$2M Earned on Upwork. I would love to HELP!

[virtualbrix]

Hey Everyone,

I posted this in the newbie group. I can answer newbie questions there,

I can help answer more advanced questions here, I would love to help my fellow freelancers : )

I have been on upwork for 12 years now (previously elance),

I have been on the forums for a couple years but never really participated much,

I figured, what better way than to help others, ask away, some stats below (you can also click to see my profile)

👉 Earned $2 Million+ on Upwork.
👉 Completed 400+ jobs on freelance platforms.
👉 Attained 200+ 5-star reviews.
👉 Worked 40,000+ hours on freelance platforms
👉 Earned a 100% Feedback Rating
👉 Worked with 1,000+ Clients

Thank You - Sam

[virtualbrix]

That is a tough one, may be show some certifications you have taken? You cant really show anything like a design portfolio or anything like that. If you do secuiruty (sys. admin), you can always show number of threats you have stopped?

[8e30a943]

Thank you so much for your help. Could you also look at my profile and suggest what can be improved?

 

[virtualbrix]

Hey Alexandros,

I had a quick look and it looks fine. I would suggest, like i have for others, that you focus on things like videos, certifications. etc.

[raju42]

Great Instruction!

[virtualbrix]

Thank You - I appreciate it.

[e5cf79eb]

Hey Samer! It's so nice to see that people getting what they actually deserve, welldone and congratulations to you for this big success. I'm new here on upwork and I have been applying for small tasks or projects but they never seem to read my proposal idkwhy? But i have tried to boost them and it's been 3-4 days i have been writing short and good-quality proposal and i am really confused where I am wrong can you please give me advice what to do ? And also can you please give a walkthrough to my profile https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/mukadusjawaid

Thankyou Samer, 

may Success always knocks on your door.

[virtualbrix]

Mukadus,

I hope all is well on your end. I will have a look at your profile.

[virtualbrix]

Thank You and I replied.

[tjmisny]

Hi Samer - Congrats on your success.  I looked at your portfolio and I have a question - your hourly rate is listed at $200/hr, however almost all of your "In Progress" projects you are working for $60/hr.  What is the logic of listing your rate at over 3x what you are actually working for?

[virtualbrix]

I get a lot of invites which are much lower than the even $60 listed. I put it a bit higher and go from there.

[lysis10]

I have questions.

1) Do you farm out work and bill on your profile?

2) What did you make last year or within the last year?

[financemark]

Great questions Jennifer:

The OPosting just sings scam, and the claims are really difficult to believe --- my experience with SEO.PPC.CRO FL here on UW is that they charge US rates (or Michigan rates if you believe he resides there -- I dont) and produce the work offshore -- price arbitragers are ALL OVER UW.  

[javedaslam72]

Hi Samer!

When I first started out as a freelancer on Upwork, I was able to receive projects, but once I achieved the status of Top Rated Freelancer, I found that I was no longer able to get as many assignments. I am now going through the process of submitting the proposals to the clients and putting everything into action. What are your thoughts, and can you tell me how I might find work on Upwork?

I am looking forward to seeing your response.

[virtualbrix]

Hey Javad,

This is a great question that I am asked often, basically, with the algorithm changes, the new upwork features which allows freelancers to promote thier proposals and so on, I would say the best way would be to: 

1. Keep submitting proposals (if you can pay to play, DO IT - I know it may be painful to some)
2. Keep current clints happy (they will always come back and or give you more work / extend the current contract)
3. When submitting new contracts, try to make them unique, without spending a while day on it

4. Reviews, Reviews and Reviews. Really, these types of platforms are based on history and reputation, keep it awesome

In reality, you have to have a good reputation and just keep submitting. The traditional notion that you should spend a lot of time and make your proposal perect is not longer as relevant as it use to be with the new features. You now have two options: 

1. submit a LOT of proposals (of course, to jobs which are relevant to your skill set)

2. pay to play, meaning, submit and just pay what ever it takes to be in the top 3

I hope this helps

[javedaslam72]

Samer, I appreciate it. I will put your recommendations into action and I appreciate your attention to my response. 🙂

Congratulations on reaching the 2M+ earned milestone on Upwork. If you have any blogs where you share your expertise about freelancing and Upwork, I would be interested in reading them. 

