How we started working on Upwork (personal experience). ⇡ Job search

Since the project exists on the Internet, therefore, you can work on it mainly in various areas of programming and those services that are controlled and performed online. Speaking in simple language— on the site, customers are looking for freelance programmers, and freelancers are also looking for orders.

The main advantage, appreciated by our compatriots, is that payment on the site takes place in US dollars. This advantage became especially extremely valuable after the crisis and the appreciation of the currency. At a time when there was complete uncertainty, many companies closed, and specialists were left without a lot. Earning money on Upwork.com has become a kind of lifesaver for them.

An additional bonus is the fact that most customers on Upwork prefer to involve a specialist from Russia in their project, rather than representatives from China or India. This is due to the belief that Russian specialists are more qualified than others. Payment on the site can be fixed or hourly. And hourly payment is really payment by the hour (favorite in the West), and not by standard hours (favorite in Russia and the CIS countries).

To increase the attractiveness of their services, specialists registered on the site must undergo testing and confirmation of the knowledge that they indicate in their application form. This happens with the help of special tests, based on the results of which it sets overall rating attractiveness.

Speaking about the advantages of Upwork, one cannot fail to mention the disadvantages of the site. The main disadvantage is the language barrier. Communication on Upwork takes place on English language, and if you don’t know it, then you need to learn it. And an online translator won't help much. Since situations often arise when communication occurs visually, for example, via Skype. By the way, returning to the tests, language knowledge is also tested by the platform. If you indicate that your knowledge of English is basic, then be prepared to take a short test or a secret interview via Skype. Having passed it successfully, you will receive a mark indicating that your knowledge has been tested and confirmed.

Be also prepared that the geography of customers will be diverse, therefore, there will be a time difference. And sometimes it will be significant. To discuss some aspects of ordering online, you will often have to sit at the computer either late at night or early in the morning.

Pay special attention to the description of your services in your profile. The first lines should be yours key features. For example, if you specialize in creating websites using WordPress, then be sure to indicate your achievements, such as creating a unique high-load WordPress website in 3 hours. This will distinguish you significantly from other specialists who simply write about their skills in WordPress.

Also, your public Upwork profile will be indexed in search engines, which will allow you to attract customers from outside the service. Average earnings A specialist providing small services can earn up to $1000 per month on Upwork. Narrowly focused specialists, with high demand and lack of competition, earn much more.

There is such a thing as Upwork agencies ( managerial job on Upwork). The phenomenon has developed strongly in the CIS countries, where traditionally universities graduate many good specialists in programming, that is, stable a large number of offers on the services market. The direction is suitable for those who want to make money on the site, but do not have necessary knowledge. However, he can be an excellent organizer. We are recruiting a team of freelancers on a remote basis and managers to work with direct clients on Upwork. Managers with knowledge of English accept orders on the site, adapt them, translate them and distribute them among freelancers, monitoring the progress of work. After completing the work, if there are no comments from the customer, managers submit the order. All this is done under the account of an Upwork specialist. the main task organizer to create an ideal profile in such a way that it facilitates the search for orders. Profit distribution usually occurs in a ratio of 40% to 60%. Where 40% is the salary of employees and freelancers, and 60% is covering current expenses (for example, renting an office for managers) and the profit of the organizer.

Withdrawing money from Upwork.com

UpWork's commission ranges from 2% to 20%. The service offers many ways to withdraw earned money. Among them are Visa, Mastercard, PayPal. But, more advanced freelancers prefer a system Payoneer. This system simplifies the procedure for withdrawing money from Upwork, bypassing various obstacles and maintaining anonymity, which is important for many specialists. In addition, by registering with Payoneer using this link, you can get an additional $25 to your earnings. Which would also make a good gift.

– American search site remote work(freelance). I hope these tips will be useful for beginning freelancers.

Why Upwork?

On this moment this is the largest international labor exchange on the Internet, hence a large number of orders. Your work is paid more generously than Russian sites. It is also believed that customers on Upwork are more adequate.

Who is suitable for working on Upwork?

• people with the profession of programmer, designer, tester, copywriter/translator, SEO specialist, content manager - that is, with the ability to work remotely
• those who have basic knowledge of English
• for those who want to organize their work independently, have a free work schedule, and do not depend on the workplace

To whom Not Suitable for working on Upwork

• freebie lovers. The amount of money earned directly depends on the amount of work done
• those who need a boss to give tasks and force them to work
• complete beginners in their field. It’s better to come to freelancing with some knowledge.

Where to start?

It's time to learn how to start working on Upwork. First of all, of course, we register - create a Freelancer Account.

