Fiverr

I’ve got quite a lot to say about Fiverr. You might not even think to ever use this site on your way to becoming a porn web emperor, but there’s quite a bit of potential here. There’s also some grey area shady shit under the surface that they’re addressing, but they’re definitely stranger than their competitors in some ways. Let’s start at the beginning.

Fiverr is an Israeli online marketplace somewhat similar to Upwork, but with a much lighter and straightforward approach to how you go about buying and selling goods and services. Sites like Upwork, Freelancer and the like are there for you to find employees. They take a cut and the work gets done. Everyone is happy.

Humble Beginnings

Fiverr, on the other hand, started as a sort of humble marketplace for people who just wanted to get a jump start on small-scale production of everything from crocheting scarves to drawing logos. Their name and their original sales pitch were both references to their minimum allowed price for any given good or service - $5. So, Fiverr was a place where you could ideally get shit done for $5 or earn $5 by doing shit for other people. A lot has changed since day one.

They’ve grown and expanded. They’ve acquired some large corporations in the process to help them grow into a marketplace empire. It’s safe to say that things are looking up for Fiverr. Personally, I thought they were going to remain obscure, when they first came out with the whole $5 sales pitch. But, as it turns out, both sellers and buyers are desperate. Fiverr grew like wildfire.

Not Porn Friendly

This is probably the first roadblock that you have to get over or around when it comes to using Fiverr to improve your online porn empire. They do not allow adult goods or services on their site. You can’t even buy a custom dildo, for fuck’s sakes. Anything adult is banned from the site. So, does that mean that they’re a complete bust? Well, no, not really. Web design and development are more than welcome. Marketing is also very popular. You can find cold callers, customer outreach specialists, PPC experts and more.

The bottom line is, you can’t actually use the word “porn” when you’re browsing the site, or your searches will come up empty. That’s just how the site’s set up. It shouldn’t be tough getting used to. Just do what I do whenever I have to meet some girl’s parents. Think about sports. Hard. This should keep your mind focused long enough so that you don’t get a boner.

Fiverr Business

Luckily, there’s a corporate solution offered by Fiverr for people such as yourselves. When you’re just starting out, you probably won’t need it. But, once your porn empire starts to grow…? Yeah, you want to consider Fiverr business. It’s basically a sub-platform on Fiverr that lets you hire people for regular work, like on retainer. With a business membership, Fiverr basically becomes an alternative to Upwork. I’m pretty sure that they make the interaction a lot more seamless, too. Upwork don’t tend to give much of a shit these days. Don’t get me wrong, they do good work too; it’s just, Fiverr are smaller and they’re painfully aware of it. They have to bend further in order to get your business. Use these moments to your advantage.

Outsourcing All Your Troubles

If you’re one person starting off a porn web business from home and you really don’t want to register a large company and hire employees, Fiverr might just be the solution to all your problems. Whether you’re using the business service or just hiring people for one-off gigs, it’s painfully simple to get a dream team together in order to optimize every single part of your business. If you want these people long-term, use the business model. If you just want them to set things up for you, pay them for a task.

Remember, there’s no shame in asking them to make themselves redundant. It’s kind of implied. What do I mean by this? Well, let’s say that you want to hook up all of your analytics to a service like SEMRush and run regular reports in order to keep track of your performance metrics. You could hire a marketer on Fiverr and tell them what your goal is. Ask them, specifically, to make the need for a regular marketer as redundant as possible. They will likely give you a costly quote, but you’ll know that you’re getting exactly what you asked for. They’ll be glad to be getting paid and you’ll be happy you won’t have to pay for quarterly reports ever again. It’s basically the “I can’t be fucked” solution for every single problem in your life.

Taking it to the Next Level

If you thought that hiring someone on Fiverr to set up your marketing was impressive and useful, consider this: You can hire people to straight up improve your business for you. Let me repeat that clearer: You can hire people to do your job for you, then fuck right off. That’s mind-blowing. Sure, it takes some of the excitement out of being the boss, but it’s only for a short time. You could hire a temporary project lead for one week, have them analyze your operation's entire workflow, and jot down instructions on what needs to be done next.

Then, you can hire other Fiverr experts at an even lower rate to perform those tasks manually, so you don’t have to lift a finger. And, every time there’s a need for more services, you can hire someone to make them redundant. Eventually, you’ll run out of fat to trim and you’ll figure out the exact minimal number of employees that you need to stay solvent. Then, you can flip over to Fiverr business and get people on retainer. It’s an amazing system.

Some Controversy

I have to tell you about some of the hot water that Fiverr has gotten themselves into over the years. If you’re going to trust these people with your money and your business, you have a right to know. First up, they were criticized by other large corporations for going public with an anti-designer marketing campaign. Well, I say anti-designer… What I mean is, they had an ad campaign that was centered around the phrase “You’re paying too much for design”. They were trying to be cheeky. They wanted to say that their designers were cheaper and that you should give them a shot. Instead, they came off arrogant, like they were issuing a death warrant on all designers.

Naturally, the people did not like this and other corporations spoke up against this alleged injustice. Fiverr were so strong-armed by the backlash that they removed the $5 minimum rule for logo designers, graphic artists and similar creative producers. They could not increase their base price themselves.

There were also a few other controversies like a fake product review scam in 2015 as well as criticism on promoting an unhealthy corporate lifestyle. Then there’s also the fact that their entire business model puts the customer first. Meaning, if you’re paying for a good or service, you have legal right to screw the producer any way you’d like, including but not limited to getting your money back on delivered work. Don’t do that. Only scumbags do that.

They’re Still Growing

One way or another, Fiverr addressed all of these complaints and allegations and they’ve managed to stay safe, afloat and successful. Their marketplace is growing and they’ve got an uncountable number of professionals waiting on your beck and call. And, since their business model is skewed towards a heightened respect for customers over producers, at the very least, you know that you’re protected. I’ll ask you again, nicely, not to abuse this fact. Treat those professionals with respect, especially if they go out of their way to make your porn empire bigger and better.

I was amazed to see that Fiverr managed to go from being a niche marketplace with a catchy tagline to an actual competitor to gigantic sites like Upwork. Granted, Upwork isn’t losing any sleep over this; they’ve got their fair share of the pie. It’s just nice to see healthy competition rise through the ranks. Personally, I’ve used Fiverr a couple of times in the past for some smaller tasks that were not related to my business and the experience was an absolute breeze. They’re far from being the best at what they do, but they do try really hard to provide up and coming business owners with quick and accessible manpower.