Your Perfect Match Virtual Assistant is Out There with April Pertuis

April Pertuis is on today’s episode with Jen. She recently hired her first VA and it’s been a game-changer for her business. 

Being an entrepreneur was a choice for freedom but as her business grew, April was feeling anything but free. One of the most time-consuming tasks was managing the large amount of social media content that she creates. 

April shares it all: 

• Hear how she got things off to a great start 

• Find out what made the biggest impact for April 

• How April’s VA took the lead on curating existing content 

• The method they use to keep in touch and how they continue to establish processes to increase efficiency (This is so easy you’re going to wonder why you didn’t think of it!)

Delegating hasn’t always worked for April. She explains why it’s different this time. You’ll love her her unicorn analogy that explains why she thinks anyone can find their “perfect-match” VA. 

Working with someone overseas was also a concern. The Front Row CEO program addressed exactly what to do and it made the process simple to implement. April credits the course for helping her: 

• Recognize past hiring mistakes and how to correct it 

• Establish the foundation for a long-term partnership with her VA

• Get her freedom back! 

• See business growth since she’s now able to focus on serving her audience

April wants everyone to know that The Front Row CEO program is a great first step for anyone who is ready to get their freedom back. 

RESOURCES

Lightbeamers

Front Row CEO

April’s Instagram

Trello

Loom 

My Team Helped Me Love My Business Again with Heather Alice Shea

This episode is going to be a huge help for anyone who has had difficulty delegating. That’s where Heather was when she took the Front Row CEO course.  

Heather shares how she began delegating with her two recently hired VA’s. It started with: 

• The key question she asked herself to get super clear on the first thing she should delegate (you can use this same strategy) 

• Why saving time was the 2nd best part of delegating a key task

• How she uses “team parties” as part of her training process

• Next steps: allowing her team to manage her entire calendar (huge step for someone who didn’t think delegating this was possible)

Jen and Heather also talk about culture and what it takes to build a team. 

• Hear the impact of creating an environment where your team members take ownership of their contributions

• Find out the 2 key methods Heather uses to keep her team huddles efficient 

• Hear Heather’s before and after podcast production process and the surprise benefit she didn’t know she was missing 

Heather provides life-coach training for energy-sensitive people who want to bring that aspect into their coaching. She shares two strategies that she has time to implement now that she has help. Key impact: new clients and stronger relationships. 

Heather told Jen 2 things that were unexpected but have already made a huge shift for her. Plus, it’s allowed her to stop running her business by sticky posts. (Who hasn’t been there?) 

Lastly, Heather wanted Jen to know that she followed every step of the Front Row CEO course. In just a few weeks she had 2 VA’s that have allowed her to “love her business again.”

RESOURCES

Loom 

Front Row CEO

Heather’s Website 

Trello

Hiring a Virtual Assistant is Completely Life-Changing with Lyndsay Morris

Lyndsay is a busy business owner who travels and speaks at industry events on top of running her successful business. Jen and Lyndsay discuss why she hired not one but two VA’s and how they started. 

Lyndsay shares the first things implemented. 

• How they mapped out (and created) their content plan for the entire year

• Providing a tool each month for the email list

• Uploading prepared content (for the year) so it’s ready to go

• Repurposing videos (this is genius)

Changing her content process is saving her 15 hours a month and 2020 is completely planned and prepared. 

Lyndsay enjoys the collaboration and partnership from her VA’s. The next steps include: 

• Building out a new site on Kajabi

• Creating animations for her site 

• Adding automation tools 

Lyndsay said the Front Row CEO course was the first training that showed her how to hire the help she needed so she could implement all the strategies she’s learned. 

• Use Lyndsay’s method to keep track of tasks with her team (no fancy software required) 

• Find out how leveraging her team is making travel easier

• Use Loom to create your training library 

• Find out how her team is building systems as they learn (and how it will accelerate growth!)

Lyndsay surprised Jen with news about her 2020 plans already in the works. She credits the Front Row CEO course for helping her make it happen. In her words it’s “life-changing.” 

RESOURCES

Voxer

Front Row CEO

Planoly

Loom

Generation Wellness

When to Know When it’s Time to Hire a Virtual Assistant

Today’s podcast covers an important topic. When to hire help. More importantly, how do you know when it’s the right time. 