Profile created! But don’t rush to look for orders right away. First you need to fill out your profile - without this, they are unlikely to pay attention to you.

In chapter Overview you need to create a description about yourself - work experience, skills and technologies that you possess. This text should interest the potential customer and give him confidence that he needs to hire you.

In chapter Portfolio It is advisable to add examples of your work with links to them. The presence of such examples may also interest a future client, as well as show your professional level. I don’t recommend adding other people’s work here, it can quickly become apparent :)

To section Certifications You can add a list of your certificates, if any.

Important section Tests– some clients are looking for performers that freelancers had to go through. Tests in your specialty are important to confirm your skills, so it is better to pass them with a score of at least Top 30%. In addition, you need to pass a test Upwork Readiness Test for Independent Contractors and Staffing Managers is a simple test of your knowledge of Upwork rules. Without it, the system will not allow you to send many requests to fulfill orders.

Employment History And Education: in these sections it is advisable to fill out information about previous work experience and education. As a rule, customers do not read this, but it will definitely not be superfluous.

In general, take the time to fill out your profile, because... The client's first impression is based on him.

How to get paid for work completed

Upwork offers several withdrawal methods:

For Russia, the most profitable methods are Payoneer and PayPal. Upwork charges a $2 fee for transferring money to Payoneer, and $1 for PayPal.

You can connect the payment method you need in your account settings in the “ tab Get Paid» .

Now how to start working for upwork? – Look for orders!

At this stage, you can already try to find your first order. In future articles I will describe how to write a cover letter correctly, as well as many other things.

I had heard about the existence of foreign project exchanges for a long time, but before the economic crisis broke out in Russia, I never looked towards foreign customers at all: there were enough Russian orders, a serious language barrier stopped me, and I didn’t even think that my specialization could be in demand there (My specialty is the implementation and customization of one domestic CRM). With the fall in the ruble exchange rate, I began to look for new markets for my team’s services, and decided to try upwork.

After trying it, I regretted that I had not tried it earlier. Looking ahead, I will say that I like the work culture of foreign customers. Hourly work there is, indeed, hourly work, and not work according to the standard hours beloved in Russia. This makes upwork orders more profitable than Russian orders at a slightly lower hourly rate.

My experience is not great yet - this is what happened in my personal account during 4 months of work in my free time from my main activity:

But I think my post will help those who want to, but are still afraid, decide to start working for upwork:

1. How I overcame the language barrier

I studied English at university. However, this language was never good for me: I had a good vocabulary, but terrible pronunciation, and I always had problems with listening.

In January of this year, having firmly decided that I now needed English, I found myself a tutor, and we studied with him 3 hours a week and I studied on my own for another 3 hours a week. Combine this with mine entrepreneurial activity it was very difficult - these 6 hours seemed like an unbearable addition to my already busy schedule, so after a while I realized that either I should already feel the profit from my English, or I should give up this idea.

At the end of April, I moved from theory to practice - I registered an account for myself on what was then oDesk, filled out my profile and started looking for my first order. In my profile I indicated that my level of English is basic. At the moment, my basic level has been checked and confirmed by the exchange staff. This check happened in a strange way. Some unknown person knocked on my Skype and started a conversation with me on a topic distracted from work in English. I wrote to him, also in English, that if he is not going to order anything from me, then I am not interested in wasting time on him. Immediately after this, an icon appeared in my profile indicating that my English had been verified.

2. First order

I took my first order literally the next day after registration. It was a small order with fixed price. I set the price 2 times higher than the customer’s budget, hoping that the high price would draw the customer’s attention to my zero profile. The strategy worked - I got the order, and after 2 days my profile was decorated with the first 5 stars.

3. First hourly order

Having received the first review, I decided that it was time to look for an hourly order, I set a price of $35 per hour in my profile, and literally a few days later my first hourly contract was signed. Like last time, the customer chose me because my price was about 2 times higher than the highest offered by other applicants, and overall I think that my marketing strategy works not bad:

Communicating with the customer in English was, frankly speaking, more than difficult. We had to discuss the project not only in writing, but also verbally via Skype. However, to my surprise, the customer's employees showed more patience and tolerance towards my level of English - they repeated the same phrase 5 times in different words until we had complete understanding. After Skype calls, my head was buzzing, but my level of English was growing noticeably every day (now I no longer need Google translator for correspondence). I realized that not a single tutor in the world can teach a language the way communication with a native speaker teaches.

Another problem was with the customer's time zone. The client was from Australia, and when I woke up for him at 7.30 in the morning, his working day was already ending, and these morning discussions were very tiring for me.