[virtualbrix]

Hey Javad,

I wish I had the time, I spend more of my time freelancing and taking care of my clients. Feel free to ask me a question here on the forum anytime you want.

[javedaslam72]

Thank you so much. 🙂

[virtualbrix]

My Pleasure!

[offoma]

Hello Samer,

Thank you for your kind gestures , You are Awesome.

Please can you look at my profile and suggest one or 2 

[virtualbrix]

Hey Chiamaka,

I will have a look and get back to you in the next 1-2 days. Thank You so much!

[virtualbrix]

Hey Jenniefer. I never outsource any Marketing work which I do. such as PPC / CRO and things I sell my self bieng an expert at. For more technical things (which I know how to do), I will usually work with a couple people i trust and have been working with for a long time to help on those. Basically, 90% of the work is done by me personally. Freelancing is my full time gig.

For your second question, 450K

[lysis10]

ok, thanks for answering. I know Upwork gives passes to some farmers.

[virtualbrix]

Well, that is not the case here, basically. I do all of the marketing work, I refer any clients who need additional work done to freelancers on the platform I trust!

[lysis10]

---

Samer B wrote:

Well, that is not the case here, basically. I do all of the marketing work, I refer any clients who need additional work done to freelancers on the platform I trust!

---

Sweet! Now we're getting somewhere. Ok, so you don't farm out work. You say you made $450k last year. I went back to the beginning of this year and it seems you work at $60/hour for everything. I looked at your agency and it too shows that you work at $60/hour consistently. Maybe like $10k in escrow jobs. So, are you saying that you made $450k for the year at $60/hour? Or what am I missing? I see the $150k job, but it seems that was a 2 year long contract and it too was at $60/hour. How did you get to that number with that hourly rate?

Wonderful Upwork and its bugs show that you only did 9 completed jobs on your agency but this appears to be a bug but it shows that you work at $60/hour too.

[virtualbrix]

Client calls, I will get back to this in a while. My agency has 20,000 of the 40,000 hours.

[virtualbrix]

19,000 and some change to be exact.

[lysis10]

---

Samer B wrote:

Client calls, I will get back to this in a while. My agency has 20,000 of the 40,000 hours.

---

ok, I'm trying to figure out how someone makes $450k at $60/hour. I went back to Feb 2022 and all your jobs are $60/hour. Every one of your jobs in progress are $60/hour. I can only see as far back as March 2022 on the agency and it's all $60/hour. Where is the $450k coming from? You would  have to work an average of 21 hours a day to make that in  a year at that rate. You said you don't farm out, so what am I missing?

[Anonymous-User]

I thought something fishy too.

[tomzilla1]

450k? lol one would have a lot of free time on here. I know someone who makes 330k and barely pops in here and there. Let's be nice, he's been trying to get attention for months, and I think he recently finally got a spot at the upwork meetup. Let him talk. The quality of those meetups are very low - mostly $5/hr newbies spamming their profile links... sigh. Not gonna be able to attend this one, but good luck sam.

[virtualbrix]

Tons and Tons of work. I try to jump in here and give back : )

[virtualbrix]

As stated in the other post. In my personal option, its almost impossible to farm out work on a consistent basis and have a great reputation. Its just to hard to keep quality under control. Usually, if someone needs something out oif scope, I would recommend them to other freelancers I know on upwor, Hope this helps.

[406d26e7]

Hi Samer!

I hope that your valuable feedback will help me. I'm submitting proposals regularly on the most recent projects but I'm not getting projects on Upwork for a long-time. The profile is complete and using a Plus membership for more Upwork connects. Would you please help me out with this? I want to know and fill-up the lackings.

Thanks & Regards
Ahsan

[virtualbrix]

Hey Syed, I will have a look and give you more insight tomorrow.

[655be748]

Dear Samer B,

Appreciation Note on providing motivation in getting the first project.

I hope this message finds you well. Upon joining the Upwork platform, I came across your enticing post, which immediately caught my attention. Not only did it pique my interest, but it also hinted at the possibility of securing a $2M project. Your accomplishments and success on this platform have truly inspired me.