I’m going to break this down so there is no more confusion.  

First, there’s the conventional thinking that you shouldn’t hire until you are super-successful and completely organized or when you hit a magical revenue amount. Only that day never seems to arrive. 

When will you know? 

I’m sharing some hard truths about what I experienced. I know many entrepreneurs will relate to the busy-ness of the day to day; except you never feel like you did anything to move your business forward. I certainly had plenty of days like that. 

I’m busting a few myths today:

• Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. 

• Some actions provide exponential returns which is what you miss by doing it all. 

• I know all the reasons why not to hire. I was right there too. 

• No one can do it like I can/ you can. 

• I can’t afford it yet. 

There’s more than one way to hire and train. I outline just one of those that I’ve put into practice and helped other to do as well. 

One of the best things is not being all alone. Knowing my team has my back has made such a big difference. I want you to have that same feeling of support. Grab the resources so you can see how making your first hire can work for you. 

Why This Should be Your Word of the Year!

This podcast was originally a livestream on Facebook. I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too. This is much shorter than the full livestream which you can see here. 

It’s all about your word(s) for 2020. I recommend adding this to your word (or words) as well. It’s going to make the rest of your words mean that much more! 

The word: Consistent 

I share: 

• Why 2019 was a break-through year for me because of consistency. 

• How it can help and why it’s not about being perfect. It’s about showing up.

• The reason that consistency brings exponential growth. 

• The way consistency created momentum and confidence. 

• How one simple act of consistency helped me be healthier.

• An honest conversation about creating content consistently. 

• A Quora content idea that you can use to position yourself as the go-to expert in your field. In less than 10 minutes a day. 

• Why I think starting small is the way to get massive results.

• A new super-power than everyone can own. 

• Why adding something works better to grow your consistency muscle.

• The power of having consistent offers in your business. 

What can you commit to creating consistently this year? 

Consistency is the thing that unlocks the magic

Front Row CEO Content Planning System

Best Tools, Apps, and Plugins for Entrepreneurs 2020

This is the third year in a row that we are offering this epic roundup of the best tools, apps, and plugins for entrepreneurs.

Each Tuesday, in my free online classroom, The Front Row, members submit the tools and apps that help them run their businesses more efficiently.

We've taken those submissions and organized them by category and purpose. We've also made note of the tools we use and love.

Did we leave out one of your favorites? Let us know in the comments.

5 Ways To Organize Your Finances for Year End

2020 is literally right around the corner. New year and new decade! Before you pop that champagne, take time to prepare your business for the end of the year.

I know I know. Yuck. But it’s important, and doesn’t have to be all that bad. End-of-year prep makes tax time easier, makes sure all your financial info for the current year is accurate and up to date, and lets you start the next year out on the right foot. So your business keeps earning and you stress less in the year to come.

That sounds pretty good, right?

Here are five steps you can take now to prepare your business for the end of the year.

1. Organize your bookkeeping

Getting your bookkeeping organized for the year that’s ending will help you rest easy at night. You’ll know that all your numbers for the year add up, and that the information on your year-end financial statements is correct. 

One of the easiest ways to take care of your bookkeeping is to sign up for a remote bookkeeping solution. My secret weapon is Bench. They take care of my bookkeeping year round. 

Double check all your transaction categories

Go back and make sure that every transaction you’ve recorded for the year is correctly categorized. If you made a categorization error in February, and then kept repeating that error, it could have a major impact by the end of the year.

For example— say you’ve been incorrectly categorizing credit card processing fees for your biz as part of your overhead. That could give you a fluctuating monthly overhead expense; if use it to make financial projections for the new year, and your numbers will be off. Fixing the problem now will save you trouble once the books are closed.

Balance the books

If you use the double entry method of bookkeeping, it’s essential that all your credits and debits match up. Otherwise, some accounts may actually hold less value than your books say. 

You can do this at the same time you’re double checking your transaction categories. Make sure that each time an account is credited, another account is debited the same amount—and vice versa.

Reconcile your bank accounts

When you reconcile your bank accounts, you make sure your bank statements match up with your books. It’s how you ensure your books reflect reality—the real, tangible cash you have to work with.

