If you can do freelance web design for $80/hr, your life changes.
You don’t worry about getting a job. Or keeping a job.
People need you, and they’re willing to pay.
You might think you can’t be an $80/hr freelance web designer.
That’s OK. Tsavo Neal didn’t either.
In college, he majored in history. He thought you needed to be a math geek to work with computers.
Nor does he consider himself “artistic” — even though he proceeded to teach himself graphic design…from scratch.
I was surprised to find out he only started on Upwork a year ago, charging $15/hr…
And even more surprised when I found out about the counterintuitive approach he used to start getting jobs on Upwork — with no portfolio and no work experience.
Now he charges $80/hr, and I doubt he’ll stop there.
I got Tsavo to sit down and tell me exactly how he did it. You can hear it all on today’s brand-new episode of the Freelance To Win podcast.
You’ll learn:
- How Tsavo taught himself freelance web design in just one month
- How he stands out from his competitors
- The surprising approach he used for getting his first clients
- Why you don’t need to be a web design expert to start a freelance web design business
- How he charges more than his more-experienced competitors
- The simple observation that led to a steady stream of Upwork job invitations from awesome clients
- Why most freelancers charge too little — and how to get over that hurdle
- One single word that allows Tsavo to charge more
- The big mistake that holds most freelancers back
- Why Tsavo no longer sees freelancing as “something you do before you get a job”
And more…
Episode 003: “He taught himself web design…and now he charges $80/hr on Upwork” with Tsavo Neal
Episode notes:
Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug
Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich
Tsavo’s new site: http://tsavoneal.com/
Previous episode: “How to make $130/hr on Upwork” with Josh Margulies
Next episode: “This is how you get great clients on Upwork” with Summer Felix
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I’d never thought about that, though I have been studying and learning. But I realize now that it is so true. For example, just look at how many freelancer writers on Upwork have profiles filled horrible grammar, punctuation mistakes and spelling errors. If they haven’t been studying the rules of English, they likely haven’t been studying anything else either.
You mention you use X Theme. I’m not sure if you meant this – https://themeforest.net/item/x-the-theme/5871901 Do you bought the regular or extended license to use for your clients?
Another question. Their website says one license is for one end product. Do you buy a license for each new client or buy one license and use for all your clients?
Wow it is SCARY how similar Tsavo’s story is to me. Replace majoring history with economics and it’s literally the same story. I’m self taught, been doing it about a year now, and I even specialize in X Theme like him. This is kinda creeping me out haha. Great post/podcast
Danny, thanks to you and Tsavo for another awesome show with some really valuable takeaways.. Tsavo’s thoughts on the importance of choosing a niche is really timely. I think this is an area of struggle for so many freelancers right now. Like Tsavo said, we worry that if we narrow our scope too much we will eliminate ourselves out of entire fields of potential work. On a more fundamental level, I think many freelancers would like to focus on a niche, but are at a loss as to which one(s) they should choose. Danny, the Ramit Sethi skyscraper paradigm was… Read more »
Only three words; Learn learn learn
When I listened to this podcast this afternoon, everything I had been bumping my head up against was cleared up completely. Danny, I appreciate you bring on Tsavo on to give his story of how he gain success. I took away a lot of great tips that I felt finally gave a better insight to how to get started on Upwork. Unlike Tsavo, I love math and like working with computers…especially Linux. I always wanted to go into web design, but as Tsavo mentioned, I was one of those ones who thought I couldn’t do it. This podcast has given… Read more »
https://www.upwork.com/fl/tsavoneal is his profile on upwork.
I can see he has worked @65$ per hour and couldn’t find any 80$p.h. jobs.
I really appreciate you having me on Danny! This was a blast 🙂
@Rahul – Thanks for pointing this out! This is because I hardly do any hourly jobs on Upwork. Since I’m producing an end result for my clients, it’s more efficient for both of us to negotiate towards a fixed price. That means my fixed price projects are anchored against my rate of $80 an hour.
Key lesson: To be successful at freelancing, always look beyond the obvious.
Another great one! This podcast is sooo helpful. There were so many great points that I want to remember. for one thing, I appreciated what you brought out about how great of an advantage we can get by studying, since our competitors are likely doing nothing of the sort. I’d never thought about that, though I have been studying and learning. But I realize now that it is so true. For example, just look at how many freelancer writers on Upwork have profiles filled horrible grammar, punctuation mistakes and spelling errors. If they haven’t been studying the rules of English,… Read more »
What a great podcast.
The share of consultant pages is brilliant as is the book which I have bought on Kindle.
Now it can all come together as I taught myself WordPress from a book and now I can get the design element learnt too. I had not thought to market my skills as discussed here.
What an eyeopener that people want a plugin added! Now I know I can definitely make a go of something…
Wow! This podcast is super relatable to me because I also graduated with a history degree and loved computers as a kid + thought math had to be a thing before I could study it.
I still love writing and researching so I’ll probably stick with copywriting… but definitely something I will keep in mind.
Definitely brings back some of the basics of the course that I’m starting to forget. Anyway, thanks for sharing Danny and Tsavo. And for the freelance template as well 🙂 Was just thinking I needed a website!
Excellent! Thank you!
Listened to the first minute and a half and had a huge WOW!
“Design is to solve problems, not to create art.” I’m going to be chewing on that one for a while. Thanks!