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Conscious Incompetence

by mounds
18 replies
Well, I've officially hit the wall. My deficits are revealing themselves at an alarming rate. Somehow, the foreign, broken-English writers on Fiverr are getting more gigs than I am. Mind you, anything above zero would beat me at this point

So... these are the trenches of IM. Competing for $0.05/word articles, applying to every writing service under the sun, desperately trying to figure out what all the acronyms on this forum mean. Watching things sell all around you and wondering why you aren't selling.

The truth is though... I quite enjoy it. I'll tell you why: in one year from now, I will be in a better position than I am today. Sure, I might work for peanuts for a while but I'll gain more than I would if I'd laid on the couch.

My current plan is cast a wide net. I'm going to pound the pavement on Fiverr and it's clones until I either get a gig or die of exhaustion. Meanwhile, I'm creating several samples, which I will use to apply to other writing gigs. Finally, I'll create some articles for Constant Content and other sites like it.

What did you go when you hit the wall?
#conscious #incompetence
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    If you can write worth a damn and want to earn .05/word - get off Fiverr!
    It's a .01/word possibility and your share is less than that.

    Get on freelance sites, create a good profile and put some sample work up for buyers to see. Get competitive in the market you want to work in.

    I think decent writers go to Fiverr thinking "my work is good so buyers will be willing to pay more once they see it". What happens is the buyer just finds another decent writer starting out and pays him $5 instead of paying you more. People go to Fiverr to find cheap workers for the most part.

    kay
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  • Profile picture of the author Vanessa Reece
    Before I answer your question I was thinking to myself - why doesn't this poster have a sig, social media icons and the like so people can connect? I'm not sure if it's strategy or not?
    Anyhow, when I hit the wall I stopped thinking about hitting the wall and starting thinking outside the box. I stripped down each thing I could do and researched the ways I could offer them or do them better. If you write - PLR is one way you could use your talent...there's many more other than fiverr and their clones.

    V
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    • Profile picture of the author Damani Tabor
      Originally Posted by ITS-V View Post

      Before I answer your question I was thinking to myself - why doesn't this poster have a sig, social media icons and the like so people can connect? I'm not sure if it's strategy or not?
      Anyhow, when I hit the wall I stopped thinking about hitting the wall and starting thinking outside the box. I stripped down each thing I could do and researched the ways I could offer them or do them better. If you write - PLR is one way you could use your talent...there's many more other than fiverr and their clones.

      V
      Its always best if you apply your talent in a way that there is a continual knock on effect even when you're not working.

      A plr site with your work is one way.

      A viral pay by tweeting ebook is another.

      So many ways to use your talent without getting utterly abused with those penny pinchers.

      Look, your industry is challenged heavily by mediocre low cost outsourcers.

      Dont beat up yourself.

      Innovate.

      - Damani
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  • Profile picture of the author matt5409
    Originally Posted by mounds View Post

    Well, I've officially hit the wall. My deficits are revealing themselves at an alarming rate. Somehow, the foreign, broken-English writers on Fiverr are getting more gigs than I am. Mind you, anything above zero would beat me at this point

    So... these are the trenches of IM. Competing for $0.05/word articles, applying to every writing service under the sun, desperately trying to figure out what all the acronyms on this forum mean. Watching things sell all around you and wondering why you aren't selling.

    The truth is though... I quite enjoy it. I'll tell you why: in one year from now, I will be in a better position than I am today. Sure, I might work for peanuts for a while but I'll gain more than I would if I'd laid on the couch.

    My current plan is cast a wide net. I'm going to pound the pavement on Fiverr and it's clones until I either get a gig or die of exhaustion. Meanwhile, I'm creating several samples, which I will use to apply to other writing gigs. Finally, I'll create some articles for Constant Content and other sites like it.

    What did you go when you hit the wall?
    Hey, what's your fiverr name? Might throw an order or two your way
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    Call me a pedant if you like OP, but since you're selling writing services...

    on Fiverr and it's clones

    ...should be...

    on Fiverr and its clones

    (it's is short for "it is")

    Hope it helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author mounds
      @Kay King - thanks for the tips!

      @ITS-V - Forgive me, I'm rather green in the realm of IM. I haven't even started thinking about the social media aspect

      @matt - Thanks! My username is Mounds.

      @Neil Morgan - good catch! I was fiddling with that few days ago, trying to remember when the apostrophe was appropriate.

      Most of my writing has been on my own blogs, forums and papers for various classes. It's not that I want to create a business out of writing though. I'm more interested in having it as a handy option for raising capital.

      My ultimate goal is a bit different. I'm experienced in hypnotherapy and have some credentials in NLP (will be at the top level in August). The plan is to offer hypnosis MP3's and other services through the site. I'm not so great with website development so I'm looking to outsource that and focus on product/content development. Since I don't really have any experience online though, I figure it's better to start by offering a few services and see how this all works.

