$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

[41065e48]

This is very thoughtful of you.

[virtualbrix]

My Pleasure.

[18d41e19]

Hey Andrew! 

Welcome to Upwork. I am new as well. That was an extremely thoughtful and kind gesture. I pray you have great success on the site. 

[virtualbrix]

thank you for helping the community

[a16eabc1]

Yoo.. It's pretty appreciated bro! Sure, I would like to ask you to give me some tips to convince clients with different proposals and Wordsworth.

[virtualbrix]

Honestly, every scenarios is different right,

Some clients are looking for price, some clients are looking for qualiy or speed, some clients want all three.

I would say, focus on a mix or quality and price,

I would ask the client this question and and they can only pick 2: 

Fast, Cheap and Good.

Ask them this, they can only pick two, you will get your answer fairly quickly,

Fast and Good = It wont be cheap : )

Anyway, you want to make sure that you show the client a good history, speak openly and honestly,

You was to assure clients you will do a great job, offer references and so on.

I hope this helps

[newgenappsupwork]

The 3 legged Stool to sit on 🙂

In technology and other work you can only choose 2

[mahdesignstudio]

Why is my Upwork profile job success score going down day by day, even though I have all my previous clients with good ratings? Any Suggestions Plse? https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~01e19b426f4d8d303a

[virtualbrix]

Muhammad,

This can be for many reasons: 

1. The clients you completed could have left poor private feedback

2. You had good private reviews fall off after some time and this caused the score to change.

[martina_plaschka]

What is the strategy behind having a profile rate of $200, but working for $50 to $60? I usually recommend people only work for their current profile rate (when accepting new contracts), but not much higher nor much lower, to me it seems to be inconsistent messaging. Hence I'd be interested in your reasons. 

[virtualbrix]

Great Question. I answered this below but I will go at it again. No real starategy, these are suaully legacy clients from many years back. I try to hold the same rate for these kinds of clients. Meaning. I have some clients on uwprok which I have been working with for a few years, I try to hold the original rate. Usually, these are consultation calls, and sometimes they turn in to longer term contracts but that is not as often as I would like. Its all good. I try to make every client 1000% happy. That is always my goal here honestly. Keep clients happy, they will come back, they will recommend you etc. I had a client who i held pricing the same for the last 5 years, they have personally recommended me to 2 other clients who were also on upwork.

[ericaandrews]

I noticed on your profile, you list your rate at $200.00/hour, but most of your recent jobs are around $60/hour.  Is there a strategy behind this?  

I don't follow whatever bogus un-official 'rules' I have seen on these forums about never changing your rate more than once a year. I tie my mimimum rate almost in 'lock-step' to inflation: If the cost of living goes UP, then the cost of my services goes UP.  8% inflation? = 8% rate hike. Also, I use my profile rate as a 'mimimum' rate: Meaning a more complex job may require a higher rate for me to agree to do the job. Obviously, that doesn't affect existing (long-term) clients, but all future ones.  I'm just curious as to what mechanism other experienced freelancers use to determine how to 'price' their services and adjust as the economic winds change.

[virtualbrix]

Hey CJ,

Great question. Basically, those are clients I have had on the platform for many years, they are on my old rate. I have a LOT of clients who need help every couple week, or few weeks who come back for a consultation. Those are the smaller jobs. Feel free to look through the older jobs and current ones, you will see that most of them are long term clients. The key to success on upwork and other freelance platform is long term clients.

[ericaandrews]

Ok.  Well that definitely makes sense.  I don't 'jack up' my rates on long term clients, and especially wouldn't do so without first discussing with them and coming to an agreement and a new/updated contract can be issued then.   I did have one of my older, former clients 'pop up' a couple months ago hoping to have me help with a job at the rate he was charged well over 2 years ago, and I had to politely refuse.  It just wouldn't have made good financial sense because if NEW clients see somebody getting a recent 'cheap' rate, then they all start asking for the 'cheap' rate and next thing you know clients keep 'bidding' lower and lower. "Well, you did a similar job for that guy for half the money."  or "You did a similar job 2.5 years ago for half the money".  All I can do is shrug and tell them "Yesterday's price, is not today's price."   If you don't believe me, drive by a gas station.   LOL  Inflation.  There's also the matter of having only a limited number of hours in a day, so it just didn't make sense burning up hours on a project that would be paying less than half what other clients are currently paying.

[feed_my_eyes]

Okay, but it doesn't look like you ever charge anyone more than $60/hour, so why does your profile say that your rate is more than three times that? I have clients that I've been working with for many years as well, but I still raise my rates with them every year or so; none of them are paying me less than 1/3 of my current profile rate.

[the3dguru]

You are working in a field that allows for a much higher rate than most freelancers get. The best tip you could give anybody is to do your job. An average freelancer could do the same hours as you, get the same ratings and not earn $2m, its basic economics. In that same time, Jeff Bezos earned a lot more than you. Maybe you should start an online shop.

[juwel121]

Wow, that's amazing

[virtualbrix]

Thank You so much!

[dogfacedboy]

Hi Samer, your results are excellent! 

One question: how do you find high-paying consistent clients? You just respond to invitations, or do you look and apply for contracts too? And how do you introduce yourself to get the job?
More: do you got a regular profile, or did you subscribe to "Upwork Freelancer Plus"?
Last (but not least!): any advice regarding my profile is welcome 😬
Keep on rocking! 

[virtualbrix]

Hey Eleonora,

Answers to your questions:

1. I mostly apply to projects, I, like others here, have not been getting a large number of invitations, a few a week.

2. Sure, I introduce myself depending on the job, if the job is about "Pay Per Click", I would say something like

"Hey Joe,

My name is Sam and I have been on Upwork for 12 years (formally elance), I have worked on XXX profjects and have a 5 star rating. I have 15 years experience with PPC and would love to have the oppertunity to connect and speak about your project... etc".

