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bestcoverdesigns
Community Member

Top Rated struggles to find new projects

Hello,
I started to work here one year ago, and it goes well at the beginning. I worked on good projects, get beautiful reviews and after few months, I was promoted to Top Rated (summer 2019).
After that, I struggled to find new projects. Only one project in 4-5 months as Top Rated, with lot of proposals.
A few open contracts  affected negatively on my JSS (waiting for the author to finished their books), and it dropped to 89% and I lost my TR badge. 
I started to find more projects again. I got 2-5 projects every week, with lot of 5 stars reviews. 
After 2-3 months, I was promoted to TR again.
One month after the promotion, I have spent 50$+ on proposals and get absolutely nothing.
ZERO projects.
Before the badge, I just sent a short cover letter with a link to my strong book cover portfolio and I was hired immediately:
**Edited for Community Guidelines**
In the last 30 days, I have sent over 25+ proposals on book cover-projects, and get nothing. Usually, one out of 3 clients/proposals, reply to me. I think that I am not in the list of the recommended designers (who match the best) as before. It seems like the Top Rated member has lower chance than before. I havent long-term clients, so I am not working, because of the lack of projects.

I think that Top Rated badge is destroying my career on upwork. 
What should I do?
Any advices? I wrote this a week ago, but someone deleted it for some reasons.
Thanks


8 REPLIES 8
florydev
Community Member

It wasn’t deleted you can see it right here:
https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Top-rated-cant-get-new-projects/m-p/737168
I won’t respond because everything Petra said is what I would say.
lysis10
Community Member

Oh, I thought you had the grand conspiracy figured out and upwork had decided to sabotage visibility for TR freelancers, because that totally makes sense.

berg_shari
Community Member

I have no advice. I am an expert in my field, and I am having difficulty finding any work here. I used to find lots of work here when I used the platform previously (back when it was still Odesk). Now, nothing. I've only ever gotten one response to a proposal, but the job went to someone else. I am ready to give up here. It shouldn't be this hard to find jobs here. I struggle with the fact that I haven't earned any money in a long time here, so I don't even meet the preferred requirements for some job posters because of that. If anyone has tips, I'm open to hearing them as well. I've honestly had better luck finding new clients on LinkedIn than I have here. 


Shari B wrote:

I have no advice. I am an expert in my field, and I am having difficulty finding any work here. I used to find lots of work here when I used the platform previously (back when it was still Odesk). Now, nothing. I've only ever gotten one response to a proposal, but the job went to someone else. I am ready to give up here. It shouldn't be this hard to find jobs here. I struggle with the fact that I haven't earned any money in a long time here, so I don't even meet the preferred requirements for some job posters because of that. If anyone has tips, I'm open to hearing them as well. I've honestly had better luck finding new clients on LinkedIn than I have here. 


I know a girl from Reddit who joined my discord and we became sorta efrands. She comes around once in a while. She has great success on LinkedIn and I have 0. Total opposite for her on Upwork. It maybe has to do with field and maybe just the personality of the freelancer.

Different platforms work for different freelancers, which is why I'm on several. 🙂 I think it's best to diversify. I just know for me, right now, LinkedIn seems to be producing more quality work for me. 

tlbp
Community Member


Shari B wrote:

I have no advice. I am an expert in my field, and I am having difficulty finding any work here. I used to find lots of work here when I used the platform previously (back when it was still Odesk). Now, nothing. I've only ever gotten one response to a proposal, but the job went to someone else. I am ready to give up here. It shouldn't be this hard to find jobs here. I struggle with the fact that I haven't earned any money in a long time here, so I don't even meet the preferred requirements for some job posters because of that. If anyone has tips, I'm open to hearing them as well. I've honestly had better luck finding new clients on LinkedIn than I have here. 


If you are landing gigs via LI, why bother with Upwork? Keep those commissions and build your brand where you already have a good start. I imagine there are now far more freelancers competing here for the same gigs as there were in the Odesk days. 

berg_shari
Community Member

Yes, it does seem like there are more people here now than there used to be. I may eventually stop using Upwork, but for now, I'm keeping it as an option. 

tlbp
Community Member

Well, if you drop below the minimum earnings threshold, you won't be top rated anymore. Or, you could get suspended, that would cause you to lose your TR badge. 

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