Get started on Upwork — a brief Upwork review
(Disclaimer — I am neither an Upwork expert, nor a hacker who can get your Upwork profile approved.)
People asked me on a regular basis, how to make Upwork account. While some were just afraid of taking the first step, many others who did, didn’t get approved by Upwork. And how to get Upwork profile approved? Well, there are no hard and fast rule to get it done. But there are few tips which can prove to be helpful. Let’s check them out.
How does Upwork work?
Upwork is a website for freelance assignments and does Upwork really work? Well, it does. People around the world post their requirements for a freelancer across different categories. And these requirements can either be one-time or for a long-term opportunity.
Moreover, the registration to Upwork is free. But if you decided to work as a freelancer at Upwork, you need to pass their screening. Because of a large number of freelancers working through their site, Upwork has limited new registrations. So, you need to have some good set of skills which you think they don’t have in abundance.
As I wasn’t a lot skilled in “Writing”, I listed a range of skills and categories that I could cater. The list was a mix of skills from “Writing”, “Translation” and “Admin Support”. So, check their categories and see what all you can provide the world with. Apart from writing, you may be proficient in photography or maybe interested in voice-overs.
Are you also a web developer or app developer? Go ahead, list it there. Not all app developer can write anything except codes. So, take the chance. Project Management, Marketing Strategy, Graphics Design… Do they all look easy? Nothing’s stopping you from trying the combinations. You can list ten skills on your profile.
And Upwork doesn’t limit your attempts to get approved. Dive in.
How to get a job on Upwork?
There are thousands of freelance jobs posted daily, and there are two ways you land one. Either you send the job posters captivating proposals, or the client sends you an invitation to apply. In both the cases, however, you need to prepare an interesting application which makes the clients look no further.
Apart from the clients, there is a team of talent acquisition professionals searching for the right freelancer for the jobs posted there. So, make sure you keep your Upwork profile updated with relevant skills and portfolio items. But don’t you think that you can’t get jobs on Upwork without any experience. I started with a clean slate there.
I got my first job within a week, when a client invited me to apply for his requirement. I worked for a few more ghostwriting projects in the next six months, before I got assignments which I could add in my portfolio. So, detailed and good feedback by your clients matter. Ask for it when you complete a project.
After receiving a few feedbacks, you can start using them as a reason for the clients to hire you. And except for one, all my client experience has been superb. There was another client who delayed payment, but the Upwork support executives got the matter sorted.
And it brings me to the topic of Upwork payment method.
How to get paid on Upwork?
Once you and the client agree on the terms, the client will initiate the contract, and you can then, start working. There are two types of contracts on Upwork — Hourly and Fixed-price. For the hourly jobs, you get paid weekly. You log your hours using the Upwork Desktop client and get paid automatically if the client doesn’t have any objection to the work logged.
For the fixed-price ones, you submit your assignment to the client, and s/he will then approve the payment. The amount is available in Upwork’s Escrow when the client initiate’s your contract. Whatever your contract is, the amount will reflect in your account after five days, minus the Upwork fees. Upwork calculates its fees based on your relationship with respective clients.
It takes 20% of the payment for any new client you start working. The fees, however, reduce to 10% after you completed $500 of work with that particular client and it’s 5% after $10,000. And it’s one of the reasons I prefer long-term collaborations.
Now, coming to monetising those figures in your Upwork account — how to transfer money from Upwork to a bank account. You can either do it yourself or set a frequency of automatic transfer. For me, Upwork India payment methods supported are direct bank transfer and PayPal transfer. And the two PayPal transfers I made so far, have been instant.
Is Upwork safe?
OK, now the important question — How safe is Upwork? I don’t know about other freelance job sites, but after working at Upwork for a year, I will say it’s safe. All you need is to take precautions, a bit of awareness and do all business within Upwork.
They have an integrated messenger which can handle file transfers as well as messages. And if you ever have a dispute, the support team will accept only those messages as proof. Don’t send them screenshots of your conversation through emails. Any conversation outside Upwork and you violate the terms.
As for payment, work for only those clients who have “Payment Method verified” displayed, and of course… check feedback by the freelancers. Yep! It’s a two-way business. Both the clients and freelancers provide feedback to each other upon completion of the contract.
Also, remember not to work for the client unless the client initiates a contract. You may not get paid for it if the client vanishes without activating any contract.
Conclusion
Like other things, the decision to start working on Upwork depends on individual preferences. I started my freelancing career with Upwork and find it one of the best freelance websites. It’s a great place to find long-term clients, there are many if not all.
Drop your questions, if any, in the comments, and I will be more than happy to answer them.
This post originally appeared on the Lazy Writer’s blog at http://lazywriter.in/is-upwork-good-or-bad-upwork-review/
