From Fiverr to Wall Street: How I Got Invited to the NYSE

My Freelancing Story: From Managing Orders Online to Standing on Wall Street's Most Iconic Stage.

I never imagined that something like this could happen to me in my freelancing career, especially from simply selling my services on Fiverr.

I started my journey back in 2014 when I decided to give Fiverr a chance. I was driven by the idea of making money online and having the freedom to work from my laptop. Inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk's relentless "hustle mode" mentality, I accepted the challenge to start hustling and scale the unscalable.

In 2017, I had the incredible opportunity to meet Gary at the Brand Minds Conference in Bucharest. I even got the chance to ask him a question and personally thank him for the motivation and inspiration he gave to me. That moment was later featured on his YouTube channel, and you can watch it here.

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How It All Started: My First Gig and First Buyer on Fiverr.

I discovered Fiverr online and was inspired by the many sellers who had large number of orders in queue and a consistent flow of clients. One seller, in particular, stood out to me was Wayne, known as ozzieuk on Fiverr. I was amazed by the number of orders he had in his queue and the volume of reviews on his profile. He was already a Top Rated Seller at the time and seeing his success made him a role model for me.

Honestly, I did not have any specific skills at that time. However, I had some experience creating basic logos from running and managing my gaming community focused on Counter-Strike 1.6. This was when I was 14 years old and it was there that I learned how to create simple banners and logos using Adobe Photoshop.

With that experience in mind, I thought it could be a great starting point since I already had a basic understanding of the creative process. To be honest, I was just incredibly motivated to start. Only two weeks after creating my first logo design gig, I landed my very first order.

Looking back, it is a bit embarrassing to admit that I used the buyer's username when communicating with them. But hey, we all learn from our experience.

Here it is, the very first logo I created! 😄

I am not sure if the client ever used my design on their t-shirts, but for me, it was a life-changing experience. This order showed me that I could work with someone I had never met and do it entirely online. It was a moment of realization that something much bigger could be built from this freelancing work.

At that time, I was not even thinking about the money. I believe many successful sellers felt the same way because, in the beginning, it is all about the excitement of landing your first orders, receiving those first reviews and getting these push notifications on your phone that says, "You received an order from X buyer."

Once you get into the Fiverr game, it becomes addictive. You feel motivated to keep going, aiming to reach higher levels and eventually achieve Top Rated Seller or Fiverr Pro status. You also start obsessing over where your gig ranks in search results, checking it from different devices and locations.

I remember going to the Apple Store just to open Fiverr.com and check where my gig was ranked. I know it sounds crazy, but maybe you have done it too.

Later on, I began experimenting with different types of gigs. Eventually, I found my niche offering social media marketing services. I focused specifically on growing clients' Instagram accounts and creating and posting content for them.

From 2018 to 2019, I had an average of over 600 orders in queue each month across all of my gigs combined.

It was not something extremely unique, but it was definitely unusual for many freelancers on the platform. Besides that, I had a passion for public speaking and organizing events and meetups. In 2018, I organized several events in collaboration with Fiverr.

One of the biggest highlights was the three events I hosted together with Fiverr in Germany. I documented the entire journey in a YouTube video.

In 2019, just before Fiverr's IPO, I received this email:

At first, it was hard to believe. I thought it was just another promotional email or possibly even a scam since I never expected to receive something like this. But soon, that disbelief turned into reality. Just a few weeks later, I was on my way to New York City to celebrate one of the biggest milestones in Fiverr's history — their IPO.

This moment felt especially meaningful. It made me reflect on all the late nights and sacrifices I had made along the way. I realized why I had chosen to hustle so hard, skipping parties and fun times at university to focus on completing $5 projects. Those $5 gigs eventually turned into $50, $100, and even $500+ orders.

To be honest, there were many moments when I wanted to quit Fiverr because it felt like nothing was working. In fact, I did quit for an entire year in 2020 but that is a story for another time.

How I Almost Missed the Opening Day at the NYSE

On June 13th, 2019, at 8:00 am, I was supposed to be at the front door of the NYSE. If you are even a few minutes late, there is a high chance you will not be allowed to enter. To avoid any possible stress, I decided to leave my hotel room early at 7:00 am to grab a coffee first.

Around 7:20 am, I unexpectedly ran into Liron, who was the Director of International Expansion at Fiverr at the time and later became the Head of Global Brand Marketing. Since we had not seen each other for a while, we stopped to catch up. During our chat, he suddenly said, "I hope you remember that you are not allowed to wear jeans at the NYSE."