Reconciling bank accounts isn’t complicated, but there are steps you need to follow to do it accurately. Bench has a helpful guide to bank reconciliation for your business.

Talk to a professional

Especially if this is your first time filing taxes for your business, it’s wise to enlist the help of a CPA. They can double check your books and make sure everything adds up, so your tax filing is accurate. What’s more, they may be able to identify tax deductions you’ve overlooked. That means your business will save more money in the new year. Close the books on Dec. 31st.

On the last day of the year, close the books. That means adding up all your numbers for the year, making sure everything is balanced, and preparing year-end financial statements. You’ll use those statements to file your tax return.

If you have a bookkeeper, they’ll close the books for you. They’ll also complete other preparation steps, like checking transaction categories and balancing the books. Again, I don’t really worry about this because Bench does it for me.

2. Back up your itemized deductions with paperwork

If you’re claiming itemized deductions on your tax return, you need to make sure that each tax deduction is backed up by documentation. In the event that you’re audited, you’ll need those receipts to support your claims. If you can’t prove that your deductions were valid, the IRS can penalize you. #NotFun

Make sure you hold on to the following:

• Receipts

• Cash register tapes

• Deposit information (cash and credit sales)

• Invoices

• Canceled checks or other proof of payment/electronic funds transferred

• Credit card receipts

• Bank statements

• Petty cash slips for small cash payments

• Accounts payable and receivable

• Payroll records

• Tax filings

• Previous tax returns

• W2 and 1099 forms

• Any other documentary evidence that supports an item of income, deduction, or credit shown on your tax return

Saving receipts

Receipts for business purchases are one of the most common types of business records. You should hold on to every receipt for at least three years. That’s the length of the statute of limitations—the amount of time the IRS has to audit you. 

On every receipt you keep, be sure to list:

• The date

• What you paid for

• What the purchase was

If you’re writing off a business meal, be sure to list on the receipt who attended the meal, and the business-related topics you discussed. 

The best way to keep track of expense records

Guess what...a shoebox is not a filing cabinet.

If you’re forced at the end of the year to sort through all your receipts and put them in order, it’s time to switch to a new system.

Going paperless cuts down on clutter and helps make sure nothing slips through the cracks. Apps like Expensify allow you to photograph and categorize your receipts, then upload them to the cloud—where they’ll be organized by type, and protected from hazards like sudden gusts of wind. Or you can just use Evernote, which is one of my favorite apps of all time. 

3. Set aside money for taxes

When you’re self-employed, it’s up to you to figure out how much you owe in taxes, and pay it to the IRS. 

That may sound like a big responsibility. But don’t worry: A few shortcuts can help.

This is the part where I have to tell you about Profit First, which is actually a book by Mike Michalowicz. His system has completely changed my business, for the better.

Finances really aren’t my strong suit, but I’m a systems girl.  And his system is very straight-forward, even for the most financially illiterate (like me!). In short, you routinely move money each quarter into separate bank accounts...most importantly, taxes/profits/and operating expenses. Kind of how your grandmother or great grandmother used to take the paycheck and put the mortgage in one envelope, money for groceries in another, utilities in another, and so on. What was left over was left over. In the Profit First system, this guarantees that you actually see a profit because you are moving it to your profit account. He also spells out how to figure out what percentage of what goes where.

But generally speaking, if you aren’t using the Profit First System, you want to follow the 30 % rule. You want to be prepared to pay about 30% of your gross income to the IRS as taxes. If you’re going back retroactively to put together money for tax payments, get together 30% of your income for the year. (This is when it’s handy to have year-end financial statements—so you can easily see how much you earned for the year.)

Next year, save yourself the hassle of sorting out taxes retroactively: Set them aside as you earn.

Set aside taxes well in advance

There are three methods for setting aside taxes as you earn income: Per-payment, monthly, and yearly.

Per-payment works well if you invoice clients. Every time a client pays you, take 30% and set it aside for taxes.

Monthly is best if your business goes through a lot of transactions every month—for instance, if you run a bustling ecommerce business. In that case, each month, set aside 30% of your gross income.