That contract also ended with a 5-star review, and I earned $775 from it within a month without interrupting my main activity, which I did not give up during my upwork experiments.

Later, I introduced the specified customer to my team, and we hired him as support - we continue to work with him at the moment.

4. First success

I consider my first success to be the day when the first foreign customer found me by Googling my Upwork profile. A customer from England found me himself and wrote to me by email. Since I had not worked directly with foreign customers before and was afraid of deception on his part, I said that I work only through the exchange, he registered on upwork, created a contract, connected me and 2 other contractors of my agency to it, and also became mine regular customer. By the way, British English is much clearer than American and Australian, and the difference in time zones with England is quite small, so I like working with this customer, and we have already done and continue to do a number of projects for him.

5. Agency

I already mentioned that I have a team and that I created an agency on Upwork. It was the creation and development of the agency that was and remains my ultimate goal. For some time now I have not been the lead developer on my team, although I started out as one. My responsibilities are sales and project management. Although I often take on projects for myself personally, so as not to lose my qualifications. All my upwork clients initially get to know me as a developer, and then I try, with varying degrees of success, to replace myself with another developer from my team.

Some customers willingly agree that another developer will work on their project. Some do not agree, and depending on whether I am ready to part with them completely, I either continue to work on their project myself or part with them. In order to make customers more willing to switch from me to my leading specialist, we make a price range: the customer can work with me personally for $45 per hour or with my leading specialist for $30 per hour.

At the first stage, when my agency’s profile on Upwork was zero, I had difficulty finding contractors. Even those people who usually go through fire and water with me doubted that this game was worth the candle, and they had to be convinced. New freelancers who had not worked with me before refused my invitations in a rather rude manner, some of them then tried to work for Upwork on their own, picking up my idea, and I could watch how their accounts died without developing. Now I no longer have problems finding teammates, but I only work with those who believed in me from the very beginning.

My earnings as an agent are still far behind my earnings as a developer, despite the fact that I spend a lot of effort on forming and selling the team’s services, but I’m not going to give up trying, because this income promises to be passive.

In general, there is money and clients on upwork, and competition is low. Customers do not consider Indians desirable performers, but they love specialists from Russia and the former CIS countries. Among other things, the upwork profile is perfectly indexed in Google, and in addition to orders through the exchange itself, it provides a flow of direct customers from this search engine. Searching for orders on Upwork is both simple and difficult at the same time, but much easier than you might think. Therefore, I recommend this exchange to everyone.

All freelancers registered on the Elance.com exchange recently received notification that the site will practically cease to operate within a year. From the beginning of August it is no longer possible to register on Elance; in September new job offers will no longer be published there, and by the beginning next year it will be necessary to complete all started projects. Therefore, if earlier novice freelancers thought about which large site was best to choose for remote work - Odesk or Elance, now there is no such dilemma.

The companies developing the largest freelance exchanges announced their merger at the end of 2013. Even then it became obvious that two sites intended for the same thing and managed by the same team were unlikely to exist. As a result, the developers' efforts were concentrated on the new website, which was created based on Odesk.

At the beginning of this year, Odesk was renamed Upwork. All Odesk users automatically became Upwork users. However, accounts, contracts and messages were completely preserved. Freelancers with Elance are less fortunate - they will need to move to a new platform, merging accounts manually.

But don’t think that Upwork is the same Odesk, just under a different name. Along with the name change, a variety of changes were introduced to the site. Some of them migrated to the updated resource from Elance, others were created from scratch, but in any case, a completely new site was born. Mobile applications for iOS and Android were also created, and the application for recording working hours was completely redesigned.

After the merger of two remote work exchanges, the new Upwork site has become the world's largest place where you can find a job (or a contractor for your project). The site’s creators claim that there are now 9 million freelancers and 4 million clients registered on it, and about 3 million job advertisements are published per month. Well, if you also decide to use Upwork services, read on.

When we're talking about When it comes to remote work, most people for some reason immediately think about programmers, web designers and translators. In fact, representatives of not only the above professions, but also many others, can find work on Upwork. The only thing you need for this is to know English at such a level that you can understand the meaning of the job offer and further understand the client’s requirements in the process of communication. However, on the site there are also employers who speak Russian, and even job offers written in Russian, but the latter is rather an exception to the rule.

But the site has a lot of offers that do not require any special skills. For example, you may be asked to photograph the view from the window of your house during the day and at night, record your voice for students studying Russian, shoot a video review of washing powder, make a list of large and small Russian choirs indicating their leaders, record a conversation with your child using a picture book, and so on. There are even such incredible tasks, like “go to the local city archive and get a certificate stating that in such and such a year someone’s great-grandmother was born in this city.” And for all of the above, of course, they pay money (although, of course, the amounts are not comparable to what, say, freelance software developers earn).

