Often in life we have knee-jerk reactions. Sometimes those reactions aren’t the best.
A few weeks ago I was sitting in Bloomberg’s San Francisco studio, talking about freelancing on Upwork.
At one point I told them about how I quit my previous job (before I started freelancing), and how I didn’t even give the company two weeks’ notice.
Then I had the knee-jerk reaction.
I was afraid people would think I was irresponsible or a jerk for walking out on my job without notice. So I quickly followed up with: “I’m not proud of that.”
I said it because I thought I was supposed to. But deep down it wasn’t how I really felt.
The job I left was awful.
My coworkers were cheating and stealing from the company. The managers did nothing.
So right after I said I wasn’t proud of walking out on them, I realized, wait, I am proud of it. And I corrected myself, right there “on the air.”
It made me uneasy to be that honest about something many people would consider rude behavior. (Giving two weeks’ notice is standard in the corporate world. Just another way employers psychologically own their employees.)
But later, when people listened to the interview, many of them told me their favorite part was when I admitted I was proud of walking out on that horrible job.
They loved it.
So it is good to be honest and say what you really think.
Even if it goes against the grain. Especially if it goes against the grain.
Yet so much of the time we do the opposite. I still catch myself doing it sometimes.
Like the other day…
I was giving a talk about how I went from making $15/hour on Upwork, to $250/hr.
Someone told me I make it sound easy to multiply your rate. She had a hard time believing it was that easy.
It’s great when someone challenges you. It forces you to think.
I love that she spoke up about this.
Do I make it sound easy? I’m not sure.
But my knee-jerk reaction kicked in again.
Immediately I found myself on the defensive, saying, “You’re right, it isn’t easy. It takes a lot of hard work…” and on and on.
But later I thought about it…and realized that’s not what I really think.
Imagine trying to raise your hourly rate at a “traditional” job…
Let’s flash back to my pre-Upwork days. Working at that disgusting insurance services company, making cold calls for $15/hr.
Now let’s say I wanted to raise my hourly rate at that job. Maybe I wanted to go from $15/hr to $50/hr.
How easy — or hard — would that be?
It wouldn’t be hard. It would be mission impossible.
The pay for that job was capped by the company. So there was no way in hell to double or triple your hourly rate.
I could literally climb Mt. Everest more easily than I could go from $15/hr to $50 an hour at that job. At least with Everest I would have a chance.
How raising your rate on Upwork is different
Now… What are the chances that an Upwork freelancer who earns $15/hr can start making $30/hr or even $50/hr within a few months?
Well for starters, I can tell you they are not zero. So already you can see that tripling your rate as a freelancer is easier than what most people are used to.
And in fact this is exactly what I did when I first started freelancing on Upwork:
Now be careful because this is where people will try to fool you with numbers.
Everyone is obsessed with statistics these days, but most people don’t have a clue how to use them (except to fool themselves and try to fool you, too).
They’ll say, “OK sure, but how many people go from $15/hr to $50/hr on Upwork in a month?”
That question is designed to hold you back by making you focus on the wrong thing. It’s intellectual sleight of hand.
Successful people don’t look to see if the masses are accomplishing the thing they’re trying to accomplish. Most people never accomplish much.
If you wanted to be like most people you wouldn’t even be reading this.
What you should really be asking yourself before raising your rate
When Mark Cuban wanted to go from bartender to millionaire, he didn’t do it by saying, “How many bartenders become millionaires? What are the odds? Oh damn, they’re not good. Guess I’ll just sit on my couch and watch TV.”
That’s the wrong question.
Remember, most people also don’t do a damn thing to become a millionaire. So the question of “How many other people do this” is silly.
Same for multiplying your hourly rate on Upwork.
The right question is:
“Did the person who accomplished the thing that I want to accomplish do anything I couldn’t also do?”
That’s a great question. That question will save you a lot of time and energy and heartache in your life.
That question will prevent me from ever deluding myself into thinking I can be a professional golfer like Tiger Woods.
Tiger’s dad Earl taught him golf from practically the moment he was born.
