In the past three months, I started writing on Fiverr. I did so because I wanted a more dependable and consistent income as a writer. Fiverr is a freelancing platform where you offer your skills and services for gigs, and customers hire you for contracting work. You can do this in a variety of sectors, like editing, graphic design, and freelance writing.
As a full-time special education teacher, I did start freelance writing on Fiverr since it’s what I’ve been doing some kind of writing for the last three years. As a freelancer, I’ve made good money to supplement my writing income.
The first month I wrote on Fiverr, I made $260. Since then, I have made another $250, all while building a long-term relationship with only one client.
I have written a grand total of about 30,000 words while doing so for a topic I had absolutely no interest or experience in while tying in SEO principles to make the site rank highly on Google. I was writing for someone whose first language isn’t English, and I got the sense I was doing this sort of ghostwriting for the client because they just needed someone who could write well.
For each 1500 word article I wrote, I would make $50. That’s still the rate I’m making, although I’ve definitely pushed back a bit because I believe my work to be more valuable than that.
What sucks the most about my Fiverr experience
What I’ve realized about writing on Fiverr, and especially in the technical field and space I’m writing in (something real estate-related) is how completely boring my Fiverr gig has been. I’m sure my client does not care how much fun I have writing as long as my output is good, consistent, and high quality.
But I’ve never felt this completely drained and devoid of passion in my writing. It’s very hard to describe how soul-sucking it is to pump out 20,000 words when you’re not into it at all. My mind goes numb. My fingers lost feeling. I’d never absolutely just hated writing that much in my life before. There’s really nothing fun about my freelance gig writing.
Recently,
responded to one of my pieces about how I’m trying to stop buying into the “your job should be your passion” mentality. The article was about how no one asks accountants if they’re passionate about their jobs, but other jobs that are very service-oriented and underpaid, like teaching, rely on very passionate individuals to persevere through a lack of support and compensation.Dan said I had a pendulum swing from one extreme to another, from being very passionate about my job to not being passionate about my job and doing it for the money. To be clear, I’m still very passionate about my job, but it’s just a very different kind of passion than when I first started.
I love to teach content. I love seeing students make dramatic and significant gains in reading and writing. I love connecting with students and talking to them about their lives and vulnerable experiences as teenagers.
What I don’t like and what completely drains me is managing behaviors. I don’t like being disrespected and have to have an endless amount of patience to withstand behaviors. I don’t like unrealistic demands from people who have been out of the classroom for a very long time.
Of course, getting paid is important too. Passion and loving your job are important, but being adequately compensated and not being treated poorly are also incredibly important.
Regardless, Dan’s comment gave me food for thought: you need a baseline level of passion to sustain your work. There has to be an equal, middle ground of passion to keep you going because if the work is soul-draining, and all that motivates you is money, you can only go on for so long being so miserable. On an average workday, I would say my experience is still mostly positive, but it’s just easy to focus on the negativity.
For me, the soul-draining Fiverr gig reminds me of why I write. Writing is a passion project as much as it has evolved in a side hustle. I don’t even know if you can attach the term “passive income” to my Fiverr gig because it’s anything but passive.
When I write for fun, I choose the topic. I don’t have deadlines. I have a very unstructured routine, and I write when I’m compelled to write. I enjoy what I write.
With Fiverr, it’s very different. I have deadlines I need to meet. I have designated word counts I need to pump out on a daily to weekly basis. I don’t really enjoy what I write.
Takeaways
Writing for money is cool and all. There’s nothing wrong if that’s your approach and money is what motivates you. Freelancing as a gig is, to me, the definition of writing for money overwriting for passion.
However, money can’t also be what motivates you completely with a skill you have on the side, like writing. I need to have some fun when what I do is draining the life out of me, and someone else might have a completely different experience writing on Fiverr.
I’m making steady, consistent money as a freelancer, and I expect I’ll make more as I get more work, get more clients, and grow more comfortable in the space and field I’m writing in. I also expect it’ll get more fun once I’m more skilled and knowledgeable in the area. It feels like I’m getting an education in real estate without going to school.
However, there needs to be a mix and balance between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. While I’m not intrinsically motivated to write about real estate, I am intrinsically motivated to write about history, true crime, my experience teaching, my experiences as a runner, and more. The truth is if I want to keep succeeding on Fiverr, I need both types of motivation to keep my hobby as a writer sustainable.
Finding that balance as a writer is key, whether you do it just for fun or whether it’s your full-time job.