⇡ Registration and filling out your profile

So, you are ready to join the ranks of freelancers, joining their ranks of millions. What should you remember first? You should not invent pseudonyms when registering and indicate in your profile that your phone number is 322-223-322, like Freken Bock, and you live on Third Stroiteley Street, 25, apt. 12 (unless, of course, your real address coincides with the address of the characters in the famous film).

Upwork is a place that gives you the opportunity to earn money, and any financial matters do not tolerate fake names, phone numbers and addresses. Therefore, indicate your real name (it is better that its spelling in Latin matches the spelling in your passport and on bank card), a phone number where you can be reached, and an address that can also be confirmed if necessary.

You will also be asked to upload a profile photo. You shouldn’t be original and post a photo of Bruce Willis, this is a violation of the rules of the service. The photo must be yours. If in the future you are asked to confirm your identity, all data provided, including your photograph, will be checked (more on this below).

Creating a profile begins with choosing the main type of work you plan to do. You will also be asked to indicate several categories that suit you best. Based on this information, the site will show you a feed of recommended job offers.

If you don’t want to “shine” your last name to the whole world (or, let’s say, it’s not very sonorous), you can enable a short display of the name. Then the profile will indicate only the first name and the first letter of the last name with a dot. Many people do just that.

Under your name, you can place information about yourself in one line. Potential employers see it, in particular when they are looking for freelancers for their projects on the website. What should I write here? Some list the programs they work in, the technologies they own, others indicate their strengths or what kind of work they are ready to take on.

In your profile, you need to briefly and succinctly inform potential employers about all your skills, abilities and best qualities. The main part is filled out in a free style; it is also possible to separately indicate when, in which companies and in what positions you worked, what work you did (as in a resume), what languages ​​and at what level you speak.

To increase the attractiveness of your profile, it is recommended to attach examples of completed work (in particular, this is relevant for photographers and artists), as well as upload a short video where you introduce yourself. But it is not advisable to indicate e-mail, Skype and other methods of communication outside of Upwork - this goes against the rules of the service. Your profile will also display your current and completed projects, reviews from employers, and an overall rating based on customer ratings.

One of good ways make your profile more attractive - take tests. This is especially true at the beginning of building your freelance career, as it gives the client the opportunity to verify your professional suitability, even if you have not completed a single project yet. Upwork has many free tests for a wide range of professions. You can take those that you consider suitable for your specialty, and the results will be displayed on your profile. Moreover, if the result is not very good, then you can always hide the display of this test and take it again in a couple of months. To get started, it is recommended to start with an Upwork knowledge test, created according to the freelancer guide, which is sent by mail to all newly registered ones.

Your profile will also need to indicate how many hours per week you are willing to devote to working on Upwork. Don't know yet? Then choose the option "I'm open to suggestions." In addition, you will need to indicate how much you value one hour of your work. This figure is relative, because for each project you will still discuss payment with the client. If you don’t know how much to write, try using applications for job offers that interest you to find freelancers with similar skills and check with them.

It is worth remembering that until your profile is completed, you will not be able to apply for work. After you add your photo and tell us about yourself, you can submit your profile for moderation. The site's support service will check it, approve it, and only after that you can try to get a job.

Finally, it is important to remember that a profile is not created once and for all. You'll likely want to come back to editing it again and again as your Upwork experience grows. Perhaps, after studying the job offers, you will want to write in more detail about those of your skills that are more in demand, and keep silent about some experience altogether. When editing your profile again, you do not need to wait for moderators to review the changes.

⇡ Job search

You'll likely start your experience with Upwork by looking at job offers. In general, finding a job (especially at first) often takes longer than actually getting the job itself (when you finally get it!). When filling out your profile, you indicate your main skills, and based on this information, the site itself generates a feed of suitable advertisements on your job search page.

You can also manually add categories that interest you. However, viewing all offers in categories does not take one hour, so it is better to use keywords and filters. Using advanced search, you can receive advertisements containing certain words, an exact phrase or, conversely, not containing some words. In addition, you can search by skill tags. The employer adds them when posting an ad.

When searching by category, it is possible to exclude some subcategories from the results. In addition, you can filter advertisements by the following criteria: project duration, required number of working hours per week (freelancer employment), total budget, type of work (hourly or with a fixed fee), client experience (calculated in freelancers who were previously hired by him work). Experienced freelancers never ignore the last parameter and try not to work with clients who do not have a history of completed projects on Upwork. In addition, it is dangerous to deal with those for whom a solvency check has not been carried out (opposite such an employer in the job advertisement it is written: Payment Method Not Verified).

