entry level

[eljatko]

I am only two days on Upwork with entry-level experience and I send 7 proposals and still have no task to do. Can you help me to find an unpaid easy project so the client after finishing it can write me a review.

Thank you

[moonraker]

7 proposals is nothing. It can take a lot longer than that to land a job.

And working for free is pointless - a client can't leave a review for you if they've not paid you anything. 

[dd63c576]

Never do an upaid job on Upwork (I suggest you even outside upwork) 

Polish your profile and sending proposals, you ll get job soon. 

Good Luck,...

[roberty1y]

As others have pointed out, doing work for no pay means you wouldn't get a review. But even working for low pay just to get reviews is the worst idea ever. Have patience and keep sending out proposals. On average, you could send out 30 or 40 unsuccessful proposals for every job you get. A history of low-paid jobs gives a bad impression to anyone who looks at your profile.

[eljatko]

Thank to you all for the encouragement,this is not an easy earning money.

[marc_compte]

What I did was aiming at small jobs. Never a job that is clearly underpaid, but not necessarily very well paid either. The important thing is that they are small, so the risk the client has to take when hiring someone with an empty profile is lower. Jobs of 1 hour, 2 hours, are great to start.

If you ace them, they are the most profitable in terms of reviews and JSS. In an hour or two you can get a 5 star review. If all you want is reviews and stars, small jobs are the best. That is the case when you start.

But nobody came here looking for reviews, we are here to earn money, so as soon as you got your first few good reviews to back up your talent then you should aim at medium-size projects, maybe increase your rate too if you think your job is worth it. And so on.

And, at any stage, from the beginning to the end of your career at Upwork, send proposals only to jobs you think are a good fit for your knowledge and talent. Never try to do a job you are not sure you can handle or jobs you didn't walk through all the pitfalls with the client before starting. You will always want to keep the good reviews coming and keep the bad ones away.

And send good proposals. If the job post allows it (it has a good description) don't talk about yourself (and how good of a fit you are) and concentrate on the project. Explain what would you do, how would you manage or fix an issue identified in the post. The job post does not always allow this, unfortunately, but don't miss the chance of doing it when you can.

And be patient and perseverant.

[martina_plaschka · Accepted solution]

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Elena L wrote:
Thank to you all for the encouragement,this is not an easy earning money.

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It isn't. Nobody ever said it was. There are millions of freelancers on upwork, and far less clients and jobs. Competition is huge. 

Your profile needs a lot of work. What services are you trying to sell? Have you researched your competition? How do you want to stand out? Why should somebody hire you? For what? What does your client need and why are you the best person for his task?

Finally, you need a portfolio that showcases your skills. 

[tlbp]

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Martina P wrote:

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Elena L wrote:
Thank to you all for the encouragement,this is not an easy earning money.

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It isn't. Nobody ever said it was. There are millions of freelancers on upwork, and far less clients and jobs. Competition is huge. 

Your profile needs a lot of work. What services are you trying to sell? Have you researched your competition? How do you want to stand out? Why should somebody hire you? For what? What does your client need and why are you the best person for his task?

Finally, you need a portfolio that showcases your skills. 

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I suspect that there are many people posting on social media forums and producing videos that do say it is an easy way to earn money. I also suspect that many of the other misconceptions we see posts about in the official forums stem from these same sources. There are certainly many new-ish freelancers who are absolutely convinced that Upwork will change a client's feedback on their behalf and that they'll get legitimate invitations for gigs as soon as their profiles go live. 

[martina_plaschka]

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Elena L wrote:

I am only two days on Upwork with entry-level experience and I send 7 proposals and still have no task to do. Can you help me to find an unpaid easy project so the client after finishing it can write me a review.

Thank you

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The forum is not the right place to ask for work, it is actually forbidded to do so. Plus unpaid work never shows up on your profile, so you need to learn about upwork now. Set yourself a metric for success, for example: Win 1 job out of the first 100 proposals, win 2 out of the next 100. Go up to 10 for the last 100. If that doesn't work out, rethink your strategy.