This is bigger than even Upwork, really.
Take a minute and really think about it.
But, anyway, let’s get into it…
Web development was the first thing I came across in my life that I really believed, deep in my soul, was my “way out”. I’ve talked about this before…
But, I came from a dirt poor family.
I lived in a trailer house.
A run-down, dirty one, in fact.
And, when you grow up like that, you’re always looking for something to “get you out”. For some people, it’s football or basketball. Others it’s music.
Whatever it is…
It’s your “way out” of that life.
And, web development was that for me.
And, I spent a lot of years getting really good at it. I poured my heart and soul into it. I stayed up way too many hours, late at night mastering it…
Because, I felt like it was my one shot.
Otherwise, I’d just be stuck.
Some low-paying, boring job.
Workin’ with a bunch of jack-holes I couldn’t stand.
And, no real hope for ever getting out of it.
And, I did get good. But, when it came time to now actually start doing this for a living… I quickly realized that being good at coding wasn’t gonna be enough.
I remember I put my profile up on Elance (now Upwork).
And, it was a big deal for me.
It took me a long time just to get to THAT point.
To put myself out there like that.
But, the response I got devastated me…
*Crickets*
Nothing.
I can’t put into words how mad it made me. Like, “Why can’t just one thing… one f!@#ing thing just go my way. For once. Is that too much to ask?”
I can still feel how angry and disappointed I was.
Now, I say all that so you know… I get it. I get it when people go through that and we have all this social media now and they get pissed…
And, they start posting about how Upwork is a scam…
And, all that.
If Twitter or YouTube had existed when I was going through it… yeah, I’d probably have went on a tirade, too. So, I understand where it comes from.
It’s just not true is all.
I’ll continue with my own example. After I calmed down, I did what I think any rational person does in that situation… I started researching.
“Ok, let me just figure THIS out, too, then.”
(Which is a lesson that’s bigger than Upwork.)
And, what I found changed everything. I came across a series of blog posts where Upwork (still called Elance, then) explained how their algorithms worked.
Thinking back now…
It’s kinda hard to believe.
It’s like if Google just said how their algorithms work.
People would be all over it. But, these freelancing sites were still getting popular and so these posts were pretty obscure. Nobody really talked about them.
And, of course, they’ve since been deleted.
But, when I read them…
It became so obvious what was going on.
Why no one was hiring me.
AND, most importantly, what I needed to do to fix it.
And so, I did. I went back and completely rewrote my profile. Removed a bunch of stuff, in fact. Adding things that were now obvious omissions.
And, it didn’t take long.
That first job came in almost immediately:
Then another:
And, another and another and another
And, before I knew it, I had to turn it off, because I was overwhelmed with job invites and having a hard time saying “no” to work.
And, I was getting burned out.
But, the point is…
Nothing changed about Upwork.
Nothing changed about me…
My skill…
My experience.
It was all exactly the same as when I was getting no work. What changed was my understanding of Upwork. And, how to present myself there.
That’s it.
So, while I get people get frustrated.
Again, it’s just not true.
And, the reality is THEY are the ones missing out. Because, for anyone who wants to freelance… Upwork is the largest freelancing platform on the planet.
The opportunity is immense…
IF you can figure out how it works.
So, no… it’s not a scam.
It’s just not going to hand you work, either.
Which seems like the mentality a lot people have toward it.
In any case, if you wanna learn what I discovered in those blog posts, and how to re-work your profile AND you bidding strategy to take advantage of those algorithms…
It’s all in my Freelancing on Upwork course on SkillShare: https://skl.sh/2OIxQrO
And yes…
Upwork, today, still operates on those same basic principles. Sure, they’ve gotten more sophisticated, but the underlying principles are exactly the same.
And, when you see it, you’ll realize…
That’s because their algorithms HAVE to work that way.
They couldn’t do what they do otherwise.
Anyway, with that link above, you’ll get 2 months of SkillShare for nothing. That way, you can take the entire course, cancel before the 2 months is up…
And, learn it all without ever paying a penny.
But, fair warning…
It’s not some 5-second trick.
It still takes research and work.
So, if you’re just looking for gimmicks…
Don’t enroll.
It won’t work for you.
Otherwise, though, link is here: https://skl.sh/2OIxQrO
Later,
John
