Category: Digital Skills

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Digital Skills

How To Make Money On Upwork As A Freelancer In Nigeria In 2021

Fremale Upwork Freelancer

What Is Upwork?

Upwork is a marketplace for freelancers in fields like writing, graphic design and web development. The site helps professionals find projects, communicate with clients and get paid

How To Get Started On As A New Freelancer 

In this first part of the Digital Skills and freelancing series with Onajite Omare, we talked about her journey in freelancing, how she got scammed and landed her first job on Upwork. Jite, as she is fondly called is a freelancer with over 3 years of experience on the freelancing platform Upwork on her journey and how she has made a cumulative thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) on the platform. 

 

 PART 1: How To Get Started As A Freelancer On Upwork

The first step to getting started as a freelancer on Upwork or other freelancing platforms is to ensure you have a set of marketable skills.  Before signing up on the platform it is important to research the top 20 skills in demand on the platform so you have a higher chance of getting accepted. In this video, Jite advised not to pick skills in high demand at the point of registration (choose skills like civil engineering). Watch the video from 1:30 minutes to know how to get started as a freelancer.

How I Got Scammed On Freelancer.com 

Jite also shared the story of how she got scammed on freelancer.com, as an upcoming freelancer. Sometimes, because of the desperation of new freelancers to make money quick on the platforms, they fall into the hands of fraudulent clients who make them work without paying them, She explains how to avoid getting scammed. Watch the video from 2:45 minutes for more 

Why I Chose Upwork And Got My First Job 

Getting your first job on Upwork can be very tasking and tiring, but once you land it, getting the second, third and subsequent ones will come easy. Jite attributes her success on the platform to grace, hardwork and prayers.  Are you ready to do this? Watch the video from 3:50 minutes 

7 Secrets To Getting Your First Job As A Freelancer On UpWork

How I Got My Profile Approved After Getting Rejected 

Behind every success, acceptance or approvals you see are countless rejections. Because Jite was accepted on Upwork, her account was rejected many times and she was gracious enough to share with us how she worked around getting her account accepted. Have you been in a similar situation and feel stuck about how to go about getting your account accepted? Watch the video from (5:45 minute)

Why Skills Specialization Is Important to Being A Successful Freelancer 

Creating a niche or specialization gives you a higher chance of landing a job on Upwork and other freelancing platforms as a freelancer. E.g A health writer is more likely to get a job than a freelancer who is just a writer. Jite explains how to know the skill area to specialize in and how to create a profitable niche for yourself. Watch from 7:20 minutes to get started.

In the next part and video. Jite shares important tips to help you land your first job on the platform.

PART 2: Secrets To Landing Your First Job

In this second part of the Upwork series with Onajite Omare, she shared secrets and tips on how to successfully apply for and get your first job in 2021.  Navigating the platform and landing your first job can be very daunting especially if you can’t wait to start monetizing your skills on the platform. 

How To Search for Jobs Successfully

On Upwork, there are 3 sections you need to know when searching for jobs, the first is your general dashboard, the second is recommended and best matches (Upwork shows you updates based on previous jobs you have done previously. Jite also shared in details how you can conveniently use the 4 categories above to land your first job. You can start watching this from 0:55 seconds from the video.

​ Difference between Hourly And Fixed-rate jobs

Jite also explains the difference between hourly and fixed rate jobs on Upwork.. Hourly paid job means the client pays you per hour while fixed-rate jobs require the clients set up a milestone which you are paid with. For hourly rate jobs, you need the time tracker app on your laptop and login time spent on Upwork either manually or automatically. Watch the video from 3:14 to find out more about what jite said in details.

https://olamideyelo.com/became-top-rated-freelancer-upwork-onajite-onare/

Why You Should Pay Attention To Job Descriptions Before Applying 

The importance of reading job descriptions on Upwork cannot be overemphasized, clients know what they want and if you don’t pay attention to details, you might be wasting your time or losing out on opportunities. Also, make sure you qualify for the job before applying and can deliver with a sense of excellence. Watch video from 4:36 minutes for more 

How Upwork Recommends Freelancers to Clients

Checking the client reviews, preferred  location of job posted, skills etc are other factors you need to consider before and when applying for a job on Upwork – Watch from 7:31 to know more 

Which Is the Most important, Cover Letters Or Client Questions?

