Success Stories

Get it to Reddit: Eric's Success Story

By
Matt Jensen
|
December 20, 2016
Eric Scribblr

Some entrepreneurs use Fiverr to start from scratch, while many others use the Gig Economy to take their existing business to the next level. Self-described "blogpreneur" Eric Brantner created Scribblrs to help other writers share best practices and start the blog of their dreams. Learn how being a Fiverr buyer allowed him to achieve his greatest success to date within a span of 24 hours, and break free of his 9-5.

Tell us a little about yourself. Who you are, where you’re from, what you do on Fiverr.

My name is Eric Brantner, and I'm a blog entrepreneur from Houston, Texas. I manage a number of high-traffic, popular sites, and I regularly use Fiverr to recruit designers, writers, developers, and other talented individuals to help with various projects for my sites.

What motivates you as an entrepreneur? Why do you do what you do?

A number of things motivate me as an entrepreneur and make the long hours totally worth it: Watching your vision transform into an actual, successful business is one of the greatest feelings in the world. I love being able to control my own destiny. Regardless of whether I succeed or fail spectacularly, I'm responsible for the result. Let's be honest, money is a huge motivator. Do I plan on becoming an overnight billionaire? Of course not. But being an entrepreneur does give me the opportunity to make a much healthier income than I could in a traditional job. ALSO, the flexibility that comes with running your own business is a huge perk. I work hard, but I also have the flexibility to work from home and spend time with my wife and two-year-old daughter. I'm often able to make doctor's appointments and important events that I'd likely have to skip if I worked a 9 to 5.

How did you get your start blogging? Is Fiverr your full-time Gig, or just a side hustle?

I got my start as a blogger a decade ago when I was fresh out of college. I've always loved writing, and when I discovered that the internet made it possible for me to build a career around this passion, I pursued it relentlessly. First, I took on a full-time job as an entry level content writer at a local digital marketing agency. Meanwhile, I was taking on blogging and writing gigs on the side to build my own business, and eventually, I was able to become a full-time freelance blogger.

How have your skills grown since joining Fiverr?

These days, I use Fiverr as a buyer, typically with the purpose of collaborating with other talented individuals on content I'm working on for my blog. Often times, I'll be working alongside researchers and designers who help spark my creativity and push my content to be better than I could create on my own.

Tell us about some of your favorite projects.

Fiverr helped me execute my biggest viral piece ever for my blog Scribblrs.com. In just 24 hours, over 150,000 visitors came through my site, the article landed on the front page of Reddit, got tons of shares on Twitter and Facebook, and our story was linked from major sites like Vox. I wouldn't have been able to do any of it without the help of two immensely talented individuals on Fiverr -- princeofab and amalassoc. I had a big idea for an article on my blog, Scribblrs.com, where I offer tips for new bloggers who want to build their own successful blogs and make money blogging (I run multiple high-traffic blogs and have used Fiverr for those as well countless times). The idea I had was to take a look at the 500 most shared articles from Buzzfeed and analyze how they score for readability, headline composition, and other factors. Here's where Fiverr comes in. First off, I'm not a data miner, so I needed someone who could take these 500 urls and acquire the data points that I needed for my study. I found princeofab on Fiverr, a 5 star rated Data Mining pro. He knew exactly how to complete the job. With his quick help, I was able to get a ton of excellent data points I could use for my analysis, including the main takeaway that everyone is talking about -- the average Buzzfeed article is written at a 4th grade reading level. Now that I had the data, I needed help making sense of it all and presenting it in a clean, easy to understand way for my audience. So, I hired Amalassoc, a great designer of charts and graphs. I've used him several times in the past and have always been pleased with the quality work he provides. Amalassoc was able to take the raw data I gave him and turn them into beautiful charts and graphs for my article. Once I published the article, someone submitted it to the 'dataisbeautiful' subreddit on Reddit. This community is for the sharing of beautifully designed graphs and interesting data. Immediately, traffic started flooding the site. Next thing I knew, we had climbed to the front page of Reddit, and over 150,000 visitors had come through. Everyone was talking about the story all over social media, including some major reporters and influencers I was able to build great connections with.This has been a huge success for my website and has helped us gain mainstream exposure. I couldn't have done any of it without Fiverr.

What impact has Fiverr had on your life? Has it changed the way you think about your profession or career?

Fiverr has absolutely helped me take all of my websites to heights I never imagined. I've been able to hire some of the most talented individuals in different fields from all across the world. It has totally changed my approach to hiring, taking the guesswork out of the process by allowing me to easily see reviews of professionals and interface with them easily through the great user interface. How has the Gig Economy changed your life? Tell us in the comments below!

Matt Jensen
Growing and engaging communities for 10 years, I engage Fiverr's digital communities. Helping both sellers and buyers colaborate and share ideas with each other.
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