Getting Started on Upwork Platform

Thinking of getting started on the Upwork platform to earn a living through freelancing? When you’re starting out, it may seem like a daunting task but if you keep a few things in mind, it’ll become easy for you and you can begin your freelancing career in earnest.

When I started out on Upwork, I actually had help — some of my relatives were earning through Upwork, and they helped me get settled in. Not everyone has such help so I want to tell you a couple of tips that have helped me through my Upwork journey.

First, you need to register to Upwork. Enter your email or Gmail, and then you’ll be redirected to this page.

Enter all the relevant info and then click on ‘Create My Account. After you’ve verified your email, you’ll be redirected to this page below.

Now, you need to fill in your profile. Click on ‘Continue’ and then on ‘Start My Profile’ on the nest pop-up page. You can upload your LinkedIn Profile or manually fill in the profile. If you’ve got a solid LinkedIn profile, just click on upload LinkedIn. (It’s a new option — I filled in my profile manually).

We’re going with the ‘Fill Out Maunally’ option for our convenience.

Next up, it’s time to select your category and sub-category.

Upwork offers various categories like Accounting & Consulting, Design & Creative, IT & Networking, Writing, Translation, etc. Previously (about two years back), Writing & Translation was one category but now Writing is a different category, and Translation is another category on its own.

Click next, and you’ll be redirected to the ‘Expertise page.’ Select the ones that match your skillset or manually type in a specific skill that isn’t among the tags.

Subsequently, select the level where you are at. For example, if you’re starting out in your category, go with the ‘Entry Level.’ If you’ve excellent skills with a few years of experience, select ‘Intermediate Level.’ However, if you’re an expert in your fields with many years of experience, feel free to select ‘Expert.’

Next, add in your education — it doesn’t need to be in the relevant field, and it’s not compulsory either. You could enter your high school degree, too, if you didn’t go to college. Upwork gives preference to skills; a degree is good to have — it’ll help to make your profile completion at 100% — but not necessary. If you don’t want to add it or add it later, just click on ‘Skip this Step.’

Then, add any previous employment history in the ‘Employment Page.’ Of course, you can skip this step too if you’ve never been employed before.

P.S. You can add internships in employment history too. I said my Shaukat Khanum Hospital Internship — duration was 2 weeks only — and Upwork accepted it. 🙄

Then, Upwork will move you onto the ‘Languages Page.’ English is a default option, and you need to select your English proficiency. It’s a given that you can’t freelance without understanding English to some degree.

You can select other languages you speak, write or understand even a little — just click on ‘Basic’ for these ones. 😙

Upwork has contracts for a flat fixed rate or hourly contracts. You need to set your hourly rate while you’re making your profile. The rate depends on how much you want to charge and what rate freelancers in your field are currently charging. As a beginner, you may want to keep your rate lower. On the other hand, you can increase your hourly rate you gain more experience and job history.

Note that the ‘services fee’ is the amount that Upwork will deduct from your hourly rate.

Now, we come to the most crucial part, the ‘Title & Overview’ page. A relevant and good title can help you catch more clients and keep you running on the Upwork search engine.

It’s vital if you want to get interviews — interviews are invites to a job, and the best part, you don’t need to use connects to submit proposals. A free proposal, yay! 😍

You need to write a solid and great overview that tells clients what you can do for them. Then, you need to list what you can offer them. For example, if you’re an article & blog writer, you can write how you can write SEO-optimized articles — keyword research, keyword density, linking, etc. Finally, list all the stuff you’re offering in your services.

It shouldn’t be too short, nor should it be too long. For reference, you can check out the profiles of top talent on Upwork. A tip that’s worked for me is to list my services in bullet points, but you can also write them in paragraph style.

Then, add a profile picture. It needs to be a professional shot — you may need to visit a photographer or ask a friend to take a nice photo of your face. The image should be clear — no blurring — , have a neutral background, etc.

Then, you’ll be asked to add in your location and phone number — small final stuff.

After completing your profile, review it once, correct all errors and fill all leftover fields. Then submit it to Upwork for acceptance. You should hear from them in 24 hours if your profile has been accepted or not. Good luck in making your profile.

Happy Freelancing!

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