Jaime, known on Fiverr as Wantedhero, is a freelance fiction writer and professional illustrator. He’s also a husband and father of 12 children, and cares for an aging father-in-law. Following a devastating traffic accident and a dark period in his life, he’s reigniting his career and going strong. Here’s his story.
I’m a freelance fiction writer and professional illustrator with hands that were badly damaged in a car accident 25 years ago. Since 2005, my life has revolved around entertaining youth through fantasy books and games on WantedHero.com. But four years ago, I ended up homeless. To improve our situation, my teenagers and I worked at odd jobs, then got jobs at local factories and pooled our resources.
Then, three years ago, someone took a chance on us and rented us a home, and slowly our circumstances improved. We all got raises, paid the rent on time, made our own bread and cheese, and traded for other things we needed.
Jaime’s Fiverr Journey
A few months ago, when I wanted to expand my business, I found that creating marketing materials was beyond my skillset. In searching for an answer, I remembered an article about Fiverr that described a fantastic hub of talent where services started at $5. The article mentioned that any business not using Fiverr was throwing money away. Intrigued, I went to the site, and it was love at first site.
One of my passions is fictional podcasts for kids, and it was important for me to be able to use voices not my own, so I purchased some voice acting Gigs® that very day. The next category that grabbed my attention was video intros and outros, and for less than $20, I added professional touches to my world-building videos on YouTube. One of the Gigs I swear by is Bookaholic’s formatting for Smashwords.
When my health started failing, I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to contribute financially to the needs of our huge household, so I thought about Fiverr as a seller. I never thought it would take off, but about four months ago, after a lot of thought and some suggestions, I launched my first Gig. I made my first $5 sale in less than an hour and my second an hour after that. For some reason, people kept finding me, and all I had to do was do what I love: draw.
After just a few months, my average Gig is now around $49, but I regularly get $150 and even $1,000 Gigs.
The other day, I went to bed after a long day of drawing – 20 hours at my art table. It was satisfying. There were only three jobs left to do. When I woke up the next morning, there was $2000 in jobs waiting for me!
The Fiverr Community
The great thing about Fiverr is that when you’re a creative person like me and you have a business, you can spend a few hours on Fiverr and come up with brilliant ideas because of the talent you discover. For example, I make it a habit to check out the profile of sellers I communicate with in the Fiverr community. One of those sellers creates amazing vintage signs, so I’m going to find some ways to use them as buttons on the new website I’m building.
It may sound corny, but my experience with the Fiverr community has been blissful. Nearly everyone I interact with is amazing, helpful, kind and generous. I’ve made some friends here and we do business on a regular basis. I also have many repeat customers, some of whom have also become friends.
The community forum is also a good place to ask questions and hopefully get some support when you’re struggling…as well as to give back when things are going well.
I want to encourage people to stop comparing themselves to other Gigs. It doesn’t work that way! What I would call the “magic of Fiverr” is that it brings so many people together that no one Gig will attract everyone. Do your best, be your best, and the best, I believe, will find you.
The Impact of Fiverr
Fiverr allows me to be…me! I know it sounds simple, but I love to create, and Fiverr has allowed me to feed my family through my passion for the first time in almost three years. That’s huge! I’m not afraid anymore. Even if I’m sick and can’t work at a factory, I can wrap my blanket around my shoulders, sip some herbal tea and draw. It chokes me up. How awesome is that, to be able to work from home, no matter how you feel, and still make a living? And I love how my little kids like coming in to see what Dad has drawn today!
My goals right now are simple. I’d like to make about $5,000 a month with my art Gigs. The good news is, I have 12 children and most of them are artists, and the older ones are professionals like me. I’ve been thinking about working as a family to offer more Gigs and expand what I can offer people.
My long term plan is to create a system where I can produce a line of wonderful art Gigs to help indie authors and businesses get high-quality, hand-drawn artwork for a decent price…and then use my favorite Fiverr connections as a buyer to expand my WantedHero business into an international phenomenon. Will it happen? I believe it will…and it will be a fun challenge to see if I can!
Be sure to read Jaime’s post on the Fiverr forum detailing his experiences and offering advice to new sellers on achieving success.
The post From $5 to $50 Gigs – This is Jaime’s Story appeared first on Official Fiverr Blog.