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Rala's avatar
Rala B Community Member

Need help from the Experts

Good morning,I am new and have been registered as a Freelancer on Upwork for several months. I am not sure I did the right thing, as so far nobody approached me even. What am I missing ? I am new and need a lot of support. Thanks - Rala

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Kamarudheen's avatar
Kamarudheen A Community Member

Hi Rala, 

It quite usual for most of the freelancers on Upwork, you have a good-looking work profile and experience, the only thing you need to do is keep trying and be patient.

 

Maybe you can add related images of career coaching in your portfolio, like if you do offline training add photos of them, or add signed appreciation letters from your clients, etc.

 

I have been on Upwork for months and only have completed 3 jobs yet, I think I need to learn more about submitting an attractive cover letter and developing my profile more unique and professional.

 

Wishing you successful freelancing on Upwork.

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13 REPLIES 13
Kamarudheen's avatar
Kamarudheen A Community Member

Hi Rala, 

It quite usual for most of the freelancers on Upwork, you have a good-looking work profile and experience, the only thing you need to do is keep trying and be patient.

 

Maybe you can add related images of career coaching in your portfolio, like if you do offline training add photos of them, or add signed appreciation letters from your clients, etc.

 

I have been on Upwork for months and only have completed 3 jobs yet, I think I need to learn more about submitting an attractive cover letter and developing my profile more unique and professional.

 

Wishing you successful freelancing on Upwork.

Rala's avatar
Rala B Community Member

Good afternoon Kamarudheen, I truly appreciate your answer. I am not sure how much you were able to see from my profile. I did fill all the requirements, letter from clients praising my work. I spent at least 8 hrs preparing my profile. It has been almost 2 months, I have not even received an enquiry. I wish Upwork Customer Support can get in touch with me to let me know what I am missing and get feedback. 

I truly appreciate your message. 

Best regards

Rala

Martina's avatar
Martina P Community Member


Rala B wrote:

Good afternoon Kamarudheen, I truly appreciate your answer. I am not sure how much you were able to see from my profile. I did fill all the requirements, letter from clients praising my work. I spent at least 8 hrs preparing my profile. It has been almost 2 months, I have not even received an enquiry. I wish Upwork Customer Support can get in touch with me to let me know what I am missing and get feedback. 

I truly appreciate your message. 

Best regards

Rala


Are you saying that you haven't sent any proposals to job postings from clients? You need to start doing that. As your profile is set to private, it can't be found in search results, not that this matters a lot, because clients will rarely hire newbies without a work history by invitation. 

Rala's avatar
Rala B Community Member

Thank you for your guidance, all this time I thought clients will approach
me. Now I know I have to make a bid. I would like to thank you once again.
Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

re: "all this time I thought clients will approach me."

 

Many experienced freelancers do not proactively send proposals or bid on jobs. We have more than enough work coming from private invites, clients inviting us from search results, and repeat clients.

 

But a new freelancer on Upwork needs to apply to job postings.

Rala's avatar
Rala B Community Member

Thanks for your guidance. I am still trying to figure out. Glad that I got some replies and directions. I went through the jobs what surprised me that many are under $8 p/h some are even $2 p/h is that acceptable ? Thanks - RB

Rala's avatar
Rala B Community Member

Thanks Martina, I will follow the steps. Now I understand it better. Regards

Virginia's avatar
Virginia F Community Member


Rala B wrote:

Good afternoon Kamarudheen, I truly appreciate your answer. I am not sure how much you were able to see from my profile. I did fill all the requirements, letter from clients praising my work. I spent at least 8 hrs preparing my profile. It has been almost 2 months, I have not even received an enquiry. I wish Upwork Customer Support can get in touch with me to let me know what I am missing and get feedback. 

I truly appreciate your message. 

Best regards

Rala


Rala,

 

Do you understand how this site works? Clients post jobs, freelancers bid on jobs they're interested in by writing proposals. Upwork's customer service has nothing to do with this. If you haven't bid on any jobs, I suggest you read all the information Upwork provides so you know and understand the steps you have to take to win jobs and start working. If you have bid on jobs and not gotten any responses, that isn't something customer service will help you with either.

Rala's avatar
Rala B Community Member

No, I did not bid on any job until I read the message. But what surprises me that most jobs are under $8 p/h and some $2 p/h - I know in other countries $2 might be a fortune for them but not in North America. This means we are competing with very low rates. What do you suggest ? Thanks

Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

re: "No, I did not bid on any job until I read the message. But what surprises me that most jobs are under $8 p/h and some $2 p/h - I know in other countries $2 might be a fortune for them but not in North America. This means we are competing with very low rates. What do you suggest?"

 

You must be looking at jobs for a different market segment. There is nothing wrong with those jobs. If those aren't the jobs you are interested in, then leave them for that market segment and focus on the segment you are interested in.

 

I don't mean to sound insensitive, but we are not all "competing with very low rates." Many of us who are freelancers are paid high rates because our skills and expertise are in great demand. This includes people who work in all categories, including writers, consultants, artists, graphic designers, programmers, lawyers, etc.

 

There are people who have no more skill than you do, in the same job niche as you, who are in high demand due to their job history on Upwork. Those people are very difficult to hire, even though they have a high hourly rate, because they are busy and rarely accept new clients.

Rala's avatar
Rala B Community Member

Thanks for all the info. I might be in the wrong section/page, where do I
need to go to look for freelancing jobs. For many years working full time
jobs my hourly rates have been reasonably very high. I am ready to get paid
less until I build a happy client base. However, going so low won't pay 1/4
of my bills in Canada, especially some the assignments need 3 and others 6
months commitment. Thanks - Rala

Please type your reply above this line -##
Kamarudheen's avatar
Kamarudheen A Community Member

Hi Rala, 

Please try the 'search filter' options in Upwork that will help you to find the right job, goto >find work, click on the search button without typing anything that will lead you filter page, there are a lot of filtering options on the left side, chose the price range that suits, then search for the job, you will see the matching results if any jobs are available.

 

 

Petra's avatar
Petra R Community Member


Rala B wrote:

Good morning,I am new and have been registered as a Freelancer on Upwork for several months. I am not sure I did the right thing, as so far nobody approached me even. 


How many proposals are you sending out per week? As a new freelancer unsolicited approaches from clients are rather unlikely/rare.