My zero-to-hero experience log

[#1]

Well, I'm not a hero now yet😂, however, I'm not a 0 too. I have been on Upwork since Dec 2022, it has been 3 months now and I'm starting my fourth job now.

Let me talk about myself first, so you can know better if my experience is valuable to you.
I worked with development for 13 years, In my last contract job, I managed a 4 people team in the company and maintained a codebase, I can't say more about the product since I signed NDA when I resign. however, it's an algorithm intended to identify people's personality traits through social media behavior.

In 2019, I'm a supporter of Hong Kong's democracy. I'm proud to stand with many Hong Konger together to fight for democracy even it now seems to fail.

Then I lost my contract job, my supervisor had a long talk with me to let me resign by myself, I know the company receives a lot of pressure from their largest client - the CCP government and I don't willingly let my employer get in trouble so I resigned the next day. When I think again today, I feel it's a wise choice that I resigned by myself, since I can still get some compensation, if I do not accept it I could be kicked out with nothing.

Also, after I resigned I realized maybe it was my karma. when I developed the project, I only feel it was a fun job, think about how you can identify a person without their face, just using the words they posted and the reactions on social media, how a programmer can resist that temptation? sometimes I think, it may be just my code that helped CCP identify me from the internet.

However, I never regret my support for Hong Kong democracy, If I had to choose again I will make the same choice with no hesitation. I believe that not everyone needs to be a hero to fight evil but we have to say no, so they know that if they want to overrun our freedom they need to pay at a cost.

Today, I'm living in Thailand, I have a small printing business that is now stable and profitable. However, I love doing development, deep in my bone, I'm a developer and I enjoy seeing my code runs and be used by people.

In the last year, I have had more time to think about my future, I'm 34 this year, and I have the time and energy to do something I loved - I want to fund a boutique team to do only two jobs: web development and online marketing.

However, big ambition needs to start from small work, I signed Upwork and get started as a single warrior.

I'm not sure if I can write a post here to log my Upwork growth and share my experience with other people, if I post in the wrong place please feel free to delete this post.

I hope my experience can help people who like me to get easier on the start and avoid making the mistake I made. So either this will be a log of success or it's a log of failure, but I think both will give some help.

Thank you for reading, nice to meet you, and good luck.

[#2]

I'd like to share my first experience in this post, about me to get started.

In the past three months, I have spent more than $100 to buy Connects, how much have I made from Upwork? $120. I had to say it's a bad result and am shy to share.

My last contract job paid $43 per hour and a lot of company benefits. Compare with a $20 profit in 3 months I must be crazy 🤣.

It also comes with a depressing episode, after I finish my first job for the first client, he offered me another job and I continue work for him without a contract, and 3 days after the client disappeared and was never online again. because of this case, I wasn't logged in to Upwork for more than a week.

Then on that day's morning, I asked myself am I that easy to give up? Do I really care about the small income or want to get started?

On Upwork we have to compete with the elites around the world, other people have spent years on Upwork with a trackable success history, how a newbie can beat them?

Then I don't blame the disappeared client, he actually did a big favor to me - my profile is not empty anymore and I'm not a 0 on Upwork.

Then I continue to bid on low price jobs, my strategy is not to focus on the income but get more jobs, make clients satisfied, and earn a good reputation on Upwork as a key to future jobs. I also lower my hourly rate from $50 to $17.5 on my Upwork profile.

A few days later, I get another $50 job, I spent a total of 20 hours finishing it, and then the client send me another $20 job which will cost me 6 hours more, I accepted and was happy.

Last yesterday, another client offered me a $200 job, I estimated it will cost me around 15-20 hours but I'm excited and appreciative of it. It's not about the money but feels that I got more trust from people and my strategy works.

Here's an outline of what I learned from the very beginning:

- don't be shy to ask your client to send you a contract before start working
- don't think it's easy to start if you are a newbie same me
- don't think Upwork could be your main income source in the very beginning. if you don't have a stable income, find a full-time job first.
- don't waste your Connects to bid payments not verified jobs
- review the client's history too, don't waste Connects with 0 spent clients, especially. a client proposed a nice offer but with 0 spent.
- don't save your time on writing proposals
- be patient with your first contract

Good luck to you my friend and see you in the next post.

[#3]

Suppose you are your client

If you read my last post you will know I'm now working for the fourth job and compared with the previous job its huge money, as huge as $200 😝

I can also feel the client's worry about the success of the project from the continued messages and questions. I really appreciate the client's trust in me, however, as a developer with 13 years of experience, the continued messages and questions somehow hit my pride.

But I learned something that when we work as a freelancer we should always think about "what if I'm the client?" once you think like that you will understand all the behaviors of the client -- we are actually strangers on Upwork in the beginning.

So when you think about that a stranger handles you a couple of bucks and lets you do something you may be grateful, because it's not money, it's trust.

We may be experts in our industry, and the job from the client may be just like a piece of cake to us, but how does the client know that If we don't have success proof? when the client offers us a job actually the client also takes the risk of the project failure.

In my industry, the actual success rate is considered very low.

A report by the Standish Group in 2018 found that only 29% of IT projects were considered successful, while 19% were considered outright failures, and the remaining 52% were classified as challenged (meaning they were completed, but with cost overruns, delays, or a failure to meet all of their objectives).

It comes from a lot of reasons, both clients and developers. the most common reason for the clients is a limited budget with unlimited ambition. This is also the reason why you can find so many jobs from any freelancer website that people who want to build a $10 website and succeed in their online marketing🤭

Another common reason is the unprofessional developer, the developer's job is not like a singer, the client can verify by saying "hey, sing me a song, then I pay you." The ChatGPT is out now, everyone can say "hey, I'm a developer" and usually the clients can not verify that at the beginning.

If anyone wants to work as a developer means they choose a lifestyle that they need to keep learning every day, building a strong skill set and it's not for doing the daily job, it's just preparing for providing the best solution to the client. This is another point that the clients can not verify at the beginning.

So don't blame the client or question the platform when you make 100 proposals but do not get any contract back. You may just be unlucky or you may try a better proposal if you trust in your skill. cause if you are the client and flooded by proposals you will be cautious about your selection too.

Outline of my experience:
- Always suppose that you are the client and think on your client's side.
- Always report the activity to your client, and DO NOT EVER disappear even if it's only a weekend.
- Be patient with your client's questions and doubts if you are your client you do the same.
- Keep learning or go farming.

[#4]

Great efforts Man...!

[#5]

Thank you, you got a rising talent badge, jealous of you buddy 🙂 I'm still waiting for mine.

Do you hear me Upwork?