If you understand you can’t play golf like Tiger because your dad wasn’t Earl, your life will be much better than someone who is trying to become something they can’t.
But what does it really take to go from $15/hr to $50/hr on Upwork?
I’ll tell you what. I’ll share with you exactly how I did it.
Then you can decide for yourself if it’s easy or hard.
Let’s start by looking back at those two jobs I showed you above. Here they are again:
The first one started off as a job proofreading a website.
I had never proofread anything for money before.
But back in high school I wrote a few reports and proofread those. So I figured “why not.”
(Some professional proofreaders get mad at me for saying this. I don’t care. One time a professional transcriptionist tried to convince me that you need a lot of training before you can transcribe a speech. I disagree. You just need to listen and type. No need to over-complicate things.)
Once I started proofreading the client’s site I noticed there were not only a ton of typos…most of the sentences were also written really weirdly. It was like they’d been written by someone who’d had a few too many beers.
So I called the client and explained the problem. Then I asked him if he wanted me to rewrite his website (sober of course).
He said yes. It was an exciting moment.
More money for me, and he was grateful that I’d brought the issue to his attention. And even more grateful that I was offering to fix it.
I didn’t need experience…
It’s true I wasn’t an experienced writer. But I didn’t need to be.
The website was already written! I just needed to reword it so it didn’t sound like a drunk person wrote it.
Plus the client wasn’t looking for the world’s best writer. At $15/hr he was just looking for someone competent.
Could you have done it? I think you could have. (Assuming you weren’t drunk.)
Maybe you think you couldn’t have. That’s fine.
I’m not trying to convince you to do work you enjoy and have the freedom to work whenever and wherever you choose. Whether you want to do that or not is up to you.
The purpose of this post is just to share my experience with you.
My first $50/hour freelance job
Now let’s talk about the $50/hr job I got the following month.
By the time I got that job I already had a whopping 1-month of writing experience. Yes!
But the $50/hr job wasn’t a writing job.
It was an editing job.
Go figure.
And…I had zero editing experience.
But I recognized that you didn’t need to be a world class professional editor to do a good job on this project.
You see, the client had written a recommendation letter to help one of his employees get into business school. Now he wanted someone to edit it and make it better.
Not make it perfect. Not make it follow the rules of the Chicago Manual of Style (I don’t even know what the Chicago Manual of Style really is).
Just better.
And that I could manage.
Now it’s your turn…
I want to hear your experience.
Tell me about the last time you raised your freelancing rate.
Or if you haven’t raised it yet, tell me what you’re waiting for.
(Flickr Creative Commons image via World Poker Tour)
Hey Danny,
How do you get someone to take a chance on an UpWork newbie? I’ve got zero experience but I’m good at editing and proofreading. Should I find a badly written article, edit it, and screenshot the original next to my edited version? Also, how much should I charge? Thank you for reading this.
Hey Danny, I doubled my rated to $10/hr as a Virtual Assistant on Upwork. This was as a result of a generous client who appreciated my work and offered to double our original offer. It made me realize I can charge for what my time and services are worth. Funny thing is, I haven’t reaped the benefits of that raise with a new client since then. Still waiting while this client keeps me busy. Thanks Danny!!
Hey. After raising my rates last year I never looked back. As a game programmer who started out with Flash, mobile is now the hot thing. I’m currently learning Android and Unity, and will be increasing my rates again. I’m sure this will deter many clients from wanting to hire me on Upwork because they can’t afford me for the type of work I’m doing. But, I don’t give a damn, because I know I’m worth every penny. I’ll bet a client gets a bunch of low ball bids. But let me ask you this: Do you really want to… Read more »
Hello Danny. I’ve read many of your blog posts and followed your advises and they have worked! I started on Upwork on October last year and I’ve had a decent start (actually I’m very surprised on the number of projects I’ve done) however last month – I think after reading one of your emails – I decided to raise my rate (I think I’ve done it twice in the past) and since then I noted a considerable decrease on the number of invitations for new projects, actually I have’t got anything new for a while. Should I consider going back… Read more »
Denny I haven’t even start my rate yet cuz truly speaking
yes I love to write and add my own words. but before I didn’t even understand, what I was suppose to write about equally.
