archuleta hired me to edit a poem. I edited a poem, a beautiful poem. And whoa. It was actually…fun.

How can I compete?

I did a job or two at the introductory 5.00 price point and decided that for an in-depth poetry analysis and constructive commenting — 5.00 was simply going to work me to death. Of course, I want those reviews so I can get more jobs. What to do?

I erred on the side of raising the price — hoping that the clients I do get will be more serious about their work. So far I have 2 returning clients who pretty much have me reviewing anything they’ve ever written. My gigs tend to lean toward chapbook and poetry collection editing.

But my initial reaction, while setting up my Gigs, and looking at the competition was that they all look smarter, more professional, more experienced that I do — why would anyone choose my Gigs? The solution was simple. Stop looking at the competition and do what is right for me. So, that is what I did. (I put on my “big girl poetry pants” — thanks Jenny Justice.)

Who am I to be doing this at all?

The first “big job” came in: a poetry book to edit for 150.00. (For the record, that is a lot of money to me.)

I set up the job and sat down to do the work.

Suddenly, I was hit with something I didn’t even recognize. Imposter Syndrome. I’ve heard Jun Wu and a few other writers talking about this but I had never experienced it for myself.

Who am I to be doing this? I have never prepared my own book — how can I edit the poetry books of other people? What do I even know about this?

I was frozen with the terror of failure, staring at the screen with someone else’s work waiting for my attention. My attention. Not some professional, right?

I had to take a moment, then another one.

But then, magic happened.

To say that I was paralyzed with fear is pretty accurate. I had to shove all kinds of negative self-talk away just to even begin reading — but once I did, it did not take long for my editorial instincts to kick in.

I read slowly, I made lots of notes on the Google doc (after I learned — how to sign in — how to use the commenting feature — all while attempting to NOT let the client know that I didn’t even know how to USE Google docs) and I fell into a working groove.

Being new on the Fiverr platform, I have not learned all of the ropes, but I do have a few pieces of advice for those of you who may be interested in diversifying your income streams.

Know your strengths. Post Gigs that are “up your alley.” You’ll want to grow work that suits you. Make your profile reflect these strengths.
Be available — like, always. They “ding” you if you don’t answer messages quick enough. Which, is problematic when you are first starting and have yet to locate the inbox. Set a special notification noise on your phone just for Fiverr. That helps.
Clients will ask for more and more and more on each order. Be very clear with them. “One revision is included. I will review the revision and offer some final thoughts. If the work needs another round of full edits I will be happy to do this but it is outside the scope of this order. We can run the work through a separate order if you would like.” Every single time I have done this the client placed more orders. Be thorough in the work you have promised — but don’t let the client drag the order on and on and on. There must be a stopping point and YOU set that point, fairly and firmly.
You will do a lot of work for what feels like nothing. But you must get some good reviews under your belt before you raise the price. I raised my price early (still quite low) knowing that I am limited on how much typing I can do per day. When you raise your price will be totally up to you. More price=less clients (at least until you build your reputation on the site.)
Be professional and courteous at all times.
I have only advertised my Gigs maybe twice — I have chosen to let it grow organically so that I do not get overwhelmed with work I am physically unable to complete. But if you want to grow clientele, I’d suggest sharing to Twitter and Linkedin. Sharing there received the most interaction for me.
You don’t have to be the best — be willing to do the work.
You will discover your talents in new ways.
Having faith in yourself as a freelance professional is difficult when you are getting started. Sit with this and do the work anyway. Your confidence will catch up.

Diversifying income streams as a writer and freelance professional is crucial. Put yourself out there in new ways — you never know when one of those efforts suddenly finds you doing work that you enjoy.

And for the record — you can do this.

Christina Ward 💗 is a poet, creative writer, and freelance professional.

You may follow her poetic works at Fiddleheads & Floss Poetry.