Upwork Secrets No One Will Tell You

Practical techniques to gain up to $100.000 within a year.

Even Upwork doesn’t want you to know. Yes, it’s real. This article is mainly for advanced freelancers. I’m going to cover techniques that will help your profile to stand out from the crowd, destroy the Upwork algorithm and finally bring you big clients and big projects.

How do I know this? Because I’ve been helping freelancers to grow for 2 years. I tested 9 profiles.

Introducing you to some techniques you need to do in order to grow your profile on Upwork.

Purchase Freelancer Plus Plan.

For that, you pay $14.99 dollars per month, and Upwork gives you 80 Connects. It means you pay extra 3 dollars, as the remaining 12 dollars go to connections. So It does make sense to purchase a subscription.

When you have it, you tell the Upwork algorithm that you aren’t just a usual freelancer, but premium. “Give me serious projects”. Testing 9 accounts I understood that premium accounts receive more invites than standard profiles.

Close contracts you already finished.

Upwork tries to help every level of freelancers to grow, so the algorithm works the way that it can provide jobs to not only top-rated freelancers but also beginners.

This means, for example, if you have 4 open contracts, the algorithm understands — “ Hmmm… this guy has 4 works, I’m going to promote others”. So If you already finished the contracts you need to close them asap. This way we will tell the algorithm that we are open for new gigs. As a result, your profile will appear in the client's suggestion list And you’ll receive invitations.

Refuse bad clients.

When you have bad clients and I know you have, just stop collaborating with them. New day new opportunities. No need to invest your energy and time in a bad client, no matter, they don't appreciate your time. Work with clients who have at least 4.5-star reviews.

Benefits of a good client. - Competency - Easy communication - Respect for freelancer’s skills and time. - Lack of micromanaging. - Trust

Create a specialized profile.

When you apply for a job, Clients see lots of proposals other than yours. You need to be the best match freelancer so that Upwork mentions your profile with a blue badge. We can become the best match for a project when we have a specialized profile.

The best match example is when you are a graphic designer and you have also a specialized profile (presentation design) and you apply for a presentation design project.

Here I’d like to mention that having a specialized profile isn't enough to become the best match, you also should have similar projects done before.

Enter Upwork Talent Clouds.

You’ve probably heard that there aren't competent and big clients on Upwork, and you waste your time on Upwork. But the truth is that you don't have the opportunity to meet those big clients. I’m talking about Upwork Enterprise clients. In order to work with them, you must be in one of the talent clouds.

Some of Enterprise clients are Johnson’ baby, Nestle, Lenovo, and HP Enterprise.

Upwork created talent clouds to help big enterprise clients find only unique and special freelancers.

There are only 2 ways to enter talent clouds. 1. You have a solid profile and Upwork decided to choose you as a relevant freelancer and invited you for an enterprise job. 2. You notice enterprise client’s job posting and apply. As a result, the client decides to work with you.

Do everything to work with enterprise clients. Find them and apply for collaboration, even if they need a service you can’t provide. This time you have to outsource but eventually make the client happy. Remember, the goal is to enter the talent cloud.

Test your proposal until you have an effective one.

To have a successful proposal template you need to test, test and test. Don’t just copy and send. Use Only customized proposals. Make different types of proposals, test and check which one is effective. Test Headlines. Show your competency and expertise. Say what your client wants to hear, don't hesitate to criticize his current work.

Well… These were my techniques I use currently. The techniques that work.

Below I’m adding two profiles as proof. https://www.upwork.com/fl/aramkarapetyan13 https://www.upwork.com/fl/davitkarapetyan18

Let me know if the story was helpful. Does it make sense to write about an effective Upwork proposal?