This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey friends, what's up? Thanks for tuning in today. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. Thanks for tuning in every day. If you've been listening for a while, I've got this podcast, it comes out seven days a week.
And I'm just so thankful to our community who have been following for years in many cases, sometimes from the very beginning, which was a long time ago, 2017. But hey, even if you have stumbled upon the show very recently, or if you were listening for a while and you stopped listening, it's all good, right? This is an ongoing conversation, a dialogue that takes place every day, less than 10 minutes a day. I wanna make it quick, action-packed, hopefully give you an idea or some encouragement or some practical tips for your side hustle, for your small business, for whatever that project is that you do apart from your day job in a quest for financial freedom or economic empowerment or just more money or a creative outlet, or there could be so many reasons for having your side hustle. I'm a big fan and advocate for them, as you might know.
And today, of course, is our first $1,000 segment, a segment we call your first $1,000 to be precise. It's all about how somebody made their first $1,000. We have all kinds of different stories in this segment. Well, each one has just one story, but collectively many stories. Today, we're gonna hear from a video editor who starts by taking cheap gigs on Fiverr before moving up to serve more valuable clients.
Now, this can often be a good strategy for the right service business, not every business to be clear, but when you were trying to get some experience and you basically have none, you've never had any paying clients, and you're offering something like video editing, could be many other services as well, you're like, where did my clients come from? I don't have a fancy website, I don't have a list of testimonials. Well, one way you can start is by using a platform like Fiverr or Upwork, or there's some others, doing some gigs on the cheap, getting those testimonials and reviews, which you can then use later on that fancy website or non-fancy website that you make. So let's hear exactly how this worked for someone named Alex. His name is Alex, he's from Ohio.
How did you make your first $1,000, Alex? Let's hear the story. [Music]
I'm Alex, a video editor who started from the bottom hustling on Fiverr and eventually broke into working with higher paying clients. Let me walk you through my journey to the first $1,000. I started by offering basic video editing services for as low as $10 per project.
The goal initially was just to get some experience and build a portfolio. I knew I was underselling my skills, but I was playing the long game. I hyper focused on delivering high quality work and gathering as many positive reviews as possible. In a platform like Fiverr, social proof is gold. It's how you rise through the ranks and get noticed.
While I was clocking hours editing videos for basically pennies, I was simultaneously learning new editing software and techniques. I took free online courses and advanced editing tools like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. These allowed me to offer additional services like color correction, sound editing, and special effects. As the positive reviews started piling up, I incrementally increased my prices. From $5, I moved up to 20, then to 50, and then to 100 for complex editing projects.
My first $1,000 came around the end of month three. It was slow, but the foundation I laid in the beginning paid off. Plus, I was doing this on the side whenever I had free time. Marketing was mainly done through the Fiverr platform, but I also used LinkedIn to connect with potential clients in the corporate sector. I'd offer them a free 30-second edited video as a sample of my skills.
The strategy was simple. People are more likely to trust you if they see your work firsthand. But the real turning point was when I started getting referrals from satisfied clients. This is when I realized I could move off Fiverr and start landing contracts that were more in line with the quality of work I was delivering. I stopped being a Fiverr freelancer and started branding myself as a video editing consultant.
I developed a pricing strategy that focused on value-based pricing rather than hourly rates. I created packages that bundled multiple services together, which not only increased the average transaction value, but also saved me and my clients time. I also systematized my workflow to increase efficiency. I used project management tools to keep track of deadlines and milestones and implemented cloud-based solutions for easier collaboration with clients. All these steps helped me to steadily increase my client base and work on projects that were not just higher paying, but also more creatively fulfilling.
In retrospect, what really worked for me was laying a strong foundation, continuously upskilling, smart pricing, and value-based marketing. Don't underestimate the power of starting small. It's how you build a sustainable business in the long run. Thanks for letting me share my story, and good luck, everyone. Thanks, Alex.
I really appreciate that, as noted, listeners, this can be a good strategy for certain service businesses. And we've had some other profiles and case studies over the years of people who have done this started with something like Fiverr and Upwork. And then either they eventually increase their rates, which I think Alex did here as well, or they just move off platform and start serving clients, ones that they have initially found on those platforms, or ones that come from referral from those clients, or they just kind of learn how to get clients after using these platforms for a little while. So the point is, it's some good experience. Doesn't make you a lot of money at first.
But if you want to build a foundation, it's not a bad start for a lot of folks. So Alex, thanks for the story. Listeners, if you have a question and update about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Excited for all that's to come. This was episode 2,508.
More is on the way. Thanks for tuning in today. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
