Fiverr SEO and Automation Consulting = 💰💰💰

First of all, a warm fuzzy welcome to our 39 new subscribers. Welcome to the community. And if a friend shared this email, feel free to subscribe!

Here’s what’s in today’s email:

• How one guy makes $90k+ doing SEO on Fiverr (part-time!)

• How to become an Automation Consultant with zero experience

• An AI meme for all the graphic designers out there!

• 30+ remote jobs hiring in Africa

• An update on our Nairobi meetup next week

$96,800 Doing Part-Time SEO on Fiverr

Terry O’Connor recently told eBiz Facts how he made $96,800 in 12 months doing SEO gigs on Fiverr.

I’ve known Terry and Niall (the founder of eBiz Facts) for a few years. I remember when Terry told us he was setting up a Fiverr account in 2020 – after struggling to find clients through outreach and freelancing platforms like Upwork.

In 2.5 years, Terry went from earning:

• $1,750 in his first six months ($291/month)

• $23,900 in 2021 ($1,991/month)

• $14,000 in August 2022 alone

• $96,800 in 2022 ($8,066/month)

While Terry had a few years experience in SEO before he started, he wasn’t some big-name industry guru. He simply offers an in-demand skill to people who need it and positions himself where they’re looking. And he does this while maintaining a full-time job.

Check out Terry’s Fiverr profile for inspiration.

Job of the Future: Automation Consultant

An automation consultant goes into a business and finds all the repetitive, tedious, and time-consuming tasks they’re doing manually and introduces software tools to, well, automate everything.

Automation consultants have been around for years, but three trends suggest it’s a career that’s about to explode:

1. In the current global economic climate, businesses of all sizes are looking for ways to boost efficiencies, reduce costs, and get better results with fewer overheads.

2. Small businesses are increasingly trying to digitize their operations, processes, and services. But they don’t have the time or technical know-how to do so.

3. AI tools are making automation incredibly powerful and cost-effective. If you can leverage the right AI tools for specific businesses in certain industries, the ROI (return on investment) could be huge for you (higher consulting margins) and your clients (even better results).

In the latest episode of My First Million podcast (listen on Spotify or YouTube)*, they discussed the current state of automation consulting and management as a career and where it could go. Here’s what host Sam Parr said about launching his most recent business venture:

*[Skip to 30min 30 for the discussion on automation jobs of the future ]

And we haven’t even gotten to the best part

You need precisely zero formal qualifications to become an automation consultant. You just need:

1. Good interpersonal and sales skills.

2. Basic knowledge of the best current automation tools for various tasks and business types.

3. The ability to furiously Google anything you don’t know and find the solution in a couple of hours.

4. Good organizational skills (obviously).

In the video below, Sam Matla guides you through the step-by-step process to become an automation consultant for non-tech businesses in one week.

Key takeaways from the video:

• Focus on traditional, non-techie businesses – like contractors, law firms, and physical stores.

• Find your first clients by approaching businesses in your town, neighbourhood, and family/friend network.

• Learn how to use pre-existing tools like Zapier by running experiments to speed up your expertise.

• Conduct thorough discovery calls to identify areas for automation in each individual business.

• Offer a guarantee like “If we don’t save you 5 hours a week, you don’t pay us.“

• Offer free “automation audits“ with projected time and cost savings.

• Start finding clients. 😄

Bonus: Fiverr + Automation Consulting = 💰💰💰

If I was getting started as an automation consultant, I’d try to find out what are the most common automations businesses are looking for, choose 3-5, and offer these as gigs on Fiverr.

Over time, like Terry did, I’d offer more automations at different levels of complexity and incrementally increase my rates so I’m only working with bigger, less price-sensitive businesses.

I’ve actually hired a Zapier automation consultant in the past to help with some SEO tasks. I paid her $40 to integrate Google Sheets+Asana+Google Docs in the following process:

1. Every time I added a keyword to a Google Sheet…

2. It automatically created a task in Asana that included the keyword, search volume, and difficulty, and then…

3. Created a content brief from a Google Doc template and attached it to the Asana task.

(This may not be necessary with more modern project management platforms like Notion and Clickup.)

