Last week, veteran Fiverr seller Chrishardy gave an interview to popular news network US News. Here’s part of the story…
Hardy, though, has become one of the most successful Fiverr sellers, partly because he also takes advantage of the site’s ability to “add on” products or services for more than $5. For an additional $50, he’ll record not only his voice, but the sound of entire band, for example. He says he’s earned more than $4,000 since opening his shop in September 2010. That cash has helped pay for his wife to go back to school. We asked Hardy to share some of his tips for other aspiring online earners. Excerpts:
Fixing Instruments by Day, Impersonating Homer by Night.
How did you get started?
I was listening to the Clark Howard radio show and he mentioned something about Fiverr. I was curious, so I checked it out and thought it was fascinating. I started thinking, “What can I do for $5?” It took me awhile to come up with the gigs I’ve got, but once I came up with them, I thought, “This is great!” By December of 2011, it was almost like a part-time job for me.
What do you think made people buy what you were selling?
My first one was, “I will speak your message in a cartoon voice of your choosing.” It’s a personalized thing and pretty unique, and something people can use. Literally two weeks after putting up a gig on Fiverr, the Fiverr people featured it, and I got a lot more gigs. The second most-popular one is my standard voice over. I didn’t lift a finger to promote my gigs—it helped that I was featured by Fiverr.
How much money have you made?
I just cleared the $4,000 mark and I started in September 2010. It seems like a constant stream of money is going into my PayPal account.
Given the time you spend on it, how much do you think you’re earning an hour?
Recently I’ve been getting seven or eight gigs a night, and it takes me between two and three hours, but some of those have add-ons, so it might be more than $5. With lyric writing, it takes me half an hour to bang out lyrics, and Fiverr takes $1 for every $5, so I earn about $8 an hour, and I can add music for more money. It’s probably closer to $30 an hour—not enough to quit my day job yet.
Do you have plans to expand?
If I could make a living off voiceovers, that would be cool. The way Fiverr goes, you don’t need to run your own website. Because of the add-ons, you can earn more than $5.
What’s your advice to other aspiring Fiverr sellers?
I’m a big fan of people using their talent rather than saying, “I’ll get you 800 likes on Facebook.” It needs to be useful and helps to have something tangible. If you over-deliver to customers, they’ll love you for it. I might do two or three takes of the same thing and let them choose the best one.
Chris Hardy is one of many talented voiceover artists that offer services on Fiverr. You should know that we love hearing stories like this from our users. If you’ve got an experience you’d like to share, drop us a line in the comments below or email feedback@fiverr.com.
Source: US News
Very useful tips! :) Was nice reading this, Thanks.
Chris provided a couple of good tips. However, it sounds like he’s not a fan of gigs that deliver “likes” on Facebook. The way I see it, those gigs are useful, otherwise they wouldn’t be snapped up so eagerly by buyers. Talent is not just ability in the visual and dramatic arts, which gets most of the attention on Fiverr. I think the providers of Facebook “likes” are talented in their own right. It comes down to one’s perspective, I suppose. :)
Sorry! That was for the wrong day! But, you know me and you know that birthday cake could also apply to today’s quoeitsn! But I think my real answer is the trip to the beah Dan gave me where he proposed! YUM!!
best seller on fiverr
I LOVE Chris Hardy! Found him on Fiverr months ago and starred/saved for later because I knew that I would be needing his services and often! Ironically, I searched my starred gigs frantically because I couldn’t find him! So, when I signed in today and saw the link that a Fiverr seller was in the news, I smiled. I KNEW that it was going to be about Chris Hardy!! :)
some awesome voice overs by this guy, gonna use him for a new project i have planned :)
Sounds interesting!
Chris is such a major talent at Fiverr. Yes, definitely one of the best sellers Fiverr has. So totally impressed with his feature here and on US News! Well done Chris! Congrats!! :)
CONGRATULATIONS! … Thank You, Chris Hardy For The Useful TIP ADVICE! :) — Lenora LOVE
Catch this . . . my cell ringtone is my name – in 4 part harmony! People can’t figure out how I got a ringtone that sings “Sunshower”!
Chris is the absolute BEST!
Great success story! Sounds like the man did it right.
I work with professional voice over artists all of the time for my video creations. I must say that you have the most impressive impressions that I have ever heard. I really enjoyed the Simpsons impressions.
that’s really cool, fiverr is changing the future
I love Chris’s Stuff, he is more than just good at it. He should be a professional in a HW studio somewhere.
Best Regards,
-Legend (“Team Fiverr”) Staff
http://www.Fiverr.com/LegendJDT
[Legend is The Fiverr Gig Master]
Congrats Chris Hardy. I wish I could be interviewed once as a Moondancer and an Internet Marketer. For me, Fiverr is my first and good place to start Internet Marketing Career. I am now Fiverr Seller Level 2.
My Fiverr gig is very unique and popular: Dance like Michael Jackson to promote your product
http://fiverr.com/tumichael/dance-like-michael-jackson-to-your-music
Please check it out! I’m sure it will catch ur interest
Best regards,
Tu Michael
awesome man!!! Rock on!!!
my partner :)
Very useful tips thank you
This is a great way to promote your business and can only help.
Chris Hardy is the best and I have ordered a lot of gigs form him because he delivers such great talent and I have never had to have him redo anything. Highly recommended and we use his voice overs for our promos, interviews with cartoon charachters and now have plans to use him for our animated series online.
I have used the resources of fiverr many times and ALWAYS had great results. Mainly ordered video gigs but have used the other categories as well. congrats Chris you are an inspiration to the success of fiverr.
A friend of mine recommended Chris for a Voice over. After this post I have decided I will go with Chris.
I think that Chris is amazing! This is the best birthday present anyone can ask! If you have a brother or sister that’s a fan of these shows you can surprise her and actually tell her the cast did it! It’s too believable!
Yes, always do it with your passion to get featured!
I do voice overs too. (As well as artwork)
I don’t have very many gigs yet and I’m just starting, but maybe I’ll get up there with Chris one of these days. I like voice acting anyways!
Fiverr can be a live stream of money if do it in the right way. Real motivating story for the sellers.
One of the most original persons on FIVErr. :) As i was always saying… stay hungry, stay foolish… be Patient!
Very cool to see a fellow Voice Over artist making good use of Fiverr. You can do amazing things here and the best part is customer acquisition is next to $0! Hard to beat.
So far I’ve cleared $2980 USD since January 2011 on simple VO’s with none of the things Chris brings to the table. So love to see the creativity and fun while doing something he really loves!
Kind regards,
Dave Jackson
Naples, Florida
Very inspiring, Fiverr is best place for geeting your work done in a reasonable amount.
Good job Chris! Always happy to hear a fellow voice talent getting some press!
You can find my Fiverr voiceover gig here http://bit.ly/rwgFlx
Keep on rockin Fiverr!
Chris is amazing ! Everything he does is pure magic.
This is truly an inspiring story of the best way to make tangible money on Fiverr – use your talent!
Friend you are a star and indeed Fiverr has offer a great shining platform.
Check my Gigs and advise!