Looking through job offers, you may immediately find a dozen suitable ones that you are ready to take on right now. Unfortunately, before you can take on a project, you need to be hired by the client. And here lies the biggest fly in the ointment of the largest freelance exchange. There are a lot of orders and offers on it, but, alas, there are no fewer freelancers who are ready, just like you, to take on work right now. You only have to look at the list of people applying to see that the whole world wants to work for Upwork.

Therefore, to get the job, you need to convince the customer that you are the person who will do it better than others. When viewing a job offer, you can immediately see how many applications have already been submitted by freelancers. Compare the number of applications with yours strengths, which you can inform the customer about, and decide whether to add your own.

In order not to lose an interesting proposal that you cannot respond to right now, you can use the function of saving projects in favorites.

The list of saved offers can be viewed on a special page. As soon as the client closes the project, he automatically disappears from this page.

⇡ Applying for a job

When studying job offers in certain categories, you will probably notice that there are a lot of similar projects in content. Therefore, in order not to waste time writing an application letter every time, you may want to make a template greeting, reveal all your talents and skills in it, and then just sit and send it everywhere. Should not be doing that.

Firstly, sending identical applications is prohibited by Upwork rules, and your account may simply be banned. Secondly, a template application is always visible (customers are not fools either), so the chance that they will choose you is very small. Some customers, at the end of a job advertisement, ask to begin their application with some phrase and thus weed out the “template” people right at the start. Many also add additional questions that must be answered when submitting your application. Sometimes clients do not ask for a cover letter at all (that is, the usual text of the application), but simply offer a list of specific questions that the freelancer needs to answer. This form of application leaves virtually no chance for “template” people.

Thirdly, the number of applications that you can simply send out is limited. As part of a free account, a freelancer has access to 60 so-called connections per month (this is a kind of internal currency). When you leave a request, the site usually writes off 2 connections (sometimes there are more, but for most jobs it’s exactly two).

Thus, on a free basis, you can leave approximately 30 applications per month. If you send your resume anywhere, this is clearly not enough, but if you approach the choice of work thoughtfully, write applications for specific projects and shoot with an aim, this is quite enough. Most likely, after leaving 5-6 applications, you will get the job. While you are working, there will be no need to leave applications for you. After several such “application-job” cycles, the month will end and the number of connections will be updated.

By the way, applications are spent only if the freelancer is looking for work himself. If an employer found him and offered him a job directly, or if a client for whom the work was previously done hires him again for a new project, connections are not used. In a word, as everywhere else, it is beneficial to work on your authority, so that in the end it is not you who is looking for a job, but the work that is looking for you.

For active freelancers (which includes those who work in groups), Upwork offers a paid account for $10 per month. By purchasing it, you will receive not 60, but 70 free connections, as well as the opportunity to purchase additional connections as needed. In addition, freelancers who have paid for the Freelancer Plus plan can see how much competitors have asked for work before submitting a bid (for them, the maximum, minimum and average amount of bids is displayed). On free tariff plan this information is not available.

When applying, keep in mind that Upwork's commission is 10% of all transactions. When submitting an application, remember that you indicate the amount you want to receive, and the client sees the amount in your application, taking into account the Upwork percentage. All projects on Upwork are divided into two categories: hourly rate and having a fixed cost (more about their features below). When you submit an application for a project with an hourly rate, the site automatically sets the client the cost per hour that is indicated in your profile. That is, if your profile says $11 per hour, then the actual cost of your work will be $9.90 per hour.

For projects with fixed cost The default fee amount is not indicated, you enter it. In this case, only the field indicating how much money you will receive after deducting the service commission is available for filling. When posting a project, the employer usually indicates how much he is willing to spend on the project, so it is worth indicating your price based on this amount. When adding a request, Upwork always tells you if you have entered more money than the client indicated.

However, for many projects, the price indicated when submitting an application is not fundamental - anyway, in the future, the terms of work are discussed with the client, and when drawing up a proposal for work, he already indicates a more accurate cost.

All proposals that have been submitted by a freelancer are displayed on the Proposals page. If a client has selected you as a candidate for their project and details are currently being discussed, the project will also be visible here.