Let’s say I charge my clients $50 an hour and spend 5 hours a week doing the above process manually. By automating everything, I’m free to focus on 5 hours a week in paid client work – boosting my monthly income by $1,000.

That’s a 2,400% ROI on the $40 I paid my automation consultant– in just one month.

AI Meme of The Week

We can all relate, I’m sure…

Remote Jobs This Week

Content and Marketing Roles

Freelance Writers at Black Girl Times, an advocacy group and publisher; accepting pitches from POC, LGBTQ+, disabled, and women writers; $0.25-1.00 per word.

Freelance African Journalists at Rest of World, “a new global nonprofit publication covering the impact of technology beyond the Western bubble“; in particular Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and North Africa; $500-750 per article.

Freelance Writers at myHealthTeam; writers of color encouraged to apply; $75-$350 per article.

Freelance Tech Journalist at The Data Pulse; $80-100 per article.

Freelance Writer at The Grit Group; 1+ year experience; $30/hour.

Freelance Writers at Feeld, the kink hookup app; accepting pitches for $300-500 per article.

Technical Writer for Arti Documentation at The Tor Project, an anonymous browser; 3-4 month contract; $30/hour.

Fact-Checker and Copy Editor at WebMD; from $40 per article.

Content Writer at WP Media, owner of popular WordPress tools and brands; No compensation details listed.

Freelance Journalist at Matchboxology; possibly South Africa only.

Paid Advertising Associate at Manta Sleep, a D2C e-commerce brand; $1k-2.5k per month.

Freelance Crypto Writers at The Milk Road, a daily cryptocurrency newsletter. This is an open job listing, so you can pitch contributions any time.

Social Media and Content Specialist at WalletConnect, a Web3 startup; no compensation details provided.

Copywriter at Hustler Marketing, an e-commerce marketing agency; 1+ year experience; no compensation listed.

Freelance DIY Writers; $80 per 2,000-word article.

Design

AGAR Limited is seeking a freelance graphic designer for its Kenyan consumer products, including essential oils, soaps, and skincare. Email your portfolio and rates to: [email protected]

Senior Digital Art Director at Big Orange Lab; 7+ years experience.

Short-form Video Editor at Keller Williams Realtor; $15-20 per video.

Administrative and Operations Roles

Customer Support Specialist at LearnWorlds; full-time, no compensation listed.

Customer Support Advocate at InVision; no compensation details provided.

Technical Roles

Platform Data Engineer at Give Directly, a direct cash donation NGO; 2+ years experience; from $130k if you’re based in the US, $72k if you’re based in Africa.

Mobile Engineer at Bamboo, a recruitment SAAS; no compensation details provided.

PHP Developer at WP Media; no compensation listed.

Senior Rails Developer at Simplero; South Africa only; no compensation listed.

WordPress Web Designer at Venture 4th Media; no compensation listed.

Crypto Jobs

Financial Reporting Accountant at Moonpay; 5+ years experience; no compensation listed.

TypeScript Software Engineer at Immunefi, a crypto cybersecurity startup; no compensation listed.

Numerous Roles

Sticker Mule is hiring numerous senior engineering roles, including AI Engineer; starting at $135k per year.

Bani Africa is hiring a Compliance Officer, Sales Executive, Accountant Technical Lead (Full Stack), and Product Designer.

Upfeat is hiring 9 roles, including Data Entry Specialists, Editors, a Senior SEO Specialist, and a Business Process Automation Specialist. 

🇰🇪 Don’t Forget: We’re Meeting in Nairobi Next Week! 🇰🇪

If you’re in Nairobi and you’re tired of spending every day at home, join us for an evening social next Tuesday at 6pm.

Mingle and schmooze with amazing freelancers, online business owners, and all-round badasses who know your struggles, feel your pains, and also hate your clients. 😉

We’re still confirming the venue, but register below to get notified when we do.

That’s all for this week!

Thanks,

Conor