but thanks to you today cuz this email you have send to me, it did really worked for me because I now understand it very well. but now. about payment how I’m I gonna get paid. cuz I didn’t receive a document that says I should fill in my details account
Danny, you are so entertaining! If copywriting doesn’t work out for you…LOL I raised my rates on each freelance site as a matter of course; the “gurus” of that era preached giving away your few projects for peanuts, in exchange for ratings. And, wouldn’t you know, it worked! I still remember, with glee, the first time I charged 380.00 for a project. This was 7 months after I had racked up 25, 27, 60, 70 and 65. In reality, since I was charging fixed fees, the effective hourly rates may have been higher or lower. My goal is to REALLY… Read more »
Most of the jobs I apply for want a lower rate than the $15/hour. Not sure if it is because they seek cheaper African labour or that I do not have a niche skill/target market. I have been working as a VA, and now I am looking at doing Project Management.
Danny,
I just received my first $50/hr writing job!! Wanna know the crazy part?? This is my first copywriting job EVER! I’ve been using your ‘Crystal Ball Technique’ and now have weekly work for the foreseeable future. Now that I’ve accrued hours at this rate, I hope there will be more jobs to come. Thank you for all you do!!
–Jimmy
I want to share a personal experience that may –well I never claimed to be normal. Back in the late 70’s early 80’s I sold cocaine small time. Just grams, or half. I used to hang in strip clubs because I did a lot of business. I am sitting at the bar with my buddy and a dancer comes up to me and says I need one–so I handed her a gram. She says, “I said an ounce!” It then occurred to me that my mind set was wrong. We only achieve what we think. Within a month I was… Read more »
I’m a font creater or designer. I design and develop fonts even I haven’t studied about it, i just started to work on it on fiverr. But i cannot find this work on upwork, not even one project.
Can anyone help me in this issue ?
I ussually charge $150 for complete font with 52 letters, digits and standard symbols.
Here’s the link
https://www.fiverr.com/inaamfirst
LOVED YOUR RECENT EMAIL! It had me laughing hard at the end. Anyway, the last time I raised my hourly rate was 6 months ago. I earned it. I work smart and care about the nonprofits I work with, so I gave myself a raise. Period. –Keep sending your great ideas, Chris
I raised my rate from $30/hr to $50/hr because I was getting a lot of crappy job invitations and I thought I’d get less invites if I did that. But lo and behold, supply & demand rules don’t apply to freelancing. I started getting MORE invites of BETTER quality and I landed a long-term job from one of the first ones that’s still one of my best clients. I also happen to provide the most bang for the buck for this client. You see, a guy who pays a marketer $20/hr doesn’t have that much money to spend (or they’d… Read more »
Way to go, Anton. Believe in yourself. You can’t spend other marketers’ paychecks. LOL
One thing I’d like to point out, though, is that supply and demand is still in play; you’re just playing closer to the right hand side of the “hockey stick”. 80-20 all the way!
Cheers,
Mitch
Hello, I somehow landed on your site and I must say – love it! I’m working on Upwork since 9 months in different category – Web Development and programming. For this 9 months I have 100% job success rate, 24/24 job done with 5 stars and I become Top Rated. I’ve started on $7/hr. Now is $16/hr and since I’ve become Top Rated and now I have good record of jobs I think I will try to make my hourly rate a bit more. The problem is that I still not sure how much bit and I have exact this… Read more »
For a VA like me, I’m having seconds thoughts in raising my rate as it’s considered on the higher range for VAs in the Philippines. I’m currently working as an admin assistant for a local business in Atlanta. I guess I have to be grateful, for now.
Thanks for the great articles.
