Mike Burton, 37 i always loved rapBut I never thought I could actually pursue it as a career.
While in school, after graduating from the University of Houston in 2011, he worked a string of jobs from delivering pizza. At Domino’s, a customer service representative for Aon Hewitt, a financial services company. But on the other hand, he always found time to make music. “It’s still something I do in my downtime, my free time, and on the weekends,” he says. “It never stops.”
In December 2016, Burton was fired from Hewitt.He’s long known that people were selling his rap writing skills fiber And I even dabbled in doing so myself. But the loss of his job was the impetus for Burton to take the site seriously. His first package had an offer that he would write a 20-30 second poem for $5.
Now based in Houston, Burton works full-time writing original raps for individuals and businesses on Fiverr. In the week he works 40-45 hours and typically in the month he earns $7,000-8,000. All in all, he made about $500,000 from this site.
This is how Burton was able to build the rap career he always wanted.
“I’m like an honorary Norwegian”
Burton first started as a rapper in 2015 with Fiverr.
“The first request I got was, ‘Why can’t I listen to Eminem, can my mom write me a rap?'” he says. However, he didn’t know what to do about it and ended up canceling the account.
In mid-2016, he decided to try his luck with the site again. Gigs started pouring in and he was gaining momentum by the time he decided to join the site full-time in December 2016.
These days, Burton’s writing spans a wide range of requests. A kid who needs a rap for a history project, a man who has to rhyme for his boyfriend, a cheerleading DJ who works to spice up a performer. “Shout out to Norway,” he says. There, his family hired him to regularly write original raps in English for 15-year-olds’ Christian confirmation.
“I have done so many things,” he says. “I’m like an honorary Norwegian.”
Next: Teach Others
Burton’s prices have risen steadily since he started the site. He now charges a minimum of $65 per 30-second verse. Recently, he has taken an interest in refreshing the look of the services on the site.
“With music and hip-hop, it changes so much that you hate someone for sounding outdated,” he says of redoing some of the package’s videos.
One of Burton’s new sources of income is teaching others how to do his job. Over the years, people have asked him to teach him how to write rhymes.
“I write every day and how I want to tell the story of how I come up with things and how I can do them,” he says. I’m planning to make a series of YouTube videos on the subject to walk you through the tutorials. Initially, this will be free content. Once you get used to this new medium, start thinking about how to monetize it.