⇡ Project types

As mentioned above, there are two types of projects on Upwork: hourly and fixed-price. Which you prefer depends on the type of work you are willing to do and how long you are willing to work. It is clear that if you can devote only one and a half to two hours a day to work and at the same time be at the computer in bursts of 20-30 minutes, it is somehow not good to negotiate an hourly payment. In addition, for some types of work (say, taking photographs or audio recording sounds of the forest), hourly wages look simply ridiculous. And there are also jobs where the freelancer provides the client with the result, but prefers to keep the method of achieving it a secret.

On the other hand, many freelancers who work seriously with Upwork and devote all their time to site contracts prefer hourly wages. The fact is that with this type of contract there is much less chance that the client will cheat you. Work with hourly contracts is organized through a special Upwork Team App, which was completely redesigned along with the rebranding of the site.

To use it, you need to enter your Upwork account information, after which a list of current projects will be shown.

To start tracking, you need to select the appropriate contract and click on the start work button. Upwork Team App takes screenshots every ten minutes and uploads them to your account.

Moreover, during a ten-minute period of time, the program can take a screenshot at any second: maybe in the first minute, maybe in the fifth, or maybe in the tenth. If the screenshot shows that a freelancer worked on a project, these 10 minutes are included in the payment. From time to time, the freelancer should make notes in the application about what exactly is being worked on.

At the request of the freelancer, the application can take pictures of the entire desktop or just the active window. In addition, Upwork Team App can take a photo using your webcam along with a screenshot. This feature is not enabled by default and can be enabled if you negotiate with the client.

For each contract in the program, you can see the last screenshot taken and statistics of time worked per day and per week.

Screenshots taken can be viewed by a freelancer. If you suddenly find something on them that you don’t want to show to the client, you can simply delete the screenshot, but you will lose the payment for 10 minutes. Screenshots can be deleted at any time during the current week, after which working hours can no longer be edited. On Sunday evening, a report on the work done during the week is sent to the client for approval. He has until Friday to review and accept it. If the employer has no complaints, the money for the work is transferred to the freelancer’s account.

Projects with a fixed payment are good because in most cases you get money for them faster. If the project is large, the employer can divide it into stages and set the amount of payment for each of them. However, Upwork cannot verify in any way whether you worked on the project or not, and therefore you need to rely on the integrity of the client. On the other hand, all transactions are carried out through the intermediary service Escrow.com, so there is still some guarantee that you will receive the money.

Projects with a fixed payment work like this: the client sends a job offer, in which he indicates the amount of the transaction. Once the freelancer has accepted the offer, the money is withdrawn from the client's account and transferred to the intermediary. Once the project (or first phase) is completed, the freelancer submits the work. If the work has already been submitted in another way, then simply notifies of its completion by clicking the Submit Work / Request Payment button in the contract. After this, the client must accept the work or ask for changes to be made to it. As soon as the work is accepted, the money moves from the intermediary to the freelancer’s account. If the freelancer sends the work, and the client does not react in any way (does not accept the work, does not respond to messages, does not ask for changes), then the service takes the side of the worker and after two weeks the money is automatically credited to the freelancer’s account.

When working on a project with a fixed fee, it may also happen that the employer transferred more money upfront than the freelancer earned. In such cases, the client can, when accepting work, indicate how much money needs to be transferred to the freelancer, and request for the rest partial return funds. The extra money will be returned to the employer as soon as the freelancer gives the go-ahead (he thereby confirms that he agrees that the amount paid to him is less than initially expected). If the client gave the freelancer a request for a refund of part of the money, and the employee did not approve it, the problem will be resolved through the Upwork support service.

It is worth keeping in mind that with any of the two methods of work, there is a so-called “safe period”, during which the money has already been earned, but cannot be used yet. In the case of hourly rates, it lasts from the time the client approves the work report until Wednesday of the following week, and for projects with a fixed fee, it lasts six days from the time the client approves the work sent to him. On the reports page you can always see how much money has already been earned and how much is planned.

The Work In Progress column shows the amount open projects with a fixed cost, as well as money earned on hourly projects during the current week. The In Review column shows how much you can earn for submitted but not yet approved work on fixed-price projects, as well as money earned on hourly projects during the past week. The Pending column is money already transferred to your account, for which the “safe period” has not yet ended, and the Available column is the amount available for withdrawal. Please note that the first two columns show the amount that the client paid, and the last two show the “net” amount, from which 10% of the service has already been deducted.

⇡ Communication with employers

Communication with clients is a very important part of being a freelancer. Successful career building on Upwork largely depends on how well it is structured. When you take on an order, you need to be aware that the person who hired you for the first time may be just as worried and doubtful that you will do the job well and on time as you yourself doubt that you will be paid for the work on time. in full and on time.

