Question

How hard is Upwork for beginners?

Answer 1

How hard is Upwork for beginners?

Upwork marketplace has become very challenging most recently.

1. First of all you must possess a niche skill that can add value to the platform - the skill must be in demand and your profile must show that you have the necessary skill and expertise in it and your profile description must be concise, precise, to the point and focused on your skill. Otherwise your profile wont be approved and you will not be visible in the marketplace.
2. You must get your 1st contract within 60–90 days. Otherwise your profile will get disabled and become private, invisible to clients. You can only bring it back to public by spending 10$ or by bringing a client to upwork.
3. You must work very hard for getting the first few 5-star ratings and positive feedbacks.
4. You must be willing to endure any setbacks like client not paying you the full amount on fixed priced contracts. Choose your clients carefully. A bad 1st feedback will ruin your profile.
5. You can not have duplicate profiles. If you do and they find out (and trust me they find out pretty quickly), then both profiles get removed/suspended/private and you can never get on the marketplace, ever again using the same identity credentials.
6. If you are rookie, and dont have a couple of years of experience on your belt or if you do not have 1st hand practical experience/knowledge of not only completing the job but also handle clients, if you dont have the communication skills, if you can not manage expectations w.r.t. cost vs value, if you cannot ensure online presence, if you can not maintain and update your portfolio, if you are just doing it for fun or dotn take clients seriously, then do not come to upwork. Because once you are kicked out, you can never come back.