Adulting and Basic Business Skill: Hiring, and managing contractors is key.

This article will give you the 10 steps you need to safely and cheaply start your journey to outsourcing mastery!

Practicing in a real world low stakes environment is the best way to build our comfort and to succeed and fail in a safe space for any skill. Hiring and managing is a core skillset to learn because of the leverage you can get by outsourcing/delegating work that is time consuming or that isn't in your wheelhouse.

Fiverr is the perfect place to do so and also the perfect place to quickly outsource many common tasks in our work and personal lives.

As with so many things, the solution to most problems is not how, but who.

What is Fiverr

Fiverr is a marketplace for generally low to mid priced digital gig work. With many international contractors (who speak excellent English) offering to complete your gig quickly and at a low price.

Fiverr and other marketplaces have made "Outsourcing" available and doable for everyone.

But there are so many contractors out there, and if you have never hired one before, it can be daunting. 

We know that repetition builds comfort and expertise, so the best way to get started is with the following guide.

Its hard to know where to start, so we built this guide.

Steps and Tips for your hiring and managing your first Fiverr Gig

1. Pick a simple initial project

Select a graphic design or simple technical issue you wish would magically be solved.

Example: Design a birthday card for my nephew's party.

Advanced Tip: If you have a Larger Project that you think Fiverr would be perfect for, but do not want to commit your entire budget to an untested hire, pick a small completable piece of your project for this exercise.

2. Search Fiverr.com

Fiverr listings are generally gig specific, so feel free to search for exactly what you want.

If you don't have enough luck, try widening your search by going a bit more general

ex.) switching "avengers themed birthday card" to "birthday card".

 

3. Create a saved short list of your top contenders

Use the "Heart" Save to list feature, to create your short list of contractors you may want to reach out to. 

You can create multiple lists. Extremely helpful for when you come back a month later to save you time by not having to search through again.

4. Write up a detailed description of work inquiry

Write this up in a separate document. Why?

• You will be copying and submitting this to multiple people.
• You will be able to edit and reuse it later

Tips for a good description of work:

• Start with a friendly intro.
• Explain your What and Why 
• Use as much detail and asset bank as possible.
• Describe exactly what you would like to receive as a final result.
• If you have any files that they will need to use or reference, add them to a digital storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive and add a link to that file or folder in your description.
• Make sure you have enabled the share feature "viewable by anyone with this link".
• If you have any time or budget constraints, be clear about them
• End by asking a few questions in an organized way that they could respond to.

1. Are you interested in working on this project?
2. Do you have relevant past experience with it?
3. Is there any information missing here that you would need from me to be able to complete this project?

5. Send your description of work to your shortlist

Click into a gig and use the "Contact Seller" button to send them a message. 

Copy in your drafted inquiry and send it out.

Continue the conversation:

Wait a day for your outreach to come back with responses.

Remember, many of these sellers are international so have 24 hours patience to account for time zone differences.

Identify your top 3 providers

Who can do the work? Who communicates the best, or seems to get you? Who is professional and organized? Who does your gut like (never underestimate gut instinct)?

6. Hire at least 3 gigs at the same time!

So you are ready to order your first gig, you think:

"Sweet! I can get this done for $10!"

....BUT, I would suggest instead you hire 3 at a time.

This is probably the most important tip here.

Why? 

Even if a contractor has great reviews and all the past success and experience, the two key elements that lead to success with your project are:

What about the cost?

By spending $30 instead of $10, you get to triple your hiring experience and vet 3 contractors all at once - getting you closer to expert status, and helping you find providers who you want to work with in the future.

Advanced Tip: This advice is applicable whether your project is a birthday card or a full voice-over your commercial video. Always hire more than one Fiverr gig at a time until you have worked with a contractor already. This will save you a lot of time and thus money.

Hire 3 gigs who all provide the same service (do not buy the upgrades for final product yet like source files, publishing rights etc).

7. Push them all with revisions simultaneously.

Use the results from one to clarify what you are looking for.

The process of working through these iterations will help clarify what you want from this project.

By the end of the revisions,

• At least one of the gigs will produce what you were looking for or pretty darn close to it. 
• You will learn who communicates well and understands you best.

8. Thank everyone for their work. They all tried hard for you.

9. Purchase the bonuses as needed from the service that gave you the desired results.

Buy the source files, any additional rights or extras from the gig that provided the best work for you.

10. Keep going back to that contractor for future work. You now have a sharpened tool in your tool belt.

Give it a shot today!

Bonus tip for full mastery:

Throughout your day, practice asking yourself

is there is anything I am are working on that I would save time or money by hiring it out to Fiverr or a similar service?

Getting into this habit and experimenting with more hires, will lead you to become an outsourcing expert.

Congrats!

 

Affiliate note: this article has affiliate links to Fiverr.com a site we have used countless times. If you visit Fiverr through our links and try it, we get a small commission.