It is important to prioritize answering the client’s questions over the cover letter because that is the first thing the client sees. Your responses go a long way. You can still repeat things in your questions in your cover letter. There is also no perfect length for your cover letter. The length of the client’s job description can give you. Watch from 12:13 to know more 

 Your Personal Brand Can land You Jobs Faster

Having an existing portfolio or personal brand outside of Upwork shows your achievement and your expertise. You can leverage this in your application and the case the client searches for you outside of Upwork.  Watch the video from 12:19 for more information.

How to make money on Upwork in nigeria

Importance of Writing Catchy Profiles

Your profile is very important to your success on Upwork. It is a way to sell yourself to the client before they even meet you. The advantage of it also helps you with the opportunities you didn’t apply for. Upwork recommends freelancers to clients based on the descriptions on their personalized and general profiles. Watch the video for more tips on this from 15:26

What You Should Do After Applying For Jobs 

Just relax,  be hopeful and move on to the next job. Jite also shared some important tips. Watch from 16:38 to find out.

In the next part and video, Jite shares how she made $30,000 on Upwork,  how you can make it too and the various ways to withdraw your money from the platform.

PART 3: How I Made $30000 On Upwork And How To Withdraw Your Money 

In this third and final part of the Upwork series with Jite Omare, she shared how to charge and create hourly rates on Upwork, how to withdraw money from Upwork using Payoneer (http://bit.ly/olamideyelopayoneer​))  and the high points of her freelancing career.  Jite is also offering discounts on her courses on https://marketardent.com​. 

How I made over $30,000 on Upwork Over The Last 3 years

The first is to get that first job, once you do that, getting subsequent ones will come easier. Also, ensure you deliver excellently and that begins your journey to being a rising star, top-rated and other Upwork achievements. It is easier for you to get repeat jobs from one client than trying to apply from different clients. Having returning clients helps your Job Success Score (GSS).  score Watch more tips from 01:12 minutes 

 How To Charge and set hourly rates on Upwork 

The best way to go about this is to check out freelancers who offer similar services that you do and set them at similar rates. But as a new freelancer, you can start small and grow as your job and success rate increases. You also need to space the increment out. Accepting jobs way below your hourly rate will affect your growth rate on Upwork.. Watch from 05:45 to find out more.

How To Withdraw Money From Upwork With Payoneer 

With low risk comes low reward

With low risk comes low reward. The best option is Upwork sending money directly to your bank account using the CBN rate, using this option is good if you don’t have so much money. But if you have so much money, you can send the dollars into your domiciliary account, upwork charges $30.  The third option is to connect your account to payooner, Upwork charges $2 to send your money to Payoneer. Click HERE  to get started with payooner. Watch the video from 10:33 to find out the risks rates on withdrawing with the different options. 

Final Words To New Freelancers

 Be consistent and hang in there! When applying try to use any creative juice that you have. Always review your description and ask for feedback from your friends to help you out. While you wait on getting your first job on Upwork, you can try out other freelancing platforms.

If this article has been useful to you, please, share it with your friends. CONNECT WITH JITE ON  https://marketardent.com​​ and via jiteomare (@)gmail. com

https://olamideyelo.com/top-3-freelancing-platforms-2020/

Categories
Digital | Brands | Communications Digital Skills

How To Become A Top Rated Freelancer On UpWork

Freelancing Digital Marketing Digital SKills

In this first part of the Digital Skills and freelancing series with Jite Omare, we talked about her journey in freelancing, how she got scammed and landed her first job on Upwork

  • 0:00​ INTRO
  • 1:00​ Meet Jite Omare
  • 1:30​ How To Get Started As A Freelancer
  • 2:45​ How I Got Scammed On Freelancer.com
  • 3:50​ Why I Chose UpWork And Got My First Job
  • 5:45​ How I Got My Profile Approved On UpWork After Getting Rejected
  • 7:20​ Why Skills Specialisation Is Important to Being A Successful Freelancer
  • 9:36 How To Know The Skill To Specialize In

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Digital Marketing Digital Skills

7 Secrets To Getting Your First Job As A Freelancer On UpWork

7 UPWORK SECRETS

Landing your first job as a new freelancer can be tough and tiring on UpWork because you are mostly competing with experts for the same kind of jobs. These seven (7) secrets and tips helped me land my first ever job on the platform.

