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Abstract

k makes it hard at first but when you get past this hurdle, it becomes much easier if what you’re offering is genuinely good.</p><h1 id="53ef">Proposals are everything</h1><p id="2ecc">A proposal is your sales pitch. Even if a customer contacts you, it is still your job to tell them exactly why they should hire you over someone else. Don’t be lazy here because it is essential. Just like if you were writing a cover letter for a job, think about what the customer is asking for, and tell them exactly how you are going to give it to them. Fill them with confidence by telling them your background and credentials, and be clear and transparent about what you’re offering, timescales and pricing. Don’t be tempted to bang out generic proposals. Really make it fit your customer.</p><h1 id="183e">Complete your profile</h1><p id="0f30">Your profile is a representation of you and what you can do. So many people focus on the summary part and forget the rest. It’s important to think about the message this sends to a customer. If you can’t be bothered to complete all the sections of your profile before putting yourself out there, what does that say about you? It’s also a great place to showcase your experience, qualifications, past projects, and external portfolios, so make the most of it.</p><h1 id="725b">Use testimonials as social proof</h1><p id="ea46">With so much potential competition, proving that you’re legit is important. Including a testimonial in your profile is a great way of doing this. Anyone with experience in their field should be able to get at least one testimonial. It’s worth doing.</p><h1 id="ca50">Pricing</h1><p id="b5b4">This is the one that took me the longest to figure out, and was a total game changer. When I was new to Upwork, I thought I had to price low to be in with a chance of winning work. Wrong! So wrong.</p><p id="3f8d">Pricing low put me in the league of the people with little experience, incomplete profiles, no testimonials and all the things I’ve listed above. Although I had no Upwork experience, I had experience in my field and I was good at what I offered. When I priced according to what my services were worth on any platform, I won more jobs, worked with better quality customers, had repeat work, and felt valued. Not to mentioned I made more money.</p><h1 id="3bd9">Key takeaways</h1><p id="7132">Doing all these things saw my freelance career on Upwork take off, and for a long time, it was my sole earning platform, paying me enough to work for myself, look after my children, and have a flexible working life. I made over $100K, became Top Rated, and had a 100% Success Score.</p><p id="42bb">The key really is doing things properly and consistently. Give it your all for a period of time and see what happens. Going in half heartedly and giving up quickly isn’t going to work, but if you dedicate your time to Upwork, follow my tips above, and consistently show up, I think Upwork is still a great way to make an income.</p><h1 id="0ad4">More to come…</h1><p id="4a5f">I am in the process of publ

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ishing a series of posts on making money via Upwork, with tips on how to write proposals, how to win clients without maxing out credits, and how to price correctly, along with this one:</p><div id="5ca9" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-i-landed-a-6-figure-client-through-upwork-9f2ade687dcd"> <div> <div> <h2>How I Landed a 6-Figure Client Through Upwork</h2> <div><h3>And I’m still working with them 2 years later</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*_uz2_3IP-YUXMBiS)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="776a">If you’re interested in finding out more, please follow me here, or join my newsletter- <a href="https://redefiningsuccess.substack.com/">Redefining Success</a>.</p><p id="9ec3">In the meantime if you have any questions, or want to learn anything in particular about Upwork, leave me a comment and I’ll try and work it into a future post.</p><p id="d661">Check out some of my latest posts:</p><div id="5af5" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/when-i-called-myself-a-writer-the-money-came-in-fc77468e0627"> <div> <div> <h2>When I Called Myself a Writer, the Money Came In</h2> <div><h3>What you tell yourself matters</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*AYK0DtsukpP2-1cF)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="1f89" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-you-define-success-could-be-the-key-to-your-happiness-7e87f5a5b9f2"> <div> <div> <h2>How You Define Success Could Be the Key to Your Happiness</h2> <div><h3>And also your unhappiness…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*y6XeGW7HiHo0F9_o)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="8b1c" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-a-train-hopper-made-me-see-how-messed-up-our-working-system-is-8f5dc3b6dd3c"> <div> <div> <h2>How a Train Hopper Made Me See How Messed Up Our Working System Is</h2> <div><h3>We’ve got it so backwards</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*S1pUr2HzkJKbUSZB)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

How I Made £100K on Upwork and Became Top Rated With a 100% Success Score

If I can do it, so can you

I started on Upwork a few years ago when I gave up my job working in careers at a top UK university to freelance around my young daughters. When I started I was quite overwhelmed by the monumental amount of competition and my lack of experience on the platform. I didn’t expect too much and my expectations drove my reality. I aimed low, priced low, and got some crappy jobs.

