Getting Started on Upwork

Getting Started on Upwork: Quick Start Guide

Finding freelance gigs used to be a difficult task. There wasn't a clear central marketplace (technically, there still isn't), and knowing how and when you would get paid from some of these people on the Internet was a crapshoot. There was a lot of trust required in those days, and it wasn't always easy to have it. Getting burned was unfortunately more common than it should have been.

That has all changed as freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr have emerged and are now leading the way. I'll talk about Fiverr in a later post, but today I want to focus on Upwork.

Why Upwork?

The thing I like about Upwork over other sites that pair freelancers with people looking to hire freelancers, is that there is a distinct possibility for long-term work with the platform. I only joined a couple of months ago, but quickly I established relationships with long-term clients. As there are long term relationships being built regularly on Upwork, it makes it much easier to plan out your income as you know that you have regular work coming your way.

While that is great if you have long-term clients, that might make it sound hard to break into. I assure it isn't. Getting started on the site is as simple and easy as signing up, then searching for the gigs that you are interested in. That is definitely a slight over-simplification, but not as much as it might seem.

Getting Started

I'm not going to walk you through the beginning steps of signing up for the website, as I trust that you're able to do that. The first thing you're going to be prompted to do (outside of the administrative tasks of submitting payment information, an address, and all that jazz), is to get your profile set up.

This is also where you have your first choice to make. What kind of freelance work do you want to do? What is your skill set? I've discovered that it doesn't do you much good to list all of the skills that you possess, but instead to focus on a few things that you are really good at. Build your profile towards that. For me, it is voice work and social media marketing/content creation. Think through the things you enjoy doing and are good at, and build your profile towards that.

Setting Your Rate

This is always tricky. You don't want to price yourself out of gigs to get started, but you also don't want to under-value yourself and not make enough money to make this worth your time. If you already know the market for your particular skill set, than you are in good shape. If you don't, I would initially set it a little above minimum wage, and head over to the marketplace to start looking for gigs you can apply for. Once you're there, you'll start to see what these companies are typically paying their freelancers, and you can adjust your own rate accordingly. 

Remember when you're starting out that you're going to want to set your own rate towards the low end to begin attracting clients, job ratings, and reviews that can help you land larger and more lucrative gigs on the platform.

Getting a Gig

Now you can start looking for jobs. Eventually you'll be able to figure out exactly what search terms yield the best results for you, and you can set up a search that puts them all into a single job feed for you. But click around. Look for jobs in all of your niches, and find things that appeal to you. I recommend starting out only looking at the jobs that are specifically looking for beginners. While the rate will be lower, if you have a lot of experience you'll be highly competitive for that job. Building up your rating is an important step to move up the ladder on Upwork.

When you do apply for a gig, make sure you follow all of the instructions that the person who posted the job has put into their post. In your proposal, you want to be direct about what you can do for them, and why you are the best person to take on this job. Your cover letter is an important piece of information in regards to closing the deal.

Conclusion

Getting started on Upwork is not a difficult proposition, and if you are clear in your proposals and profiles about what you have to offer, you'll be able to find jobs. Build those jobs into long term client relationships, and you'll be able to plan your income in a way that most artists dream about.

For more information about building a sustainable side-hustle to support your creative life, check out my book: A Life in Art: Building Side-Hustles to Empower Your Life as an Artist.