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2c724a5e
Community Member

Consultations on Project Catalog

Consultations will be available to half of all clients browsing Project Catalog starting on September 23.

 

Check out the product update and let us know your thoughts about this update in the comments below.

7 REPLIES 7
svetlanakononova
Community Member

Dear Christopher, my name is Svetlana Svetlana, I am an Upwork freelancer, a pattern designer.

How can I become a consultant?

Prospective clients often ask me a lot of questions, in fact I already provide a lot of free consultations.

How can I get paid for these consultations?

 

Many thanks in advance.

rahatur
Community Member


Christopher F wrote:

Consultations will be available to half of all clients browsing Project Catalog starting on September 23.

 

Check out the product update and let us know your thoughts about this update in the comments below.


Here is a quick feedback - I recently created both Projects and Consultancies on my account. I had not prior Project or Consultancy created.
I have noticed that when a Project is submitted for review and is rejected then you can see the reason as a tooltip when you please the cursor on the “Needs Changes” text. But when a Consultancy is submitted and rejected then there is no tooltip which mentions the reason. It gets difficult to review a rejected Consultancy than a Project.

xrmsquared
Community Member

I created a Consultancy, but I have to say, without the ability to add a title, I thought it looked pretty weird – best I can do is 'Development & IT' & then add an icon which gives a strong hint to browsing clients as to the true nature of the consultancy being offered.

 

I don't see the use in creating Consultancies in the very broad categories we can choose from; I was looking to go quite narrow with the Catogories & then a title, but neither is possible for my market.

 

Upwork's work-type categories are too broad in most cases, and yet quite specific in other cases; e.g. there is no CRM (or ERP) category – huge markets in the business IT world – and yet under web development, there is a Wordpress category (i.e. a category for a specific product, whereas whole markets as mentioned are not present as categories).

 

I would suggest there should be a 'NoCode Apps' category, too.

 

(Suggestion is for these options to go under Development & IT)

daniels-susan
Community Member

Since I set up my Consultancy tab, I've had two reponses. However, neither paid and both started asking questions as if the price for consultancy was nill and one of them was an outright scammer that I reported. So perhaps the clients need to be provided more clarity on how the consultancy tab works.

 

I need more clarity as well because it's something new and I'm not sure how to respond. For example, do I basically tell them to pay before we message? Where do you draw that line? I obviously need to do more reading on the help desk about this interesting feature.

mstreib
Community Member

I have questions and concerns regarding Consultations from a freelancer use case perspective.

 

Calendar: I do NOT want to synch my calendar to Upwork.  I also work outside the platform and will not allow a total stranger with whom I've never communicated to access and set up a calendar event without my approval.  Even  with the reject option in place, it becomes an action item I should not be required to manage on Upwork's behalf.

Calendar: I also travel extensively and my time zones of availability change as a result.  It appears that, by default, calendar function will always tie to my home time zone.  This presents issues if I am elsewhere, up to and including international travel for non-Upwork clients.

Zoom: I have not used Upwork's Zoom license - I pay for my own business account as it provides me the flexibility to control sessions, record sessions, invite others into a call underway, and to use Whiteboards.  My preference for Consultations will always be to schedule the event from my own calendar and only after I've communicated with the prospect.      

 

What is possible?

  1. Do I have any flexibility of creating scheduled events from MY calendar? 
  2. What happens when my availability and time zone changes?  How do I manage to a different time zone in the interim?
  3. May I use my own Zoom business license for Consultations? 

The Consultation option would be quite good for me but the structure and set up seems too restrictive to leverage.  I receive 7-10 "I am reaching out to discuss" messages weekly.   They consume my time but I reply to them all.  In some cases, I sense the option is used to extract details or answers they seek without a billable event engagement commitment.   

 

Consultations would be a great way for me to manage these.  I would simply refer them to a Consultation after initial contact and understanding whether I might be of service.  I welcome the offering but need better flexibility.   

 

MAS  

joechiu
Community Member

When will project catalog/consultation be opened up to additional categories?  I would like to offer services in the Engineering & Architecture category, but cannot seem to do so.

Hi Joseph,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us here in the Community. We continue to make Project Catalog category changes to create a more intuitive buying, selling, and search experience. These updates improve our site’s search and matching capabilities, make it easier for clients to find your projects, and for you to describe the type of work you do. 

 

Feel free to check this article for category changes and updates.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
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