Therefore, do everything to ensure that the client is confident that he has chosen a good freelancer as the project progresses. Keep in touch with him regularly and let him know how the work is progressing. If you have questions, do not hesitate to ask and discuss unclear points, in general, show that work is in full swing. In addition, a creative approach works very well. Even if your job is to automate a couple hundred categories for a WordPress site using a client-provided list of words, use your brain. If you find spelling errors in this list, a normal employer will undoubtedly appreciate it. Customer satisfaction (and getting more from working with you than they expected) can result in good review, in receiving a bonus, as well as in an offer new job.

You can negotiate with clients through the web interface and through mobile applications. In addition, notifications of new messages are sent to the address specified in the profile. Email, and you can communicate by simply answering letters. You can also use the Upwork Team App for discussion.

In fact, the main task of the application is to track working hours, but chat is also built into it. By and large, by installing this application, you can open the site in your browser only to search for a new job, and under current contracts, limit yourself to using Upwork Team App.

The platform for working with messages on the website and in the application is the same, therefore the interface is the same. Messages can be displayed in chronological order, or can be grouped by respondent.

If communication in a chat room occurs in real time, you can switch to voice/video chat mode (use the room.co service for this). If you exchanged files during communication with a client, it is very convenient to search for them by switching to the Files display mode. Here all files are shown in list form and are available for download.

The Upwork messaging platform also includes the ability to invite other site users to chat in your current chat room, create rooms, and manually invite new members to your chat room. If you are actively communicating with a large number of respondents, it may be convenient to use the function of adding a chat room to your favorites.

The recently released Upwork Messenger mobile app for Android and iOS is designed to provide faster communication with clients. It is created on the principle of an email client: all messages received from employers are located in the Inbox folder in chronological order. Separately, you can view sent messages, as well as received job invitations. As soon as a new message or invitation arrives, the application sends a push notification.

U mobile application There is another important function: it allows you to establish your status by informing the client that you are ready to work or communicate immediately. There are three statuses in total: when you say that you are ready to respond within 10 minutes, that you are open to new offers, but cannot answer immediately, and that you are not currently looking for a job.

⇡ Receiving money

Even if you haven't made a single dollar on Upwork yet, you may already be wondering: "How can I withdraw money from my account?" And this is logical, because if it is impossible to get money in your country or this procedure is too inconvenient, then you should not take up the job. Upwork works with almost all countries in the world, offering a variety of withdrawal methods.

For our citizens, withdrawal to a PayPal account, bank transfer via SWIFT, as well as withdrawal to a Payoneer account may be convenient. I would like to dwell on the last method in more detail, because many freelancers from the countries of the former USSR consider it optimal. The fee for a SWIFT transfer is much higher than sending money using other methods (about $30), and PayPal doesn't work for everyone to accept funds, so Payoneer is the cheapest and most accessible option.

The Payoneer system offers an international MasterCard card, from which you can withdraw money from almost any ATM in 200 countries around the world. The card is issued free of charge, and the service fee is $30 per year. They are withdrawn after the first top-up of your Payoneer account.

The process of obtaining a Payoneer card can take up to one month, so it is better to order it right away rather than wait until you earn your first money on Upwork. To register on the Payoneer website, you must indicate your date of birth, home address and details of one of three documents (general passport, international passport or driver's license).

The process of verifying this information will take a few days, after which you will receive a notification that your card has been sent by mail. You will receive it in regular envelope, after which the card will need to be activated on the Payoneer website. When activating, you will need to come up with a PIN code, which, of course, is better not to forget.

There is a $3.15 fee for each ATM withdrawal, so in order to pay less often, it is beneficial to withdraw as many at once (as the ATM's limitations allow). The fee for viewing the balance at an ATM is $1, so it is better to view the balance in your personal account before leaving home. In addition, $1 will be charged from the card if the ATM for some reason refuses to dispense cash (for example, you requested more than is available on the card). But if there is no money in your Payoneer account, then you do not need to pay any commissions to the service.

When setting up a payout method, Upwork immediately checks the email address to see if the user has a Payoneer account. If not, you can create it right away. But don’t rush to do this, it’s better to register for Payoneer separately.

The fact is that Payoneer, like many other services of similar purpose, has affiliate program. Everyone who registers using an affiliate link receives $25 credited to their account after their card is first topped up with $100 or more. That is, the first year of servicing the card almost completely pays off. The money will be transferred within 30 days after the first deposit (in other words, you will first be charged $30 for service, and then the $25 bonus will be returned). In general, register outside of Upwork, but be sure to use the same email address to which your Upwork account is linked.