Hi Danny. Thanks for sharing this. Let me tell you my story. You said something about grammar rules and finishing or not finishing high school. I’m that guy! I’m not even native English language. I’m 46 and until I was 36, I even didn’t speak English or know English at all. But now I have two permanent ongoing jobs in Upwork, after a month and half from signing up. I’m not a proofreader or writer of course, but my job need a solid English knowledge and understanding. I set my hourly rate at $15 when I started, less than two… Read more »
Went from $35 to $49 and now with Upwrk and its new fees model, I went to $56. However finding clients can be tedious. I get at least 2 or 3 proposals a week for jobs I am absolutely not interested in. I am not even sure why clients ask me to apply on some jobs sometimes! They are looking for writers and that’s absolutely not what I do. And I mean my profile is pretty extensive with all my experiences. (I have 10+ years) Also, finding clients that want to pay more than $25 an hour is hard I… Read more »
Thanks Danny for such a well-written, engaging article. When was the last time I hiked my rate? This week! And I’m positive I’ll still find good paying clients. I’m all about having an abundant mentality 🙂
As for the professional transcriptionist who tried to discourage you, transcription isn’t rocket science at all. And knowing you Danny, I bet you can make one heck of a transcriptionist! 🙂
SCREW GRAMMAR! This post is very inspiring. Thank’s Danny! I live in the Philippines and I often get disappointed and discouraged that I’m not fluent in English but I’m the kind of person who never give up. I believe if you believe in something and do everything to achieve that dream then nothing is impossible. I also love that you’re the kind of a person who don’t follow the SYSTEM. I hate the never ending system that most people follow so those people end up miserable. Online freelancing is not really popular here so doing something different and at the… Read more »
It’s a great article! I guess before I change the price, I have to add another special skill like editing.
Thank you!
Small typo…. the word “local” appeared twice, sorry! I didn’t proofreading my previous comment because it wasn’t a $50/hr job (and beyond)! 🙂
OK fine, but I am not a native-English -speaker. Can I become a freelance copywriter? Remember I am talking about the international context, my local local job market isn’t that attractive.
Awesome post, as always, Danny. My experience with raising my rate on Upwork was a positive one. I started off as a generalist web developer and IT guru at $35 /hr. At first, it was a struggle to find jobs that I could relate to. I felt like I was applying to anything and everything without much focus. I found it hard to call myself an ‘expert’ when I didn’t even know what it was that I wanted to specialize in. So, I tried a bit of everything. I did all different types of IT work and it taught me… Read more »
Hi Danny! I’m wondering how many jobs you applied for (say, per week) when you started? Did you have any clients who fell through between having a great conversation and being offered a contract? (that happened to me recently, and frankly, it kind of threw me for a loop) Thanks for the advice!
One thing that you didn’t mention, Danny, was the amount of self-teaching you’ve done – immersing yourself in Copyblogger, taking their course, choosing a field that has higher earning potential (for the moment) to begin with. And the rest is mindset. Do we have to do this right away? No – it’s a work in progress, but learning and improving is an important aspect of scaling your rates. But yeah, I’m all for just getting in there and making the most of what you have now.
So you didn’t really say much about raising rates (i.e., how), but the take-away seems to be: just do it! Agreed!
I was wondering how high can you go in Upwork in terms of rate and still be hireable? I mean, if you set your rates to $90-100/hr, can you get consistent work like 10 hours/week? I did some research and it seems that most of the work is available under $100/gig and clients are interested in freelancers with less than $20/hr rates.
Great article danny! It gives me more ideas and more energy to restart with upwork again.
I was doing well before , well not well lol but I had few jobs until a client that didn’t show any dissatisfaction decided to write a bad review and since then I didn’t get any job and decided to give up on upwork.
But after reading your article I changed my mind because you now what! Only loosers give up.
I just raised my rates (doubled) in the past month. Got 3 clients who were happy to pay me this much. And then another client who needed work done fast offered me 10 times my initial rate. TEN TIMES more money. I do have to work for 2 weeks, but I earn almost as much as I used to do in 6 months.
Clearly worth the hassle.
