Dealing with a challenging client situation

[c94166d6]

Greetings Fellow Freelancers,

I recently embarked on an Upwork journey, accepting a seemingly straightforward job for a nominal fee of $5, due to the platform's minimum project requirements. The task was to review a business plan. As a newcomer eager to build my profile with some initial reviews, this seemed like a great start. However, the client's expectations soon took a turn.

Initially, the project involved reviewing a business plan, outlined in my bid as 'Milestone 1 - Business Plan Review'. Before sending the invitation, the client did hint at a rewrite, but I assumed that would be a separate milestone or perhaps a task for another freelancer post-review. After delivering my feedback and attempting to arrange a discussion multiple times, the client finally responded with a rather abrupt demand for a complete rewrite.

Rewriting an entire business plan is no small feat; it involves extensive market research, financial planning, and more. It's certainly not something that can be turned around in less than a day. I explained to the client that our agreement was solely for reviewing the plan and suggested transitioning to a new project for the rewrite, outlining what that would entail.

Despite my polite and professional stance, the client has yet to respond. Now, I'm contemplating terminating the contract. To be honest, the payment is not my concern; my primary goal was to gain experience on Upwork. This first encounter, though, has left me feeling uneasy about client interactions and the expectations some might have regarding substantial work like business plan writing for minimal compensation.

I hope my experience isn't a common scenario on Upwork, and it's puzzling why anyone would expect a detailed business plan for practically no cost, given its significance. 

My questions are: 

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this?

Is this common, or did I just happen to get a bad egg on my first project?

How does terminating a contract effect my stance on Upwork?

How does Upwork handle a dispute among freelancers and Clients?

Does Upwork allow for negative reviews to show regardless of the situation? Or is there some filtering done to protect freelancers from feeling imprisoned by unrealistic expectations and being abused by clients trying to manipulate the system? 

Thank you! Really needing advice here!

[spectralua]

Close contract and move forward.

Common. Some "clients" enjoyning with free works.

Negative feedback will drop your JSS.

Via disputes or arbitration.

Yes. Upwork dont care about feedbacks. But feedbacks for contracts with 0 amount is hidded, noone can see them.

[c94166d6]

That is really unfortunate that Upwork doesnt take the freelancers side into consideration. There are so many reasons that a job can go bad, and not all of them are on the freelancers. I mean poor communication, unrealistic expecations, toxic client, poor behavior. And we are tied to these reviews and it is what generates our success. 

Can you help me with one other thing? How can I close this contract? I do not see the button for terminating the contract?

[spectralua]

Here it is. Inside contract.

[c94166d6]

Thank you so much!

[celgins]

You mentioned your motivation for accepting the job (i.e., to build your profile with some initial reviews), but we must question the client's motivation for seeking a professional business plan review for $5. That figure, alone, tells me the client will eventually ask for more and more, and doesn't want to pay for it.

I know money wasn't your concern, but I think it reflects poorly on any client who asks a freelancer to review a business plan for $5. For something of this nature, $50 for a one-hour review would've been my minimum and I really wouldn't drop too far below that--even when attempting to establish a work history on Upwork.

I know it's hard to get started here, but there aren't many good reasons to entertain clients like this.

Oh, and I agree with Mykola's responses to your questions.

[c94166d6]

Thank you, this is definetly a learning lesson for me, and I will never agree to do something for this low of a rate again. 

[wlyonsatl · Accepted solution]

Sara,

It can make sense to be aggressive in your pricing for your initial projects on Upwork. But be very wary of very lowball customers – they are rarely worth the effort, as you have found out. This “client’s” ruse is to see how far he can get with newbies desperate for their first projects.

Just move on from this “client” and his project. At only $5 any feedback this clown leaves will have little effect on your Job Success Score, but you need to focus immediately on getting more projects to drown out this one’s feedback (if any) once Upwork begins to calculate a JSS for you. Be sure to leave succinct, accurate unemotional feedback of your own for this guy.

The higher value your projects are the less likely you are to be working with one of these bottom feeders. I don’t do fixed price projects, so this sort of “client” and his game of creeping scope is very rare with the clients I work with (also on business plans, financial models, etc.). This sort of fool likely wouldn’t even hire a freelancer on an hourly basis.

Simply terminating a contract has no effect on your JSS. It’s only your client’s public and private feedback that feed into your JSS (mostly the latter, the former has little effect). But don't close the project or leave feedback yet. If the "client" closes the project, be sure to leave feedback within the 14 days time limit. But if the "client" just disappears, hold off for a month or two before closing the project and leaving your feedback for him.

This is not the sort of “dispute” Upwork would likely get involved in unless the “client” refuses to release the $5 in escrow to you. In every case, it’s better to avoid disputes than to hope Upwork will help you resolve such a dispute.

