Hello! Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your business?

My name is Joel Young. I'm 40 years old and I'm from Cincnnati, OH.

I'm a professional voice actor (joelyoung.me) and Founder/CEO of JumpStart Video (jumpstartvideo.net).

Over the last 12 years, we have created more than 15,000 animated explainer videos for a world-wide customer base.

How did you start this business? Take us through the process.

Originally, I started doing voiceovers as a side-hustle to get out of debt.

After a few months of growth, I noticed that many of my customers were pairing my services with video.

So, I decided to begin teaching myself to create videos as well. This way, I could pair this service with my voiceover business.

I started out on a platform called Fiverr 12 years ago, and have grown to become one of the top 5 sellers all-time on the platform.

You have to treat selling on Fiverr like a legitimate business, because it is, it's something that's earning you money. People are paying for your services. That is always legitimate no matter what the dollar amount, if you can convince someone that it's valid to pay you for your services, your artistic ability, your talents, your time, whatever it is, if they're paying you for something, then it is significant. So never forget that.

I ran the business on my own for about 5 years. Then, a few more years with just me and a personal assistant.

What are your marketing strategies to get customers?

Using a platform like Fiverr, I didn't have to invest in marketing or advertising. I simply worked hard to optimize my sales pages and serve customers well so I could build a large number of positive reviews.

Good reviews lead to a higher place in their search results and more customers.

Working on a platform like this provided me with the opportunity to grow the business with little to no expenses; giving up a commission on each sale, rather than paying for marketing upfront to generate sales.

As I began investing in marketing later, I learned how expensive it can truly be.

As the business grew and I launched my own website, I began using Google Adwords, YouTube, and other social platforms to reach potential customers.

However, the ROI on most of these efforts is relatively low.

Our greatest source of new business is client referral. We currently spend very little on outside marketing.

Honestly, we don't approach our clients about referrals at all. It's just been a natural part of serving out clients well. Our business is very visual. So, when we create a video and do a great job, others will see that video and ask, "Who created that for you?" That natural evolution is what typically brings us referrals.

Because I’ve maintained good reviews over the years and have increased the quality of my services, Fiverr continues to bring new clients to me through the algorithms they’ve developed to connect quality buyers and quality sellers.

Over the years, many of these clients have become returning customers. I would say that 40 to 50 percent of my clients will come back if they viewed their first project with me as a successful one.

How does your business make money?

Our business model relies on single video sales.

Each video serves a unique purpose as an individual creative work. Our rates are currently $300 per 30 seconds of video, and that includes everything our customers need from scriptwriting, a professional voiceover, animation, and finishing.

Our plans for future expansion are simply to develop better relationships with long-term partners that are always in need of new video content.

The business currently generates about $750,000-$1,000,000 annually, with expenses coming in around 20-30% of that.

For the last 5 years I have had a small team of 3-5 people working with me. Monthly expenses typically hover between $10-20k.

Where can we go to lean more about you and your business?

You can check out JumpStartVideo.net for animated videos and joelyoung.me for voiceovers.