Where to offer 3D printing consultations?
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Hi,
a few weeks ago I went on fiverr.com to get a 2nd opinion on a hardware issue I had with a printer I was repairing.
I noticed that while there are many "i will print/ design for you" offers, the "i will fix your printer" or "i help you find the best slicer settings" offers were much rarer.
Just for fun I put up a gig myself titled "i will help you fix your 3d printer" and first nothing happened, but then with the last month I got 8 DMs from which I was able to convert 5 into jobs. 3 of them just concerned bedlevelling and the other ones took a bit of time in a video call but I was able to help most of them.
I priced the gigs at 10$ which doesn't make this a cash cow, but if these jobs come in steadily it could be a source to finance the hobby.
**Of course I would love to post my offerings to other freelancer platforms and there are many, but most of them (like upwork) are very focussed on software dev or marketing and design.
I wonder of some of you have tried something similar or can recommend other freelance platforms where one could post 3d printing help as a gig?**
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@sungod3k I've got a YouTube channel which helps a bit. You have to offer the help for free and rely on people's good will to support you via PayPal or Patreon donations. Forget any monetisation from YT itself unless you are going to put a great deal of effort into it to generate the requisite number of watch hrs and subscribers. I make around $15 a month which works out at less than 50 cents per hour worked. So it's mostly a labour of love and admittedly, it's more like a blog than a "how to do this" channel.
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@deckingman true, i will probably make some videos for specific purposes and to say it with gary vee "be a media company first" makes sense.
but as you said. thats a whole lot a different work thats not paid well
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@sungod3k It could pay well. AFAIK, Tom Sanladerer doesn't have a "proper job", and there are one or two others who's social media output is their main source of income. But it's a huge amount of effort - you have to do all the social media, not just YT. And there is a lot of competition out there nowadays so you'll need to find a "niche". I think your main problem will be finding people prepared to part with cash when the answers are all out their somewhere and for free.
