How I Earned $3,450 on Upwork in 1 Week

A few months ago I had a client that was their sweet time in paying me. I ran short on cash and needed something to get me by for the week, so I hopped onto Upwork. It’s been a few years since I used Upwork to find paid projects. Back in 2015 when I felt dissatisfied with the platform. However, when I hopped back on the platform this year, I noticed there were a lot of high quality projects posted.

My failed strategy in 2015

Back in 2015, when I first applied to be on the platform, there was an influx of users from other countries who would create logos for $25. It really made it difficult for other freelancers to find work, or to sustain a freelance lifestyle. Since then the culture shifted drastically. People still apply for projects underbidding at ridiculously low rates, but it seems that a lot of the people posting jobs filter them out. It’s also possible that the newest updates to their platform where you have to verify your identity might be discouraging spammers and under bidders.

Strategy 2021

My strategy for finding projects on Upwork was completely different this time. Instead of applying for every project, I looked for the following things:

#1: Picking projects that fit my experience/portfolio style almost exactly.

Always pick a project that you know you can complete with confidence. I applied for projects in the past that were outside of my comfort zone. This was a mistake. The worst thing you want to happen is for a client to be unhappy with your work and write a bad review. By selecting projects you feel confident about, that positivity will shine through in the work quality and you will also get the work done a lot faster.

#2: Filtering jobs that aren’t worth your time.

The cheap projects will take you longer to complete. For example, back in 2015 I focused on logo design projects. A lot of these projects were under bid and they still took me 4–6 hours to complete. I lost money on these projects after Upwork took their 20% of profit out of my earnings. It was better to not apply for these jobs at all. Even a $400 logo project at the end of the day would earn me only $350. It was stressful to even apply for these projects. I never knew if a client would come back with multiple revisions or leave a bad review. Since Upwork has a different way of managing client relationships, client — designer relationships function different. There is not traditional contract. With a contract, you have certain protections as a designer. I liked that Upwork protected users by handling the financial aspects of the relationship at first. After a while, I began to dislike this function. If you apply for jobs that are worth your time, they take longer to complete, you are more likely to land a client who is invested in the completion of the project. They have more money to spend, and they are less likely to drop you or not pay you.

#3: Applying for at least 3 projects.

This strategy worked for me. I landed a project that resulted in $3,450 of income. It also fit my skill set perfectly. I felt comfortable completing the project, because it matched my experience so well. I was also able to complete the project faster than if I had applied for a project that might have been outside of my comfort zone.

This project I landed earned me what I would have made in a month. I finished it quickly and confidently. Kudos. If you’re wondering how difficult it is to land clients on Upwork, well rest assured, there are a lot of projects on there and they update all day long. People need designers, writers, marketing agents, and all kinds of other skills. If you put yourself out there and filter out the projects that will waste your time, go for the ones you feel confident about, and apply for at least 3 projects, you’ll definitely fill the gaps between paychecks.

In case you’re interested in other avenues to earn some $$$, check out my other post about earning money writing on Medium. When I’m not writing on Medium, I’m blogging about other topics relating to art and artists at the last pigment.