Grow Faster and Make More Money with Fiverr Business

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I think a lot of times, many many people, sometimes, myself included, we can be afraid of numbers and what they look like and the thought of hiring someone, paying someone feels like such a huge respons responsibility. But when you get into the nuts and bolts of it and you really break down the amount of time that you are spending spinning your wheels, working on projects, not making much forward motion with them, separating yourself across multiple tasks. When you truly break that down and then look at the cost, be as low as 10 12$13 to hire somebody that can help take one of those projects off of your task list and move things forward, it really it's extremely beneficial.

Today's show is brought to you by Fiverr Business. With Fiverr Business, you can expand your team as needed with experienced freelancers that are already vetted for business projects. To learn more, head on over to fiverr.com business that's Fiverr F I-V-E-R this is the Launch youh Business Podcast because we know starting a business is challenging, but it doesn't have to be confusing. Each week we'll give you the tactical advice and the necessary tools to scale your business without feeling burnt out. I'm Terry Rice, business development consultant and staff writer here at Entrepreneur Magazine. Let's dive in. I'm going to tell you a quick but embarrassing story and I'm going to tell it to you because I know it will save you a lot of time and frustration. So here we go. One time I was creating a proposal for a client, which I know is pretty basic, but here's where it got complicated. The client wanted it delivered as a PDF and all the pages had to be vertical except for one. They wanted one of the pages that had a bunch of data on it to be in horizontal format. Here's the problem. I had no clue how to do that. So I spent 30 minutes trying to figure it out by myself. Another 30 trying to Google the solution, and then another 30 or so looking at YouTube videos. After 90 minutes, I still could not figure it out. To make matters worse, they were ready to sign. The money was almost in my pocket and the only thing holding me back from closing this deal was knowing how to rotate one page in a PDF. As you may have guessed, that is not my zone of genius, but it was holding me back from making money. So here's what I finally did. I went on Fiverr, typed in format PDF and found someone who could do it for me. Ten minutes and ten dollars later, I had a completed proposal for my client. And yeah, you know, I was glad to have it done, but I was frustrated at the fact that I spent close to 2 hours on something that took someone else 10 minutes and only cost me $10. I kept on thinking about all the other stuff I could have done in those two hours. I could have written a blog post or my newsletter, maybe post on social media and then engage with my followers. You know, so pretty much all the stuff you're supposed to do to make money for your business and you are uniquely suited to do. That's when I realized how important it was to stay in your zone of genius and outsource everything else. And look, you probably realize this as well, but here's where many people get stuck. You may not feel comfortable going on Fiverr and asking some unknown person for help and Look, I don't blame you. You don't know anything about them or the quality of their work. But on the flip side, if you don't start leveraging remote experts, you'll continue to spend hours on tasks that are a waste of your time, energy, and talent. Fortunately, Fiverr has solved this problem for you with their premium offering called Fiverr Business. And look, I'll get into the details later, but here's what you need to know for now. With Fiverr Business, you can expand your team as needed with experienced freelancers that are already vetted for business projects. So no more searching for the perfect person or hoping they do a good job. All that has already been taken care of for you. And if that sounds good to you, then you're going to enjoy what we have. Coming up next, I spoke with two entrepreneurs who are in the exact same position as you to learn how they leverage Fiverr Business to grow their company. Let's jump into that right now, starting with Sunny Williams, founder of Tiny Docs. Sonny, how's it going today?

It's going really well, Terry. How are you?

I'm good. With a name like Sunny, do people always expect you to be in a good mood?

That's actually how I got my name, so yeah. Yeah, it's pretty much the expectation.

All right, well, you're living up to it so far, so let's keep it going here. But do you mind sharing what you do with our audience here?

Certainly. I'm CEO and co founder of Tiny Docs. And at Tiny Docs, we're on a mission to improve kids health and make a billion people smile. We're doing that through what we call our health care tunes, which are animated cartoons that educate kids about health in a fun and easy to understand language. We cover anything from mental health issues to chronic diseases, surgical procedures, general health and wellness. And believe me, when I started, I never thought in my wildest dreams that a use case would be a global pandemic. But here we are.