1. BE STRATEGIC AND HAVE RELEVANT SKILLS: You need to ask yourself, why am I really on UpWork? You need to set goals and be ready to persevere. Give yourself some time to familiarize yourself with the platform and understand the dynamics of job search, writing catchy profiles and the concept of applying for jobs rightly. Your skills also matter. They are the reason why you are on the platform in the first place. If you are like me who is multiskilled, you might be confused as to the kind of skill you want to focus on the freelancing platform. You need to take time out to decide what broad and specialized skill you will be focusing on UpWork. For instance, if you are a social media manager (broad skill), you need to have a speciality in a particular field (e.g Ad management or Instagram management or YouTube management). You know social media well, quite alright but you are an expert in a particular social media niche. Same applies to you if you a writer, programmer, content creator, accountant etc.

2.  HAVE A GREAT AND CATCHY PROFILE: This is your first elevator pitch and the proposed client’s first contact with you. Just like your skills, you need to be strategic with your UpWork profile, sell yourself as much as you can and also let the clients know what you will offer them if and when you get hired. The trick to writing a sellable profile is to understand top-rated freelancers in your selected skillset and chosen niche. Check out how they crafted their profiles and emulate them. Do not COPY and PASTE! UpWork now gives you an option as a freelancer to sell yourself with 3 unique profiles tailored to the skills you want to sell. You can search for freelancers in your field HERE on UpWork.

ALSO READ: TOP 3 FREELANCING PLATFORMS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER WORKING ON IN 2020

3.  ONLY APPLY FOR JOBS WITH ALMOST 5-10 PROPOSALS: As a new freelancer on UpWork, you are eager to get your first job and then end up wasting your free connects. You need to understand the concept of applying for jobs and again, you have to be strategic. There are thousands, if not millions of expert, intermediate and new freelancers on the UpWork platform competing for the same jobs as you so filtering your job search will save you time and connects. Only apply for jobs with utmost 5 -10 proposals so you can stand a chance of landing your first job. Clients are always overwhelmed with the influx of proposals they receive so they tend to make their decisions from the first 5 to 10 applications they receive. This is should be one of your goals.

4.  ONLY APPLY FOR JOBS YOU QUALIFY FOR:  Many new freelancers don’t take out time to read requirements of jobs posted on Upwork. Criteria like location, skills, number of jobs done, the amount earned, language experience among other things matter. Usually, a job client makes all these known, if you don’t fit into any of them, do not apply for such jobs as the probability of you getting them is very low and you would have also wasted your time, resources and UpWork connects for a job you will not get.

7 UPWORK SECRETS

5. BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR APPLICATION: Consistency and dedication are two key attributes to having a successful freelancing career. You can’t just give up when you try a few times, you need to persevere and be consistent. As a new freelancer, you need to have goals that drive you. These goals could include: job targets, earning targets, skills target etc and they should smart and specific enough to drive you to want to get the best out of your freelancing career.  Having said this, you need to be consistent with the type of your jobs you apply for and improve on each application.

6. MOVE ON AS SOON AS YOU APPLY: It is very okay to be hopeful and optimistic about your applications, but also have in somewhere in your mind that it may not work out. Just like every other thing in life, we don’t get everything we want. So it is advisable to move on to the next application as soon as one is done. You can hope for the best and worst in equal proportions so you don’t feel too bad when it doesn’t work out. 

7. SPEND MORE TIME ON QUESTIONS ASKED BY CLIENTS: Spend more time on questions asked by clients as much as you spend on cover letters. An average job seeker is used to writing catchy cover letters to wow recruiters and yes, this works! But the case is different in freelancing, especially on platforms like UpWork. You need to realize that clients have to deal with 10s and 100s of applications and answering your questions in the most unique ways gives you an edge. It is also worthy of note that recruiters on UpWork will get to see your answers to questions first before your profile so you need to spend more time on them and give the answers your best shot.

These are the top seven (7) secrets every new freelancer should take note of on UPWork, there are more, but these 7 stand out and if you follow them strictly, you will get the desired results,

Are there other secret tips freelancers should follow? Do share with me on twitter @Olamideyelo

https://olamideyelo.com/top-10-skills-in-demand-freelancing/