After thoroughly reviewing your post, I believe that our skill sets align well, particularly in the field of marketing. I would be honored if you would consider me as a valued team member in your marketing endeavors. To better understand my capabilities, I encourage you to look at my profile on Upwork as follows:

https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/faraza17?viewMode=1.

I have diligently completed my profile and have taken inspiration from your guidance to implement certain instructions. As a result, I have successfully secured my first project, earning $1.5K. I am confident that I can continue to excel in the marketing domain with your guidance and support.

My areas of expertise lie in machine learning, AI, technical support, and cyber security. I bring a strong skill set, dedication, and a passion for delivering exceptional results to every project I undertake.

My specialized projects are listed below.

1. Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Network Security
2. IT solutions, Networks services, Server virtualizations, Helpdesk services
3. Python Web Application Programming, Python scripts, Machine learning

Thank you, Samer, for your time and consideration. I genuinely appreciate the opportunity to be part of your team and contribute to our collective success. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any further questions or require additional information.

Warmest regards,

[afzal-hafiez]

Hi Samer!

I am struggling with Upwork for the last two years. I have tried 100+ times and could win jobs only three times. I have tried almost everything but nothing is working for me. Can you please have a look at my profile and suggest me some changes that would work for me?

Thanks!!

[virtualbrix]

Hey @Hafiz,

I had a look at your profile and it needs the obvious adjustments: 

1. If you can add a video on the left side talking about tour skill site, that would be great (to bad, i dont have one also)
2. Your intro paragram is to small and short, add more details, keywords, descriptions and so on.

3. Try to get more clients, even smaller ones, do a great job and get reviews

4. Submit to a lot of poposals which are relevant, and do your best to close clients.

You have to just keep going, its hard, but its possible.

[87578c36]

Hi Hafiz!

I hope you are doing well. I took the liberty of editing your profile for spelling and grammar. I hope you don't mind? I'm attaching the revisions for your use if you feel they're not useful then just ignore this message 🙂 I just think if the English in your profile was a bit more correct then you might get more work? Just a thought...happy hunting!

(I've just started out with Upwork and I can see that it IS a lot of work...to get work!)

Take care, Andrew van Zyl

PS Sorry-I tried to upload as a file but couldnt so I'm just appending the revisions below.

Hi there!

I am a Data Entry, Web Research, and Lead Generation expert with 3+ years of experience working with many industries and individuals as a full-time freelancer.

With any work I do you can be assured of the following:

✓ Accuracy

:calendar:Time Management

☎Fast Communication

:sparkles:Honesty

💓Your :hundred_points:% Satisfaction...!!!

:hammer_and_pick::hammer_and_pick: My Expertise & skills include but are not limited to the following::hammer_and_pick::hammer_and_pick:

________________________________________________________________________

✔ Data Entry

✔Data Mining

✔Data Organization

✔Data Gathering

✔ Web Research

✔ MS Excel

✔ Lead Generation

✔ Google Suite

✔PDF to Word/Excel Conversion

✔Product Listings

You may take advantage of my services on a long-term basis, whether you are a firm or an individual. You will find me a passionate, diligent, quick learner who performs any task with excellence.

When approaching a task I utilize all the knowledge and learning I have gained from previous work to scale up your business and I can guarantee 100% satisfaction. I am able to adapt to different environments and master new skills and tools easily.

You can hire me for any position that fits my expertise and skills. I respond promptly to job offers and look forward to discussing our next collaboration!

If any of those skills sounds like what you need for your project, feel free to contact me via email at any time.

Thanks & Best Regards,

Hafiz ✌

✔ P.S. Regardless of whom you choose, please keep my profile handy in case you need me later.

[virtualbrix]

Andrew, that is the Kindness we need around here!!!

[martina_plaschka]

That's the thing with languages. For some jobs they are important, for others not so much. 

1. Nobody expects a non-native to have perfect English, if this is not vital to the task. I actually would advise against ironing out all the mistakes - the freelancer will not be able to keep up this high level in his (mostly written) communication with the client. The client will see a disconnect and feel uneasy, or worst case, deceived, and perceive the freelancer as dishonest.

2. Of course, if the freelancer offers blog or content writing, he/she needs to demonstrate flawless English in the overview, that should is obvious.  

[virtualbrix]

Perfectly said Martina.