It's interesting. One of the reasons why I use Fiverr is because I have four kids. And it sounds like you have a great resource for them as well, so I have to check that out. I'm glad you shared that with us for sure. So let's go a bit deeper into Fiverr and Fiverr business. At what point in your your career did you realize you needed outside help to. To keep things going?

Sure thing. So being a social impact business and having a pretty, let's say, a pretty big vision in order that we want to Execute on. I had to kind of do an audit and realize, you know, what are the skill sets and talents that I needed around me in order to execute on our vision of creating a healthier world for our children. So I don't have the most creative background. I'm pretty limited in my talents and creativity. And one person suggested, hey, look, look at Fiverr. It was so it was there that I realized that Fiverr was really a portal to all the talents and creativity and skill sets that I needed to start executing on this vision and building this a really robust business.

Your approach is brilliant because I always tell people, start with creating goals for your business. They can be OKRs, they can be your vision, they can be, you know, a 90 day plan, whatever it is, and then look and see, okay, what resources am I currently missing that I need to move forward with this plan? And I bring this up because sometimes people go on a platform like Fiverr and say, okay, cool, I'm going to get a bunch of stuff like you don't even know how to use this stuff if you didn't have a plan in the first place. So I'm glad you took that approach. And so you're on Fiverr, you're on the platform, looking around, how did you feel comfortable just moving forward with the individuals that you selected? What was that process like in the first place?

I mean, the cool thing about Fiverr is that it really unleashes and unlocks global talent and creativity. I like to say that no one country has a monopoly on talent. So what, what Fiverr really does is that it kind of unlocks and presents to you this huge menu of just incredibly talented and smart people from all over the world. So the process was getting onto the platform and then just starting a conversation. You have the opportunity to chat with people, learn a little bit about what kind of animates them and gets their motor going. You can also look at their past work. In so doing, you get a pretty good idea of who might be a good fit for whatever specific project you have. So the actual onboarding process and just getting to know the other freelancers on the platform was pretty seamless.

I'm wondering though, because you're a social impact company, right? So did you also want to look for a good, like cultural fit too? Did you ask questions about that as well? Because you know, there's a lot of social media managers on the platform, right? But they kind of have to get what you're doing for it to work. Whereas was that part of your screening as well?

Oh for sure. You know, the, there needs to be a good culture fit. We like to say that we not only have incredibly dynamic talent, but we also have some really spectacular humans who we collaborate with. So as long as you human well and you have the talent, it's kind of a two part two prong process that we do. In terms of background, we love to collaborate with folks who kind of hit that fit that archetype that we're looking for. But believe it or not, or probably believe it, Fiverr has some not only incredibly smart people, but also some incredibly kind people who really fit within and understand what we're building at Tiny Dots.

And he said you want to make sure they human. Well, is that correct?

That's correct.

I've never heard that term before, but I immediately get the meaning. So, so I, I think that's great. I dig that. So let's talk about outcomes. So through your partnership with, you know, finding someone on Fiverr Business, what, what experience?

So Tiny Knox, basically what we're doing is we're running kind of a small animation studio. So we've, we've needed help from anything from sound design, voiceover talent. She's actual animation illustration. Really every piece of the production. The, the part of production. We've, we've recruited talent from five or four and through that we've been able to get into some, get recognized as some pretty big film festivals for film episodes. We've also have recruited folks just to work on the day to day business. So we've had folks who've been able to grow our social media following to over 15,000 and growing.

You just mentioned all these amazing outcomes and experiences you had through using Fiverr business. But I know there are still people out there listening saying I'm just going to figure this out myself. What would you say to them?

