What do high–earners on Upwork have in common? A good business plan, professional look, and abundance of knowledge. So if you want to become successful as well, read this article to learn everything you need to know.
The freelance dream has been occupying people’s minds for a while now. The possibility of working on your own terms, whenever and however you want, preferably on tropical islands, is tempting. What more to want?
The rising popularity of freelancing has been reflected in statistics, especially since job security has been shaken by the pandemic. So people are searching for the best venues to start their own businesses, and the market has risen to the occasion, creating platforms like Fiverr, Toptal, or Upwork.
What is Upwork?
Upwork is an American freelance platform of a bidding type, that serves as a bridge between individuals and businesses. Its mission is to promote a freelance lifestyle with a potential of high income as well as freedom. To cite straight from the source: “Upwork’s vision (is) to create economic opportunities so people have better lives.”
Upwork’s roots go back to 1998 with founding of the Elance, which was merged later on with oDesk and ultimately has been rebranded as Upwork in 2015. Today its revenue is estimated at 374 million dollars, which is a 24.31% raise from the year before, and is considered to be one of the most popular freelance sites. Among its clients are Microsoft, Glassdoor and Nasdaq, which make up the 30% of Fortune 500 that used Upwork to find freelancers for their business.
Is Upwork free?
While signing up, there are two memberships you can choose from — basic (free) and plus ($14.99 a month). It’s possible to upgrade and downgrade any time you want. The main benefits to upgrading are: larger number of Connects (website tokens used to submit proposals to potential clients), bigger visibility, and customized profile URL, among others.
If you choose the basic membership, does it mean you don’t have to pay for anything? Not exactly. Like any freelance platform, Upwork charges you with a fee, no matter the membership or the chosen payment method (although it might add additional charges). The fee rates differ depending on the price threshold, encouraging freelancers to form long–term business relationships with their clients, since the higher the bill, the lesser the fee. So if you have already earned $2,000 from one client and they hire you again for a $400 gig, the fee will be lowered, because the total amount earned will be $2,400.
Is Upwork Safe?
Upwork is a legitimate website that has their own Global Data Processing Agreement, which complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). It ensures that you’re informed about any data being collected to which you can choose to agree to and that any of your personally identifiable information is fully or partially anonymized.
Moreover, any sensitive information is encrypted using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, while access to the platform itself is encrypted by Transport Layer Security (TLS).
How does Upwork Work?
Upwork is a bidding site. Clients, who are private individuals, as well as Enterprise Clients who represent companies, post jobs that freelancers can search for through a filtered search bar. Some are fixed–price gigs, some are hourly rate types of contract. If freelancers are interested, they can submit a proposal, which requires a number of available connections (from one to six). Proposal is basically a cover letter with the offered rate included.
The number of bids is visible to anyone, while people who have the plus membership can see the highest, lowest and average bid, thus giving them a better insight into the competition.
If a client likes any of the proposals, they will invite chosen professionals for an interview. They might also ask for a paid test project (doing anything for free is forbidden). After that, they will choose the candidate that seems like the best fit and offer them a job.
Clients also have the ability to invite freelancers and agencies to apply to their offers, some of which might be set to private.
Who can Sign Up on Upwork?
Anyone who has an email can make a profile — the tricky part is to get approved.
Upwork, but also many other freelancing sites — like Fiverr, Guru or Freelancer — are overflowing with users. Many of them are starting out as freelancers with no experience, trying out their luck in a new place. Unfortunately, this lowers the overall quality of offered services. Fiverr is considered to be a hub for novices willing to do anything for low prices, thus being a stellar example of a typical “race to the bottom”. There is also the matter of cutting all the possible, sometimes even fundamental, corners in the development process for quick cash as well as copyright infringement. This results in unsatisfied clients that take their business elsewhere.
With Upwork’s aim to attract Fortune 500 companies, they must have true professionals that deliver high–quality work. That’s how the application comes into play: Upwork wants to make sure its users are up to the challenge.
Show Yourself In The Best Light
You need to look professional, even if your imposter syndrome tries to tell you otherwise. For your profile picture, select a high–quality photo with a simple background and good light. Don’t worry about whether you look attractive — that’s not the point. If you’re not sure what will get the job done, look at existing profiles of Top Rated freelancers or check out Upwork’s official guide on profile pictures. If none of your photos resemble the shown examples, consider hiring a professional photographer to do the job right.
Paint Yourself As A Professional Should
Since there’s plenty of competition, you can’t describe yourself in a vague way. If you’re a writer, you need to say a little bit more than that to stand out (even if you do work primarily as a generalist). You need to be specific about what you do — are you a SEO copywriter, technical writer or an ebook writer? If you do write ebooks, what do you specialize in — medical texts, healthstyle advice, travel guides? Being concrete makes sure the right people will find you. Being too specific, on the other hand (like restricting your travel guides to Asia), might make potential clients reject you on that basis.
Next thing to include is your education and experience. If you lack the conventional, don’t worry. We can work around that.
Education doesn’t have to mean a degree. It can be courses (either paid for or free), programs and mentorships. If you’re entirely self–taught, describing your journey is also a good practice (as well as being a proof of your incentive, time–management skills and discipline). If you want to go a step ahead, you can briefly describe what you have specifically learned from each. This will show that the knowledge you have gained has really settled in.
Showcase Your Talent
Each profile has a portfolio section that shouldn’t be neglected. It’s a real proof of your experience and a verification of what you have stated in the written part of your profile. If you’re afraid you don’t have enough good projects, we have some good news.
More doesn’t mean better. You don’t need ten different portfolio pieces to look good: just show those that truly represent your best work. Don’t display those you aren’t sure of or which are simply average.
Treat them as case studies. Show what problems or issues your client had and how you’ve managed to resolve them. Support it with data if you can and don’t forget to share testimonials of your past employer or your collaborators.
Show your process. Maybe the result wasn’t that great — perhaps due to a low budget or your collaborators’ efforts — but your unorthodox way of thinking made you stand out. Don’t be afraid to show your research notes, drafts or sketches.
Present them in an aesthetically pleasing way. That means no bad quality screenshots, unreadable fonts, stock images or experimental forms. Keep it simple, legible and understandable. Look up professional portfolios for inspiration.
Write A Killer Proposal To Secure Jobs On Upwork
While some clients will be searching specifically for you, some will be posting jobs instead. And it will be in your interest to answer as many of them as you can, using connections available to you. If you run out of the free ones, you can buy bundles of 10, 20, 40, 60, and 80. Each connection costs $0.15.
To bid on a job, you need to rate your services and send a proposal. While the budget can be negotiable, and so, it won’t necessarily destroy your chances, writing a good proposal is what will be directly responsible for your success.
Each proposal should be customized to some extent. Remember that sending the same proposal to many clients can result in a ban. And even if that wasn’t the case, one template that fits them all is too vague and generic — which won’t help you at all to get invited into an interview. You need to convince your potential employer that you’re the best person for the job. How to manage that?