Man Danny, there’s so much gold in this article I don’t even know where to start. First, this: “Successful people don’t look to see if the masses are accomplishing the thing they’re trying to accomplish.” YES. Every time I client starts to argue with me about getting to “personal” in my copy they say, “Well, our competitors aren’t doing that, why should we?” And I want to scream at them: YOUR COMPETITORS WEBSITE COPY IS GARBAGE. WHY DO YOU WANT TO COPY THEM? It’s hilarious how many people are scared of doing things becuase no one else is doing them.… Read more »
Thanks a lot Danny for yet another inspiring post. I admit I haven’t yet subscribed to your course but if ever I get the funds I will most definitely do so. Am still fairly new to Upwork as I specialize in Social media management, Social media writing and Creative writing (Yea lots of writing going on there). So I recently decided to seek some advice from the “Community Gurus” (As they claim to be) to learn some tips on how they survived their first three months on Upwork’s community forum. To summarize the response I got was somewhat Luke-warm. With… Read more »
Wow, Randy. Fantastic work. And your English is practically native-level — I’m incredibly impressed. You’ve definitely proven your point!
Thanks Dan. I hated his response but I had to rise above it and am thankful for it. You never know what next.
*happens*
Wow. Awesome response Randy!
Your posts are inspiring and after a couple of months tracking them I am nearly 100% convinced about your ‘take’ on Upwork.. I quit the site a month ago after failing to get beyond $15 an hour and going into reverse fast. Maybe I was too hasty. Certainly I had only myself to blame in part. Time perhaps to hop on board your course and get it right second time round. Keep the gold dust coming.
Danny, you’re definitely influencing people. At least in my case. I listened to this interview first thing in the morning, during my morning run at the stadium. I was planning to leave my job in the end of summer, but after hearing this very moment I decided that I am going to quit today. So, it was day when I called my boss and told him that I am leaving=) Thank you for this, Danny! My boss asked me to work for couple weeks more, and I did that. Now I am self-employed on Upwork, and it doesn’t look that… Read more »
Oh, I’ve read it till the end=) Instead of raising the rate I am actually lowering it. From 8$ per hour to 4$ per hour of data entry. Don’t laugh, it is not a bad money for a guy with no job in Ukraine=))) But for now I was able to find only one fixed price project.
I’ll think about your article more and try to apply it to my situation.
I really love your newsletters and tips (so much that your last name is now in my auto correct BUT I don’t even need that because I’ve recommended it to so many people I’ve memorized it) I think this mindset is so important “Has the person who accomplished what I want to accomplish, done things I can do?” Yes, I believe you have! I have shared your newsletter with so many people and I bet NONE of them (including myself) have done a job yet on UPWORK…because we all SAY we want to and we WANT more money but we… Read more »
Raising rates on Upwork is so easy when you deliver high quality. I started my Upwork journey at $35 an hour. I fell into the ghost writing price range. I wrote white paper reports, small novellas, etc. The work was okay but the money wasn’t great. So I raised my price. I became a copywriter and charged a whopping $65/hour. I never thought anyone would book me but they did! I was blown away by how quickly I went from zero work to 7-10 hours a week at my new rate. I had given myself a $30 an hour raise!… Read more »
Very helpful – thanks, Jesse!
Anytime Doreen!
Oh! The idea of raising your working fee seems promising to someone who has already got excess work to do. I think the experience energizes you to hike the fee accordingly. As for a freelancer like myself, who is still looking for work from clients, I extremely reduced from just $6 to $4 thinking that the lower rate would compel customers to come. Atleast, I got one and this is a bit promising if you don’t land on one who uses you and doesn’t pay after all the work done for them.
Reducing rates isn’t the answer. It is better to position yourself to be a market leader or the go to person in place of yet another service provider. Think about it like this. If you charge $24 an hour in place of $4 you can do 1/6 of the work and make the same money.
Take that free time, learn to write better proposals, find better clients and create a growth cycle!
Hey Danny, This is just the article I’ve been waiting for. Thanks to your course — which I still haven’t finished! — I gained the confidence to get out of content mills and start my solo career. I’ve had some hits and misses but currently have several months of work lined up with two great clients. It’s partly due to my skills, but mostly due to finding people who I can work well with. Since I’m just starting out, I think a lot of what’s holding me back is the belief that I don’t have the skills to compete with… Read more »