Hidden talent, clients (also future ones) bew...

mathgirl · ‎05-29-2021

I'm an old time Odesk freelancer, then Upwork. I have earned, as stated in my profile, 50.000+ (USD) over the years working on Upwork assignments. Overall, my customers were happy, some, though, did not leave feedback and only one gave a totally unprofessional an biased feedback (actually, I advise anybody to stay away from clients who claim they have a hard time with professional from a specific country, which is pretty racist).

Overall, 91% of my clients would recommend me, I can clearly read it in my stats. I am a professional also outside Upwork. That's where I have been working over the last few years, up to a point that my feedback is not "recent" anymore. Thus, it "vanished" in thin air, putting me at the bottom of the list of some foundamental but specific requirements (90% success score, for example).

My profile is constantly put on "private" about ten days after CS receives my email requesting to put it back in public mode. I am asked to "upgrade" for the connects (how much I have made Upwork invoice over the years with that 50.000+?).

Yes, my rate is not low, which is totally how I want it to be being a serious and experienced professional, but this did not stop clients in the past.

I am about to delete my profile, saying "good bye" to Upwork. There must be other platforms out there both to find work and to hire freelancers. Could I trust Upwork when professionals who have a good track record and years and experience, inside and outside Upwork, are hidden? I'd rather not. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.

Milena

petra_r · ‎05-29-2021

Milena B wrote:
My profile is constantly put on "private"

Your profile gets set to private after you have not earned anything for 2 years. You haven't worked on Upwork since 2018. What is the point of showing clients profiles of people who have long abandoned the platform. Also, clients you send proposals to still see your profile anyway.

Milena B wrote:
I am about to delete my profile, saying "good bye" to Upwork.

You're not using it anyway and haven't for years.

mathgirl · ‎05-29-2021

Dear Petra,

Had I “abandoned” the platform, I would have deleted my account.

After my feedback has been “deleted”, obviously it will be harder and harder to get visibility, and my rate does not aim at the cheap client. Or also the quality of my work depletes if I work outside Upwork?

It’s a matter of deciding what this platform stands for. Quality? Then it should not hide freelances that, over the years, have proven themselves.

Just curious: being a “guru” means you are answering on Upwork’s behalf? Are you answering on Upwork’s behalf? If this is the case it is a bad business strategy to respond ungracefully, on top of it, not checking your grammar. Just a piece of advice, from an experienced professional and company co-founder.

Have a great day,
Milena

petra_r · ‎05-29-2021

Milena B wrote:
After my feedback has been “deleted”, obviously it will be harder and harder to get visibility, and my rate does not aim at the cheap client.

Your feedback hasn't been deleted.

Milena B wrote:
and my rate does not aim at the cheap client.

Your rate is part of the problem. A client looks at your profile and sees that your profile rate is 75%+ higher than all the jobs you have completed. When clients are prepared to pay your rate (or mine, which is significantly higher than yours) they want to see that the freelancer has a history at that rate or one near it.

Milena B wrote:
Just curious: being a “guru” means you are answering on Upwork’s behalf? Are you answering on Upwork’s behalf?

No, I am just a fellow freelancer.

Milena B wrote:
... on top of it, not checking your grammar.

LOL, and the same right back to you.

Milena B wrote:
Then it should not hide freelances that, over the years, have proven themselves.

It takes literally two clicks to have your profile set to public again. Then it stays public for another two whole years. Hardly the insult or inconvenience of the century, is it?

You have a great day too, just half an hour up the coast from me 🙂

gilbert-phyllis · ‎05-29-2021

Successful FLs earn optimal visibility on the platform by keeping clients happy and earning money for themselves and UW on an ongoing basis. Many of UW's most successful FLs -- wouldn't surprise me if it's most of us -- work both on and off the platform. The framework for earning and displaying a successful job history is built on a two-year window of visibility. Anybody who is not earning for two years or longer is not contributing, so why should that person enjoy the same visibility as those of us who take care to maintain an active profile and generate regular earnings for UW?

