Why you should get off of Upwork and freelancer sites
Look, freelancer sites are great if you are getting your feet wet working remote and scoring freelancer gigs with clients. Heck, that’s how I got started.
There are a few problems with UpWork:
They take a percentage of your pay
Upwork will take about 20% off of your pay until you’ve earned $500 and then continues to take a 10% cut thereafter. If you plan on working remote freelance jobs in the long-term then you need to build your experience on the platform and leave for greener meadows.
It’s a race to the bottom
While Upwork can give you money to supplement your pay, it will not fuel your financial needs indefinitely. Unless you’re an absolute expert at what you do, you will not frequently score high paying gigs. Most jobs you will get starting out are posted by clients looking for a mix of experience and affordability.
If you want to make the “big bucks” doing this, you cannot stay on Upwork.
You max out on how much you can charge.
If you’ve built up your skills and have become an expert, then you most likely would like to charge more for your services. There are significantly less high paying jobs that will meet your pay standard once you hit a certain threshold.
Getting clients without using platforms.
Just because Upwork does not work long-term does not mean there isn’t any value in what you learned while using the platform.
Although it’s less structured, you can use the same skills you learned to find jobs and write proposals to find jobs in other places on the internet. I’m not talking about just job listing sites like Indeed, but even using social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, or even Linkedin to find clients.
I could write an entire guide on finding jobs over social media as well as online forums, but in the name of time, I’ll leave you with a few ways you can start to take off the Upwork training wheels.
1.Post about your successful projects on social media.
Show off how happy your clients are with your work. Continuously share exceptional reviews you get with your social media channels. This signals in your networks head that you are in fact good at what you do.
Building up your reputation is not just restricted to freelance platforms. If done effectively, you can easily reach out to people in your network about jobs, get referrals from friends, or even have someone DM you about a project they need to be done. Build this referral system off the platform because it is difficult to do this on Upwork.
2. Start using social media to connect with your potential clients
You never know when someone might need your help. The best thing you can do is be prepared and ready when that time comes.
Your clients might not start falling out of the sky the minute you start to engage with potential clients. Unlike using Upwork, there are countless people who are at varying stages of needing help with their businesses.
That’s why the key to this strategy is to start engaging with them online and strengthening these relationships before they need you. That way, you’re top of mind when they want to pull that trigger.
And hey, if you’re doing a great job posting about your client successes, then it’s more likely than not they will take notice.
3. Join online communities
Find out which communities your customers are on. There are tons of Facebook groups, Reddit pages, quora subjects, and places where you can go to engage with people online.
These communities not only offer an abundance of information and learnings, but you can also start to talk with your customers about their problems and give advice.
Show value upfront and build authority in what you are doing and people will be more receptive to not only you sliding into their DMs but they will start to come to you in search of answers to their business questions.
Action Items
- Start posting about projects you have or are currently working on. The best time to start was weeks ago, so get moving.
- Connect with people on social media who might be future customers. Start talking with them and strengthening your relationships with them
- Join at least three online communities and start engaging in conversations. The best way to embrace a remote lifestyle is to start learning to communicate online.
- Text me at this number if you have any questions about how to get started looking off of freelancer platforms to get freelance clients -> 9182057851
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