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mrjaimegill
Community Member

Can you take a break from Upwork without losing momentum?

Hello everybody. I joined Upwork at the start of last year and worked incredibly hard to build up my profile, paying a lot of attention to my JSS, responsiveness to invites, long term clients, that kind of stuff. And I have got myself into a good place where I now have a good track record, 99% JSS, get regular invites etc.

But for the last three months I have also been working a full time job, one which is likely to go on for at least another eight months before my contract ends. And I am exhausted. I have been trying to do a few jobs for my long term clients, just to keep my JSS, my long term client score, etc active... but i think it's time to let my clients know, gently, that I just don't have the time any more.

Question - will this undo my work to build myself up? I do intend to make Upwork my primary revenue stream again in eight months and don't want to have to start over. More specific questions:

1) Will the drop in long term clients from 16% to zero affect my JSS or anything else clients see about me?
2) Will the lack of recent work make my JSS drop?
3) Am I likely to get fewer invites to apply for jobs when I re-start my account?

Or should I try and keep my long term clients happy, but try and reduce my work for them even further?

Would really appreciate any insights...

Jaime

1 REPLY 1
LuiggiR
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Jaime,

 

To answer some of your concerns, if you decide to stop working entirely for the next eight months, this could have an impact on your JSS given that the Upwork system takes snapshots of your six-, 12- and 24-month history in the marketplace and calculates a score for each. The best score out of these moving time windows is displayed on your profile and updated about every two weeks.

 

I also see your point and I've seen myself in the past in a position where I needed to let some things go. I'd say maybe take on fewer/smaller projects to keep the momentum going, while still being able to work efficiently in your full-time job, even more so if you're planning to make Upwork your primary source of income. If you choose not to work at all for the next 8 months as you mentioned, it won't necessarily undo all the work you've put into building your profile so far, but as I mentioned, it will likely have an impact on your JSS overall.

 

 

~ Luiggi
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