Your profile is now set to private, so I'm not able to comment in specific terms. But generally speaking, as a seasoned and successful professional, I would not expect you to encounter much difficulty doing what you must have done initially to succeed here -- what every one of has had to do -- find and pursue good-fit projects and deliver quality work. If that's too much trouble and not worth your while, fair enough.

petra_r · ‎05-29-2021

Phyllis G wrote:
Your profile is now set to private, so I'm not able to comment in specific terms.

It's not even set to private, it's set to Upwork users only.

gilbert-phyllis · ‎05-29-2021

Petra R wrote:
Phyllis G wrote:
Your profile is now set to private, so I'm not able to comment in specific terms.
It's not even set to private, it's set to Upwork users only.

Hmm, you're right, it says 'not public'. But I can't see it, even though I'm logged in.

petra_r · ‎05-29-2021

Phyllis G wrote:
It's not even set to private, it's set to Upwork users only.
Hmm, you're right, it says 'not public'. But I can't see it, even though I'm logged in.

Not even via the link ? It always says "Profile is not public" when someone's profile is set to "Upwork users only".

gilbert-phyllis · ‎05-29-2021

Petra R wrote:
Phyllis G wrote:
It's not even set to private, it's set to Upwork users only.
Hmm, you're right, it says 'not public'. But I can't see it, even though I'm logged in.

Not even via the link ? It always says "Profile is not public" when someone's profile is set to "Upwork users only".

Using that link, I can see it. But when I click on her name at the top of her post or comment and then choose 'view profile', I can't see it. Am I about to learn something about how to view profiles that everybody else figures out their first month?

petra_r · ‎05-29-2021

Phyllis G wrote:
Using that link, I can see it. But when I click on her name at the top of her post or comment and then choose 'view profile', I can't see it.

That is normal. Everyone who sets their profile to "Upwork users only" shows as "profile not public". It's easy enough to find by putting the name and Initial in "" into the freelancer search field.

mathgirl · ‎05-29-2021

Thanks for sharing your ideas and opinions. My profile was activated yesterday, after I have contacted CS for the 100th time.

Unfortunately, as confirmed by one of my previous customers, when my profile is on “hidden” they cannot find me anymore. They will get to work with those who keep active earning 5 USD on fixed price jobs.

Again, there are people who contribute very little for several years, and there are people who, in a few years, earn quite a bit.
I have never worked for a seven dollar fixed price job because that would be unethical towards the customers who have paid more over the years. This type of considerations seem not to be shared by many among us, but they definitely define me as a professional.

Best regards,
Milena

a_lipsey · ‎05-29-2021

You believe your rate defines you as a professional?

Consider this: Michael Phelps comes out of retirement, hasn't swum in any competitions for two years, but wants the Olympic committee to place him on the team, despite having not been active in any competitive swimming for two years. They aren't going to take it on his word that he should be given a place on the Olympic team.

You haven't worked on this platform for two years. So the TR badge, which is Upwork's endorsement that you have good ratings and work consistently, cannot be given to you because you have not shown those things to Upwork over 2 years.

As a professional, you know that certifications of all kinds require ongoing upkeep, like continuing education credits or qualified professional development to maintain credentials, etc. You seem to just want it handed to you because for some reason your case is special?

TR status is not simply earned once and kept forever. It's well known that you have to maintain that status. You have not maintained it. It's really that simple.

Your rate or earnings do not make you above or below the rules.

mathgirl · ‎05-29-2021

Dear Amanda,

My rate does define me as a professional. As a professional, who pays taxes and adheres to specific ethics, I know that my rate cannot go below a certain minimum and, most of all, if I charge a minimum amount of XX euros for small projects, I cannot work, on Upwork, for one twentieth of that amount, because that would be unethical. It is unethical to translate into a language which is not your native one, unless you are specifically knowledgeable in a technical environment and restrict your field of action to that one. Everybody, though, has a specific definition of what a professional is. My industry, overall, is strict on these rules.

