Fiverr tips for beginners: Should I Declare I am a Nigerian?


As a Nigerian looking for how to start with Fiverr here are a few Fiverr tips for beginners you shouldn’t ignore especially if you will be offering an “expert service”.

This blog post was as a result of a question asked by 1000nairadaily Telegram group member.

This was her exact question, “So how does someone setup this fiverr, do you declare you are Nigerian?”

fiverr tips for beginners

J.R.R. Tolkien once said: Short cut makes long delay.

But not knowing what works in any industry or trade, is what also could make a long delay.

There are people who started Fiverr in 2016 and to date have never made a single sale on Fiverr.

But the irony is, these same people are good at what they do and are even succeeding elsewhere

either working on a paid employment or getting gigs from people they know or have physical contact with.

There is the limitation that selling online has that you need a hack to breakthrough else you stay home forever.

When you see a conventional media handle make posts like the one in this picture.

There is just one thing they want to achieve:

To be seen.

The headline may not be as honest as it reads, but they are in business and that’s what works in their competition.

So what do you advise?

As a new entrant to the internet, while trying to write that your gig description on Fiverr or your landing page, you should know you are yelling at about 3.2 billion people, according to Wikipedia.

You want a fraction of this population (and mostly those who don’t know you or have seen you), to not only see and know you but give you their money.

It is not the easiest thing to do, especially if you are not a Wizkid, who can easily sell his script to buyers on Fiverr,

or Chimamanda Adiche, who can easily sell her book or writing service for a premium to buyers who need writers on fiverr. Assuming she got bankrupt today!

So who are you that they should trust you with their money?

That is one hard part of selling online that platforms like Fiverr have softened a bit, and I mean, just a bit!

Just a bit because, when I started on Fiverr, I sold an email creation gig.

The gig read like, “I will create 10 Gmail accounts for you for $5.”

And you know creating 10 Gmail accounts, will mean using about 10 different sim cards,

as you ought to verify one Gmail account with one phone number.

That was the only way I broke into fiverr to start selling. Meanwhile Fiverr now consider such gig non-ethical, and my account was actually banned afterward.

When I created a gig on writing, I never got a sale.

Even though at the time, new sellers could use the buyer’s request, but what you see in that section of the site,

sometimes scares you and you don’t want to believe you should be spending your precious time making proposals for such requests.

Requests like,

“My client needs 10x 500 words SEO optimized articles, Grammarly passed, Copyscape passed, and good to read. My budget is $10. Only apply if you have read and agree to work please.”

If you will be honest to yourself, you know this is not the kind of job you want to start your freelancing career with.

I know some people say it’s good to start free and then build the social proof that will help you earn well.

But the irony is this, the person who posts such jobs, are most likely not the owner of the articles.

They closed the deal with the real owner, and are subletting it to you at such a pain price.

Not to think of the fact that most of these middlemen dont even have the technical knowledge of what their client want.

So imagine after writing 10x 500 articles (10000-word article) and implementing the keyword requirements, all of a sudden you got a beep,

“request for revision”.

Wouldn’t that be heartbreaking?

Now let’s get back to the question.

Keeping all things the same, by selling you should be dealing with people’s psychology in your most comfortable way as possible.

Than trying to prove a point!

Nobody wants to subject their business to prove a point. Businesses are simply set up to make a profit. At least that’s the economic view of it, and it’s the real deal. However way you want to tweak it, profit is the real deal!

And when a buyer is browsing for article writers, he is not wanting you to tell him in spite of the fact that I am a Nigerian, English is my first language.

They don’t want that explanation.

In fact, Fiverr has made it almost impossible for them to get to the point where you have to explain yourself.

Now, buyers simply toggle the US filter option and you are off the radar.

When you hear people say “I am Africa’s most sought after digital marketing and investment coach“, as Stephen Akintayo would always say.

It doesn’t mean, a recognized body gave him that title.

It means, he believes that he knows his onion throughout Africa. Or more than any African!

Now let me tell you the thing with fiverr:

  • Fiverr is not owned by a Nigerian
  • Majority of buyers on Fiverr are from the US
  • US sellers on Fiverr are the most respected.

It’s not meant for you to believe but let me prove it.

I created a fresh Fiverr account after the one on Gmail creation got banned.

Before the ban, I made a total of $70.

And as my first revenue, not only on Fiverr but online, it meant a lot to me.

More than the payment I received, the motivation of earning online became real to me than I use to imagine or pray for it to be.

That motivation made me press on.

When I got to know a group of freelancers on Facebook.

I joined the group, and not too long, I got some writing gigs.

Meanwhile, if you are in the “New PayPal method” group on Telegram, you can ask me about it and I will send you a link to the group. (I actually wrote about the group in my ebook on how to become a PayPal exchanger in Nigeria, earning 100k passively every month).

And the game changer while at the group was when I saw someone advertised his Fiverr account for sale.

After reading the features of this account, and most importantly being a US account, I reached out to him.

He gave me his offer and we closed the deal.

Account ownership transferred.

The same gig I offered with the Nigeria badge, offering it with a US badge, made me a fortune.

In my first month of using the US account, I made $170, and $700 in my second month.

That single US account was my gamechanger of selling online as a freelance writer.

But currently, I operate a Nigerian account and those on my email list, have the link to my selling Nigerian account and I can send you tips via email on how to make it work for you.

Because business on Fiverr isn’t as usual.

Before, you could operate a US account without having to verify your ID.

But today, it’s not so.

To operate a US account, you must verify the ID, and that is almost impossible as a Nigerian.

Except you have someone in the US who can risk his ID for you, and which may not be possible, because I dont think it’s sane for someone to give you their ID to use on a platform or for a service they really don’t know about.

But in case you find your way around, this will be my advice for you.

With any little money you make from your foreign account, invest the money in yourself to improve on your skill.

Then move on to make an agency for yourself.

It’s your choice to make. I only offered you my story!

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Keywords: Fiverr tips for beginners, how to start with Fiverr.

Faith Nte

Faith Nte is a Content Writer and Personal Finance Blogger

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