Project Catalog Consultations: Feedback and Questions

[MichaelJ]

We’re introducing a new feature to help you make the most of your time and expertise on Upwork so you can increase earnings, build a network of clients, and boost your reputation. With the new consultations offering within Project Catalog™, clients can book time with you for your subject-matter expertise. 

Check out the announcement here and let us know your thoughts about these updates in the comments below.

[numbsain]

Yes I know what a consultation is but this format doesn't seem to have any
relevance. II client needs a consultation for a specific project and the
last thing he needs is to have to work subtractively from some random
example. And pictures and videos? The idea is to get out of the client's
way and try to understand the specific needs of his vision. To cater to
them not try to push some product on them and like i said, who has the time
to design hypothetical scenarios no one has expressed any interest in yet.
A professional doesn't design phony mock up jobs to beef up his portfolio.
Nothing says "no experience" like a portfolio of generic pretend projects.
The whole way this "feature" is set up is wrong. UW is trying to
standardize custom work. Clients want flexibility, they want you to
understand them and they don't like when you have a preconceived notion
about their job that they have to disabuse you of before they can get to
their business. This "feature" like most of the attempts to improve
the business is ill-conceived by someone who doesn't really understand how
this business works. It is based on wrong assumptions about what clients
and freelancers need to do business efficiently. The developers are
focussing on the wrong things fixing things that aren't broken and
ignoring obvious flaws in the system. A lot of time wasted trying to figure
out what they are thinking and the conclusion seems to be that they don't
really know what they are doing. Instead of listening to the feedback of
professionals and making improvements that help them they are trying to
figure it out themselves and the solutions are always some thinly veiled
money grab and always out of the pockets of the hard worker That's what
all the new features are about. Charging more money. The concept of
connects themselves is silly. just a way to disguise that you have to pay
every step of the way. This will not end well for anyone.

[dyumnin]

Mike,

Out of 3 currently active projects in my contracts page, all three started as Consulting Projects where I was required to have regular calls with the Clients team to solve any technical queries they had. Over time some of these turned into Coding gigs.  But the start point was Consultation...

Even with the recent changes, I am still not able to "Offer consultation" because my expertise is not listed in the list of consultations!
Can Upwork please look into adding the following as Consultation Expertise.

1. Semiconductor/ASIC/FPGA Design.

[isc_jml674]

The format is attractive for customers to quickly engage a specific expert and obtain key information about feasibility or difficulties they encounter on their project. I have set up my consultation service and already hold 2 sessions with 2 different customers
However there are a few things which make me think about getting out of this process:
- the workflow is extremely "driven". I should say too constrained. And there are situations where I can be afraid for my JSS.  I could not attend due to a "last minute" personal issue  and customer was irresponsive so this would be a no show and my JSS could be impacted according to documentation. (how ? I have no clue).
- the workflow forces me to produce a document. Is this a wrong setting in my consultation project ? If not, how do I monetize the production of something that takes time ?? So in my case I always tell the customer I will upload a dummy doc after the consultation to be able to complete the cycle. That does not sound well.
- once again we as freelancers don't know the other side of the medal and how the system behaves on the client side. Example: what's the customer expectation in terms of completing his agenda  in a given  30/60mns timeframe ? Is the system setting those expectations ? or is it up to me to set those at the beginning of the call and take a risk of dissatisfying the customer?
- finally 20% fee is too high and nature of consutations ie short makes it difficult to reach the 500$ plateau.
Thank you for your answers !

[mandar5118]

Hi Mike,

I updated my details 2 days back. When can I expect this to be action upon?

Thanks

[ladysumerki]

I strongly believe that we need an opportunity to make different names of consultations as the Project Catalog has different names of projects. Otherwise, if I have a few different consultations with different terms and for different purposes, it's impossible for the clients to understand what's the difference and what they should choose. E.g. all design consultations now have the name 'Design'. I want to distinguish that one consultation is for those who need help with imagery, and the other is for those who need to discuss possible print technologies, etc. I also think the search by consultations doesn't work well yet (I tried to find some consultations and was not successful). Seems it's not a ready service yet.