Solved: Upwork getting worse for me? And you?

dragan74 · ‎01-28-2020

My earnings went 50% down in 2019 comparing to period 2015 - 2018. There are less clients in my field of work. I noticed some of them moved to 99design. Someone who is bad in business took over Upwork?!

In the same time I can apply less as I earn less and applicatios sometimes cost 6 tokens.

I started searching for a regular job, as Upwork turned to regular job with low income. The fees (20%, 15usd, token policy). I don't feel I get enought for the price.

Also 20% is extremely expensive as 90% of my clients are new and less than 500 usd contracts.

Swarm of poor clients asking serious work for peanuts, 10 - 20usd.

Just sayin'

tlsanders · ‎02-01-2020

Dragan, you've said that you're seeing fewer jobs for you on Upwork and that your usual client relationships are less than $500. That makes a lot of sense, since Upwork has said for the past several months that they aren't very interested in small clients like that and are looking for bigger clients that build long-term relationships. Probably, they are no longer targeting your type of clients with their advertising.

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mgmason1975 · ‎01-29-2020

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Maybe consider brushing up on your marketing skills and finding clients elsewhere. Upwork hasn't been my primary source of income for at least two years. I've found plenty of clients off site, word of mouth recommendations, outreach from LinkedIn and random people finding me on Facebook.

tomzilla1 · ‎01-29-2020

Upwork last year was decent from Jan to May, then after that BIG drop. I believe the new algorithm they introduced in June has to do with it, if not all, part.

a_lipsey · ‎01-29-2020

Dragan B wrote:
Someone who is bad in business took over Upwork?!
Just sayin'

Maybe someone bad in business is running your business? Upwork is one tool freelance businesses can use. If it's not a profitable or useful tool for you then you need to make a business decision about it, and maybe find a different way to market your skills to new clients.

tomzilla1 · ‎01-29-2020

Amanda, bravo, you never cease to surprise me with your venom and bitterness. lol.

a_lipsey · ‎01-29-2020

Tom Z wrote:
Amanda, bravo, you never cease to surprise me with your venom and bitterness. lol.

Thanks, Tom. I aim to please.

robin_hyman · ‎01-29-2020

It's time to find a new strategy. I agree not to spend your efforts all on Upwork. Look for other sites, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. for new clients. Good luck to you!

dragan74 · ‎01-29-2020

Of course the one will do that. But this is an Upwork community so I was just saying what is happening to me here. That is the topic. Not how to develop buisness in general, but how the business is going here these months.

a_lipsey · ‎01-29-2020

Dragan, it's not any worse for me, in my field. But if it's not making a profit for you, you're smart to look to other income sources, as you mentioned you are.

I'm not sure any of us have enough data really to note whether or not business is up or down, and since there are so many freelancers from so many fields to consider, the data is too variable to make any assessment based on a community poll. I think it's wise to determine based on your business solely what you should do.

bizwriterjohn · ‎01-31-2020

The Upwork contractor community, in the meta sense, will continue to experience an influx of contractors competing for work. The rise in the number of 'freelancers' is a metric trending up in parabolic trajectory up. Some estimates now indicate more than 20% of the U.S. workforce works as freelancers, with many doing this part-time, so as to leverage skills and cherry-pick work.

We exist in a classic workforce paradigm. By law of averages, the number of competitors is going up. The quality of competitors is going up. As said below, but with perhaps a bit more touch of compassion. Now is a good time to focus on the second skill Upwork freelancers must have to prosper: positioning for work and winning clients.

To share what is perhaps a surprising concept. You trained for how many years to deliver your services? Many? Many more than many? Now, compare that to how much self-training and skill development you have worked yourself through -- on the 'sales and business development skillsets' that best favor the freelancer side of it.

"Selling" is not a natural skill set. There are bodies of knowledge, best practices, skill sets, that can be learned and applied. You are facing an increasing group of competitors, their quality of services is going up and I always assume there are multiple freelancers competing with me -- and equally skilled at delivery -- for each and every job.

