Voice over talent runs strong in the Baarns family. LA-based Don Baarns (aka donbaarns on Fiverr) enjoyed his many years of VO experience so much that he inspired his whole family to get involved. However, the student became the teacher when Don’s son Donny introduced his father to Fiverr. Below they tell their fun, family Fiverr success story in their own words—or should we say voice (gotta work in at least one Dad joke for Father’s Day).
Father knows best—until his kids grow up!
Fathers enjoy a few years of being considered the wisest male in the family…until their kids reach that magic age when life completes the circle, and the children become the teachers.
About 15 months ago, Donny (my oldest adult son) called: “Dad, I want to take a 5-week class on selling Voice Over on Fiverr, but I have spring training to broadcast with the Oakland A’s again. Will you take it for me, and then we can work on it together after spring training ends?”
“Sure,” I said, but with some doubt in my mind. Our family had extensive VO and audio production experience, but making just $5 for anything, on Fiverr or elsewhere, didn’t sound fun (or profitable) to me. I agreed to do it, but if he wasn’t my son, I probably would have laughed at the idea.
The joy of your adult kids finding gold for you
“OK,” I said, hanging up the phone and wondering. At least it would be fun to work together on something, even if I was skeptical about it.
Then I took the first class for him.
WOW! I had no idea that there were people doing so well on Fiverr—and they didn’t even necessarily have the extensive professional background we did. Donny had 8 years of experience in sports broadcasting and voicing commercials, and I had produced over 70 audiobooks with Donny and his mom.
After Donny finished his 5 weeks of broadcasting Major League Baseball, and before the start of his regular season job (broadcasting games for the Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals baseball club), we set up a Fiverr account for him. A couple months later, his mom joined, too, leveraging her years of voicing audiobooks and her singing/acting background.
We started having a blast! After a slow start, both Mom and Donny started making significant money. The $5 thing was just the starting point. In the early months of our Fiverr careers, Donny and I used video conferencing to interact almost daily, with him voicing–and me producing–his Gigs. Using Google Drive, he posted raw audio, I downloaded and produced it, applying pro techniques to create broadcast quality audio, and posted it back for him to deliver to clients.
Over time, Donny and his mom generated so much business that I need to teach him how to produce his own audio, since I could barely keep up with their demand. The three of us were working daily, passing tips, trading strategies, and refining our Fiverr processes.
Within a year, they’d each completed over 2500 gigs. We eventually got his youngest sister started, and she’s close to Level 2 status now. Even old dad is Level 2, although I continue to be the tech/marketing/behind-the-scenes guy of the family.
Because of the flexibility of being a seller on Fiverr, Donny continues doing VO during the baseball season, as well as in the off-season, when he also broadcasts Division I college basketball and other sports. Mom has the ability to also pursue her passion of health and wellness with another home-based business, Sis continues her college education, and I train VO artists on best practices for audio production on Fiverr and other platforms.
Fiverr is now one of the central hubs of this family, and it all started with Donny asking for me to assist.
The whole family is getting involved, and it’s a joy to see them funding their own lives and
having fun with it. Simply put, Fiverr has been life-changing for us. So, this Father’s Day, I’m grateful that I listened to my son!
Do you work with any members of your family? Or friends? Share your Fiverr story with us in the comments below!
The post All in the Family: Don and Donny’s Father-Son Fiverr Success Story appeared first on .