Are you a freelancer escaping Upwork? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: If you’re freelancing on Upwork, then you’re not really freelancing - you’re racing to the bottom of the commodity marketplace and straight toward burnout. And now that Upwork charges you simply to bid on jobs (with new freelancers needing to submit tens if…
Freedom is what we want as freelancers, but comfort is what keeps us from going out and getting it.
One of the first things you do as a freelance contractor in any creative field is head to the cheap, bid sites and job boards.
Everyone you talk to will tell you “don’t do it.”
Everyone will say: Just “have a system for getting clients.”
You’ll see posts like this (above) all over Facebook – “Have a system for getting clients…” Um…ok, but what is it?
But what is that “system?”
It’s not Upwork. It’s not bid sites. It’s no job post boards. Let me tell you why:
Ok.
You “caught me.”
Yes. working for someone on Upwork is technically “freelancing.”
But it’s not.
Listen—
Go back to that idea of freedom.
Along the way, those who are successful as freelancers find freedom.
This year I stand to make nearly 20 times what I made in my last J-O-B.
(Yes, that’s a true statement – I made, before tax, $18,000 per year as a Track and Field/Cross Country coach before I became a freelancer.).
20. Times. More. Income.
And you know what?
I still have the same beautiful wife and family.
I still have the same friends (and a lot of new ones).
I still have the same hobbies and interests and desires and wants (although a few have become more expensive).
The difference?
Freedom. All that money gives me the freedom to do whatever I want to do with my life.
That’s what we’re after, right? That’s what life should be about! So…
Right now, I’m in the process of creating a training to show people how to use Upwork to find clients—that’s what inspired this post.
About two years ago I closed by bidsite accounts.
I shut them right off.
So, I had to create a new one—I was going to use it to walk you through a training on how to win proposals on Upwork.
Then, during the process of creating a profile, it struck me:
And it’s because Upwork is really in control of your future and freedom as a freelancer. Think about it:
Now—
The only reason most people have a J-O-B where they sit at a desk and put up with the day-to-day is for security.
If you can’t get security from Upwork, will you ever actually be able to become a full-time freelancer?
Now that’s out of the way, let me tell you the how and why of quitting bid sites like Upwork.
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That’s me to the right. My first ever year on a bidsite full time (it was Elance) I made $24,715 on 39 jobs. I was a writer. One shift in the way I positioned myself as a writer allows me to earn what I made per year on bid site freelancing in each and every month. Lies? Ok, go ahead and believe that if you want to. I’ve got screenshots below to prove it. But here’s the deal: |
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This discovery was completely random for me because I met the person who showed it to me at random.
This discovery will not be random for you because I’m going to explain how to make it.
Before I explain how you’ll make this discovery (and what it was) let me give you a few more reasons to get off bid sites for good.
You’re about to make the same discovery that allowed me to quit Upwork.
As we talk about it, remember:
Just like a J-O-B, bid sites hold the keys to freedom. I never really understood this until I was able to stop worrying about getting clients without them.
And I know what you may be thinking because it’s what I thought for a long time.
“What about waiting for that one MIRACLE CLIENT to come along?”
Yes, it can happen.
Yes, it sort of happened to me—
The discovery I’m about to show you I made and then applied to Elance (now Upwork).
It allowed me to get off the site for good by finding just one amazing client who replaced all the income I was making on the site.
But it took me over a year (and this discovery) to find that one miracle client.
And it only took weeks to multiple my income to 6+ figures per year after getting off bid sites.
My question is: Do you want to wait 365 days to build a true, J-O-B-replacing income? And do you want to just see if you make the same discovery I made on your own, without help, and at random?
My personal stats from just about ONE YEAR of Trying to Find Jobs and Make a Full-Time Living on Elance (Before it Became Upwork).
39 jobs.
5-star reviewed.
100% recommended.
10 total clients with a 20% “repeat” rate.
That was a “lifetime of data,” which for me was about a year. 365 days.
I was in the top 1% of Elance freelancers when Upwork took over and only had lifetime earnings $24,715 to show for it?
There are LOTS of reasons why bid sites are a poor long-term freelancing solution (a few? The 10-20% project fees they take from you, the no-one-will-take-you-seriously because the work is all “low quality,” the race to the bottom nature of contractors…you know them all right?).
Here’s what happened:
I met a mentor who started as a creative freelancer a few years before me.
I met him my accident. His name was Mike Shreeve and he told me this:
“You need to have a superpower. You need to be a superhero to your clients – that’s how you get paid more.”
I’m thinking: “Ok, Mike, sure.”
“A superhero freelancer.”
But it made sense.
Down at the bottom of this page you can learn more about what superpower means—what it means to have a “superpower” as a freelancer.
But here’s the basic idea:
When I was working on Elance and bid sites, I was a writer.
I called myself a copywriter.
But what I did is a looked around and bid on any project that interested me. That’s what you do right?
I said: Look, I have a background in history, photography, creative writing—I can take whatever.
And I did.
But what I didn’t do was be the hero my clients needed
Here’s the deal:
You want to be the hero who swoops down and solves your clients’ problems.
You’re not a writer.You’re not a designer.
You’re not a developer.
You’re not a creative freelancer.
You need to be a hero – a problem solver your clients look up to for advice.
As soon as I found my superpower and became a hero to my clients, my career on bid sites changed.
I became a hero to one client and, almost immediately, they hired me off site with a retainer I had only dreamed of before.
There’s more to this story…
But, I am not the best person to tell you the rest of the story.
The best person is the mentor I learned it from, Mike Shreeve.
| I learned how to find my freelance “Superpower” from Mike Shreeve. It started as a conversation we had one afternoon and, since, it’s turned into a training that’s transformed the lives of thousands of freelancers.
Below you’ll find a link to Mike’s training How To Attract Premium Clients With A Two-Page Website & Authentic Selling. The training from Mike doesn’t cost anything. |
 This is Mike, he taught me how to find my Superpower. He’ll teach you too.
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