It wasn’t long before I realised (actually, if I’m honest, it probably was a fair amount of time berating myself and putting myself down) that the competition wasn’t actually competition at all. At the time I was offering CV writing services and there were 17,000 CV writers on the platform, so it seemed impossible. However, when I broke it down, things weren’t as they seemed and while the numbers seemed stacked against me, in actual fact I had a really good chance of making money.

The competition isn’t what it seems

Of the 17,000 people selling CV services on Upwork, within a year, I had moved to the top 10%. You see, most of the people on there really had nothing of value to offer. I had 10 years of experience, and although I wasn’t experienced on the platform and so had a low success score and no feedback, by writing well thought out proposals, pricing right, and spending time understanding the needs of my customers, I scored gigs and my feedback and success score soon reflected the quality I was offering.

I realised that lots of my ‘competition’ suffered from one of the following:

· Little or no experience of recruitment markets and CV writing

· Didn’t know how to write a proposal

· Incomplete profile

· No testimonials

· Priced wrong

Working on these five things put me at the top and allowed me to bag job after job, show top of searches, and secure some awesome feedback that I was able to use for testimonials, as well as it bumping up my job success score to 100%.

Let me go through each of my points above to give you a taste of what you can do to get seen and hired on Upwork.

Show off your experience

You may be new to Upwork but I am assuming you are not new to the service you offer. Make sure it’s clear on our profile, in your portfolio, and in your proposals that you’re skilled at what you do. Include evidence, examples of your work, past employment, and any testimonials from previous clients. Being new to Upwork with no feedback makes it hard at first but when you get past this hurdle, it becomes much easier if what you’re offering is genuinely good.

Proposals are everything

A proposal is your sales pitch. Even if a customer contacts you, it is still your job to tell them exactly why they should hire you over someone else. Don’t be lazy here because it is essential. Just like if you were writing a cover letter for a job, think about what the customer is asking for, and tell them exactly how you are going to give it to them. Fill them with confidence by telling them your background and credentials, and be clear and transparent about what you’re offering, timescales and pricing. Don’t be tempted to bang out generic proposals. Really make it fit your customer.

Complete your profile

Your profile is a representation of you and what you can do. So many people focus on the summary part and forget the rest. It’s important to think about the message this sends to a customer. If you can’t be bothered to complete all the sections of your profile before putting yourself out there, what does that say about you? It’s also a great place to showcase your experience, qualifications, past projects, and external portfolios, so make the most of it.

Use testimonials as social proof

With so much potential competition, proving that you’re legit is important. Including a testimonial in your profile is a great way of doing this. Anyone with experience in their field should be able to get at least one testimonial. It’s worth doing.

Pricing

This is the one that took me the longest to figure out, and was a total game changer. When I was new to Upwork, I thought I had to price low to be in with a chance of winning work. Wrong! So wrong.

Pricing low put me in the league of the people with little experience, incomplete profiles, no testimonials and all the things I’ve listed above. Although I had no Upwork experience, I had experience in my field and I was good at what I offered. When I priced according to what my services were worth on any platform, I won more jobs, worked with better quality customers, had repeat work, and felt valued. Not to mentioned I made more money.

Key takeaways

Doing all these things saw my freelance career on Upwork take off, and for a long time, it was my sole earning platform, paying me enough to work for myself, look after my children, and have a flexible working life. I made over $100K, became Top Rated, and had a 100% Success Score.

The key really is doing things properly and consistently. Give it your all for a period of time and see what happens. Going in half heartedly and giving up quickly isn’t going to work, but if you dedicate your time to Upwork, follow my tips above, and consistently show up, I think Upwork is still a great way to make an income.

More to come…

I am in the process of publishing a series of posts on making money via Upwork, with tips on how to write proposals, how to win clients without maxing out credits, and how to price correctly, along with this one:

How I Landed a 6-Figure Client Through Upwork

And I’m still working with them 2 years later

medium.com

If you’re interested in finding out more, please follow me here, or join my newsletter- Redefining Success.

In the meantime if you have any questions, or want to learn anything in particular about Upwork, leave me a comment and I’ll try and work it into a future post.