MAKE MONEY WRITING
How to Make Big Money on Upwork
written by a Top-Rated Freelancer - Part 1 of 3
Before I begin, I guess I’d better start out by listing my relevant qualifications. You know, the reasons that I’m worth listening to. Right now, there’s a lot of noise on the internet (Medium in particular) about money: how to earn it, how to make it, how to manage it, how to count it.
This is why you should listen to me.
I’ve been working on Upwork since March 2020, while holding down a full-time job. In that time, I’ve made over $20,000 and completed 49 projects. I’ve also been one of Upwork’s “Top-Rated” freelancers for over a year.
My hourly rate is $125 and my job satisfaction rating is 100%.
Want to know how I did it? Read on.
I started working on Upwork in March 2020.
I had joined and made a profile at least a year prior, but had never actually invested time or effort into using the platform until the pandemic hit. At that time, I was a 7th-grade mathematics teacher and truly had no idea what “free time” was. Mandated quarantines, the resulting national school closures, and the introduction of virtual schooling caused many educators, myself included, to experience work/life balance for the first time ever in our careers.
With a renewed sense of ownership over my own time, I eagerly began doing all the things I enjoyed: working out, reading books, embroidery, cooking, and writing, lots and lots of writing. I started a new blog, cracked open the old journal, and even tried Twitter for a couple days (it didn’t work out). Of course, I wasn’t able to see my friends or family, which kind of sucked, but overall, spending time on my hobbies was great and I relished it.
That’s when I started thinking smarter, not harder.
I was doing all of this writing for free, right? Couldn’t I find some way to monetize it? I mean, people make money writing all the time — why not me?
It was then I began my research on freelance writing platforms, which ultimately led me to Upwork, which looked only vaguely familiar and required a password reset before I was able to access my account.
Now, I wish I had the exact text that was on my profile when I logged in that day, but I don’t. I deleted it quickly and efficiently, and honestly hoped to never have to reflect upon those words again. Until now, that is.
My profile from a past life contained a long-form narrative that detailed my ~journey of writing~ over the course of my life. It involved anecdotes, name dropping a college publication, and more than one referential phrase hinting at the identity of my favorite author.
Delete.
Move to Trash.
Yes, we’re all glad it is gone. But the ghost of that frighteningly unmarketable profile brings me to the first step of Making Big Money on Upwork.
Step 1: Re-write your proposal cover letter and Upwork profile.
Admit what we both know to be true: if you’re on Upwork, submitting plenty of proposals (more on that later), and still coming up empty — your profile and/or proposal cover letter just isn’t hitting.
Re-writing your proposal letter is easier than re-writing your profile, so you should tackle that first. Come up with a form letter — a template, if you will — that you can minimally adjust for each specific job proposal.
Mine reads something like this:
Hi there,
My name is [your name] and I’m a native English speaker with [degree] from [Blah Blah University]. I’m also an X with X years in the X, Y, or Z industry, and I can’t wait to put my expertise to work for you.
Here’s a writing sample that was published in [Blah Blah magazine]: LINK
And here’s a sample of a recent blog post/article/e-mail campaign: LINK
I believe I’m a great candidate for this role for a number of reasons:
1. I have over X years of experience working as a freelance X and Y.
2. I am interested in this project, which I believe results in higher-quality work.
3. I am a skilled X, and can perfect my work for any niche or any audience.
4. I meet all deadlines and work to exceed client expectations!
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you for your consideration,
[your name]
This cover letter works great for me, especially now.
Now, I don’t even submit proposals. That’s because I receive so many invitations to apply for jobs that I can source all of my new work through free invites (as well as other means, such as existing long-term client relationships and references).
Invitations on Upwork are kind of a gift and curse, though, to be honest. You have to respond to job invites and messages in a timely fashion because that data gets reported out to potential clients via your profile, where it blatantly states how quickly you typically respond.
If your first thought is, “so what happens when I take a week off?” — don’t worry, me too. You’re covered.
With a template proposal cover letter, it’s easy to respond to these invitations quickly and efficiently. I simply edit the numbered list with specifics that address the deliverables or details outlined in the job posting, and send.
Now you need to re-write your profile.
Use your proposal cover letter as a guide. Write clearly and concisely.
State your qualifications. Describe your skills. Provide concrete examples of the impact your work has had on the organizations you’ve worked for and/or contributed to. Use as many numbers as you can.
Basically, apply all of the same rules here that you’d apply when writing a resume or filling out a job application.
Active voice, not passive. You know the drill.
Step 2: Submit proposals to all of the jobs.
That’s right. All of them.
No, wait — not quite. Don’t apply to the jobs paying $5 for 2000 words. Don’t apply to scams. Don’t apply to obvious rip-offs, or wastes of time/effort. Don’t apply to anything where you have to pay to apply. Most of this should go without saying.
But do apply to all of the other jobs. The real jobs. You’ll probably need to read about 20 job postings before you are able to distinguish the real from the crap.
Anyways, I didn’t get any traction on Upwork until I had submitted at least 50 proposals. In March 2020, that meant entering my credit card details on Upwork and using approximately $100 of the bank’s good money to apply to job postings.
Did I feel like it was probably completely pointless at the time? Yes, yes I did.
Three days later, when I was sitting on $1800 from one job alone and over $2000 more in my Pending queue, I was sure I had done the right thing.
PART 2 COMING SOON.
Subscribe to me, if you want — I’ve got like 9 followers. Or read my blog.