Freelance exchange Upwork charges $2 for withdrawals to a Payoneer account. At the same time, you will be able to withdraw your first money from the service no earlier than you earn $100. In the future, you can withdraw smaller amounts. But if you consider that the commissions for transfers from Upwork to Payoneer and for withdrawals from the card do not depend on the amount, it is hardly worth transferring less than $100.

Payments can be made manually or automatically. In the second case, you need to select the transfer method, the frequency of payments (weekly, twice a month, monthly or quarterly), as well as the amount in the account, upon reaching which Upwork will send money.

A transfer from Upwork to a Payoneer account takes place in a matter of minutes, but you won’t be able to withdraw money from the card right away. To do this, they need to be transferred from the Payoneer account to the card of the same name (this is done in your personal account). It's free, but you'll have to wait two days (or even a little more) for the money to appear on the card. If you want to quickly top up your card within two hours, you will have to pay another $2.5. Accelerated card replenishment can be enabled for all subsequent transfers, then you don’t have to log into your Payoneer account at all.

⇡ Identity confirmation

According to our terms of service, Upwork has the right to request identification of you at any time. And until your identity is confirmed, the capabilities of your account will be limited: you will not be able to withdraw money, open new contracts, or apply for a new job.

If the reason for the request for documents was one of the current contracts, it will also be temporarily impossible to work with it.

You will only be able to exchange messages with clients and continue working on already open contracts, to which the site administration has no questions.

No one can say for sure when exactly the identification request will happen and whether it will happen at all, but most likely they will be interested in you when you start withdrawing payments from the site. In addition, the identification request may not occur because of you, but because of your client. For example, here is a real case. Freelancer hired new client, who did not want to reveal his name and indicated only the first letters of his first and last name. He transferred money to the client several times for work, after which he aroused the suspicion of the site administration. What if the employer and freelancer are the same person who is simply using Upwork as a platform for money laundering? The contract is blocked, the employer, and at the same time the freelancer (who has not violated anything) is asked to provide documents confirming their identity.

Identification can take up to three to four banking days, although in practice everything is usually resolved faster: sometimes in a day, sometimes in two (even if one of these days is Sunday). To verify your identity, you need color photographs of two documents that clearly show your name and address.

The first document may be a passport or driver license. If the address is not indicated on the license, then only the passport. For a passport, it is not necessary to indicate the address (although that’s where we write it!).

The second document is either a bank statement or an apartment bill (for electricity, gas, telephone - it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that the name and address are printed there). It is impossible to upload a foreign passport as the first document, and a civil passport with registration address as the second, since at the second stage there is simply no “passport” document type. In addition, the date of the second document must be “recent” - no more than six months from the date of uploading the documents. The date of issue of the document also needs to be selected from the list, so a passport is not suitable (unless it was issued a couple of months ago).

The second document must contain your name and address. If your wife's name is on the bill, it won't work. They will not accept it even if only the address is printed there, without a name. Therefore, if a suitable utility account is not found, you will have to go to the bank and ask for a statement for any account or card. The main thing is to clearly explain to the employees what exactly you need. For example, in one of the largest banks, receiving a statement indicating the client’s address took four days - standard certificate templates do not contain this information, and a non-standard one is issued only through the head of the branch making a request to the central office.

Why such difficulties if the last name not printed on the apartment bill can be inserted without any problems in Photoshop? Forging documents during the identification process is even more stupid than providing a fictitious address when registering. No matter what kind of Photoshop master you are, most likely, invoices and certificates edited in it will not be accepted (at best, they will give you the opportunity to send the documents a second time). The rules for uploading documents clearly state that scans or photographs sent to the service cannot be edited at all, including cropping, rotating, improving contrast, changing colors, and so on. Well, it’s very easy to check whether a photo has been processed.

In order for your name and address to be verified, they must match those specified in your profile when registering. In addition, the photo in your passport and your Upwork profile must show the same person (presumably you). If you provide the service with original documents that meet the requirements, then very soon you will receive a pleasant message by e-mail and will be able to look for work again.

⇡ Conclusion

Freelancing, like any other job, has its pros and cons, so it is not suitable for everyone. Some people miss a smoking room when working remotely, where they can chat with employees; others can’t imagine how they can work without social package and paid sick leave. But freelancing can be very attractive for residents of small settlements with a limited number of jobs; for disabled people and other people who cannot go to work for health reasons; for students and young mothers who can devote a limited number of hours per week to work; finally, for all those who, against the backdrop of protracted crises, are thinking about receiving income in hard currency.

Even if you don't know exactly what you can offer employers with Upwork, but just want to try something other than your day job, the freelance marketplace is a great place to start.