She’s a freelancer. She’s a business owner. She’s an Ironman, wife, and dog owner. And on Fiverr, she’s a campaign crowdfunding expert. So, how did Kendell Rizzo, jack of all trades, get to be a Fiverr super seller? Here’s Kendell’s Fiverr story.
Tell us a little about yourself. Who you are, where you’re from, what you do on Fiverr.
My name is Kendell Rizzo or ‘KendellR’ to my Fiverr clients. I am a freelancer and business owner. Wife. Dog Mom. And Ironman.
I am from a suburb outside Chicago and currently live in Naples, Florida.
On Fiverr I write and plan crowdfunding campaigns for entrepreneurs, inventors, authors, and filmmakers who want to launch on Kickstarter or Indiegogo (or any platform they choose).
More about my start on Fiverr here: https://medium.com/@kendellrizzo/how-i-made-100k-freelancing-part-time-selling-5-services-6d84825a5672#.122eo7rqp
What motivates you as an entrepreneur? Why do you do what you do?
My clients motivate me, they are the driving force behind the career, so I follow their needs. When a client orders from me, I feel a huge responsibility to them. Any entrepreneur knows, our businesses are like our babies so when someone hires me to write about their business for funding efforts, it is a huge honor and I want to create something my client can be proud of. I want them to say; “Wow, this was better than I ever imagined.”
Trying to achieve that “wow” effect pushes me to find new and better solutions for my clients. I never want them to just get a press release or a crowdfunding campaign. I believe all copy should come with instructions because if the client doesn’t know how to execute your content, it sits in a file in their computer. That’s why I like to give out workbooks, instructions, and templates along with my orders so that clients don’t just receive the order but they get a package that leads to their desired results. My goal isn’t just to write appealing copy that sells; that’s only the first half. My goal is to show clients how to launch a successfully funded crowdfunding campaign.
Some of my peers say I give away too much to my clients, but I couldn’t disagree more. I believe that my copy or strategy is only successful if it is put into action so I will do anything to help bridge the gap for my clients. I want my clients to have the content that sells and a roadmap to execute it properly.
Creating and delivering more value is the best part about Fiverr and the Gig Economy. I never need to worry about collecting payment, hunting down documents, finding emails etc. I can focus all my energy on providing more value to my clients. I can dig deeper into what my clients need and how I can best serve them.
How did you get your start blogging? Is Fiverr your full-time Gig, or just a side hustle?
I recently started blogging primarily to help my clients. I noticed I was giving the same crowdfunding advice over and over so now I have one spot where clients can find the resources they need for a successful launch. I recommend crowdfunding to anyone who wants to launch a new business or project. Many people start exploring crowdfunding for the financial gains but then realize it’s so much more. It gives people visibility, accelerated growth, market validation, and customer loyalty in a short amount of time.
Fiverr is my part-time job in a sense that I only put in about 10-15 hours a week… but to be honest it feels more like my “day job” because of the consistency. I love that I can wake up every morning, help people, make money, grow my skills (all through Fiverr) and then I can try other things in the afternoon that are possibly riskier or less profitable or even non-work related hobbies because I know I have Fiverr working hard to help me find clients, promote my services and keeping everything organized. (Prior to Fiverr these daily tasks took up a lot of my time)
How have your skills grown since joining Fiverr?
Three skills have grown dramatically since working with Fiverr.
Skill #1 My ability to bring new products or services to market: as an entrepreneur, I am always thinking: “would my clients like this? Would they like that? Would this help them? Would they buy this?” ETC.
But before Fiverr, I never found a streamlined way to try a new idea. Now with Fiverr, I create a new Gig, give it a few days and see if people are interested, some of my most popular Gigs started this way. Then I don’t waste time or money creating a product or service that people don’t need. This has probably saved me months if not years.
In today’s “blink-and-you-miss-it” society, our success directly correlates to our ability to validate an idea for the least amount of money in the shortest amount of time and Fiverr is a great platform to do that.
Skill #2 Customer Service: You don’t have to go far to see customer service is diminishing in some industries. And when I was freelancing on my own, I was frustrated with myself because I couldn’t keep up with emails, deadlines and I overall customer service just wasn’t where I wanted it to be. But since joining Fiverr, since they absolve a lot of the admin tasks, I could be the responsive, diligent entrepreneur I knew I could be. And now I have tons of tools, canned responses and material so I am always ready to help a new client.
Skill #3 Becoming Results Focused: Every freelancer has been there; you are hired to provide an outcome but the tasks being delegated by the employer aren’t realistic for the set goal. This was a huge frustration for me both in my consulting job and in freelance. But when I create a Gig, I can ensure that I create a package that will set my client up for success.
Now I focus in on activities that provide results. This is incredibly rewarding and fuels me to try and get more for my clients: better results, easier processes, and a more robust package of services.
The best feeling ever is seeing a client’s crowdfunding campaign launch and immediately get funding, while they put in the hard work and deserve all the credit, it is nice to know I help put them on the right path.
Ok sorry there is more… I learned four skills …
Skill #4 Listening to My Clients: Listening to clients means 1. You must have them and 2. You need an easy way to communicate with them or survey them.
Thanks to Fiverr’s messaging system, canned response templates, and sorting system. I sent individual messages to 100s of clients in no time and I could easily sort and go through the answers as they came in.
This would be a week-long project using email, tracking down old clients, figuring out what they ordered etc.
With Fiverr, it was easy.
The most common questions I ask are:
*What are your biggest fears for your crowdfunding campaign? And not just the little stuff, but what keeps you up at night.
*What is your dream scenario for your crowdfunding campaign? If you could create the best situation from scratch.
*And finally, where did you hear about crowdfunding?
And that was it, those three questions gave me so much insight into what my clients wanted, needed and how I could help them reach their goals.
What impact has Fiverr had on your life? Has it changed the way you think about your profession or career?
It changed the way I do business forever. I am now more client and process centered than ever before. I realized that process is 90% of success. For example, if all these clients would have come to me organically or through different sites, I couldn’t manage them all. But with this proven Fiverr system and completely organized platform, I could see the big picture of my workload and customers, and I never felt overwhelmed.
How has it changed my life? The easier question would be how hasn’t it changed my life? That would be a shorter list.
Before I got on Fiverr, I never even had a passport.
What does a passport have to do with Fiverr? Well…
Before Fiverr I freelanced, I always worked at least two jobs, but I never had the two most important things you need to travel: time and money. So, when I could utilize Fiverr to do three things: market my skills, organize my jobs, and make more money (consistently) my life changed almost immediately.
I traveled more in two years than I had in the previous 27, I got married, bought a house, I traveled to ten new countries, and I even completed my first ever full ironman and two half Ironman races. It has showed that while earning money is obviously important, so is having your time back.
And don’t get me wrong, I worked every day since I opened my Fiverr account, never took a Fiverr “vacation” but some days less than others, and every time I logged in I knew what had to be done and I would get right to work.
And for the first time since college, I also invested in myself. My favorite course was Zero to Launch by Ramit Sethi. He inspired me to create better products for my clients and listen to what they ask for. I used a lot of what I learned in his course and applied it to my Fiverr page which resulted in a huge spike in sales.
The extra time in my day has been more valuable than the extra money and that is saying a lot because in the past 18 months I have surpassed $125,000 in sales. But the experiences I have gained, can’t be beat.
Overall Fiverr has shown me that with the right process and a client driven mindset, I can achieve anything I want. I know it sounds cliché but it is more true now than ever before. The more barriers I break the less fear I have as I approach my next hurdle in business and in life.
Why do you do what you do? Tell us in the comments below!
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