People like case studies, which are basically “people watching” with more detail. Hearing how another person handles a real-life situation is more informative — and more fun — than stating the facts. I wanted to write about freelancing on sites like Fiverr, and since I have personal experience there, I’d like to briefly share some of my findings and a little bit about what may be waiting for you.
Hello, my name is Dr. Ron Massa. I am a Jungian psychologist, now retired from my private practice. I am also an artist and have been carving stone for years and have sold nearly a thousand small paintings online. I started freelancing at Fiverr in 2013. I want to learn how to make professional quality recordings at home.
In the 1960s, I worked as a television director at KVOA-TV, an NBC affiliate in Tucson, Arizona. Then I had to make a little vocal announcement, and I liked it. Since then I’ve always wanted to do more voice-over. My first thought was to find a formal voice over training program. Fortunately, I learned that they charge thousands of dollars a year! I said I was lucky because the cost, plus the delay before I could actually do voice work, convinced me to try something new.
I decided to “risk” Fiverr to become a freelancer. I read a few books on voice work, found a plastic microphone, and created my first gig on Fiverr.com. You can also start and upgrade very easily as you learn and earn. I’ve grown a little bit with each job. I have made a mistake. I have learned to correct them and ultimately avoid them. As I gradually improved my vocal skills, I also upgraded the accompanying microphones and software.
I chose to work for a limited time, over three years, and got over $7,000 to learn voiceover work from day one by actually doing it. I’ve done 450 professional audio jobs! To my surprise they got 100% satisfaction. I canceled a few “difficult buyers” but pretty much everyone else was fine. Buyers know they are getting a lot, they want the service to work and are usually very understanding.
In addition to including traditional dubbing scripts, I found myself enjoying dubbing most of all. who knows? Yes, self-discovery is one of the benefits of designing and doing a job you love. I quickly became the dogged reporter, the ghostly and gloomy president, the creepy villain, the doting father, the disturbing alien predator, and the dramatic voice of several World War II generals and war-weary soldiers. These recordings, and hundreds more, can now be seen in film, television, video game, Internet and enterprise audio systems on every continent.
I also discovered that I enjoy telling educational stories for children about whales, stars and dinosaurs. I ran endless commercial messages. I even have to tell several books. An influential Dale Carnegie classic was ahead of its time. Another book teaches financial planning and insight. One of the books I am most honored to document is “A Summary of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe”. It summarizes the life and novels of the inspiring ‘father of African literature’ Chinua Achebe.
I love being able to jump right into the real voice work and learn the trade by doing real projects. I especially like getting paid to learn. If you count the $15,000 I’ve saved on formal training, plus the $7,000 I’ve made from voice work – this freelance path puts me over $20,000! If one prefers traditional training methods, that is not wrong. I personally find freelancing more exciting and attractive.
If you do a job you love – freelancers will invite you – you’re more likely to meet like-minded people and find relevant opportunities that really suit you! Following your heart at work has immediate and secondary benefits. While practicing my voice work, I also learned to edit my own recordings of audio. I later used this experience to teach online audio editing courses!
Now the combination of my initial voiceover training and those audio editing skills has allowed me – truly empowering – to teach online courses. (And yes, they’ve been praised for their excellent sound quality!) Walking this path with all your heart means you’re more likely to reap the unexpected benefits. I now know that a long-term dream can be achieved by carefully selected freelancers. Want to get paid for work you’d like to do for free? How would you design the kind of work or service you now admit – really enjoy doing?
