How To Freelance

Someone I know who's an IT veteran registered on Upwork and got a $60/hr project right out of the gate. He had done a very similar project in the past + when you talk to him, you have no doubt he knows this stuff inside and out. Real expertise and samples win every day.

Being able to learn quickly is one of the most important skills to quickly growing your career as a freelancer. I had no idea what I was doing when I started on #Upwork. Figured it out as I went. Learning new skills fast & pivoting is what brought me to where I am now.

If you're going to follow up with an Upwork client, please don't write "Hi" or "How are you?" and please do not add more periods than necessary. Instead, write "Hey Name, just following up." 2 times is probably the sweet spot, more than 3 is too much for sure.

Videos in Upwork proposals are great (I don't have access to the native feature yet, so I use Loom), but only if YOU are good on video. Do you normally make a good impression on video calls with clients? Then taking the time to record quick video proposals can make a huge difference. If not though, best to keep it to the written word.

I do sometimes give a discount on my Upwork rate

I highly recommend recording your initial Upwork client calls and then running the recording through an AI tool like Otter. Have a client right now who hired me and then disappeared for 3 weeks. Now that he's back, I barely remember what the project is even about - and the Upwork recording has expired. Not the first time it's happened. Clearly, I don't learn from my mistakes - but doesn't mean you can't 😅

Upwork client communication tip: If you need the client to email you or add you as a user to a platform, take the extra 2 seconds to type out your email again. Even if you've sent it before, you'll save them the time it takes to search for it in messages or their inbox.

Upwork's messages app sends you a phone notification like 15 minutes after you receive a message. I rely on my phone for urgent notifications, so I often miss important messages. By contrast, Fiverr sends you a notification the same second you receive the message. It's hilarious just how poorly done the messages app is like a decade since they launched it.

I bookmarked this page back in 2016 or 2017 and still use it to this day to compare different email versions. Obviously you can easily create one yourself, but why do it when @neilpatel already did? https://neilpatel.com/ab-testing-calculator/

Sometimes it's really strange what my ADHD brain decides to hyperfocus on. Yep, that's 40+ step Zapier automation. Knocked it out in basically one day.

Having more trouble finding clients lately. Obviously they're still there, so it's most likely an algorithm change. Hopefully I'll have some time to actually implement some profile changes I've been meaning to do for like 2 years now. But it's not completely dry out there:

Ok so I've been reporting on Upwork boosted profile ads in a positive way, but now that I take stock again, it's not looking as good. While I'm getting some invites and DMs from it, the quality of these leads is poor. So far, maybe one became a client and a halfbaked one at that. Take a look at the screenshot of my profile visits. I started ads on Aug 31 and have been running them continuously until recently. If I'm getting the same number of leads as before but now of a worse quality, the net result from these is negative. I just recently got my first good invite in a while that led to a new client. I also just turned off the ads. Coincidence?

You can email people all the useful content you want, but a sales email is still a sales email with all the negative repercussions for your audience. ... unless you send it ONLY to people you know 100% would be interested. Automated segmentation is your friend.

People keep asking me what industries are good to start freelancing in right now. I don't know guys. I'm an email marketer, I know my field only. But it doesn't take a lot of effort to go on Upwork and browse through the higher-paid job posts in different categories and see what's popular. Then do some research in chatgpt/google to learn more about it, keywords people use, etc, and do a finer search. Do the legwork yourself. That's what I had to do when I started.

When you're logging time for a client... don't be an idiot like me and make sure it's the right client. 🤦‍♂️ Trying to refund but the money already went to my bank and as I just found out, getting money back into your Upwork account is an adventure and a half.

Was going to actually offer some free advice in this Upwork proposal until I saw that the client was actually demanding it in the questions. So I reported it instead. What do you guys think? Right move or is this an OK thing to ask in a job post? P.S. I'm not "hungry" for any job, so that line ticked me off a bit too.

Here's another thing about Upwork reviews: you gotta pick the right time to ask for them. Client super happy with your recent work? Ask for a review right then. Unhappy client? If they don't close the contract, don't ask. A year later they're unlikely to leave any comment.

Finishing an Upwork project and the client is happy? Most clients don't know what to write in a review, so make sure to give them tips on what to include. What's most important depends on your industry, but results, quality of work, and professionalism are often a good bet.

The best email marketing doesn't feel like marketing. Second best: when it does feel like marketing, but it's welcome. Beyond this the effectiveness of your emails starts dropping precipitously.

You don't need to be a developer to freelance. You can learn one thing like website speed optimization and have enough clients to build a career. You don't need to be a marketer. You can learn a single tool (like Klaviyo) and have clients lining up to work with you. Employees are generalists. Freelancers are hired for their insane expertise in a narrow field. Even if you ARE a generalist, focusing your freelancer profile on something super narrow is the way you'll establish yourself on Upwork.