I say you're missing out on a great opportunity for one and two. I think entrepreneurship is always about experimentation. I think there's always, whenever you think you figure some things out, there's probably a better way of doing it. And I think fiber is an opportunity not only like I said, there's opportunities to interact with the freelancers around the world, really vet them, get to know them, see their portfolio. And I think what you're going to find is that you're going to find some folks who can lend kind of a fresh eye to your business in a new way of doing things and can actually lend their special superpowers to help you grow your business and help you become a better leader as well. So I think what you're doing is actually missing out on a great opportunity to grow your business if you don't choose to to collaborate with folks on Fiverr. Because I think what you're going to find is that it's going to be helpful for you as an entrepreneur, but also to help you grow your business in whatever way that you need help.

Okay, so many great takeaways from Sunny, but the thing that stood out to me most was how easy it was for him to find the right talent. But he didn't just stop there. He also made sure these experts were a good cultural fit. That's why it's so important to have a conversation with any expert to make sure they understand your vision and are aligned with your cultural values. And as you heard, it clearly worked for Sunny. Tiny Docs has been featured in film festivals, has a robust social media following, and more importantly, is having a positive impact on the community it serves. Okay, we're going to take a quick break here, but when we come back, we're going to hear from another entrepreneur just like you, who's experienced an amazing transformation thanks to Fiverr Business. Hey, look, you may already know Fiverr, the freelance marketplace that connects freelancers to companies all over the world, but what you may not know is that Fiverr has a premium offering called Fiverr Business. Fiverr Business caters specifically to medium to larger sized businesses with larger teams and bigger budgets. It includes premium features like a vetted talent pool, so you're getting the best of the best freelancers. And it also has team collaboration tools so multiple people from your company are working off one dashboard. And then beyond that, team members share a common payment method and favorite freelancers are saved for quick access. You can learn more and start building your dream team by heading to fiverr.com business. That's Fiverr F I V E R R.com business. Get started today so you can stay in your zone of genius and let someone else handle the rest. And we're back. We're going to keep the conversation going with Aerie Turner, beauty entrepreneur and founder of Look Good, Live well. And she's going to share her experience hiring outside help. But what I really want you to focus on is how she set herself up for success before she even reached out to these experts. Ari, glad to have you here today.

Thank you so much for having me. A pleasure.

And I know we're going to talk about your business and also how you use fiber to run your business, but it would help if we knew what you do. So do you mind just sharing that with everyone?

Absolutely. So my company, Look Good, Live well, harnesses the power of shrooms to help individuals with stressed out skin skin hydrate and heal.

Awesome. So when you're running this business, a few questions. How long did it take you to realize you needed help from a remote team? Because on my end, I think I waited way too long. I think a lot of entrepreneurs do. So when was that moment for you?

I think that I fit right into that boat with you and the other entrepreneurs out there. The company that I built was actually a response to reaching burnout. In a past career, I worked as a makeup artist for film and television for 15 years, experience high levels of stress which impacted my body from head to toe with acne and eczema. And so that helped me kind of jumpstart my wellness journey and what ultimately helped me launch the brand. And so fast forward several years later, when I was in the thick of working on Look Good, Live well, I found myself face to face with burnout again. And I'm like, wait a minute. I left the stressed out job. I'm doing what I love. How are we here? And I realized really quickly it was because I didn't have the proper systems in place, the proper structure to run my business. And so it was at that time that I said, okay, it's not. It's not that I'm doing. It's the way that I'm approaching it. And so I knew I needed to bring in contractors or some help to help me kind of lighten the load and smooth things out.

You know what's interesting? When most people get remote assistance, it's because they want to make more money. But you're saying, yeah, but I also want to avoid burnout. And, you know, obviously you being in the health field, that's top of mind for you, but I don't think we think about that enough. As an entrepreneur, it's not just you can scale faster and get more done. It's like, hey, you can avoid burning out, so you can still be present for the people and the opportunities that matter most to you. So, so, so thanks for bringing up that perspective. But you know, I've been on Fiverr before and other platforms, and there was an initial this hesitance to go ahead and book someone that I've never met before who may not even live in my area. So I'm wondering, what was that process like for you, just finding and even onboarding an expert?

