Everyone wants to be independent and dreams of his/her own company challenging projects and of course revenue.
Despite an already mature existing market, there’s still a chance to open your own agency for those who has skills and have no idea how to find clients.
Almost every second local company started a business from Upwork marketplace.
So what are those steps that have to be followed in order to succeed on Upwork?
Reputation (Client is my friend)
Remind yourself a behavior on the first date when you’re trying to show your best and expect that person will have a strong desire to meet you again. Did you try to look good? How did you behave especially when you wanted the person to meet you again?
That’s exactly how you’re supposed to behave on Upwork!
It’s not that you have to agree with everything clients says but you need to be polite, funny when needed and maintain active communication.
Fact:most clients buy your clear communication and expertise is not the main priority!
Speed (Watch out! You already lost the deal)
Once you see someone replied you should act as fast as possible and answer in 12-24 hours. Speed is one of the main factors that influents the amount of your contracts. As a matter of fact, there are stages of communication:
1. Greetings
2. Sharing info (project details form clients and your portfolio)
3. Feedback from both sides (QA, estimate….)
4. Discussing details (approx estimate is already known at this stage)
5. Final meeting (if needed)
Once a client’s already working with freelancers/agencies on the 4-5 phase you almost don’t have a chance to win the project. That is why you have to be fast because nobody will wait for you unless you already passed stage 4 and they know you might be a right choice for them.
Fact: Upwork is a fast marketplace and as a rule hiring process doesn’t take more than 3 days.
Portfolio (Show me your best projects)
Work on your portfolio and code samples as long as you’ll always be asked to provide proofs of your experience. Collect best projects you’ve been working on even if they’re not live (create demo).
Fact: your projects together with code samples is your face that shows whether you’re trusted specialist or not.
Qualification (Big bugs=No bucks)
Of course, every dev wants to work on challenging complex solutions with cutting-edge tech stack. However, on Upwork you have to be 100% positive that you’re able to deliver a bug-free working solution.
Your expertise on Upwork is your job score which may both boost your company to a new level and shut down as well.
Better start from small projects, earn the best score and then step by step move forward so that your account won’t be killed by 1 bad feedback.
Fact: your credibility is your job score so protect it because it’s the fundament of your business!
To finalize
Starting a company on Upwork is not as hard as it may seem at first look.
Once you follow the rules and put a lot of work into this it’ll definitely bring you a revenue and many trusted clients in the future.