Free for subscribers

The First Sale Checklist.

Twelve things to get right before you try to sell anything. Work down the list and stop when you run out of time. The ones at the top move the most.

This works wherever you sell: Fiverr, BeatStars, Instagram, or a client who found you through a friend. My examples come from Fiverr because that is where I sell. Eight years, 2,019 orders, 982 clients, $127k. None of it is theory.

  1. 01

    Sell one thing until it sells

    Beats, mixing, mastering, drum kits, topline writing. A producer offering five services looks like a producer nobody has paid yet. Pick the one you finish fastest and hide the rest until it brings money in.

  2. 02

    Name the artist you want

    "For all artists" reaches nobody. "For drill artists who record on their phone" pulls one person who feels like you made it for them. Widening later takes an afternoon. Starting wide is what keeps producers at zero for years.

  3. 03

    Give them something to judge in ten seconds

    Nobody listens to two minutes before deciding. Find the eight seconds where your beat turns and lead with those. If the best part lands at 1:20, cut a version that opens at 1:20.

  4. 04

    Price it so you would still take the job at 3am

    At $5 an order you resent the buyer by the second revision, and it shows in how you write back. Charge what gets you opening the DAW without an argument in your head. My early prices were too low, and the buyers they pulled in made every order longer.

  5. 05

    Pick one place and show up there

    Producers spread across four platforms post twice a month on each and look abandoned on all of them. One platform you post to every week beats four you touch when you remember.

  6. 06

    Write your license in two lines

    Lease: they release it, you can sell it again. Exclusive: they own it, you pull it everywhere. Two lines, written before anyone asks, end most license arguments before they start.

  7. 07

    Check the money can actually reach you

    PayPal, Wise, Payoneer, or the platform's own payout. Find out which one clears in your country before someone tries to pay you, not the afternoon a buyer is waiting. Producers lose a first sale to a payout method that does not work where they live.

  8. 08

    Promise a delivery time you can beat every time

    Say three days, deliver in two, and you get the message that starts a repeat client. Say one day, miss it once, and that late delivery follows you for months.

  9. 09

    Ask for everything before you start

    Reference tracks, tempo, mood, deadline. Every detail you forgot to ask about turns into a message, and every message costs you a day. Write the questions once and send the same list to everyone.

  10. 10

    Reply within the hour, even with nothing useful to say

    Most first sales go to whoever answered first. "I'll listen tonight and come back to you" holds the buyer. Silence sends them to the next producer in the search results.

  11. 11

    Ask for the review while they still love it

    The moment someone says the beat is exactly what they wanted is the moment to ask. A week later they have moved on to mixing. My first ten reviews sold more than any change I made to the beats.

  12. 12

    Give them a reason to come back

    One line when you deliver: tell them what you would make for them next. Selling again to someone who already paid you costs nothing. Chasing a new stranger every time is why producers stay at one sale a month.

Worked through it?

The courses go past the checklist into what to charge, how to answer buyers so they order, and how to turn one sale into a repeat client.