How To Win The Upwork Game and Get Into The Top 1%
Treat freelancing on Upwork like a video game to power-up your performance
A lot of people think that Upwork is full of bad clients who only pay peanuts.
While it’s true there are plenty of bargain basement clients, there are plenty of good ones too.
Don’t believe me? I recently made it into the top 1% of freelancers on the platform and my typical hourly rate is $90+
I wrote about it here…
The misconception that Upwork is a low-paying content mill won’t go away.
People were saying it when I started on there 8 years ago, and they’re still saying the same now.
I think the reason is when people sign up on Upwork, the first thing they see is 100's of job postings paying $10 or less.
It’s true — there are lots of low-ball clients on there.
But there are plenty like this...
Great clients to work for who will happily leave you glowing feedback like this:
If you stick with it and deliver good work, it won’t be long until you access the “Hidden Upwork Economy”. That’s where you find the top-drawer clients.
Clients who invite you directly to jobs, like this:
In 2023, more than five million clients hired freelancers through Upwork.
That make it the fastest growing freelance platform in the world.
My question is — if you’re a freelance writer, can you really afford not to be on there?
But how do you succeed on Upwork?
Same way I did.
Learn the rules of the game, play it consistently, apply yourself with dedication, and you’ll soon work your way up through the levels.
NB — It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme!
If you’re looking to earn millions overnight, then look elsewhere.
There are plenty of fraudsters promising you can earn $1000’s of dollars for 10 minutes work, starting tomorrow.
If that’s what you want — good luck to you.
Maybe you’ll be the one in a million who gets lucky and finds great clients straight out of the gate.
A much better way to approach it is to learn how to win the Upwork game — which takes a bit of time.
Winning at anything isn’t easy. Why should earning a good living as a freelance writer be any different?
When you sit down to a play a video game, you’d be pretty disappointed if you completed it in a few minutes, right?
You’d feel cheated.
You might even ask for your money back.
It’s best to approach freelancing or earning money by writing online, with a similar mindset.
You need to invest time and effort to get the rewards.
It has taken me 8 years to get into the top 1% of freelance writers on Upwork.
With the right guidance and tools, you can get there more quickly — possibly within one or two years.
For those 8 years, I’ve had a constant flow of work, with no lean spells.
That’s partly because I’ve worked hard, but it’s also down to the fact that there is HUGE demand for writers.
With so much low-quality AI-generated content flooding the internet now, I’m finding that clients are willing to pay even more for good content.
It’s basic economics — good human writing is scarce and in high demand.
I’m about to increase my rates again, as well as taking on some other writers to produce first drafts for me as I can’t handle the workload on my own anymore...
But enough about me. Let’s take a look at how you can fast-track your way through the Upwork levels quicker than you can shout “ Shoryuken!”
(Big shout out to any back-in-the-day Street Fighter 2 thumb twiddlers!)
Upwork Levels Explained
Upwork has a clever system to make sure the best freelancers get noticed and hired more on the platform.
Everyone’s a winner.
- Clients win as they get better results from people who go the extra mile.
- You win, as you’ll accelerate your career and earnings.
- Upwork wins as the platform grows and they get more income from the fees they charge both the freelancer and client.
(A quick note on fees — Upwork takes 10% from freelancer’s wages and charges clients 2.5%. Think of this as a finder’s fee. It saves you time and money having to generate leads yourself. Rant over.)
In the section below, I’ll mention approximate hourly rates.
The hourly rate is what you display on your Upwork profile. In reality, you might earn two to three times these rates on fixed price jobs, depending on how quickly you deliver good work.
Level 1 — Rising Talent
Upwork uses a system of badges to show your status on the platform.
These badges do more than just look nice on your profile, think of them as a high-score leader-board.
Each time you advance to a new badge, you get pushed further up the search listings and your ranking on the platform improves.
The first badge to aim for (level one) is “Rising Talent”.
What is the Rising Talent Badge?
- It’s awarded to new freelancers who show a lot of potential
- Gets your profile in front of more potential clients
- Awarded by invitation only
Benefits of the Rising Talent Badge
- Increased visibility and credibility with clients
- A one-time bonus of 30 Connects (Upwork’s bidding currency)
- The ability to offer consultations
Criteria for the Rising Talent Badge
- 100% complete profile with accurate information about skills and work history
- Strong background in your field, including outside of Upwork
- Positive performance on Upwork (quality proposals, getting hired, delivering good work)
- No violations of Upwork’s Terms of Service
- May include a minimum Job Success Score (JSS) requirement
Tips to Win at Level One
I was fortunate enough to get the rising talent badge within a few weeks of starting on Upwork.
The key thing is to stay active on the platform.
Keep applying for jobs, even if you’re getting turned down for a lot of them.
Once you’ve landed a couple of jobs — go all out to get a five star rating. This means doing everything the client asks for and more.
Aim to over-deliver.
Do deep research. Trawl through Reddit and Quora to get real-life quotes from your target market. Help your clients with SEO, even if they didn’t ask for it. Look for new angles. Suggest different marketing approaches. Write more creatively than other writers.
