Sarah Created Her Dream Job in Music - Here's How

Sarah, Shiftypop on Fiverr, is a high-spirited, high-energy and talented musician and songwriter living in the U.K. In addition to her Fiverr Gigs®, she works as a full-time freelancer. On Fiverr, she will compose toytastic songs and more. Here she is to share her story.

My Fiverr journey

I first found out about Fiverr in 2010.

I was playing for the Poker Society at Newport University, and a friend told me to get on Fiverr while everyone was chanting lyrics to one of my songs.I was writing catchy music all the time, but I hadn't found my Toytastic sound yet, and back then, Fiverr had only $5 Gigs, no extras. I lasted only a week because I was too busy with university and my social life. Also my confidence in my work was low, so I didn’t know how much my time was worth. Around September of 2012, after I finished my degree in Creative Sound and Music, I no longer had a music course to put my heart into, and my band Toypop fizzled out because of the long distance between band members after we all moved home. I got a part-time job at a cinema, but it was only paying my rent. It wasn’t getting me out of my bank debts and it wasn't enough for luxuries or to save up and move into my own rented house.Then another friend reminded me about Fiverr, and it was perfect timing. With Toypop, I had experimented with using toy instruments. From that, I developed Shiftypop, and I started a Gig offering 30 second Toytastic instrumentals.

Getting started

I promote my Gigs via Facebook, but I get a lot of buyers from word of mouth from other buyers! When you get that first handful of buyers, it’s a bit like the snowball effect, and people see your ratings and it attracts more and more buyers! At first, I’d put in 150% for very little money, but I gained return buyers and the confidence to increase my prices when my levels increased.

My career today

Now, 80% of my income comes from Fiverr, and between my other freelance work and Fiverr, I earn as much as I would with a full-time job. I use my Fiverr income for musical equipment, my new iMac, bills, luxuries, pet food, eating out, holidays… all the serious stuff and the fun stuff too!Fiverr allowed me to start saving, move into my own home, and it has proven to me that a full-time music career is possible if you want it to happen. It’s hard work at the beginning, but the hard work really pays off. In one of our final group meeting in University, we had to say what we wanted to do as a career. I said I wanted to write jingles.Fiverr helped me create my dream job and go full-time as a freelance musician, which I never thought I'd be capable of. I now write music every single day for my Fiverr buyers, and I’ve gained so much experience. I also believe my work on Fiverr helped me obtain freelance jobs writing toy commercial jingles, which I now get to see on TV! Listen to this parody of Dolly Parton's "Nine to Five" that Sarah wrote called, “Workin' When I Like”