I Think I'm Hired

[ginabefera]

Hi.  I submitted a proposal to a client and he just up and sent me his project files and I have been working on it for about a week.  So have I been hired?  I am not sure. I did not sign a contract. I have no idea how to get paid  nor does the client know how to pay me. Did I miss something in the process,  Help!  Thanks. 

[sjbercot]

It doesn't sound like you've been hired! The client needs to send you an hourly or fixed rate offer from your proposal/the job posting. Then you accept the offer. If it is a fixed rate project, do only the work for the first funded milestone. Then submit the work. When the next milestone is funded, you do the work and submit. Rinse and repeat. If an hourly contract, you are to use the Time Tracker while you work with memos and good activity levels. If not, the client can authorize manual time and you can add your time after the fact (be aware that manual time is not protected, only properly tracked time).

[kinector]

If you have received an offer from the client and accepted it, you will see your project on the My Jobs page under Active contracts.

If it is not there, it would be probably a good idea to ask the client to send the offer. Here is how: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211063618-Send-an-Offer

If things are going well with the client and the project is fixed price, it is easy to manage. The client should fund the milestone that you've already started to work on. When finished with that part (which may not be the entire project!) you just use the Submit Work button and wait for the money to be released from the escrow. Then proceed with the other milestones, if any.

If the project is hourly-paid, you have to discuss and agree on how to log the hours you've already spent. This can lead to a bigger mix-up and you are in a bad position to negotiate if the client gets tricky.

In the future, you will not start any work unless you have a contract, right?

I hope it works out. Good luck!