37-year-old earns between $7,000 to $8,000 monthly on Fiverr

ike Burton, a 37-year-old Houston resident always had a passion for rap music but never considered turning it into a career. Despite working a variety of jobs like pizza delivery, and a customer service representative at financial services firm Aon Hewitt while studying and after graduating from the University of Houston in 2011, he always found time to make music.

In December 2016, Burton was let go from his job, which provided the opportunity for him to pursue his passion for rap music on Fiverr, a website where people sell their skills. He offered to write 20-30 second poems for $5 and eventually began to write original raps for individuals and businesses. Today, he works 40-45 hours per week on Fiverr and earns between $7,000 and $8,000 per month and has earned a total of about $500,000 from the website.

Burton has had a wide range of requests, from kids needing raps for history projects, men needing rhymes for their boyfriends, to a cheerleading DJ looking to revitalize their work. He even has a strong following in Norway where families hire him to write original English raps for Christian-affirming 15-year-olds.

To keep up with the ever-changing world of music and hip hop, he has recently focused on revamping the look and feel of his services on the site and raised his prices, now charging a minimum fee of $65 per 30-second verse.

He now plans to share his knowledge with others by creating a series of YouTube videos on how to write poetry, starting with free content and eventually monetizing it. His advice for those looking to pursue similar opportunities is to “pay attention to what people seem to connect with”.