How a Non-Native English Speaking Writer Made $10,000 on Upwork?
Things that a Native English speaker would’ve never gone through.
If English is your second language and you’re trying to work as a writer on Fiverr, Upwork, or any other freelancing platform, then learning to roll with the punches can make you break your budding career.
Don’t Apply If You’re From This Country
Something that really bugs me is how deeply rooted the enmity is against writers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Philipines amongst employers in the USA and other European countries. They have brought the colonial mindset into the future, deeming that people from these countries are unfit for work when it comes to writing English. It goes to such an extent that they mention it explicitly in the jobs they post, and I cannot help but get worked up about it, about how unjustified this bias is, and I am sure that like me you have seen or felt this, may it be in a way this brash or slightly more subtle, you will agree that it exists.
You’ll Have to Work at Extremely Low Rates
The freelance market for writers, especially from countries where English is not the native language, is skewed to such a terrible level that the playing field is not only uneven, it is downright warped. New writers are expected to work harder and for cheaper rates just for a chance to break into the market which is already saturated with competition, and places like Upwork do them no favor, allowing them to be blatantly exploited by unethical job posters who want to cut corners wherever possible.
Things You’ll Have to do For a Positive Feedback
In a way, the clients have a lot of power on Upwork. Sometimes they even blackmail the freelancers and threaten them with poor feedback if they don’t go the extra mile that they are supposed to go being non-native speakers. The same feedback thing is also used to get freelancers to work at very low rates since the feedback has a major role to play if you want to succeed on Upwork. People desperate for a chance are easy victims to such ploys.
I’ve attached a screenshot below. Here you can see that the client guaranteed to give 5-star feedback if the freelancer agrees to write 2500 words for JUST $5. 5 bucks for 2500 words? Unbelievable!
How I made $10,000 in less than a year
I started working on Upwork as a content writer about 1 year ago. In the first 2 months, I wasn’t able to get a single job. I looked out for fresh job openings with the eye of a hawk, however, the idiom ‘early bird gets the worm’ failed me here, for who would hire a beginner level Pakistani writer on Upwork?
I’m Sorry — But it is what it is.
We have no choice but to face the harsh reality that as a non-native content writer you will have to make some compromises when you set out. You will have to set your hourly rate at the minimum which is $5/hour. You will have to start with the opportunities like I mentioned above to get positive feedback on your profile. That’s the sad part.
When I was starting out, I promised myself that I would not apply for jobs that were exploitive. But I HAD NO OTHER OPTION. I HAD TO BOW DOWN TO THEIR DEMANDS. I started with $2/1000 words. It saddens me that you will have to do that too. You’ll have to make peace with this rate in the beginning. Once you do that, and your profile has some credibility, I am confident that you will be able to land better gigs.
Write Customised Job Proposals
When I say that you have to send customized proposals based on the job post, please trust me on that. You can’t just copy and paste one single template. The clients hate it. I’ve seen the difference it has made. I started writing customized proposals for each job, did a little research on what the client is asking for, and voila!, the client was pleasantly surprised with the amount of research I already had on the job before even getting it.
Never Give Up
One last thing that you need to keep in mind is to NEVER GIVE UP!! There will be times when days will go by and you won’t get any job, but perseverance pays off, and there always comes a time when you’ll be flooded with so much work that you won’t be able to handle it. Once you’re on the right track, there’s nothing that can stop you from earning thousands of dollars on Upwork.
From $2/1000 words to $75/1000 words
For the first few months, I worked over-time. I slept for less than 6 hours per day. I spent most of my time researching and writing. Sometimes I used to think What am I doing? Am I doing a disservice to myself? Is it really worth it? What if I never get paid more than that. What if I make one small mistake and the client ruins my profile by giving bad feedback?
All these thoughts crossed my mind. But I MADE SURE, that all my clients get quality work even if I’m not getting paid what I deserve. It was a tough path but to be honest, it was worth it. My last contract was $75/1000 words. I started with an hourly rate of $5/hour, now my hourly rate is $45/hour. So I think it was all worth it in the end.
But the question is, Will a Native English Speaker have to go through the same mess that I went through? I don’t think so.
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