Mechanical Engineer From Montana Finds Lucrative Side Hustle on Upwork

I just got this email from Dan: 

“I’m starting to do really well in my freelancing career, and it’s mostly thanks to you. Just today, I reached a 100% job success score on Upwork. I just wanted to say thank you, and share my story with you. Read it if you’re interested, skip it if you want (I get it, it’s long), but either way I think you deserve to know how big of an impact you’ve had on my success.

I just checked: I’ve been following you for over 3 years. I’m a mechanical engineer, and 3 years ago, a year out of college, I decided I wasn’t making as much as I wanted, so I started looking into things I could do on the side. Web development came up, and I decided that would be a good fit since I had some programming experience from college. I found a few of your videos (HERE) and blog posts (HERE) when I was looking for tutorials, and I subscribed to your email list for the Skillshare subscription (HERE).

Unfortunately, I quickly realized that being a web designer takes some artistic abilities (or at least an eye for color and design), which I didn’t have. That idea eventually fizzled out, and life got busy so freelancing was off my mind for a while.

Meanwhile, I was still subscribed to your email list, and although I wasn’t planning on being a web developer, I found your emails interesting, especially about freelancing in general. It didn’t take long to realize web development wasn’t the only way to freelance, so I started reading all your emails about freelancing (SIGN UP HERE) through the lens of a mechanical engineer, thinking about starting a freelancing business. It took a while for anything to come of it, but that was a game changer.

About 2 years later, I was 3+ years into my engineering career and working for a company where I knew my salary wasn’t going up anytime soon. I also had some time, so I talked my wife into letting me get a CAD software subscription and try my hand at freelancing in my spare time.

The initial investment was $810 for a 3-month Solidworks license, which was scary at the time. I really dug in to your guides about using Upwork (HERE) to get clients, and within a couple of weeks I had a few projects. I quickly learned what you meant by good clients vs. bad clients, and I had some of both. Once I got to a point where I knew I could at least break even, I wasn’t super motivated to get more projects because I had a few bad experience with clients. I also had a lot going on, so I was content to just work a few hours a week for one main client and make a few hundred bucks a month of profit. Not a great business plan, obviously, but I was content

A few months ago, my wife got accepted to medical school and we relocated to a different city, where I got a new job. Needless to say, our living expenses skyrocketed, and I knew I was going to have to be a lot more intentional about freelancing to make it work.

Fortunately, with all of your help, I was in a good position. I hadn’t really screwed anything up on Upwork, and I had a decent rating. No bad ratings, just a few projects with no feedback that took a long time to complete, which apparently the Upwork algorithm doesn’t like. I was getting a job invite every week or two, and I was landing most of the projects that I applied for. That’s all thanks to your awesome proposal writing strategies (HERE).

Within a few weeks, my rating was up, and I’m now getting 2-4 job invites a week! My portfolio isn’t even that good. My website is sparse. I’m not even looking for jobs anymore. I’m only putting 10-20 hours per week into this, and working full-time. I’m at a point where I know I could get enough clients to do this 40 hours a week and make as much as I make at my day job and freelancing combined if I really wanted to. I really like my day job and the stability it provides, but it’s nice to know I have that option.

Seriously, this is thanks to you. I haven’t done everything you suggest (I’m just starting to get into content development, I haven’t put much work into my portfolio, and my website barely meets the minimum requirements), but every single thing I’ve tried that you recommend has been a huge success. How to interact with clients. How to set rates (HERE). How to write a good proposal (HERE). How to build a strong Upwork profile (HERE). The list goes on.

Anyway, that rambled on way too long, sorry. The point is, you’re awesome. I’m a huge fan. Thank you for taking the time to put such great content out over the years, and doing it in a way that’s so genuine. That’s working. That’s what kept me coming back. Keep up the good work!”
 

Here’s the class Dan took: https://www.upwork101.com. The only difference between you and him, right now, is he acted on it. Will you? 

Later, 

John

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John Morris

JOHN MORRIS

I’m a 15-year veteran of freelance web development. I’ve worked with bestselling authors and average Joe’s next door. These days, I focus on helping other freelancers build their freelance business and their lifestyles.

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Tim Covello

Tim Covello

75 SEO and website clients now. My income went from sub zero to over 6K just last month. Tracking 10K for next month. Seriously, you changed my life.

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Michael Phoenix

By the way, just hit 95K for the year. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve taught me. You’ve changed my life. Thank you!

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Stephanie Korski

I started this 3 days ago, following John’s suggestions, and I gained the Upwork Rising Talent badge in less than 2 days. I have a call with my first potential client tomorrow. Thanks, John!

Jithin Veedu

Jithin Veedu

John is the man! I followed his steps and I am flooded with interviews in a week. I got into two Talent clouds. The very next day, I got an invitation from the talent specialists from Upwork and a lot more. I wanna shout out, he is the best in this. Thanks John for helping me out!

Divyendra Singh Jadoun

Divyendra Singh Jadoun

After viewing John’s course, I made an Upwork account and it got approved the same day. Amazingly, I got my first job the very same day, I couldn’t believe it, I thought maybe I got it by coincidence. Anyways I completed the job and received my first earnings. Then, after two days, I got another job and within a week I got 3 jobs and completed them successfully. All the things he says seem to be minute but have a very great impact on your freelancing career.

Sarah Mui

Sarah Mui

I’ve been in an existential crisis for the last week about what the heck I’m doing as a business owner. Even though I’ve been a business for about a year, I’m constantly trying to think of how to prune and refine services. This was very personable and enjoyable to watch. Usually, business courses like this are dry and hard to get through…. repeating the same things over and over again. This was a breath of fresh air. THANK YOU.

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Waqas Abdul Majeed

I’ve definitely learnt so much in 2.5 hours than I’d learn watching different videos online on Youtube and reading tons of articles on the web. John has a natural way of teaching, where he is passionately diving in the topics and he makes it very easy to grasp — someone who wants you to really start running your business well by learning about the right tools and implement them in your online business. I will definitely share with many of the people I know who have been struggling for so long, I did find my answers and I’m sure will do too.

Scott Plude

Scott Plude

I have been following John Morris for several years now. His instruction ranges from beginner to advanced, to CEO-level guidance. I have referred friends and clients to John, and have encouraged my own daughter to pay attention to what he says. All of his teachings create wealth for me (and happiness for my clients!) I can’t speak highly enough about John, his name is well known in my home.

Sukh Plaha

John is a fantastic and patient tutor, who is not just able to share knowledge and communicate it very effectively – but able to support one in applying it. However, I believe that John has a very rare ability to go further than just imparting knowledge and showing one how to apply it. He is able to innately provoke one’s curiosity when explaining and demonstrating concepts, to the extent that one can explore and unravel their own learning journey. Thanks very much John!

Mohamed Misrab

Misrab Mohamed

John has been the most important person in my freelance career ever since I started. Without him, I would have taken 10 or 20 years more to reach the position I am at now (Level 2 seller on Fiverr and Top Rated on Upwork).

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