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Jeanne's avatar
Jeanne H Community Member

To all freelancers looking for help

I have always had freelancers come to me for help. In the last year, the river has swelled into an enormous ocean.

 

You don't need me; Upwork provides an enormous amount of information that few ever use. If, after you have gone through all the information I provide, you still have questions, that is when you ask additional questions in the forum.

 

If you think you will make big bucks right away, you are mistaken. The majority of freelancers never land a job because they have no skills and aren't interested in educating themselves. Others believe online freelancing is a path to full-time employment. It can be, but highly unlikely on this platform.

 

Freelancing is not for everyone. It means you are self-employed and must adhere to all regulations and laws governing responsibilities, such as paying taxes. Freelancing means you are on your own. No one has your back, including Upwork. If you don't follow the rules, no one will or can help you.

 

If you are willing to work hard, follow the rules and prepared to spend a lot of connects and proposals, you can be successful, as many are on Upwork. While so many fail, it is almost always due to lack of skills and treating freelancing like employment  where the employer will make sure you do the job correctly.

 

If you want to succeed, start with the Terms of Service, then read this from Wes. 

 

Then go here. Then here. 

After that, go here for safety information, and then here. If you still need help, after you have gone through all the previous steps, you can find additional help here.

 

It will take some time to go through all the information. I'm not suggesting people should not post in the forum, I am suggesting before you ask questions and want help, you need to help yourself first.

 

 

From Prashant P: "And have relevant profile picture of your face.  Not some desks, or Mickey mouse, or full face covering." 

From Susan S: "And patience! Have patience! It takes a while to get started, even after going through all the information available."

From Martina P:  "Only one thing you forgot, namely telling people to use all 15 skills, if you have all 15 skills"

And with advice from Maria T, I will say, 

Refrain from personal messages, please read all the links I have added.

 

 

2,051 REPLIES 2,051
Sofiane's avatar
Sofiane G Community Member

Upwork has turned into a pay-to-get-hired platform now. Well... Except many freelancers don't get hired anymore, since the new platform updates. Connects to send a proposal have increased by +100%. It's very hard to continue working with upwork. Many freelancers are planning to leave the platform.

Jeanne's avatar
Jeanne H Community Member

Upwork has turned into a pay-to-get-hired platform now.

 

I disagree. There are issues, including allowing anyone to be a freelancer if they can buy connects. However, any platform has fees. Freelancing in the physical world has costs. If the return is poor or no jobs are available, it only makes sense to have other options. Everyone, no matter how good things are going, should always have a backup plan, or two, or three and other ways or places to make money.

Francis's avatar
Francis H Community Member

Absolutely agreed!

Md Billal's avatar
Md Billal H Community Member

@Jeanne H Right, everyone should have a back plan to survive smoothly.

Muhammad's avatar
Muhammad E Community Member

Hey! I have great experience with Local Market Clients Now just move to upwork and ready to start, is there anything you can suggest me how i can move my previous clients to upwork better ways?

Muhammad's avatar
Muhammad S Community Member

I will honestly say that if you're are new to your field and doing freelancing.it will make mess. First you have to get some real experience on other platforms or onsite jobs for at least one year then you will not get more headache 😨 in freelancing 

Muhammad's avatar
Muhammad I Community Member

Hi Imran L, you need to learn some more skills like other freelancers in Upwork and add them also you have to make/add your attractive portfolio in your profile in this way, hopefully, you will be hired for projects.  

William T's avatar
William T C Community Member

Hey Jeanne, good reminders for everyone!

Martina's avatar
Martina P Community Member

Thanks! Why don't you use all 15 skills, yet tell everyone to do it?

Christopherson's avatar
Christopherson G Community Member

Hey,

It's great to see these important links, I'm new here and felt lost, but I'll keep looking and stay informed

One of the admins should pin that post because it's very helpful for new freelancers.

Martina's avatar
Martina P Community Member

Excellent post, Jeanne H! Only one thing you forgot, namely telling people to use all 15 skills. Thanks!

Zohaib Ali's avatar
Zohaib Ali K Community Member

This flew over my head. Which 15 skills are we talking about?

Jonathan's avatar
Jonathan L Community Member

Add Skills. They are located just below your portfolio section. They look like this (taken from my profile):

25005175_0-1672912533232.png

 

Martina's avatar
Martina P Community Member

Jonathan, I noticed you only used 14. Please add one. Thank you. 

Jonathan's avatar
Jonathan L Community Member

Yeah, that's because I struggle to find a 15th that is a skill that I actually want to advertise. I definitely have other skills, but they are either wholly unrelated to my main services or are a service that I don't want to provide.

Douglas Michael's avatar
Douglas Michael M Community Member

Jonathan, I believe your leg has been successfully pulled.

Martina's avatar
Martina P Community Member

Should I go for the other one too?

Radia's avatar
Radia L Community Member

Martina, I've been seeing the "15 skills" talks lately and I'm actually wondering...

 

Do I need to reduce my skills to, let's say, only 3 skills that I think has the most probability of getting matched?  Thanks!

Douglas Michael's avatar
Douglas Michael M Community Member

Interjecting, if I may:
I choose skills based on the likelihood of their attracting my target clientele. I may have as many as a dozen. I resist Upwork's repeated blandishments to add more; their suggestions are typically either for skills below outside my target market, or verifiable spam magnets—or, laughably, ones that I have already listed. I would suggest our skills, whatever their number, should exclusively reflect the peak value we can offer our target clients.

Radia's avatar
Radia L Community Member

Thanks Douglas,

 

I thought including 15 skills will simply maximize the probability of being matched, but I'm now thinking the algo is not that simple.

Jeanne's avatar
Jeanne H Community Member

Upwork keeps telling us it is crucial to have 15 skills, but I, too, wonder if that messes with the program. I may drop some of my skills and see if I detect any changes.

Anthony's avatar
Anthony H Community Member

I haven't a clue how many skills I have listed ... and I'm not very interested, either.

 

This is a nice discussion, too.  Thanks, Jeanne and others.

Tetiana's avatar
Tetiana C Community Member

Hello, Anthony! I'm a big fan of yours, I read a lot of your recommendations for freelancers, and a lot of what you said I applied to my profile. But I can't get my first order. Anthony, could you please take a look and evaluate my profile and give me a recommendation? Thank you very much.

Atif's avatar
Atif Z Community Member

I don't think you have to downsize those things of what you are capable of

Jonathan's avatar
Jonathan L Community Member


Martina P wrote:

Should I go for the other one too?


I'll be walking funny until you do