The yearly approach only makes sense if your business is small, you earn income infrequently, and you don’t need to make estimated quarterly payments. If your business is still in its side hustle phase, it may be okay to go back and set aside cash at the end of the year. Still, there’s no reason you can’t start using the monthly or per-payment method now—it’ll establish good habits for later on, when your business grows and your income is higher.

Create a separate account

Dipping into your tax savings is a major no-no. You don’t want to come up short at the end of the year, unable to pay your taxes. The best way to keep your tax withholdings separate from the rest of your income is to create a separate savings account. That way, you’ll know exactly how much you have—and you’ll be less tempted to spend it.

4. Get up to date on tax reforms

*Yawn*...fight the urge to nod off. “Tax reforms” may not be the most thrilling pair of words in the English language, but they’re important. 

That’s because, every year, the IRS makes changes to tax laws. That could mean you’re no longer eligible for certain tax deductions, or the deadlines for filing certain forms have changed.

For instance: The most recent major change to taxes was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, in 2018. It set a new tax rate for C corporations—so if your business was incorporated, you’d end up owing less than you may have planned. It introduced a new deduction for so-called “pass through entities”—so if you ran a sole proprietorship or single-member LLC, you had a new way to write off expenses. And it made changes to which deductions businesses could claim across the board.

These changes are important to stay on top of. Every year, the IRS puts out Publication 5318. It tells businesses what kinds of changes to tax law they can expect in the coming year. Make sure you read it when it’s published. 

You may want to hire a CPA to file your taxes. It’s their job to stay on top of the latest changes in tax law, and make sure you’re in compliance. 

I’ve been using the same local firm for years and have developed a relationship with them so I’m sticking with them. But Bench just added tax/accounting services, too. Your bookkeepers will work one-on-one with tax professionals to get your taxes filed and 100% compliant with the current year’s tax laws.

So you don’t need to bring your books to a CPA, and explain how your business works. Since your Bench team produces all your financial statements throughout the year, and has hands-on knowledge about your expenses, they can work with professional tax filers to make sure your return is prepared accurately, and taking advantage of write-offs.

Ooh lah lah. Sexy, right?

5. Get the new year off to a great start

This New Year’s Eve, make a resolution to run your business more smoothly and effectively than you did the year before. Here are a few simple steps you can take to make it happen:

1. Do an internal audit.

Don’t let the word “audit” scare you. An internal audit looks at your accounting processes and operations, and makes sure that everything is running as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. 

Taking time to review your standard practices—how and when you record transactions on the books, how you store your business records, your invoicing cycle—can highlight ways to improve. That could mean entering sales on the books nightly, instead of weekly. Or, it could mean putting a whole new accounting system in place. Either way, your business will benefit.

2. Prepare financial reports

If you haven’t been disciplined about preparing financial reports, now is the time to start. Make sure that, by the end of January, you’ve got an income statement, cash flow statement, and balance sheet for the month. Then rinse and repeat: Your aim is to have accurate, up to date financial reports for every month of the year.

These taxes won’t only make it easier to file your taxes at the end of the year. You’ll have all the information you need to make informed business plans—like deciding how to reinvest income, or where to reduce expenses. That could mean more profit for your business in the long run.

3. Put together a financial forecast

When you create a financial forecast, you look at how your business has performed in the past, then project that performance into the future. It helps you prepare for events to come, and see where your business will end up depending on which business moves you make. 

Once you’ve created a financial forecast, you can refer to it throughout the year to help you make business decisions. For instance, a forecast can help you identify your busy and slow seasons, and how investments in your business will pay off. That could affect everything from your operating hours during certain times of the year, to whether you take out a loan to expand your business.

This guide to financial forecasting is straightforward, and includes examples you can use to create your own forecasts.

By taking five straightforward steps at the end of the year, you can make sure next year goes smoothly. 

You definitely want to wrap up the previous year’s accounting neatly, and make sure everything adds up and makes sense. Then you’re ready to file your taxes, or have somebody, or a service like Bench, do it for you. I’m a huge fan of outsourcing, and creating systems in our businesses, (which is why I created Front Row CEO (launching in January).) Financial stuff doesn’t interest me, it gives me a headache, and it’s definitely one of those things I’d rather hand over to an expert.

Did I miss any year-end tasks? Let me know in the comments below.

*Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. That means that I get some sort of small reward for you sharing with you if you end up purchasing. I only recommend products and services that I personally use and love.

The Best Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals for Online Entrepreneurs

I have come to love Black Friday. No, not the “real life” Black Friday, where people stampede through doors at 4am hoping to grab a big screen TV. No no no no no. Not at all.

I like the ONLINE Black Friday.

If you are like I am, you spend a lot of your business dollars on online tools and services. So we might as well get the best deals possible, right?

I’ve spent the last several weeks compiling a list of the best Black Friday deals for online entrepreneurs.

I’ll be updating this list all the way through Cyber Monday (December 2), so make sure to bookmark this post and check back regularly.

Many of these links are affiliate links, which means that I will receive some sort of small reward for telling you about the product. But as always, I don’t recommend anything I don’t love, or use myself.

Haute Stock’s Black Friday Deal

HAUTE STOCK: I have loved Haute Stock since back in the day when they were “Haute Chocolate”. (This sale will begin on Friday, November 29th at 6am Eastern). Haute Stock is a membership site that provides gorgeous graphics for your sales and marketing. Membership looks like this:

• New images added weekly — new photos are added to the library every Monday so you can keep your visuals looking fresh!

• Seasonal images — Haute Stock adds new seasonal and holiday photos every year and they are the perfect addition to your seasonal marketing campaigns.

• Pre-made social media quote graphics — for those days when you need something to post, you can Haute Stock’s done-for-you quotes. With new quotes released every month, there is always something to post!

• Exclusive graphics packs — unlock patterns, textures, and icons to make stand-out graphics for your brand. 

• Unlimited downloads — download and keep any number of images you find on Haute Stock so you always have those photos available!

Kajabi rocks

Kajabi: Although Kajabi is not offering a Black Friday deal this year, they have quietly announced a couple of cool new goodies for new “Kajabians”.

First of all, Kajabi is a true all-in-one-business platform where I basically have my whole business. Here are all the things you can do with Kajabi:

• Websites

• Landing pages

• Courses

• Membership Sites

• Communities (forums)

• Webinars

• Pipelines (this is my favorite thing about Kajabi..need a freebie and funnel to go with it? Scheduling a summit? Just press a button (literally), and the whole pipeline, from optin page, to thank you page, and everything in between, is done for you.

• Email

• Automations

• Checkout Cart

And since I’m sure I’ve left something out, just look at this. It shows you everything Kajabi does.

And for all new “Kajabians”, they are offering unlimited phone support AND after 90 days, Kajabi will assign your own Kajabi expert who will work with you, via phone suppor t to help you make the most out of Kajabi.

And I’m going to sweeten the deal. If you sign up for Kajabi here, my team and I will work with you, via Zoom calls, to migrate to Kajabi, set everything up, and get things working smoothly for you.

And Kajabi ALWAYS offers 24/7 chat support. No matter how great a platform is, if you can’t figure out how to use it, who cares, right?

TEACHABLE: Not everyone wants to put everything under one roof. So while Kajabi is always my first choice, Teachable is perfect for the person who just wants a gorgeous, simple-to-use platform to create online courses. If that’s you, Teachable is perfect. And their Black Friday deal is fantastic. (It’s only for new Teachable users, though.) Check it out here.

APPSUMO: Let me just confess right now. I’m an Appsumo junky. If you aren’t an Appsumo user, my apologies for introducing you to this addictive site. Appsumo is a purveyor of discounted bright and shiny business tools. You can get extremely good deals here on just about anything and everything that relates to online business. So make sure to click here and get alerted when they announce what is sure to be a bunch of deals worth gobbling about.

Don’t be stressed!!! My friend Anthony Korahais is a master in Qigong and Tai Chi and is offering this amazing free course Relieving Holiday Stress with Qigong -- CLICK HERE (It’s normally $67!)

What's the catch?

Anthony says “the catch is that you must solemnly swear to use these tools to create more kindness and open-heartedness in 2020.

Okay..fine. You don't HAVE to swear an oath. But I truly hope that you will use these tools, even if just for 2 minutes a day!

All of the lessons are short and sweet so you can jump around and pick whatever feels exciting. 

And I think you'll agree that these tools are PRACTICAL. 

