Upwork Review (From Someone Who Made it Work)

Are you looking to start freelancing on Upwork and want some honest feedback from someone in the know?

Great! You’re in the right place.

This is the low-down on how it works (in reality!) from someone who has used the platform for 9+ years and has made it successfully work for me and hundreds of others.

What Are Upwork's Fees?

One of the major questions people have about Upwork is if the fees are super high? As of May 2020, the fees are 20% for earnings up to $500, 10% for earnings up to $10,000, and finally 5% for earnings over $10,000.

To some people, these fees might seem like a lot, but keep in mind that to build your own marketing funnel for an agency you would be paying thousands of dollars upfront, without any guarantee of success in getting clients.

Here’s the thing.

You don’t have to pay these fees yourself, include them in the project fees that you charge clients. How can you do this? Focus on working with clients that will value your service and will be prepared to pay extra for it. It will be much better in the long run!

You can also pay just $15 to join the “Upwork Freelancer Plus” plan, which allows you to send more proposals to prospective clients – saving you time and making you more money.

How Does Upwork Compare to Other Platforms?

Upwork is not the biggest freelance platform online that honor belongs to Fiverr.com. The problem with Fiverr is that they encourage you to start by charging $5-$20 per project for your services to build up your credibility. On Upwork you can start at a much higher rate and have instant success as they tend to have more valuable clients who are prepared to pay more money per project.

Freelancer.com is a lot smaller than Upwork and doesn’t have as many clients who are prepared to pay well for projects to be completed. It’s much easier to stand out on Upwork than it is on Freelancer.com.

Overall Upwork has more clients with bigger budgets, who are prepared to pay for quality. You are also more likely to find clients to build up long term relationships with, giving you long term recurring revenue opportunities.

How Easy Is It to Find Work on Upwork?

It can be if you don’t differentiate yourself. Don't try and compete solely on price, aim to stand out by offering a better service.

So how do you attract the best clients?

  • Start with a well-written profile
  • Send out 10+ proposals each day!
  • Aim to get prospective clients on a call to make the sale, don’t rely on the proposal itself
  • Get 5+ reviews as soon as possible
  • Don’t wait for magical jobs to come along or to get more experience if you don’t have all of the skills for a project you can bring in others with more experience to help you out on the project.

Are There Any Downsides to Upwork?

The main downside is that you are essentially dependent on the platform. If you try and move your relationship with your client “off the platform” you might run into problems with the client or violate Upwork’s terms of service. However, nothing is stopping you from having a second contract directly with the clients to get around some of these issues!

Upwork Review: Is It Worth It?

Upwork is one of the best platforms to help you to build up your freelancing career or to build your online agency. The best way to use Upwork is to treat it as a platform to get leads for your business, over time you will be able to build up an independent agency and you won’t be completely beholden to Upwork.

Interested in building a business like this? Get on a call with one of our instructors and get advised on what you can do to build a business like this.

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Aleksander Vitkin

Aleksander Vitkin has helped over 700 people with a sincere interest in entrepreneurship and contribution, to start profitable businesses and quit their jobs.

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