Connects: I'm struggling

ebsm · ‎10-21-2016

I have been on Odesk & Elance. And with Elance they had a 10, 15, 20 membership options.

Latley on Upwork, I am running out of connects very fast. This is because i think

a) The are many jobs being posted

b) There is now high competition

I have since upgraded to Plus membership and even at that, This is not enough

So i had to buy another 10 connects (that im about to run out of)

So now im paying $20 at the moment for Plus & 10 connects.

This is not enough, Id really love upwork to consider more membership tiers

Also i was working out that through Upwork i pay OVER a whopping 37.5% in fees! From projects here

Breakdown

Upwork takes 20% fee (with 2.75% fee within the 20%) - most jobs under 500

I have to pay 17.5% in taxes as self employed in the UK

On top of this, Im paying $20 in plus and extra connects.

Ive been working full time on Upwork for a long time, Im worried about the future as this is not a sustainable business model as a contractor here.

Not feeling the love Upwork.

lysis10 · ‎10-21-2016

If the fees are too high then you either have to increase your rates or find another platform.

As for not having enough connects, I think you need to reevaluate your own profile, portfolio and proposal. One of these things aren't working for you anymore. More connects just means you'll have more fail. That's not the answer. You need to figure out why you can't sell.

ebsm · ‎10-21-2016

I know the reason why. When it says 20 TO 50 PROPOSALS! Competition is now far too high.

Also, Ive been here a long time and working here FULL TIME for 4+ years so i fully understand the daily nature of the experience.

There are clearly negative changes happening.

lysis10 · ‎10-21-2016

You should yell at dem kids to get off your lawn, cuz apparently they curb stompin your epic 4+ years experience.

Adapt or die.

If it means anything to you to make it work, buying more connects just adds to your fail. Better to figure out what's changed, how you can adapt to these changes, and experiment with different approaches to see what works.

pandoraharper · ‎10-21-2016

@Chris

I've actually seen others in your particular niche saying they were going through a dry spell in the last month. While that might not apply to you in particular, I thought it was worth saying.

I've also been here a long time, and agree with Jennifer's comment about "adapting". I work in a very very small niche, and go through dry spells 3 times a year sometimes. I also have more low-ball competion, so my cover letters need to sell as much as my Profile does, which I have trouble with sometimes.

Having said all this, sometimes doing a major overhaul of your Upwork profile Overview is recommended, even if it worked for you in 2015. The Upwork client base changes from year to year, and adapting to what they want does require adapting sometimes.

kochubei_valeria · ‎10-21-2016

Chris and Jennifer,

A few of your posts have been removed from this thread for Community Guidelines. Please, be respectful toward other members of the Community even if your opinion differs from theirs.

Thank you.

~ Valeria

tlsanders · ‎10-21-2016

@Chris M wrote:
I have been on Odesk & Elance. And with Elance they had a 10, 15, 20 membership options.

Latley on Upwork, I am running out of connects very fast. This is because i think

a) The are many jobs being posted

b) There is now high competition

I have since upgraded to Plus membership and even at that, This is not enough

So i had to buy another 10 connects (that im about to run out of)

So now im paying $20 at the moment for Plus & 10 connects.

This is not enough, Id really love upwork to consider more membership tiers

Also i was working out that through Upwork i pay OVER a whopping 37.5% in fees! From projects here

Breakdown

Upwork takes 20% fee (with 2.75% fee within the 20%) - most jobs under 500

I have to pay 17.5% in taxes as self employed in the UK

On top of this, Im paying $20 in plus and extra connects.

Ive been working full time on Upwork for a long time, Im worried about the future as this is not a sustainable business model as a contractor here.

Not feeling the love Upwork.

Taxes are not fees. You would be paying taxes no matter where you acquired your clients, and Upwork does not in any way benefit from your taxes. In addition, the 2.75% payment processing fee has nothing to do with you. You are paying 20% in fees, unless your relationship with a client goes over $500, and then 10% from there on out, just like everyone else.

sintesi · ‎10-21-2016

Some time ago i actually write a post asking for less connects. From all the jobs i see, just a small part of it seem matching my profile. When they match, writing the right proposal often takes a lot of time. Upwork is full of flooders, persons who copy and paste the same text on all proposals. Many employers complain about that, those 50 proposals you see are mostly nonsense, totally unrelated from the actual job. I have seen posts of people hiring random flooders to apply to jobs on their behalf. Can you imagine the kind of trash employers find on their jobs when some buzzword in the title make it spread through job feeds? Writing a custom proposal takes a lot of time and for this i never manage to consume my connects, i always have a lot of them that get thrown away at the end of the month. Not that i care about that, but i care about the flooding which seems to kill the quality of every human interaction on the platform

brianajross · ‎10-21-2016

@Francesco O wrote:
Some time ago i actually write a post asking for less connects. From all the jobs i see, just a small part of it seem matching my profile. When they match, writing the right proposal often takes a lot of time. Upwork is full of flooders, persons who copy and paste the same text on all proposals. Many employers complain about that, those 50 proposals you see are mostly nonsense, totally unrelated from the actual job. I have seen posts of people hiring random flooders to apply to jobs on their behalf. Can you imagine the kind of trash employers find on their jobs when some buzzword in the title make it spread through job feeds? Writing a custom proposal takes a lot of time and for this i never manage to consume my connects, i always have a lot of them that get thrown away at the end of the month. Not that i care about that, but i care about the flooding which seems to kill the quality of every human interaction on the platform

Totally agree with everything you said.

prestonhunter · ‎10-21-2016

re: "Taxes are not fees. You would be paying taxes no matter where you acquired your clients, and Upwork does not in any way benefit from your taxes."

Thanks for this note. Always good to keep these things in perspective.

People should keep in mind that many places do not impose income taxes. For example, Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming have no state income tax. Bermuda, Monaco, the Bahamas, Andorra and the United Arab Emirates have no national income tax.

It is not Upwork's fault if you are required to pay taxes on the money you earn through Upwork.

And in most places, income tax is assessed based on the amount earned, not based on how you earned it. If you earned $100 sitting in front of your computer working for a remote client via Upwork, or if you earned $100 laying down tar on a rooftop in 115 degree F (46.1 C) heat, the percent tax is the same. And I'm certain if you asked most of the people laying down tar on the roof, they would say that the Upwork freelancer should pay a HIGHER percent tax. So just be grateful for the air conditioning.

brianajross · ‎10-22-2016

"And I'm certain if you asked most of the people laying down tar on the roof, they would say that the Upwork freelancer should pay a HIGHER percent tax. So just be grateful for the air conditioning."

You got it all backwards. The tar layers should pay higher taxes because they don't have to deal with clients who tell them that the roof "just doesn't feel right" and they'd rather see it in another color before making a decision.

lysis10 · ‎10-22-2016

@Briana R wrote:

You got it all backwards. The tar layers should pay higher taxes because they don't have to deal with clients who tell them that the roof "just doesn't feel right" and they'd rather see it in another color before making a decision.

LOL well played