I think that it's. I had to have a come to Jesus. Meeting with myself and be honest about my working style. I'm the CEO of my company right now, but I am definitely a very forward individual and I need to be managed. And so understanding that I am, you know, I'm definitely a visionary when it comes to work. And so even from the lens of hiring a virtual assistant, I didn't just want a va. I wanted someone that could also help manage projects that we had going on. And so having those conversations was really fueled by me being honest with myself, with my needs, professionally as well as personally. How often I like to communicate. I'm a big. Can we touch base. I like to. I like to have a quick check in. And so understanding my communication style and preferences, the way that I lead and manage my strengths as well as my weaknesses, to be quite honest with you, helped me go into it. Looking at those profiles and picking someone or people that could best work well within me and my business structure.

So walk me through the process. You're on the platform and you see this person who feels like they might be a good fit. What were the next steps in regards to moving forward with them?

So prior to that, communication, like I said, is something that's really important to me. And so I understand that there's a multitude of different learning styles out there. And so I wanted to be able to set up time to speak with these individuals if they were comfortable. But I also created a brand guideline to something very small and succinct that helps outline me, my vision for the brand, some of the ways that we always spoke, things that we never said to our customers, visuals so that they can get a real. Just a good grasp of who we are and what we were doing. That was really important to me because again, I wanted whoever I brought on to really buy into the value of the company. I didn't treat these individuals like they were any different from someone that I was bringing on full time. You know, I expected them to be fully invested in the work that we were doing. And so in doing so, I wanted to make sure that I communicated who we were, our brand voice, as clearly as I possibly could, as well as the project that we needed. And so going into that, I basically set up conversations with these individuals. Like I said, if they were comfortable meeting off screen, that was very, very helpful. But communication definitely was key and paramount in making those initial hires.

You make a great point because a lot of people know they need to have a remote team, but they just know that's what they need and they reach out and try to Build a team. It's like, but, but who are you as a person, who are you as a company? And how can you present that in a succinct but detailed way to someone to say here's what I'm about, here's the help I need and can you, can you give me, give me that help? But I find that sometimes we assume that, you know, these remote workers are just also mind readers and they're going to know exactly what you want.

That part.

You're upset, but you didn't give them the guidance needed to be successful.

Absolutely. And I know that I have a somewhat anxious attachment style when it comes to communication. I need to hear from you, I need to check in. And so for me that meant that I needed to hire individuals that were at the most three hours time difference, like Max. I just, I love the work of creators, you know, further away. But when it came to particular projects that I needed to be able to check in and hear from an individual frequently, quickly. And if I needed to pick up the phone and make a call or send a quick email, I expected a response back in what I consider to be a timely manner. So managing my expectations was, was really key in the process altogether.

So I think it's great to tap into the international workforce, but if you need immediate assistance, someone's going to be there during your working hours. That's something to keep in mind as well. So I'm glad that you flagged that. But, but let's go into outcomes. So you have this amazing assistant who you vetted, who you hired and they know exactly what you need for your business. What's happened since then? I mean, what are some of the outcomes that you've received from that?

Having someone that had some project manager experience was paramount for me as well because I had a task list of what I thought that I needed to get done. But I also wanted to hire someone that was forward thinking and able to look at that list, look at what I said that I wanted to do within my company, my short term goals, my long term goals, and suggest things that was very, very important. And so luckily I've been able to get a really good VA that manages me and my business, which is incredibly important for me because we talk about multiple streams as an entrepreneur, but there's multiple verticals within your business as well. So doing interviews and other speaking engagements, that's something that's incredibly important to me. And so having someone who can help build out my speaker one sheet was just as valuable as having someone who can Help manage conversations with a manufacturer. Pressure.

So let's, let's play devil's advocate here. Pretend one of your best friends is pursuing entrepreneurship. They're currently an entrepreneur and they're overwhelmed. You know, they're undervalued and they're thinking about getting some kind of remote help, but they're saying, ah, you know what? I don't know if I have enough money to spend. I don't know what this whole process looks like. What would you say to them if they were hesitant to hire someone to help them remotely?