You have until December 31st, but why wait when you could be using one of these tools 5 minutes from now?”

Lou Bortone is a video/YouTube expert. Recently he visited my group, Front Row VIP and presented a virtual video workshop and it rocked! When I saw this offer in my inbox, I knew I wanted to share it with you. Lou is awesome!

Bench is not having a Black Friday special (that I know of), but since I probably won’t be sending out a round-up like this again before the new year, I wanted to make sure and tell you about this amazing company. They are an online bookkeeping company based in Canada. It’s no exaggeration to say that this service has completely changed my business. Handling the financial stuff has never been my forte. But now, I actually LOVE logging in a looking at all of the beautiful reports inside of Bench. At any time I can log in and see exactly the state of my business. Every penny has been accounted for. Tax time is now a breeze.

And if your accounting is a tangled mess right now, they will go in and bring everything up to date. Then you can start fresh. I recommend this service to everyone. And I can’t think of a better thing to do for yourself and your business as we head into a new year (and new decade!)

MySocialBook is cool! You can print out your whole year of photos from Facebook, or Instagram. I used to do this every year, and then I forgot about, until I received a text today re: their Black Friday Promotion: For 40% off use code: TXT40PBF - Go to http://www.emotv.io/CmX6GH

Udemy has thousands of courses about every topic under the sun. Right now and through December 5th, they have courses for as little as $9.99.

I LOVE this software. It used to be called Brandquiz.io. Now it’s called involve.me. It creates gorgeous, interactive forms (like Typeform), landing pages, calculators, surveys, quizzes and even payments. This is a great deal.

Several of my clients use Dubsado. It’s a super robust platform that is perfect for agencies. They are offering a great deal right now. There’s a free trial, too.

Have you found any Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals I need to know about? Tell me in the comments!

How to Create a Successful Online Business in a Niche That Has Nothing To Do with Business

Miriam is an artist and small business owner. She is always crafting plans for her business. She has greatly evolved her art making business and now design products with her art that has a more modern and contemporary vibe.

After 911 she jumped ship and left her fancy job on Wall Street to be an artist.

But she kicked the "starving artist" persona straight to the curb and has proven that you can absolutely have a successful online business without teaching business stuff.  

Miriam suggests to have your own site with your outstanding brand and messaging - it’s a way that you don't have to compete with Etsy’s (and other bigger markets) lower prices so you can offer something that's very exclusive and very high-end and personal.

When she first started her business and doing Facebook ads, just targeting the right audience makes the difference. The next thing she did was putting a video series together with her launch and that worked really well with her audience.

For the people who are coming to her for the art classes, she gives them a step by step on how to learn a painting process. Her philosophy is that they shouldn't be learning how to copy a project, but how to learn a process.

She invests in her business - in learning, support and coaching. These are just necessary steps to scale the business. When she invests to things/people/course, she uses this formula: Is the nudge going to bring me in x number of people? What is my break-even on it?

She suggests the book Overdeliver: Build a Business for a Lifetime Playing the Long Game in Direct Response Marketing by  Brian Kurtz

One of the things that made her stand out to her audience is by sending them snail mail. She said that it is something that really all of us should be considering. Recently, she sent out a hundred mail pieces and costs her about a hundred dollars and she made about $6,000 on it. 

“Sometimes these things that we do, it may not get you that intended result , but then it has a ripple effect later down the line” - one client of Miriam that received the snail mail didn't take her up on her particular offer that was mentioned in the mail but joined her other course. The client also mentioned that it made her feel special to get something in the mail and says that she wanted to be coached from like someone like Miriam, to learn from her - on how to treat customers.

We couldn’t resist: The Real Housewives dish!

RESOURCES

Book recommended by Miriam, "Overdeliver" by Brian Kurtz 

Miriam's book "A Writer's Sketch" 

Miriam's podcast: The Inspiration Place 

Real Housewives Barbies on Instagram 

Real Housewives "Watch What Crappens" podcasts 

The Ultimate List of My Favorite Freelancers

If you are like every other entrepreneur on the planet, sometimes you find yourself bogged down doing work you know you shouldn’t be doing but you justify it because you tell yourself…

…it’s easier if you do it yourself. By the time you had to explain it to someone, you’d already be done.

