Charles, aka silberma1976 on Fiverr, struggled with writing in high school. After learning to express himself through poetry, his writing improved so much that he was able to get his poetry published. Now, Charles shares his talents on Fiverr creating content for the web, writing health and fitness articles, blog titles and of course, poetry. Here’s Charles’ story:
My name is Charles and I am from Laurel, MD. I grew up in MD and now work as a physical education teacher just outside of Washington, D.C. I’ve been teaching for 15 years now. I’m a guy who likes spending time with family and friends, enjoying a good laugh, and taking in a good movie. I lived overseas in Greece for two years as a child and that instilled in me a love for culture, travel, and good cuisine. I love to explore all three. I am curious by nature, and I never stop trying to learn and grow, especially as an educator. I enjoy using my summers to work on personal projects, travel, and relax.I have done many Gigs on Fiverr. I first started off doing virtual assistant work and writing poetry. Separately from Fiverr, I was also running online surveys. Currently though, my Gigs are centered on writing. I create SEO web content, health and fitness articles (since that is my job), social media images, poetry (my first love), press releases, and blog titles, and I also convert PDF forms to fillable forms or create fillable forms from scratch.
I got into writing because I enjoy it as a source of pride. When I was in high school, I had four English teachers my senior year. In my first college English course, they thought I had dyslexia because my writing was so bad. I had to take remedial writing courses, and I even worked with a specialist to learn how to write better. My writing skills have improved tremendously since then, and I actually got into writing for publication through poetry first. I had a couple of poems published in local community newspapers at one point. I love writing poetry because it is a form of self-expression for me. Therefore, I never sought to monetize it. When I started my teaching career, after getting a Master’s in Secondary Education as well as a teacher certification, I got more serious about writing by accident.What led me to Fiverr was a literal accident in August of 2014. My car was totaled and I was out of work for four months with six broken ribs, a punctured lung, and an injured spleen. It was not fun. When I started to feel better, I began looking for a car. I had no current car payments, so I knew that was going to be a new expense. I was still doing surveys online, but I needed to make more money in order to help with car payments and medical copays.Around this time I came across an article on Lifehacker that mentioned Fiverr. I checked it out and signed up for the newsletter. In the first newsletter I received it mentioned a Top Rated Seller who was making $100,000 a year. In his post he mentioned Fiverr user Erapport.I contacted him and explained that I wanted to offer writing services for articles and poetry, something I had already been doing with success for free. He has since been instrumental in my journey on Fiverr, and I consider him to be my Fiverr mentor. He suggested the SEO writing, helped me create my Gigs, and gave me advice on getting sales and dealing with specific issues. In the beginning, he even threw me a sale or two just to get me started. That was in January of 2015. By March, I was making $1,000 a month in sales. I began adding new Gigs, deleting some, and tweaking others. The rest, as they say, is history.
My skills have grown by leaps and bounds. I have learned to do things I never would have imagined myself knowing how to do. I learned about SEO writing, niche sites, design, how to write about different topics and genres, and so many other new skills.Out of these skills have come some pretty great things, which I will discuss at length later.
I have many. My first favorite project was for a person who wanted to start a poetry site that I helped write poetry for. I cannot count how many I have written, but I enjoy it so much.My next favorite was for an app company that needed 50 reviews of educational apps. I used each app and wrote a detailed review for it. They put those 50 reviews in their app so that the reviews I wrote showed up on educational apps with my name on the byline. It was an exciting moment.I have met so many interesting people and worked on so many projects, it’s amazing.My first long-term client, who still remains faithful, is a criminal lawyer. I have done pages upon pages of content for him. Many were on topics I knew nothing about like forensic science and ballistics, which forced me to grow. What was interesting was that the first set of articles had to do with car accidents, so I was able to write from a very personal level.
Start small. Start with one Gig you are passionate about because buyers can smell a fake from a mile away. Find someone who is successful in what you want to do and ask for advice and mentorship. You should also be honest and build relationships with your clients. Treat Fiverr like a business and not a hobby. Know your limits and be patient. I see so many new sellers that want a sale on day one. It took me three months to even get my first sale. I would also recommend using the forum because it is a great tool. If you want a get-rich-quick scheme, Fiverr is the wrong place. Fiverr is a marketplace for buyers to find the right seller, so you must position yourself in a unique manner that makes your talents stand out. Once you have some work to show, build a portfolio website. Also, keep your Gigs consistent with a theme of what you enjoy doing. Don’t chase the golden Gig or go to the most popular area because that will make you the most money—it won't. Find a skill, any skill you think is marketable and unique, and get started. Do not overthink it. Just get going, tweak some stuff, and learn from there. You will make mistakes, and that is okay. As long as you learn and grow from them, it is worth it.
It has had a huge impact on my life. It has given me the confidence to do things I never would have imagined myself doing. The positive feedback received for my intellectual acumen and creativity is invaluable. I have been able to use what I have learned and earned on Fiverr to chase new projects that have furthered my career. I’ve developed an e-course for the top physical education company (PE Central), I’m a contributing blogger for a top physical education supply company, and I’m working on a blog to help newly hired PE teachers. These are just three projects Fiverr has helped me have the confidence to do, and using my body of work on Fiverr has given me the credibility to be tasked with any job. It all goes hand in hand. This site has allowed me to take something I take so much pride in and use it for the greater good. Fiverr is an avenue I use to not only service other people’s causes through writing, it is something I also use to grow personally and professionally. Through my growth on Fiverr, I have had the opportunity to learn many new skills that I now use to serve as an advocate for my profession. From developing websites such as howtoteachachildtoread.org and newpeteacher.com, to writing for PE blogs and developing an e-course on integrating literacy into physical education, I am able to help ensure our children get the kind of education they need. It is through the confidence Fiverr has given me in my skills, the new skills I learned along the way, and the greater Fiverr community that has aided me in my professional and personal goals that I am able to continually help make the world a better place, one opportunity at a time.If you’d like to share your story about how Fiverr has impacted your life, please send it to us by email at community@Fiverr.com.
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