Then I devote myself to 'selling better' than they do. So often, the ugly concept, we have to be good salespeople these days. It is that, or other outcomes.

John.

jvieirator · ‎02-01-2020

Guess I picked a bad time to join Upwork. Recently got let go from a decade+ job and now I can't even get a freelance job on here, maybe I'm too expensive or my cover letters are lame, honestly after so many proposals of trying to vary what I can do for the client, I'm stuck on what else to do. Do I say I can juggle a monkey while designing your cover?

Also, it's depressing seeing some of the quotes, "I want you to do everything. $20 budget!"

And yes I am actively looking for a real job, but it's a tough hiring season.

jaybopp82 · ‎02-01-2020

Yes, it can be tough to land jobs on Upwork. I find that I get an offer for every 5 proposals submitted, but this is in a field where there is a lot of work daily. I joined (well, came back) in December and haven't seen a lack of jobs since. But again, it could be completely different in your line of work.

mrarpitjain · ‎02-01-2020

Joanna V wrote:
Guess I picked a bad time to join Upwork. Recently got let go from a decade+ job and now I can't even get a freelance job on here, maybe I'm too expensive or my cover letters are lame, honestly after so many proposals of trying to vary what I can do for the client, I'm stuck on what else to do. Do I say I can juggle a monkey while designing your cover?

Also, it's depressing seeing some of the quotes, "I want you to do everything. $20 budget!"

And yes I am actively looking for a real job, but it's a tough hiring season.

Hey,

I just looked up your profile and your title clearly mentions jack of all trades.

Well, clients like to hire specialized freelancers, so I would recommend you to spend some time to work on your overview and title.

Also explore specialised profiles for graphic designer and UI/UX Design

and if you want I can also review your proposals.

With best regards

Arpit

dragan74 · ‎03-04-2020

@Arpit J

I am not sure that you know what clients want. I personally had a lot of clients that like one designer to do all work for them, not making them hire a lot of people.

You can always think of some way to justify anything. I've been using intensively Upwork since Odesk. I was adapting whenever it was needed. But adaptation has its limits.

We now have extrememly expensive platform that is attracting lousy clients. That is the sole truth. It costs 15 usd a month, 20% per contract (I don't know about you but 80%+ of my clents are one time clients), with sometimes 6 tokens per application, additional tokens are more expensive too, enormous pending 5 days time on what is left for us. Less clients, less contracts and more effective are the secret marks. I've had rate of 100 for years, now I am at 97 as I have 3 times less contracts.

All would be ok and bareble but I noticed in my branch there are at least three times clients less now than before.

I don't need a comment or advice. I am just making my comment on the policy. Also I got a threttening mail warning not to drive clients away from the platform as they are very omg worried about our security 😄

I am sure soon there will be nothing to secure around here. But... capitalism and profits are more important then living and making a long term successful company. 🙂 I remember a saying for banks... Bank will eat and eat, once there is nothing to eat the bank will eat itself.

a_lipsey · ‎02-01-2020

Joanna V wrote:
Do I say I can juggle a monkey while designing your cover?

If you think it will help? It might. Even as a joke, it might get a client to look twice at you. I mean, it's worth a shot right?

lysis10 · ‎02-01-2020

Joanna V wrote:
Guess I picked a bad time to join Upwork. Recently got let go from a decade+ job and now I can't even get a freelance job on here, maybe I'm too expensive or my cover letters are lame, honestly after so many proposals of trying to vary what I can do for the client, I'm stuck on what else to do. Do I say I can juggle a monkey while designing your cover?

Also, it's depressing seeing some of the quotes, "I want you to do everything. $20 budget!"

And yes I am actively looking for a real job, but it's a tough hiring season.