Or maybe you don’t even know where to find someone to do that particular task and even if you did, you’d rather not spend that money.

But here’s the truth; there’s a very skilled labor force out there that is not only ready to work with you, but also incredibly affordable.

If you’ve been at this online business thing for a while, you’ve likely already heard of Fiverr.com or Upwork.com.

If not, let me be the bearer of life-changing news…

Fiverr.com is a place where freelancers offer their services (called “gigs”), some for as little as five dollars (hence, the name). You can’t believe the wide range of services offered there!

Upwork is a similar platform, but usually a bit pricier.

I’ve been using both services since 2013, and I’ve compiled a list of my favorite freelancers for you.

I have worked with each of these freelancers (except for those indicated) and can recommend them enthusiastically but obviously, I am not making any guarantees.

FIVERR CONTRACTORS

Podcast Editing/Production

DANIELABENDROTH: I’ve hired Daniel many time to edit my podcasts and he’s done a great job.

VUKJOVANOVIC23: Hired once for podcast editing and he did a great job.

Professional Voice Over Artists

bill_mehner recorded a podcast intro for me and did excellent work. Ver professional and polished.

Articulateasian: Hired him to record a professional intro for a podcast. Very good work.

Johnnystone created a podcast intro for me. Great work.

Kiffinyjean is the first voiceover artist I ever hired. Great work 

PaulKStadden can do anything voice! I hired him to do 3 commercials for my podcast and they were great. He will actually write the commercial, record it, add music, everything. His background is in radio where he used to write and produce commercials!

Graphics

Karinavoitenko created a custom content calendar for me to share with my community. It was less than $20 and truly excellent quality.

Jingle Writers/Composers

Soulriter: Wrote an original jingle for my podcast. While I haven’t used it yet, you gotta admit, it’s pretty groovy.

Rapper_man  created an amazing original rap song for my husband’s 50th birthday and made a video to go with it. He was fantastic

Jcattoor composed original background music for my Social Media Summer Camp I paid $5.50 but it looks like the price as gone up a lot since then!

Promo Videos

eighth_studio created a professional video promo for one of my courses. I never used it, but I think it’s cute, albeit a little corny and too long. 

Royaljatt created a fun video bumper for one of my courses. 

Coding/Templates

Saidulemarketer created a custom coded email template in ConvertKit for me. 

Transcription (these days, I use temi.com or rev.com for transcription, but lots of people still like to hire real transcriptionists.)

Mhhann provided high quality transcription 

Theexecutive great work

Social

Jamesdalton will proved a 1000 quotable tweets for your niche for $5

Misc/Silly

Virtues turned me into a Simpsons character which I use as my profile pic on my messenger bot. 

This amazing gentleman created this special custom video for my Taco Tuesday posts in my Facebook Group.

Squeezeboxhero created the most hilarious singing telegram for a friend of mine who was sick

This one is from 2013. I had just discovered Fiverr and was clearly out of control. Dog rings bell with my logo nearby. Here it is. If you’d like one, looks like the dog is still busy ringing people’s bells. Hire him here.

Book Editing and Layouts

Grammargal is a great book editor and proofreader 

lyubomyr Did a superb formatting my book for Kindle and for print.

Fiverr Gigs That Have Caught My Eye (but I have never purchased)

Logo design

Mockups for courses

Stop Motion animation

Video Editing

More Video editing

Brush calligraphy logo

Google Tag Manager Expert

Really cool portrait art (would make a great gift for a client)

UPWORK

Debra Boggs wrote my resume when I applied to be a professor.

Nata created a slide deck for an important presentation. Since then, I’ve referred people to her but I think her rate is higher now than it used to be.

Avadhesh is a Kajabi expert. I have not worked with, but several of my clients have, and I refer him often.

Obviously, I’ve just scratched the surface here.

When you go to do search for your own freelancers on Fiverr and Upwork, filter by the variables that are most important to you: language, ratings, rate, etc. I always look for the most highly rated freelancers who also have a lot of reviews.

If you have a freelancer you’d like to share with me and my readers, please put it in the comments below.

I’ll be updating this list as I find more freelancers I love, so make sure and subscribe to the updates below.