An experiment in starting a business entirely outsource using fiverr.
Doug is the guy behind this project. He's always had an interest in small business. He has a degree in computer science and a graduate diploma in project management.
This project was the melding of those three backgrounds into what will hopefully turn out to be a successful small business that you could start too.
Twitter @dougkeefe if you'd like to say hi or learn how he might be able to help your small business online.
A $5 Website
After registering the domain name it was time to build a website. I needed to be able to build a website for $5. Is it possible? Clearly! With Wordpress.org you can get a copy of the Wordpress blogging platform for free and be setup with your very own website at no cost. But if you’re not interested in the technical details there are an abundance of people offering their services to install Wordpress for you.
I did a search for a gig on Fiverr to install Wordpress, setup a non-default template, and configure a few key plugins to make the blog more pleasing to search engines without taking away from the actual user experience. My life was made pretty easy since there were many people willing to do that. So I sorted the results by rating, looked to find the best reviews and away it went. In less than 24 hours I had a website installed and setup for $5.
The details.
The one thing that you need to be willing to do is grant this stranger on Fiverr access to your hosting account details so that they can upload the blog and plugins to your server. So this is why it’s important that you review these people before you choose one. In my case, I created a temporary user account for them to do their work and once they were done I deleted. Don’t worry though I didn’t break the 5 minute rule.
Fiverr Is The Place To Buy, Sell and Have Fun →
Click the “How Does It Work” button and you’ll see it’s really simple
Fiverr.com racks up sales, $5 at a time →
I was interviewed by Dianne Buckner (aka: host of Dragon’s Den).
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Using Fiverr To Pick A Domain Name
To date, the best gig I’ve paid for on fiverr has been the one for finding a domain name. It was really amazing how much detailed work was delivered to me. It all started with a search for “find a domain” where I looked for results that took keywords and gave the best domain name available given the set keyword criteria.
I chose a suitable gig, entered my info and played the waiting game. But it took less than 24 hours when I received my list of the top 30 domain names that I should consider.
What’s in a domain name?
A domain name is an integral part of an online business that has a consumer focus. While more esoteric domain names can attract attention, people seeking out advice or information will generally find their information through search engines and therefore having a domain name that is conducive to search greatly improves your chances of visited by search engine users.
The gig also included a competitive analysis of the current google rankings associated with the keywords and where the domain could be competitive. This level of research I wasn’t honestly expecting for a $5 gig but here it was. This provided the opportunity for me to make an informed decision and know the domain I chose was the right one. Below is a summary table of the competitive analysis performed. The green shows areas of weakness in competitor, yellow is medium, and red is highly competitive.
The First Task: Find A Business
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”
The parameters were vague; no spam, no magic pills, no weight loss, but preferably something with a technology focus. That was it and the first $5 of this project was spent.
The Search
fiverr has a search function that allows you to look for different people willing to take on the “gigs” that they offer. So I proceeded to search for a gig for online business ideas. There were plenty on offer so I sorted by rating to find those with a strong track record.
The Find
After some searching I found one that seemed interesting. The gig provided a specific niche market to focus on, current online competition, and relevant subjects that would be related to that market. The level of work that was delivered was indeed impressive for 5 bucks.
The Result
After the first successful buy on fiverr I was very pleased and I had the target market, the background, and the relevant areas of focus within the niche to get started. The business was ready to get started.
Next up: I needed a domain name.
The 5 Minute Rule
or maybe the 5 minute exception to the rule.
So the goal of the project is to completely outsource the startup of a website and to make it profitable. But I will still need to do some coordination work and at times, potentially do some work where I don’t want to expose personal information. This is where the 5 minute rule comes in.
If there’s a task I can do in 5 minutes or less, I will do it myself and not outsource it.
It’s not in my best interest to cheat on this rule since it defeats the purpose of me outsourcing so cheating will only hurt, not help this project.
Why 5 minutes?
I figured since I’m using “fiverr” as the website of choice, having a 5 minute time limit keeps the number 5 consistent. That amount of time will allow me to achieve certain limited tasks myself without the need for outsourcing, but not giving the chance to wandering around doing a task. Get in, get out, and get on with other work.
That’s it for now….Take 5!
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The Goal of the Fiverr Project
The goal is simple: start an online business and outsource the entire project using fiverr.com. All aspects will be outsourced, from idea generation, to site creation, to marketing, and finally monetization.
I’m letting go of the reins almost entirely and allowing the sellers at fiverr determine the type of area of business for me to get into. I will need to have some editorial control over the process to ensure that the market is something I’m relatively comfortable with, but not necessarily an expert in.
Goals for this experiment:
1. I want to show that it’s possible for anyone to start a business online and make it profitable.
2. I want to experiment with outsourcing. I have been in the online business in one form or another for the past 10 years, although really only making any steady money for the past 2 years. It’s been a slow process, but the business has grown in that time and I’m looking for opportunities to leverage other peoples’ talents to grow it faster.
3. Document the process of how I built a business with fiverr then be able to provide the blueprint on how to repeat it.
What’s this fiverr thing?
Fiverr is a service where sellers will do things for $5. It’s a really simple concept and any activity on there is done for $5. It’s about the easiest and cheapest way I’ve found to trial outsourcing of tasks.
I fully expect the business to be web based, and will likely be monetized through ads revenue, or through sales offers on the site. This isn’t necessarily the path to an IPO. Given the fact that the tasks on fiverr are relatively simple and confined it would be difficult to create a significant project that would be the next Twitter or Tumblr.
The fiverr project will be considered a success if the amount of money made by the project exceeds the amount of money it has cost to create.
Controlled Environment
In order to ensure no bias anyone who follows the project, I won’t be posting anything specific to the project website until the goal is reached, or the project is a failure.
I will however, be posting my experiences with fiverr, the outsourcing of all tasks and documenting where I cheated and did work myself. And some general commentary thrown in there talking about why I made the decisions I did along the way.
Hope you enjoy the reading about the project.