Adulting and Basic Business Skill: Hiring, and managing contractors is key.

This article will give you the 10 steps you need to safely and cheaply start your journey to outsourcing mastery!

Practicing in a real world low stakes environment is the best way to build our comfort and to succeed and fail in a safe space for any skill. Hiring and managing is a core skillset to learn because of the leverage you can get by outsourcing/delegating work that is time consuming or that isn't in your wheelhouse.

Fiverr is the perfect place to do so and also the perfect place to quickly outsource many common tasks in our work and personal lives.

As with so many things, the solution to most problems is not how, but who.

What is Fiverr

Fiverr is a marketplace for generally low to mid priced digital gig work. With many international contractors (who speak excellent English) offering to complete your gig quickly and at a low price.

Fiverr and other marketplaces have made "Outsourcing" available and doable for everyone.

But there are so many contractors out there, and if you have never hired one before, it can be daunting. 

We know that repetition builds comfort and expertise, so the best way to get started is with the following guide.

Its hard to know where to start, so we built this guide.

Steps and Tips for your hiring and managing your first Fiverr Gig

1. Pick a simple initial project

Select a graphic design or simple technical issue you wish would magically be solved.

Example: Design a birthday card for my nephew's party.

Advanced Tip: If you have a Larger Project that you think Fiverr would be perfect for, but do not want to commit your entire budget to an untested hire, pick a small completable piece of your project for this exercise.

2. Search Fiverr.com

Fiverr listings are generally gig specific, so feel free to search for exactly what you want.

If you don't have enough luck, try widening your search by going a bit more general

ex.) switching "avengers themed birthday card" to "birthday card".

 

3. Create a saved short list of your top contenders

Use the "Heart" Save to list feature, to create your short list of contractors you may want to reach out to. 

You can create multiple lists. Extremely helpful for when you come back a month later to save you time by not having to search through again.

4. Write up a detailed description of work inquiry

Write this up in a separate document. Why?

• You will be copying and submitting this to multiple people.
• You will be able to edit and reuse it later

Tips for a good description of work:

• Start with a friendly intro.
• Explain your What and Why 
• Use as much detail and asset bank as possible.
• Describe exactly what you would like to receive as a final result.
• If you have any files that they will need to use or reference, add them to a digital storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive and add a link to that file or folder in your description.
• Make sure you have enabled the share feature "viewable by anyone with this link".
• If you have any time or budget constraints, be clear about them
• End by asking a few questions in an organized way that they could respond to.

1. Are you interested in working on this project?
2. Do you have relevant past experience with it?
3. Is there any information missing here that you would need from me to be able to complete this project?

5. Send your description of work to your shortlist

Click into a gig and use the "Contact Seller" button to send them a message. 

Copy in your drafted inquiry and send it out.

Continue the conversation:

Wait a day for your outreach to come back with responses.

Remember, many of these sellers are international so have 24 hours patience to account for time zone differences.

Identify your top 3 providers

Who can do the work? Who communicates the best, or seems to get you? Who is professional and organized? Who does your gut like (never underestimate gut instinct)?

6. Hire at least 3 gigs at the same time!

So you are ready to order your first gig, you think:

"Sweet! I can get this done for $10!"

....BUT, I would suggest instead you hire 3 at a time.

This is probably the most important tip here.

Why? 

Even if a contractor has great reviews and all the past success and experience, the two key elements that lead to success with your project are:

What about the cost?

By spending $30 instead of $10, you get to triple your hiring experience and vet 3 contractors all at once - getting you closer to expert status, and helping you find providers who you want to work with in the future.

Advanced Tip: This advice is applicable whether your project is a birthday card or a full voice-over your commercial video. Always hire more than one Fiverr gig at a time until you have worked with a contractor already. This will save you a lot of time and thus money.

Hire 3 gigs who all provide the same service (do not buy the upgrades for final product yet like source files, publishing rights etc).

7. Push them all with revisions simultaneously.

Use the results from one to clarify what you are looking for.

The process of working through these iterations will help clarify what you want from this project.

By the end of the revisions,

• At least one of the gigs will produce what you were looking for or pretty darn close to it. 
• You will learn who communicates well and understands you best.

8. Thank everyone for their work. They all tried hard for you.

9. Purchase the bonuses as needed from the service that gave you the desired results.

Buy the source files, any additional rights or extras from the gig that provided the best work for you.

10. Keep going back to that contractor for future work. You now have a sharpened tool in your tool belt.

Give it a shot today!

Bonus tip for full mastery:

Throughout your day, practice asking yourself

is there is anything I am are working on that I would save time or money by hiring it out to Fiverr or a similar service?

Getting into this habit and experimenting with more hires, will lead you to become an outsourcing expert.

Congrats!

 

Affiliate note: this article has affiliate links to Fiverr.com a site we have used countless times. If you visit Fiverr through our links and try it, we get a small commission.