When it comes to the gig economy, people looking to earn a bit of extra cash have a ton of options. Crafty with needlepoint? You might make things to sell on a platform like Etsy. Creative with a turn of phrase? You could make extra cash writing social media posts or other content for clients. Have some extra time and know every road in your city? Uber or Lyft driving might be a good option.
But did you know that there’s a way you can earn extra cash without doing much work at all? With Introducely, you can make money based solely on who you know and your willingness to introduce them to others!
To help you understand our platform, check out this in-depth comparison with another popular gig economy option: Fiverr.
What Is Introducely?
Whether your goal is to advance your career, grow your business, or enhance student learning, Introducely can help by providing trusted personal introductions to the right people.
The people that power Introducely are Requesters and Introducers. Requesters post requests for introductions and can offer rewards for introductions that meet their criteria. Introducers connect Requesters with people in their own networks and collect the reward.
What Is Fiverr?
Fiverr is a freelance marketplace that lets people sell all kinds of services online. Freelancers can create gigs that offer services ranging from content writing and editing to film making and psychic readings. They price the services according to their own business models and some basic Fiverr rules. People can hire them, and they earn payment for their work on gigs through Fiverr.
Introducely vs. Fiverr: Some Major Points to Consider
You can already see that Introducely and Fiverr are very different. But which one offers the easiest way to make money online? Keep reading for some details that can help you decide for yourself.
Setting Up an Account
The ease in setting up an account impacts how easy it is to make money with a gig economy site. If you have to spend hours setting up an account or invest any other resources into the effort, you’re losing money before you start making it.
Introducely Account Setup
Setting up your account with Introducely is super easy. All you have to do is:
- Sign up and create a quick profile.
- Verify your identity, which includes verification via Facebook and LinkedIn.
- Confirm your payment information.
Most people can sign up for Introducely in minutes and start earning right away.
Fiverr Account Setup
Setting up your account and starting to earn with Fiverr is more time consuming. First, you have to set up your profile to become a seller. Then you have to create and publish gigs. It’s a complicated enough process that Fiverr actually offers a series of videos to help people learn how to go from a new account to making money. Freelancers who are new to Fiverr can actually end up spending hours crafting a profile and setting up their gigs.
How Do You Earn on Each Platform?
What you have to do to earn money — and how much time and effort it might take — obviously impacts how easy it is to make an income on a side-job platform.
How You Make Money on Introducely
How much you make on Introducely depends on the size of your network and your resourcefulness in making introductions.
To earn money on Introducely, you search for introduction requests you can help with. The marketplace lists the most recent introductions so you can see if anything new is available, and you can also search for requests based on keywords.
For example, if you’re a geologist with a lot of contacts in the field, you might start by searching for things relevant to geology.
Once you find a request you think you can help with, respond by answering any questions or providing information about who you can make an introduction to. If your response is accepted, you simply introduce the Requester via the method of their choice. References can include in person, phone, text, email, social media or chat. Then, you get paid.
How You Make Money on Fiverr
To earn money on Fiverr, you complete gig work once someone agrees to buy your services. The process basically works as follows:
- You create gigs detailing various services you offer. You can add upgrades and options for buyers to choose that increase how much you can make from each gig.
- Interested buyers find your gig in the Fiverr marketplace and reach out to schedule work.
- You complete the work to client expectations.
- Once the work is approved, you get paid via Fiverr.
The process obviously includes you doing whatever work is promised in your gig, and that can take up your time and resources. For example, if you create a gig to edit film, you might charge $5 per minute of original film because it takes longer than a minute to edit 60 seconds of film. So, you might make $25 for editing a 5-minute film because you spend an hour or more on the work itself.
What Commission Does the Platform Take?
If a platform takes a chunk of what you earn, that reduces how much you make per hour. It also impacts how easy it is to make a good amount on a platform.
Does Introducely Charge a Commission?
No, Introducely doesn’t take any portion of the reward Introducers earn for an introduction. Requesters pay a small fee for successful introductions, and that’s how Introducely makes money and funds the platform. But Introducers keep 100% of their earnings.
Introducely also uses Stripe to process payments and deposit funds. Stripe does not charge any fees for deposits made from Stripe balances to bank accounts.
Does Fiverr Charge a Commission?
Yes, Fiverr charges a 20% commission across the board on all earnings. That includes tips clients might decide to pay you because you did such good work for them. So, if you build a gig charging $10 for a small task, you’ll only actually receive $8 in payment. Likewise, a gig worth $100 only results in $80 of payment to you.
Fiverr lets freelancers choose how to withdraw money from their Fiverr balance. Options include:
- PayPal
- Transfer to a Fiverr Rewards Card
- Direct deposit into a bank
Any fees associated with these methods are typically on the part of the financial organization you are transferring to, so you always want to read the fine print.
Do You Have to Market Yourself to Make Money?
One of the benefits of freelance and side-job platforms is that the platform is doing some of the heavy lifting to connect you with opportunities. But some platforms are better at this than others.
Do You Have to Market Yourself on Introducely?
No, you never have to worry about marketing yourself or your profile on Introducely. When you’re ready to earn some income making introductions, you simply log in and browse through available requests. Apply to the ones you can help with, and that’s it.
No sharing on social media. No paying to promote or feature your services. No worrying about getting ranked higher than the thousands of providers who are competing for the same gig. You simply have to answer questions to help the Requester understand you have access to the person they’re looking for.
Do You Have to Market Yourself on Fiverr?
The idea of a freelance marketing place like Fiverr is that you don’t have to spend as much time marketing yourself because you’re putting your services up where people are already looking for them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way.
If you have niche services, people on Fiverr may not be looking for them, and those who are looking may not know to look on Fiverr. And if you’re offering a common service everyone’s looking for, you’ll have a lot of competition on Fiverr. That means you might need to share your profile and Fiverr gigs on social media and worry about keywords and SEO to ensure your gigs are showing up well.
The Bottom Line on Introducely vs. Fiverr
Here are the main points from our comparison of Inroducely and Fiverr.
| Introducely | Fiverr |
| Time to set up account and start earning | Potentially minutes | Potentially hours |
| How easy the work is | Easy | Easy to difficult, depending on the services you provide |
| Platform commission | 0% | 20%, even on tips |
| Requirement to market yourself | N/A | May be required for success |
While the entire concept of the gig economy is that people can earn in ways that match their needs, talents and resources — and many people sign up for various platforms and make money on them all — the conclusion here is pretty clear.
When it comes down to making easy money without a lot of time and resource investment, Introducely is a much better option than Fiverr. Sign up today, verify your account and start making introductions to put easy cash in your pocket.