Rishi K wrote:
Hi All,
I have been applying on Business Development projects. I recently subscribed to premium membership. It is so disheartening to see freelancers bidding as low as $3 on these projects. Later, I came to know from few clients that freelancers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Phillipines & India who work around data entry projects are bidding on such projects. On almost every project I see such low bids. The clients sometimes specify a particular price but still that won't budge them to increase their bids. This is spoiling freelancing culture. Upwork should do something about it. I am sure those clients who hire such freelancers regret later but It ends up in connects wastage. Can anyone help me using a better approach in avoiding such situations.
Should I also start bidding so low ?
No. Those clients are not your clients. Their market is for low-cost freelancers. You should focus on clients who are willing to pay higher rates (or rates close to yours) and only bid on those jobs. Jobs with low rates are a waste of your time to even think about unless you are willing to work at that rate. Those jobs are for someone, but not for you if that's not an acceptable rate for you.
You are definitely in a competitive field that tends to generate low rates. So your challenge is to justify why your rate is worth it. Your profile is good but I think you could call more attention to why you are worth more. Do you have a better return rate that you can cite? Can you reframe your profile to, instead of listing where you worked and what you did, show how you have unique expertise and how that will benefit the client? Think about what the ideal client would be for you and think about what they would want to read on your profile and proposals to pick you. You have one gig under your belt so you're a step ahead of many freelancers here.
