How to get Jobs on Upwork
You’re lucky upwork exists. Usually you have to “qualify” prospects, you know, make sure they actually need/want what you sell.
Yet Upwork does all of that hard prospecting work for you and presents it to you on a silver platter.
If you’re just starting out or want to create another funnel for your business, then you can’t go wrong with upwork.
So, how do you get jobs on Upwork?
Working on Upwork
Upwork is a global platform where businesses and freelancers from all around the world connect and collaborate on jobs and projects. It is open to all firms, agencies, professionals, and freelancers, enabling talent in many different parts of the world.
With millions of jobs posted every year and over 3000 skills offered, Upwork has over 12 million registered freelancers and 5 million registered clients. It is a new way of getting clients online and doing business. It’s one of the best if not the best way to start your freelancing career. Be thankful that upwork exists otherwise you’d have to do a lot more work!
It Doesn’t Take 3 Months…
For many people, getting that first job on Upwork is usually a challenge. Many times, people are forced to do a lot of work at very low rates to get their first jobs, which can be frustrating.
But it doesn’t have to take 3 months. I’ve had students get their first clients in as little as one week! But you have to go about the right way.
Upwork is the perfect place to get started even if you have no experience. But you must follow the process I explain below otherwise you will struggle like most freelancers. My process is much much different from how most freelancers start then run their businesses.
STEP 1: The Best Way to Get reviews
When you find clients on upwork and work with them, you’re taking a risk. Even if you do a great job or try to do right by the client…
If they’re crazy or have a chip on their shoulder or are just unethical, they can really mess up your upwork profile. When you first get started, you need five reviews before you can get rated. If you have one bad review and four perfect ones, you’ll have an 80% success rate and that is terrible.
The way to get around this is to find people off of Upwork, and get them on upwork for those good reviews. It works for Upwork, because they get clients, and it’s good for you since you know your score wont get bombed.
STEP 2: Choose Your Niche and Send at least 15-20 Proposals PER DAY
Your niche matters.
With over 12 million registered freelancers and only 5 million registered clients, there is bound to be skills and categories that have way more freelancers than is needed, making it very hard to stand out and be noticed.
Make sure that you choose a category that you are extremely good at and is in high demand.
You can find this by browsing the job categories to find where the most jobs are posted and where the category is not overpopulated. This will make it easier for you to get contracts and to have a continuous and constant flow of work and quality income.
Why is this important? Your niche needs to have room for growth. When you start, you don’t want to be competing against 20+ people and later once you hire a virtual assistant, you want her busy sending 15+ proposals a day.
Choose a niche that allows you to get started and grow later.
STEP 3: Write Your Profile like a Sales Letter
You won’t hear this from the majority of articles out there, but your profile isn’t about you, it’s about your prospect’s problems.
Don’t start it off all about you like the majority of freelancers who talk about their “qualifications”.
Everything in your profile must be about the problems your potential clients are having. Tell them how you’re going to solve them and how you’ve solved them for people just like them in the past.
Your profile is like a sales letter, treat it as such and have the goal of your profile to get them on a call with you so you can close them on your service. Have a call to action at the bottom which tells them to message you and setup a call.
STEP 4: Your Working Rate and YOU Choose the Clients
Your rate says a lot about you.
When giving their rates, most people think that the lower you charge the higher your chances of getting jobs. The truth, however, is that the moment you start charging very low rates, you end up working with the cheapest and lousiest clients!
It is a fact that good work cannot be hired at low rates; don’t compete on price unless you want to be poor.
Never agree to contracts that are too low. Aim to get jobs on Upwork that pay well and become the person who CHOOSES which clients to work with!
Which leads me to…
STEP 5: Strategy, Positioning and Sales Calls
How do you become a freelancer/business owner that chooses the clients he works with? By getting your potential clients on sales calls and learning sales. What do most freelancers do? Exchange a few sentences on upwork, give a discount, and then take orders. But not you.
You must realize, clients don’t know what the hell they are doing. They’re clueless and they need an expert to do the work and lead them. You need to position yourself as “the expert” who interviews clients on sales calls (not the other way around).
When you’ve learned sales and can deliver a great service that GETS RESULTS, then you will be rewarded with more money than you can imagine. It really is that simple.
But it takes time and diligent work. That’s how you get jobs on upwork. You have everything to gain and very little to lose!
