Profile and proposals

[#1]

Are personal profile and agency profile both allowed by an individual freelancer? Do I need credits only to submit proposals in the beginning? Please clarify. I am new.

[#2]

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Hari P wrote:

Are personal profile and agency profile both allowed by an individual freelancer? Do I need credits only to submit proposals in the beginning? Please clarify. I am new.

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You mean connects. You always need connects. 

Since you already created an agency, not sure what your question is. You need to have more people in your agency, you can't have an agency with one person. 

[#3]

Actually, I have created a personal profile and an agency profile both.

This is an agency with one person only. I wanted to do projects under my company name so that I can hire professionals if the project is big enough. There is no employee in my agency right now.

What to do in this case?

Doesn't Upwork give free credits, in the beginning, to submit proposals and get started?

Please let me know. Thank you

[#4]

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Hari P wrote:

Actually, I have created a personal profile and an agency profile both.

This is an agency with one person only. I wanted to do projects under my company name so that I can hire professionals if the project is big enough. There is no employee in my agency right now.

What to do in this case?

Doesn't Upwork give free credits, in the beginning, to submit proposals and get started?

Please let me know. Thank you

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Again, they are called connects.

You don't have employees in an agency. You have other freelancers in an agency that all need to be separate freelancers on upwork. They will have to be hired separately by a client, you can't distribute the work at your end. You have to add other freelancers, otherwise you can't have an agency. 

You always have to be an individual freelancer first before you can create an agency. You pay a monthly fee for an agency and that includes connects, I think. Did you research everything  before jumping into this?

[#5]

Thank you, Martina. I'll speak to customer care to get more clarity and get started.

[#6]

Hi Hari,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I would like to let you know that you can be a freelancer, agency, and a client on Upwork. You will use the same account to log in to Upwork but will have separate user profiles. You will be able to easily switch between them as needed. You can find more information here. 

Are you referring to free agency Connects? If so please know that the Agency Plus plan does not include free Connects. Agency Plus is a monthly subscription for $20.00 (USD) per month that gives agencies access to build their team and purchase shared agency Connects for $0.15 (USD) per Connect. 

When you upgrade to an Agency Plus plan, you'll experience the following benefits:

• Build your agency with unlimited team members
• Customize your Agency Profile URL to highlight your business
• Be competitive with insight into competitor bids on jobs
• Engage and apply by purchasing shared agency Connects
• Keep your earnings confidential

Feel free to check this page to find a lot of useful articles that can help you get started as an agency. Let us know if you have further questions. 

[#7]

Hi Nikola,

Thank you for giving me so much information. Can you tell me if I get free connects as an individual freelancer? When I try to submit a proposal, Upwork automatically takes me to my agency profile.

Cant I submit a proposal as an individual freelancer when I have an agency profile also? I tried doing so, it automatically goes to the agency profile and it asks me to upgrade my account.

Thank you

- Hari

[#8]

Hi Hari,

Thank you for following up. Yes, each month, freelancers receive free Connects to help reach out to more clients. Freelancer Basic accounts receive 10 free Connects each month, and Freelancer Plusaccounts receive 70 Connects each month (including 10 FREE!). Learn more about Freelancer Plus accounts here. You can find more information about understanding and using Connects here. 

Regarding your second question. When you submit a proposal as a non-exclusive agency member, you have the option to either submit the proposal as an individual or as a member of the agency (screenshot for reference). Exclusive members don’t have this option and all their proposals are submitted as members of the agency. Feel free to check this help article for more information.

If you want to change your status, please switch to your agency profile and go to Settings > Members & Permissions.

[#9]

Hi Nikola,

Thank you for your response. You have answered most of my queries. Highly appreciate it.

Just one more query.

Do I compulsorily need to add team members to my agency? Currently, I am the only member of my agency. I plan to hire freelancers from my personal contacts (Not from Upwork) when I have a big project. Is it allowed?

I couldn't find the answer. Can you please tell me?

Thank you,

- Hari

[#10]

Hi  Hari,

You are not required to add other members to your agency but you certainly can. Note that to add an agency member, they'll need to have a freelancer account of their own on Upwork.

[#11]

Actually, this is an agency with one person only. I wanted to do projects
under my company name so that I can hire professionals if the project is
big enough. There is no employee in my agency right now.

What to do in this case? Please let me know.
Thank you

[#12]

Hi Hari,

As an agency owner, you can add agency members to your agency. To add someone to your agency, please follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings › Members & Permissions
2. Select Invite a New User and fill in the form, including choosing roles and permissions
3. Select Invite User. The person will receive a notification to join your team and can accept or decline your invitation

For more information, kindly read this help article.