Got My First Client on Upwork With High Hourly Rate

People who know me know that I always look for an opportunity on the internet to earn money and freelancing is one of the industries that I want to pursue. I have tried several freelancing platforms like Fiverr but it was during my young age when having a government ID was tough (well, until now).

Now, I decided to try Upwork and learn more about it because many people are having good feedback from it saying that it is a huge opportunity.

Check my profile on Upwork

Trying my luck, I created my profile and consumed my free connects to send proposals to clients who are offering a job that suits my skills, niche, and service. But fate is not on my side because my connects are wasted for submitting proposals because no one hired me. 

I used my connects until I reached 18 connects. It was not my intention to consume them all, I am just trying my luck at getting hired.

Luckily, one day, a client sent me an invitation for an interview. If my memory serves me right, I never submitted a proposal from this client but he directly invited me. We discussed the things to be done, and he sent me the documents that I have to do, and assess it, then when we both agreed, I submitted the proposal to open the offer.

I set my rate to $8/hour, and he never complained. He is easy to communicate with. We agreed on my rate, in fact, he never questioned it.  Meanwhile, me having trust issues, so I checked his profile first before accepting the job.

He doesn’t have any reviews, but he spent $700+ from his previous job offers. Before accepting the proposal, I told myself that if it turns out to be scammed, I will think of it as a lesson and forget about it.

The project that he gave was rushed. I had to complete seven landing pages with SEO-rich content. There is already a draft from each page, and there are also resources, but the subject is not in my niche so I had a little difficulty with it.

However, I did my best to process every piece of information given from the resources, write content with keywords, and resist it even if the subject is not in my niche. 

Also, since it was my first offer from Upwork, I had to explore the platform. The things that I have to do during the work, time tracker, payment method, etc. I learned that we should use a laptop while working to track the time that will be documented in your working diary.

Overall, I finished the job with a total of 10 working hours. I did it for almost 3 consecutive days, but most of the hours are not documented because I paused it while exploring the platform. My client put a 40-hour limit each week, but since the project is rushed, I had to finish it as soon as possible.

My first job was exhausting since I have to learn everything on Upwork before doing the job. At first, I didn't even know that there was a time tracker. If I do not open it, I will not be paid what I deserve — probably?

Furthermore, I had to wait for several weeks before receiving the invoice payment because Upwork has a schedule for releasing the payment for each freelancer. In my case, I had to wait for 2 weeks before receiving the whole payment. The fee is also a pain in the ass! Deducting 20% from the payment is too much for me.

Nevertheless, I was satisfied with the rate that I received. I never expected that he would accept my $8/hour offer even though I have not landed jobs in the past, he was the first one!

For now, my goal on Upwork is to accumulate at least $1,000 that I can use to buy a laptop. It would be a long journey, but my earnings here are dedicated to my laptop funds because I really need it for my work and studies.

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Published: November 3, 2022