When you submit the final piece work, say something like “Please find the work attached. I hope it’s up to five-star standard. If not, let’s discuss how I can improve it — at no extra charge.”
If you want to be successful at freelancing and win at the Upwork game, you need to solve as many problems as you can for clients, and solve them well.
In the early stages, this means working for a lower hourly rate than you’ll be happy with.
You need to view this as a means to an end.
With consistent good work, you should be able to get the badge within a few weeks or months, and then you can then increase your rates. I suggest raising them to around $20 to $40 per hour once you reach level two.
Level 2 — Top Rated
The second level is “Top Rated”. This badge is achievable within one year of consistent work on the platform. Here are the details:
What is the Top Rated Badge?
- For the top 10% of freelancers on Upwork
- Shows a strong reputation built through consistently positive client feedback
Benefits of the Top Rated Badge
- Increased visibility and trust from clients
- More invitations from high-paying clients
- More control over your Job Success Score (ability to remove feedback)
- Invitations to submit proposals from Talent Specialists
- Access to the Job Digest email with tailored job matches
- Faster payments on hourly contracts
- Ability to offer consultations
Criteria for the Top Rated Badge:
- High Job Success Score (90% or above)
- Established work history on Upwork (first project over 90 days ago)
- Consistent high performance for at least 13 of the past 16 weeks (either Rising Talent status or 90%+ Job Success Score)
- Complete profile
- Minimum earnings of $1,000 USD within the last year
- Up-to-date availability
- Account in good standing (no recent violations)
- Recent activity on the Upwork platform
Tips to Win at Level Two
More of the same. Keep over-delivering, but once you reach this level and get the badge, you can increase your rates again. You can start charging between $40 to $60 per hour at this level.
Level 3 — Top Rated Plus
Top rated plus is the next level of the Upwork game. It will probably take between one and two years to reach this level. Here are the details:
What is the Top Rated Plus Badge?
- Signifies you’re within the top 3% of talent on Upwork.
- Demonstrates exceptional success, especially on large or long-term contracts, and consistently high-quality work.
Benefits of the Top Rated Plus Badge
- Exclusive badge highlighting your status
- Increased control over your Job Success Score (ability to remove feedback)
- Invitations from Talent Specialists to submit proposals
- Job Digest email with tailored job matches
- Faster payments on hourly contracts
- Ability to offer consultations
Criteria for the Top Rated Plus Badge
- Must already be Top Rated (including a 90%+ Job Success Score)
- Consistent history of excellent client feedback
- Complete and up-to-date profile
- Account in good standing (no recent violations)
- Minimum earnings of $10,000 USD within the past 12 months
- Successful completion of one or more large contracts within the past year.
Tips to Win at Level Three
Moving from the top 10% to 3% is a bigger step than rising talent to the top 10%. The competition is tougher and you’ll be working with clients that expect higher quality work.
It’s no good half-arsing it at this stage.
You need to be on top of your creative game and continue to solve people’s problems. By this stage, you might have niched down into a certain type of writing.
In my case, I niched into writing for B2B tech companies. I realised that my skills were in demand for that area — creativity, critical thinking, technical know-how, and attention to detail.
The benefit of specialising is that you can personalise your profile to meet the needs of your target client. You can quickly become a leader or go-to person in that specialism, which means you can charge more too. At this level you can charge between $60 and $80 per hour.
Level 4— Expert-Vetted
This is the final level. It might take a few years to get here, but it’s worth it, as you’ll unlock the top earnings and get invited to work on projects for big-name clients.
What is the Expert-Vetted Badge?
- Signifies you’re within the top 1% of talent on the platform.
- Awarded only by invitation after a rigorous screening process.
Benefits of the Expert-Vetted Badge
- Special badge highlighting your elite status, especially to Enterprise clients.
- Access to a dedicated Talent Manager for profile optimization and strategy advice.
- Increased opportunities to work with high-profile Enterprise clients (including Fortune 500 companies).
- Ability to offer consultations.
Criteria for the Expert-Vetted Badge
- Exceptional expertise proven within your field.
- Successful interview and screening with Upwork Talent Managers.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
Tips to Win at Level Four
Once you are expert-vetted, you more or less get your pick of the best clients on the platform. I get several invitations per week to exciting projects that pay $90+ per hour.
As you move up through the levels, communication skills become more and more important. You need to communicate your value to clients before the job, listen to their requirements carefully, then deliver the best possible results.
Over the years, I’ve developed intricate workflows and processes that help me to deliver high-quality results for my clients every time.
At the last count, I’ve worked with 302 clients and my job success score stands at 100%. The vast majority of my clients have given me a five-star rating.
There are no shortcuts to real, lasting success, despite what the snake-oil sellers tell you.
There is no cheat-mode.
But with the right guidance, you can refine your strategy and increase your chances of success.
Starting in May, I’m going to write a weekly newsletter to help people get started and thrive as a freelance writer on Upwork.
Sign up here: https://onepercentwriter.substack.com/subscribe
