Welcome to October’s series on 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas. In this series, I’m highlighting simple and legitimate ways you can earn extra cash in the next three months for those of you who could use a little extra cash to help you pay for Christmas — or just for your living expenses if you’re in a tight spot right now.
If you’ve found a great way to make extra cash before Christmas that doesn’t require an outlay of cash upfront, please email me your tip. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!
Guest post from Lisa of The Frugal Batavian
Back in March, I found myself working at a job that I was not happy doing. I barely made enough income to cover my monthly bills.
What I really wanted to do was to go to college and receive an Associate’s Degree with the idea of achieving two goals: 1) to finally have a college degree and 2) to find a decent-paying job once I had my degree.
So I quit my job and decided I’d do everything in my power to reach my two goals. I knew it was a big risk to quit my job without an immediate replacement, but I was determined and believed that I could somehow find a way to make extra income online so I could go to college full-time.
Since I am a Veteran, I knew I could make a little amount of money each month from my Post 9/11 G.I. Bill (as a full-time student), but I still needed a job that could cover my expenses until I started college in May, as well as a way I could continue to make extra money part-time while in school.
Then suddenly, I remembered watching a news report about how people have been making a decent part-time or full-time income using a website called Fiverr. The basic idea behind Fiverr is that buyers pay $5 for services that a seller is providing.
Services can be anything from writing short blog posts for 300 words, posting a video review, or even drawing a picture. The possibilities on what services you can offer are endless. I figured it was the best place to start.
After about a week of experimenting with a few services to offer, I had made my first $100!
What is Fiverr?
Fiverr is a place for people to share things they’re willing to do for $5. Want to pay $5 to have a video recorded of a puppet singing “Happy Birthday” on your child’s birthday? They have that and more!
How does Fiverr work?
Fiverr is very easy to use. After signing up for an account with Fiverr, you will have the option to “create a gig” on what you’ll do to make $5. You can include instructions to the buyer, as well as a maximum number of days they should expect you to be completed with their work.
What’s great is that you have your own seller dashboard where you can review your revenues, sales, and view your due dates for gigs. And if at anytime you feel that you need a break, you can pause your gig so that you don’t receive any more orders until you activate it again. This helps give you time to catch up on your orders when you need to.
How much can you make from Fiverr?
How much you can make with Fiverr really depends on what your are offering, as well as how much time you put into it. It is totally possible to earn an extra $500 or more a month, and I say this from personal experience. Sellers earn a flat $4 commission when a buyer purchases their services, and payments are made through Paypal with a minimum payout of $4.
After some trial and error, here are a few of my tips to get started selling services on Fiverr:
Find Out What’s Selling or Offer Something Unique
One of the first things you should look at when considering to sell your services on Fiverr is to find out what services are selling and what is popular.
When I first looked started into using Fiverr, I noticed that writing articles was a popular trend that buyers were looking for. That is where I made most of my money at first.
If you also have a service you feel is unique and valuable, you can offer this as a service, too!
Make It Simple
You have to remember that you are paid less than $4 once Paypal takes their fee. With this in mind, you want to provide a service that does not take much of your time.
When I first offered my article-writing services, I decided to stand a part by offering article writing for 500 words since no one else was offering that service. I later realized I should have used a lower word count, since 500 words can take a while to write depending on the topic.
You want to realistically spend as little time on a task so you can take on more orders.
Give a Little More
If you’re offering a service that allows you to give them something extra, do it! This will create repeat customers, and a positive review.
Offer More Services
At a certain point, you can unlock more options on Fiverr where you can offer customers added “Extras” which help make you more money. So if you are offering to write a 300-word article for $5, an extra option you can choose to include is to have an article written up to 600 words an extra $5.
Connect with Clients Offline
After working with regular clients, they started contacting me to write for them off of Fiverr. For a seller, this means you make more money since Fiverr takes a commission.
Note: As a seller, you are not allowed to offer your offline information to the client.
Currently, I am in my second college semester aiming towards a degree in Polysomnographic Technology. I don’t need to use Fiverr to make money as much as I used to since it has helped me find clients to work with regularly offline. But I definitely recommend it as a great place to earn additional income when you need it.
Lisa is a 27-year-old Army Veteran turned freelance writer, blogger, and full-time college student. She writes about living frugally, budgeting, and more over at The Frugal Batavian.
Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it 