I froze for a moment. I told him I planned to wear dark jeans, thinking they would be fine. But he quickly clarified that jeans are jeans, and the rule was strict — no jeans allowed.

Panic set in. There were no clothing stores open until 9:00 am, and I only had 40 minutes to figure something out. Fortunately, Liron mentioned that there was a shop nearby that opened at 7:30 am and that they would most likely have pants. Without wasting a second, I headed straight there, hoping for the best.

At 7:30 am, I realized I had left my phone in the hotel room. Panic mode activated. I sprinted back to the hotel, grabbed my phone and then rushed straight to the store.

When I arrived, I discovered that they were actually opening at 7:45 am — not 7:30 am as I had expected. Every second felt like an hour. As soon as the doors opened, I rushed inside. There was a lady at the front who gave me a confused look, probably wondering why I was so stressed. I quickly asked, "Where can I find dark pants? I need them for the NYSE, and I have less than 15 minutes to make it there."

She pointed me toward the pants section, and I grabbed the very first pair I saw without even thinking twice. I headed straight to the cashier, but of course, another issue came up. The total was around $50, but for some reason, my card kept getting declined. I tried it multiple times, but it just would not go through.

At that point, I had no other options — or so I thought. Then, I reached into my jeans back pocket and, to my surprise, found a $100 bill. I have no idea how it ended up there since I almost never carry cash, but at that moment, it felt like pure luck. That $100 bill saved me from a complete disaster.

This experience taught me a valuable lesson: always carry a little cash on you. Technology is great, but it can fail you at the worst possible moment.

It was 7:55 am and I was running like crazy to make it on time. To make things worse, it was pouring rain and I was completely soaked. I arrived just barely a minute before 8:00 am. There were a lot of people outside, but they had already gone through security. Stepping into the NYSE entrance felt a lot like going through passport control when arriving in the U.S. — strict checks, serious faces and that sense of importance in the air.

Once I made it through security, we all entered the lobby area. People started talking to each other, and I began looking around to see if I could recognize anyone.

Luckily, I spotted a few familiar faces, including Oren, who I had met during my visit to the Fiverr office in Tel Aviv. At the time, he was an Education Manager at Fiverr. I also recognized some of the other sellers. It felt special to be there, surrounded by people who had shared similar journeys. Honestly, I still could not believe it was really happening to me.

My Journey to the Balcony of the NYSE

When we entered the NYSE, there was a beautiful gathering area where everyone could network. There was a large buffet filled with food and later on, people took turns speaking on stage.

At one point, Micha, Fiverr's CEO, stepped onto the stage to address the crowd. He thanked everyone for being there and acknowledged how special this moment was for the Fiverr community. But then, he said something that left me completely speechless. He announced that he wanted the sellers to be on the balcony ringing the bell.

At some point, we started moving into the actual stock exchange floor as the moment was approaching to officially announce that Fiverr was going public. The atmosphere was electric. TV crews, NYSE staff, and correspondents were all getting ready to go live.

As we walked toward the balcony, we were joined by John, who was the Chief Operating Officer of the NYSE at the time and later became its Vice Chairman. He started chatting with us sellers, asking about the services we provided. When it was my turn, I told him that I offered social media marketing services. His curiosity grew, so I shared that, on average, we managed over 600 clients on a monthly basis.

He was visibly surprised and asked me about my team. I explained that, at the time, I had an office in Russia and another in the Philippines, with a team of 20 people working together. What made the moment so special was seeing how even people at that level were genuinely inspired by my journey and the work I had built. When John started introducing me to his colleagues, saying, "This is Vasily, and he manages 600+ clients every month," it was an unforgettable moment that made me feel truly proud.

When you step onto the balcony, there is a wall where people can leave notes as a memory of their visit. I decided to write my name, sign it, and add the hashtag #hustle.

Finally, when the bell rang, we were all standing on the balcony, cheering and celebrating this unforgettable moment. It felt surreal to be part of such a historic event. After that, many of the sellers started buying Fiverr stock through their mobile apps and were constantly checking the stock price as it moved.

Later on, we returned to the main room with the stage, where I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Brent, who was the Vice President of Community Engagement at the time. We wrapped up the day with a networking party where the entire Fiverr crew and sellers came together to celebrate.

I hope you found this story interesting and I truly appreciate you taking the time to read it.

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Kind regards,
Vasily