Now, if you are new, I would say something like this

"Hey Joe,

I hope all is well. Eleonora here, I am new to Upwork but please don't let that deter you, I have 10 years experience with Graphic Design and decided to bring my Design Services to the masses, with my services, I promise to give the following: 

1. The best possible output, accrding to your requirement

2. Always communicate and get on calls / zoom as needed

etc... Give the potential client confidence that you will do a good job and they should trust in you and your abilities,

I have an uograde dprofile, both on the personl and agency side.

I will have a look at your profile and give you some pointers.

[virtualbrix]

Eleonora,

I had a look at your profile and in general, it looks really good. I would expand on your intro, Upwork allows you to add more text there so take advantage of it. I like your portfilio and other the certifications. Do you have any additional certifications that you can take? At this point, for you, its mainly about submitting proposals. For long term clients, I would say focus on trying to get work with Agencies (marketing or design firms), they usually have a lot of clients with long term work always available. I have found that working with agencies has been part of why I have been able to get long term clients / contracts.

[dogfacedboy]

Thank you so much for your time (I say: really, thanks.)
Do you have any advice on how to get in touch (and get work) with agencies? At the moment my jobs on upwork are a little bit "slowed down", don't know why...
I owe you a beer (or a coffee)! 😄

[virtualbrix]

Eleonora,

No worries, you owe me nothing. I am glad that I can help, Usually, when searching upwork, you will see that some clients will say that they run an agency, those are the ones you really want to talk to. Usually agencies have a lot of work and they want to bring someone in for the long term like a content writer, a developer, a designer, etc. Keep looking, they are there.

[dogfacedboy]

thank you, I definitely will!

[virtualbrix]

My Pleasure. Good Luck and have a nice week end.

[41065e48]

 How does one find agencies to work with?

[virtualbrix]

Look on upwork, look for clients who post and say they are an agency and they need help on a regular basis. Usually, they like to hire more long term for more consistent work. If you are someone who say does "SEO". I would search for exactly that but also different variations. For example:

1. SEO
2. Search Engine Optimization
3. Google SEO

and so on, you can than read the descriptions and most will say what they are looking for. The good thing about working with other agencies, is that they will provide constant work, this applies to writers, seo, pay per click, designers, etc.

[55ed09bd]

Hi Sam,
Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

Please review my profile and suggest. I've completed 4 jobs with 5Star client review , but my job success score shows 62%. I'm confused. What measures should I take to be a top rated freelancer?

What skills tags are appropriate for Content writer, copywriter and Presentation Design?

Should we do sample tests without contract? Some clients are asking for sample works  in addition to the work samples submitted with the cover letter. 

Would appreciate if you could review work samples and comment?

[virtualbrix]

Hi Rumana,

Your profile in general looks fine, try not to use to many emoticons. I would keep those down to a minimum. Now, for the 62%, what may have happened here is that you most likely had someone leave you sub-par private feedback. Although you have all 5 star reviews in public, your private reviews also count towards your JSS. That bad private review will fall off with time. For example, Upwork will take your best score based on a rolling 6, 12 or 24 months period, basically which ever one has the best score, upwork will use that. Dont worry to much about it. The goal for you now should be to submit proposals, get clients and make sure that they are 100% happy.

[the-right-writer]

Honestly? You think multiple spelling and grammar errors for a Native or bilingual English speaker is fine?

[virtualbrix]

That is not fine but also not the end all be all.

1. Developers = Can you code or not. show me

I have hired dozens of developers, 1/2 of them have poor english skills, but they were amazing developers.

2. Designers = Can you design or not, show me. Same as above. I have hired designers who were amazing, poor writing skills

3. Writers - Can you write or now, show me (this is the exception of course, people will READ your profile in full, I think)

Sure, its a perfect world, everyone should have a perfectly written profile, picture, video, etc, but that is not the case. I look at a profile and I try to look at the things which get my attenion quickly. Most clients do not comb through every detail of a profile. they look at the feedback, the jss, the quick blurb, and than they check the samples / portfolio, etc. That is my experience.

[55ed09bd]

Hi Sam,

Thanks for your specific feedbacks. Special thanks for opting out to help newbies.

Looking forward to more cooperation in the future.

[virtualbrix]

Rumana, My pleasure. Good Luck!

[8aad348a]

Hello Samer,

Can you please check out my profile and give me suggestions that how can i rank my profile on Upwork?

https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~012e54a013b4bde129

[fdynasty]

Hello Samer,

Can you please visit my profile and provide feedback, would highly appreciate your help.

[virtualbrix]

Hey Azam,

I had a quick look and in general, your profile looks Great!. I will reply back later today with additional suggestions.

[fdynasty]

Thanks Mate,

The biggest hurdle i am facing is no profiles views no matter what i do, only when i send proposals i get views other than that its all dust.

[virtualbrix]

Yes. basically, the main ways people can find you are: 

1. They search upwork for a skill / need and your profile shows up in the list and they click on it.

2. They search any of the search engines and your profile shows up.

3. You submit proposals

4. You advertise your profile on Social Media and other places.

This is the reality, you have to also do some promition if you want profile views outside of the proposals you submit

[fdynasty]

Facebook ads will do? i require no more than 3 clients a month, if lets say spending 10,000 can do the job?

[virtualbrix]

Focus on submitting proposals, I would not advertise to much to get people to my profile. Find Jobs that fit your skill set and submit to them, keep doing it. and with time, you will land the right clients.