      I know I'm jumping right into the fray here, which sometimes raises red flags for long-term members. I've done a lot of posting over at Steve Pavlina's forums, which has contributed to my lack of internet shyness.
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    • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
      Originally Posted by Neil Morgan View Post

      Call me a pedant if you like OP, but since you're selling writing services...
      My favorite was the self-described freelance writer on another thread who used the phrase "in 1 fowl swoop."

      And it wasn't about chickens, turkeys or ducks plummeting from the skies. :p

      fLufF
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      • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
        Okay, mounds, I bought your gig.

        A couple-three things that will help on Fiverr:

        1) Develop more gigs. You can have up to twenty. If you have a blog or can start one, put up a posting gig. I just bought: "write a blog post about your website, product or business and post it on xxxxxx.com for $5." I buy these all the time and so do other people.

        1a) You can also write posts for people to put on their own blogs.

        2) Look at the best-selling freelance writers on Fiverr. Most of them have written guest posts for my blog. Study how they phrase their unique selling proposition.

        "I will write an original, engaging, optimized and well-researched blog post for $5" sells better than "I will write an article about anything." Fiverr is so huge that people have to search by keyword, so keep that in mind.

        3) Promote, promote, promote.

        fLufF
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  • Profile picture of the author Murt@gh
    You see Mounds, things are already starting to come your way because of your good attitude How about you try do some writing for people here on the forum? Build a name for yourself, then you can have your own website to present your writing services to your audience at YOUR prices, you create the price, you make your value, providing the quality is there.

    I think if you can prove yourself to do high quality work and be reliable your writing work will only increase, but you could perhaps think of ways that seperate yourself from the crown, as 'V' was getting it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    @Murt@gh - There's a rat in separate.

    Not ExRat. A different one
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Okay. It might be good you're not getting $5 gigs because many writers who do never break out of cheapie writer mode. Aside from the aposthrophe thingy your writing is decent. Writers are valuable to the Internet because without us, there's nothing.

    So how do you cash that? The question of the century, right? Check your brain for something you're passionate about. Why? Because you're going to be writing about it in a few hours if you take my suggestion. Then cruise over to ClickBank and find a quality product related to your passion. Read the sales letter a few times. You might even contact the vendor and ask for a review copy of the product because as an affiliate you have BIG plans for promoting it. BTW, you're not lying if you're serious.

    Then go on over to Blogger.com and sign up for an account. Then search through Blogger, HubPages, Squidoo and other sites with Blogs about your topic. Look for the keywords and tags these Bloggers are using on pages similar to what you’re going to have. Go back to Blogger and name your Blog using a name similar to a popular keyword for the niche. If you don’t know how to set up a Blog go to YouTube, do a search and follow the instructions.

    Then write an intro post for your new Blog promising great information on the topic. Then write your first Blog post and include a single affiliate link in it.

    When you've done this you're going to feel like the KING OF THE FREAKIN' WORLD. For a while at least. Then go to other affiliate networks and find more excellent products for the niche and sign up as an affiliate again.

    By now you can call it a day. Tomorrow post another article or two to your new Blog using new affiliate links from new products.

    Because you're smart you'll be using the right keywords you found when you started this whole adventure and your Blog will get indexed faster. Before long you're going to actually be getting visitors, and then sales.

    Keep doing this while you're waiting for someone to hire you. If you're lucky and do it as I've illustrated, you won't want to write for $5 a pop because you'll be making decent money on your own writing. Once you've got one Blog up create another and another. Keep at it. When you get 50 posts, PM me and let me know how it's going. I'd love to hear about it. Best wishes.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    I just hired a writer from the Warriors for Hire section here. I wouldn't go to a fiverr kind of place to do that, because I don't want broken English articles. You might try doing up a great ad and putting some sample writings in Warriors for Hire.
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    • Profile picture of the author mounds
      Originally Posted by ExRat

      I wrote THIS.
      I found this read quite inspiring, thanks!

      @fluffy - Thanks for the tips and the gig! I definitely have to work on my copy skills.

      @travlinguy - I think I'll try what you suggested. Nothing to lose, everything to gain My forte is personal development and I'm sure I'll find some decent products in that domain.

      @Damani - I like what you're saying here. My plan was to start out dirt cheap for experience and to build a name. I think I'll ramp it up sooner than I had planned.

      @sbucciarel - Definitely in my future plans. From the looks of it, the Warriors For Hire section is an excellent deal for $20. Nice targeted market.

      A few observations about IM:

      Follow the leader syndrome = bad... if you don't understand why you're doing things.

      Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) - it seems like every success thread I read consists of a simple system being done over and over.

      Good stuff.
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    • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      I wouldn't go to a fiverr kind of place to do that, because I don't want broken English articles.
      Then you don't know what you're missing.

      A number of accomplished writers are using Fiverr as a springboard -- why pay $20 when you can get excellence for $5?

      Even old hands can learn something occasionally.

      fLufF
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
    Keep in mind where you are competing for gigs. People don't go to McDonald's to order filet mignon.
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    Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

    Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
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