6
1 Comment

How I got my first 1k on Upwork (and How you can too)

I just crossed 20k on Upwork after 10 months working on the platform. So I figured I may share my experience along with some advice on how to reach your first 1k too.

When I started on Upwork, I made a few proposals, and then I gave up. I told myself that this is a saturated marketplace, that it's filled with cheap freelancers who would clean your car for $1 (which is not 100% wrong).

But then, I decided to man up. I wanted to give it a try for real. A real shot. I made a lot of proposals and each one of them was personalized to that job. So please, if you're trying to get into this platform, don't copy and paste. Clients will spot that and some of them will ask you to write a funny word like "SpongeBob SquarePants* in your application to demonstrate that you've read it. Okay okay, SpongeBob isn't a funny word.

I got interviewed by some clients. And by interview, I mean clients have responded and we discussed the project via Upwork Chat. I generally hate video/audio calls. I'm an introvert who wants to get stuff done you see.

One of them had a certain Upwork problem. He wanted to increase the conversion rate for an exit-intent popup. I've seen the problem so I sent him: Hi, the problem with your .. is ...". It was 100% focused on the problem at hand, not me. So we talked and he decided to give it shot. I'm not going to lie, when he sent me the offer (which is the Upwork way to initiate the contract), I felt like it was a golden Buzzer. Literally.

I started working and billing by the hour (which I don't do anymore). I charged $15/month which is not a lot but it's alright for the first project. The project scope grew over time. For that first contract with that client, I worked 26 hours and earned $382.50.

By the way, this wasn't my first job. Not even my first job as an independent designer. But being able to make money on Upwork was so cool. I continued searching for other jobs and I started a second contract with the same client with a new hourly rate: $20/hour. The nice thing here is that the client itself suggested it in the second contract.

While working on that project, I got a new job. I've designed and implemented a landing page for $150 with a nice client. I know $150 is nothing, but I just wanted a good review to build a trustworthy profile there. Today, I would charge at least $1200 for that same task. This landing page client wanted 2 other landing pages. I explained to him that $150 is a very small budget (even though I'm trying to get a review). He agreed to raise the price to $250/page and here you go. I reached $1000 in the first month thanks to the combination of these projects.

How can you make your first $1000 on Upwork?
Search with less competition. When searching for jobs, I started looking at jobs with less than 5 proposals. This way, I have very small competition.

Do not submit proposals to jobs with a very small budget (less than $100) It's true I worked for $150 but I wouldn't work for less. If a client sees that you have some $20 projects, they wouldn't respect your expertise.

Give it some time. I dedicated 2 weeks to searching for jobs. And although I started my first contract in my first week, it was beneficial to me to have that commitment. So don't give up too soon.

Proposals are not a way to get a job at Google so keep it conversational. No "dear sir" and "yours truly". If you succeed in initiating the conversation with the client, you're one step away from getting the job.

Check your Upwork. You can miss a message from a client and if you don't respond fast (for example after two days), you're probably eliminated. Generally, Upwork will send you an email to notify you by the way.

What I wish I knew and what I got wrong on Upwork
The standard advice you may hear is that you need to charge less in the beginning. I can tell you that after analyzing (which is a cool word for stalking) a lot of Upwork profiles, I understood that this is wrong. Some people have made $60k, $70k, and even $100k on Upwork from their first year. They succeeded because they started with great positioning. They demanded more.

And of course, this isn't for everybody. If you don't have enough experience doing what you provide there, you probably can't charge much especially in your first project. But if you have high-quality work examples (especially with specific success numbers), you can generate revenue much faster.

And this is something I'm focusing on right now. By the way, more than half of the revenue I made on Upwork is from the last 2 months only (around $10k). TLDR; if you have what it takes, don't start with cheap pricing. I still have a lot of tips to share for people who are interested in starting their Upwork journey.
So if you're interested in my rants, you can join my newsletter: https://sendfox.com/belhassenchelbi6

PS: I don't intend to make 4 figure courses on how to make money on Upwork. But I got sick of people giving advice without them being on the platform. That first guy on Youtube for the Upwork keyword? he's a scammer. However, there are some good people who actually have things to say.

Anyway, I'm just saying this to tell you that I don't want to make millions and zillions from teaching people how to make money. I'd probably create a small course that is either free or for $20 or so in the future though. Still not sure.

Much love Indie Hackers❤️

  1. 1

    I would think about looking into other ways of finding clients. Upwork is just like you said so crowded with people who are willing to work for peanuts.

    I tried it for a while, but have moved towards more traditional brokers and now make about €15k / month freelancing. And the work is steady and a lot less stressful.

Trending on Indie Hackers
Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 29 comments My Top 20 Free Tools That I Use Everyday as an Indie Hacker 18 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments How I Launched FrontendEase 13 comments