Losing a job and starting freelance is tough. You're already down on yourself for getting laid off but you need confidence and motivation to sell. One reason I got into freelancing was because of the layoffs I watched over and over again. Even if you survive the layoff, the survivor guilt is real and the job suddenly sucks anyway. I used to walk around saying all my friends are dead after a layoff.

tlsanders · ‎02-01-2020

Joanna V wrote:
Guess I picked a bad time to join Upwork. Recently got let go from a decade+ job and now I can't even get a freelance job on here, maybe I'm too expensive or my cover letters are lame, honestly after so many proposals of trying to vary what I can do for the client, I'm stuck on what else to do. Do I say I can juggle a monkey while designing your cover?

Also, it's depressing seeing some of the quotes, "I want you to do everything. $20 budget!"

And yes I am actively looking for a real job, but it's a tough hiring season.

I'm not sure how long you've been on Upwork or how many proposals you've sent out, but it took me a few weeks and 36 proposals to land my first job here and it's all been smooth sailing since.

tlbp · ‎02-01-2020

Joanna V wrote:
Guess I picked a bad time to join Upwork. Recently got let go from a decade+ job and now I can't even get a freelance job on here, maybe I'm too expensive or my cover letters are lame, honestly after so many proposals of trying to vary what I can do for the client, I'm stuck on what else to do. Do I say I can juggle a monkey while designing your cover?

Also, it's depressing seeing some of the quotes, "I want you to do everything. $20 budget!"

And yes I am actively looking for a real job, but it's a tough hiring season.

I'm a writer, so take this as an outsider's perspective...
Upwork is a global platform, so you are competing against a huge body of freelancers from around the world. What you bring to the competition is your talent, price, and your personality/customer service skills. Because you are competing on a global platform, there is plenty of talent and many people willing to work at a low price.

Yes, your personal skill is a distinguishing characteristic, but it is hard to demonstrate and other freelancers are equally skilled (even though they won't possess your exact style). That leaves you with personality and customer service skills. What can you give a prospective client that others cannot in terms of positive customer experience? Reliability? Communication?

Beyond demonstrating each of your distinguishing characteristics from style to timeliness, etc., it really is a numbers game. Do you have the new feature option that allows you to invite non-Upwork clients to add testimonials to your profile? Can you ask some of your former co-workers to leave genuine testimonials about your work?

I personally think that the design niche on Upwork is one of the most competitive. However, I also think many of your competitors aren't particularly skilled (apologies to those of you who are). I suspect that there are many freelancers claiming to have design skills who are really just skilled at copying. 😕

tlsanders · ‎02-01-2020

Dragan, you've said that you're seeing fewer jobs for you on Upwork and that your usual client relationships are less than $500. That makes a lot of sense, since Upwork has said for the past several months that they aren't very interested in small clients like that and are looking for bigger clients that build long-term relationships. Probably, they are no longer targeting your type of clients with their advertising.

williambernal · ‎02-01-2020

D,

In my niche (writing & translating) the bottom has absolutely dropped out and UW is no longer viable for even supplementary income. For a UW novice or a new FL, I can't imagine that time spent searching on UW would be time well spent.

In my 8+ UW years this is absolutely the most barren job situation, in my niche, that I've ever experienced and I have no expectations that it will improve anytime soon.

But...best of luck to all!

wb

a_lipsey · ‎02-01-2020

william b wrote:
D,

In my niche (writing & translating) the bottom has absolutely dropped out and UW is no longer viable for even supplementary income. For a UW novice or a new FL, I can't imagine that time spent searching on UW would be time well spent.

In my 8+ UW years this is absolutely the most barren job situation, in my niche, that I've ever experienced and I have no expectations that it will improve anytime soon.

But...best of luck to all!
wb

Curious if you are considering other factors/variables in your field or if it's all an Upwork problem? Are you getting clients through other avenues more easily but just UW drying up?

dragan74 · ‎03-04-2020

We can just watch what's going to happen.

moonraker · ‎03-04-2020

I've not been applying to many jobs lately but, in the latest 2-3 months, I've noticed an upturn in suitable jobs.

I've also seen a definite upturn in invitations, both directly from clients and 'talent specialists'. I don't think I've ever had so many.

dragan74 · ‎03-04-2020

Good for writers looks like 🙂