And, yes, Upwork allows clients to leave whatever feedback they wish. It doesn’t matter whether that feedback is accurate and fair or vindictive and delusional. So always remember that once you enter into a contract with any client, that client has the permanent ability to leave feedback for you – no matter how the project ends. (Upwork claims that feedback from habitually difficult-to-work-with clients will be excluded from the calculation of those clients’ freelancers’ JSS, but I wouldn’t bet on this with any particular client because Upwork doesn’t publicly identify which clients are difficult to work with.)

To succeed on Upwork you’ll definitely need to increase your target project price range. You can increase your project pricing over time, but don’t start out by working with the bottom feeders and hustlers.

Good luck!

[c94166d6]

Honestly, Thank you Will! 

This right here "Just move on from this “client” and his project. At only $5 any feedback this clown leaves will have little effect on your Job Success Score, but you need to focus immediately on getting more projects to drown out this one’s feedback (if any) once Upwork begins to calculate a JSS for you. Be sure to leave succinct, accurate unemotional feedback of your own for this guy." Is sooooo extermely helpful for me!

All of your feedback is amazing! Unemtional, constructive and professional. Really super helpful! Thank you! I will take all of your feedback and use it. Honestly, its not like I really want to take $5 to review a business plan, but I thought I would try and explore how all of this works. I also dont really want to take project based jobs, and charge $105 an hour. I have lots of consulting experince, just new to Upwork and wanted to see how the review process worked. Lesson learned! Some of the feedback I have recived from other freelancers is a bit harsh and assumptive. Your's was amazing! Really appricate it! 

[6bfcdaf8]

Hi Sara, welcome to upwork! In my experience, trying to take shortcuts to building your business never works. I can honestly say that one 5$ project with a large paragraph of positive review makes zero difference in your chances of getting the next one. So this was a small mistake, whatever path you chose, you still can make a great profile and grow your business here. 

[c94166d6]

Thank you! Big lesson learned. For other freelancers looking at this, learn from my experince! I mean we work on hourly, so time is money for us. I have not only spent the time that it took to read the business model and respond to the client, pay the "connects", write the proposal, and now all this time I am spending to try to solve this issue. NOT WORTH IT!

Thank you Alper, really appricate your feedback~

[the-right-writer]

Despite what you may hear, taking a job like this, with tiny earnings, is always a problem. The philosophy of taking dirt cheap jobs to build up a profile leads to scams or relegates the freelancer to a future of appearing to be unskilled.

The way to success starts with knowing the rules.  Did you read and do you understand the Terms of Service? You need to use the Academy to learn how to create a profile, and create proposals. The first line is all the clients see in a search. Don't waste it or use names, greetings, etc. Craft a short sentence telling the client why you can do a better job than anyone else. The portfolio needs more example, and find a graphic or title to put on the samples, so the clients see more than a thumbnail of text.

Learn about vetting clients and jobs, and stop taking awful jobs. If you have the skills, use them and stop wasting time, energy, and money to continue down this path. What do you think the next client will think? These jobs are always a problem or genuine disaster. Do not fall for the client saying, "I'll give you a 5- star rating if you do this job for $5.00."

As Mykola  said, close the job.  Then go learn about profiles and proposals, before you look for another job. There is a high probability this client will be a pain no matter how it's handled.

Is this common, or did I just happen to get a bad egg on my first project?

Very common. Don't take dirt cheap jobs. You can't review a business plan for $5.00. I know the skills and time it requires. Learn from this experience and never apply for these jobs.

How does terminating a contract effect my stance on Upwork?

Only time will tell. Since you don't have a JSS yet, I'm not certain how it will impact your account. In addition, Upwork does not disclose how they calculate your score.

How does Upwork handle a dispute among freelancers and Clients?

If one of the parties decides to file a dispute, Upwork's role is to try and get them to come to a resolution. If that doesn't happen, and the process is continued, the next step would be arbitration, where it costs $333.00 for the client, freelancer, and Upwork

Does Upwork allow for negative reviews to show regardless of the situation?

If there is feedback manipulation, Upwork will take action when notified. An example, "If you don't edit this 500,000 word book for $5.00, I'll give you one star and a rotten review!"

Or is there some filtering done to protect freelancers from feeling imprisoned by unrealistic expectations and being abused by clients trying to manipulate the system?

Wow, that's a lot to ask of a business. No one is imprisoning you, you are imprisoning yourself by taking this sort of job. What kind of filter protects freelancers from unrealistic expectations?  Learn about milestones and hourly, and put limits in the contract. You are in control of that contract. If it doesn't say what you want, you don't for it, no matter how new or desperate.

If you stop listening to whoever told you to take dirt cheap jobs to create your portfolio, you will not find nearly as many awful clients. When they see an incomplete profile that is not using the best business practices, they know they have a good chance of manipulating you. This experience is common and a perfect example of the types of clients you will have if not outright scammers.

[c94166d6]

Thank you Jeanne, for the direct feedback.