That is such a great question. If I was having a conversation with one of my entrepreneur friends who was hesitant about making a hire for. For some work that needed to be done, specifically hiring a remote worker, I would, number one, meet him with empathy because I too was there. So that would be the first thing. I know exactly what you're feeling. I was in those shoes and I sat in that place for too long, and it caused me, I don't want to say great loss, because that sounds very dramatic, but it definitely slowed down a lot of things within my business. And I think just getting out there, seeing what is available, and just breaking down the numbers. I think a lot of times, many, many people, sometimes, myself included, we can be afraid of numbers and what they look like. And the thought of hiring someone, paying someone, feels like such a huge responsibility. But when you get into the nuts, nuts and bolts of it, and you really break down the amount of time that you are spending spinning your wheels, working on projects, not making much forward motion with them, separating yourself across multiple tasks. When you truly break that down and then look at the cost, be as low as 10, 12, $13 to hire somebody that can help take one of those projects off of your task list and move things forward, it really, it's extremely beneficial. And so I would say, number one, I've been there before, I share my experiences. And then I would encourage them just to do the math, to break it down, because it really does make the most sense financially just to bring someone on. And it's not a super long commitment. You can do, like I said, just small project base, one month, two months, three months, which actually I always recommend just to make sure that it's a great fit for you and the individual. Just do a smaller commitment, something short, see how it works out for the best of you or for the both of you, and then figure out how you want to proceed. But take the leap. Take the leap.

Yeah, yeah, but get, but get moving. Yeah, no, I hear you there. And I think one thing we don't consider sometimes is the opportunity cost. And on my end, I'm not good at keeping track of deal flow. So someone will reach out to me on my website and say, hey, Terry, we want to hire you to do xyz. I'll go pick my kids up from school and forget about it. So if I did not have my assistant to keep an eye on these things, I would lose money. So she's not just making me money by making me more productive. She's helped me protect lost revenue by making sure I follow up on these inquiries.

Absolutely.

So I don't think I have too much of your time here, but is there anything else you want to share?

Yeah, I would say just overall my experience. Experience with Fiverr and just hiring in general, like you said, I just start. Just jump in. I think as entrepreneurs we are great at taking risk. We jump out and build a plane on the way down. We figure it out, we're gritty. And I think that lightening your load with the help of another individual collaboration really will help you go further, faster. And so, although it may seem like a very scary process, may seem daunting, just get started. Just jump start small. Figure out one task that an individual can take off of your plate that can do tremendous things for your business. It will just truly help you grow and it'll help you feel so much more fulfilled and inspired and really and truly you'll do better work.

I'm glad we got a chance to listen to Ari, because she brings up a really good point. You can hire experts to help run your business, but they can also help manage you essentially. And you know how it goes, right? The autonomy that comes with being an entrepreneur can sometimes cause you to lose focus. So having a trusted thought partner to keep you on task may be just the thing you need to make the best use of your time and achieve your business goals. Thanks for listening and I'm glad you got a chance to experience how easy it is to get time back in your day so you can focus on what matters most. So here's what I want you to do next. First, create or review your goals for the Next, let's say 90 days. Then identify the related projects that are either outside of your scope or just not a good use of your time. After that, head on over to Fiverr Business and create a brief for your project. It would only take you five minutes, but finding the right expert will save you hours of frustration and help you focus on more critical tasks. And look, I know it's tempting to just keep on plugging along and get the work done yourself, but that's not how you're going to make it to the next level. Now is the time to stop working in your business so you can work on your business and reach that next milestone. So get started today. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next time. Apply what you've learned on today's show. You'll find the show notes and more resources at Terryrice Co Podcast. Again, that's Terryrice Co Podcast and the best way to support this podcast is by subscribing, telling a friend and leaving a review. Also, you can get more tips by following me on Instagram terryrice or follow me on LinkedIn. This episode was produced by Josh Wilcox of Brooklyn Podcasting Studio and edited by Dan Lardy. Special thanks to my wife Dominique for keeping our kids relatively quiet as I recorded. Thanks again for listening. I'll see you next time.