My rate pays me, the taxes I owe to the country I reside in, my trainings.

Your example, I’m very sorry to inform you, does not fit. I did not retire. I have worked, actively, on several projects, I actively cooperate with my fellow professionals locally (experience teaches you that a cooperative attitude is key in all successful projects). I have co founded a company which, also on Upwork, is very active as a client.

For sure the lack of a success score (while 91% of customers would recommend me) is damaging my potential cooperations at decent rates.

Upwork does send me messages constantly asking me to bring my personal private clients on the platform though, using it as a payment platform. Upwork does imagine that, if I have not been active on the platform for three years, I must have clients outside the system.

I am not going to lower my rate or, better, to accept to work for a few euros damaging my professional image with Universities and governments I work with to gain a “success score” on a web platform. That comes with professionalism.

Milena

petra_r · ‎05-29-2021

Milena B wrote:
My rate does define me as a professional.

All the work you have done on the platform has been at a rate far, far lower than your profile rate.

And as you are closing your account and deleting your profile anyway, it doesn't matter.

Milena B wrote:
It is unethical to translate into a language which is not your native one

Where in the world is that comment coming from? Where has anyone mentioned doing anything of the sort?

a_lipsey · ‎05-29-2021

Milena B wrote:
Thanks for sharing your ideas and opinions. My profile was activated yesterday, after I have contacted CS for the 100th time.

Unfortunately, as confirmed by one of my previous customers, when my profile is on “hidden” they cannot find me anymore. They will get to work with those who keep active earning 5 USD on fixed price jobs.

Again, there are people who contribute very little for several years, and there are people who, in a few years, earn quite a bit.
I have never worked for a seven dollar fixed price job because that would be unethical towards the customers who have paid more over the years. This type of considerations seem not to be shared by many among us, but they definitely define me as a professional.

Best regards,
Milena

I'd also like to suggest that you edit your profile. Things have changed in the past two years, and your profile is not really optimized for the marketplace as it is now. That could be a bigger reason why clients aren't finding you upon searching for you. For example, your headline has so many varying titles, it makes you look like you're just dabbling in lots of things instead of a specialist in one or two things. Clients come here looking for people with specific skills that are verifiable. Listing 5 varying things in your headline makes it look like you don't really have any specific skillset. I also can't really tell what it is you will provide when looking at your profile.

Your profile needs a lot of work. As a client, when I search for freelancers, I skip over freelancers who have headlines like this, with multiple very different fields listed, because it makes me think they are just throwing stuff up against the wall trying to see what sticks, instead of having any specific expert skills that I need.

Maybe you should set up a few more specialized profiles so your skills aren't bundled together and getting lost.

petra_r · ‎05-29-2021

Milena B wrote:
Thanks for sharing your ideas and opinions. My profile was activated yesterday, after I have contacted CS for the 100th time.

It hasn't been "the 100th time" and it would now stay public for 2 years. Not that it matters, as you have decided to close your account and delete your profile anyway.

Milena B wrote:
Unfortunately, as confirmed by one of my previous customers, when my profile is on “hidden” they cannot find me anymore. T

Why would those clients not simply message you rather than try and find your profile? If you don't like your profile set to private, simply have it set back to public. Not that it matters, as nobody hired you since 2018 anyway. And why does it matter if you are about to close your account and delete your profile anyway?

I've never really understoond why people think that if they publicly announce their imminent exit from the platform, they'll be begged to stay and apologized to for the grave injustices that exist only in their heads.

What such people fail to understand is that Upwork is drowning in freelancers, especially now, so losing freelancers who aren't even actually winning any jobs and aren't generating any revenue and haven't for years isn't a problem.

9 times out of 10 those who are declaring "I am going to leave the platform and deleting my account" do no such thing anyway. And never intended to.

Hidden talent, clients (also future ones) beware!