There are plenty of great Upwork jobs for beginners. You just need to know how to find them.
When I first stumbled onto Upwork, I was a total beginner — I’d never freelanced before, had no experience with the type of work that’s offered on Upwork, and I didn’t even have a college degree.
By applying a little bit of hustle and street smarts, I was able to find enough beginner-friendly jobs to pay all of my bills through freelancing, right from day one. (And even propel me toward my first six-figure year as a freelancer on Upwork.)
Below I’ll discuss the Upwork jobs I’ve found to be the most friendly and accessible for beginners, including specific examples from my own personal experience.
But, regardless of which one(s) you decide to try, it’s important that you start small.
By that I mean, I recommend you look for relatively simple, straightforward jobs that you can complete in just a few hours, or maybe a day.
That will help you in a lot of ways.
For one thing, it’s psychologically easier. Knowing you’re swimming in the shallow end of the pool will help you feel safe and protected, never in over your head.
It’s also best to be on the safe side in case you underestimate how long a job will take you. For example, if you think something will take about two hours, and it ends up taking twice that long, you’ll end up working just a couple more hours more than you planned — not so bad. But if you think something will take a week, and it takes double that amount, you end up wasting a whole week!
Another, often overlooked, reason why it’s better to start out with small, simple jobs is that it’s easier for the client to take a chance on you as a beginner when the stakes are small for them, as opposed to a bigger job where most would prefer to hire a freelancer with more experience.
So, for example, when I discuss something like creative writing, I’m referring to jobs that require, say, a few pages of writing — not a 200 page novel!
And no, this doesn’t just apply to writing. The same principle can and should be applied to any type of work you’re doing. For example, a beginner graphic designer would be better off starting out with a simple logo design, rather than a full scale corporate rebrand. Regardless of the type of work you’re planning to do, I always recommend starting small.
Now, without further ado, let’s talk about the best Upwork jobs for beginners. Here they are, in no particular order…
1. Creative writing
Creative writing can be a good place to start as a beginner, as long as you stick to small, simple jobs.
My very first Upwork job fell into the creative writing category. The client was looking for someone who could write a bunch of very short children’s stories.
Now most people in my shoes would look at a job like that and conclude, “Well, I don’t have experience writing short stories, so this wouldn’t be a good fit for me and I should not apply.”
But I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it. I absolutely saw it as a job that can be done by a beginner.
If you look at the job description there are some clues as to why. It sounded something like this:
We’re looking for someone to write very short children’s stories, about 700 words each.
The stories will all follow the same basic template:
A young boy travels to a tourist destination with his parents and his beloved teddy bear.
While he is there, he loses his teddy bear, wanders off to find it, and gets lost. This turns into a mini-adventure where he learns 3 cool facts about the place he’s visiting.
Finally, he finds his teddy bear, and is reunited with his parents.
As you can see, each story is essentially the same. The only thing that changes is the destination being visited, and the 3 cool facts Billy learns on his mini-adventure.
The first clue that told me this job would be beginner-friendly was the fact that the stories themselves were very short — 700 words comes out to just under two pages.
Another clue was the simplicity of the writing itself. It’s basically just following a template. I’d guess any high schooler could do it. So, I thought, why not me?
So, contrary to what most people might think, this sounded like a great job for a beginner like myself.
The client ended up hiring me, and paid me $20 per story. Since they were so easy to write, each one took me less than an hour to complete, which meant I was getting paid pretty well for an entry-level writer with no experience! I made $340 in my first week, and never looked back.
2. Transcription
Transcription is when you take an audio (or video) recording and turn it into text.
I did a few transcription jobs as a beginner on Upwork and it went very smoothly. I even managed to get paid as high as $30/hr, which is pretty good considering how new I was.
I’ve developed an incredibly powerful system for doing entry level transcription on Upwork, which I’ll share with you.
But first a quick story.
Some years ago an Old Pro (my pet term for those cranky, insecure freelancers who try to scare beginners from entering the game, for fear of competition) laid into me in a LinkedIn group after hearing me recommend transcription as a good Upwork job for beginners. He insisted that I was being “irresponsible” to tell people that they could start out doing transcription with no previous experience.
He even went so far as to say that my advice was “dangerous.” Maybe he thought that people would get electrocuted plugging in their laptops? I don’t know.
My point here is that I think he must’ve been unaware of the system I’d developed, which worked so well for me and the others I taught it to.
I’ll share that system with you now. It consists of two steps:
Step 1: Listen to the audio
Step 2: Type out what you hear
That’s it. 🙂
Simple, I know.
But it worked for me, and I see no reason why it can’t work for others too. I also see no reason to complicate something that works.
3. Email copywriting
Modern businesses have email lists — these are lists of email addresses belonging to people who’ve bought something from them in the past, and/or people they hope will buy something from them in the future.
There are many, many different types of emails they might send to these lists.
They might send a single email to the entire list; for example, to announce a special sale or promotion.
Or they may occasionally send out an individual email that contains useful information, like a helpful article — this serves as a way of building trust and “staying in touch” with the people on their list.
Or they might send out a regularly scheduled email “newsletter”, perhaps once a week, once a month, twice a month, or what have you.
A business might also send out a series of emails to the people on their email list — these are generally multiple emails, sent out over the course of days or weeks, that usually combine helpful information along with some sort of offer. (This is what I do when I sell my courses — I usually send out a few helpful-information-emails followed by an offer to join one of my courses.)
In any case, all of these sorts of emails are written by an email copywriter.
Sound complicated? It really doesn’t have to be.
For example, one of my favorite Upwork clients, a financial planner, hired me to write simple emails inviting people to join her monthly webinars on retirement planning.
I didn’t know anything about retirement planning, but that’s okay because she wasn’t looking for someone with retirement planning expertise. She was the expert on that!
What she wanted was someone to whom she could say, “Hey, I’m doing a webinar on retirement planning and I want to send an email invite to the people on my list. The webinar will be called [WEBINAR NAME], it will take place on [DATE], at [TIME], and anyone who shows up will learn XYZ… Can you write out an invite based on that information?”
That’s it — not too difficult, honestly. I didn’t even have to send out the emails, she took care of all of that. All I did was write the copy, which is just a fancy way of saying I wrote the words.
I’ll even show you one of the actual emails I wrote for her:
Again, all of the information itself came from the client — I just organized the information, and used some wordsmith skills to turn it into a nicely written email.
To learn more about how to get started as an email copywriter, check out this post.
4. Explainer video script writer
An explainer video is a short, animated video that explains how something works — for example, an app, or a product. Like this:
An explainer video can also explain something more abstract, like, say, a company’s hiring process. Or really anything else.
Countless new explainer videos are made everyday, and they all need a writer to write the script before they can produce the video.
One of my best clients hired me to write hundreds of explainer video scripts. It was interesting, relatively easy, and extremely profitable.
One great thing about writing explainer video scripts is that they’re usually pretty short — often just a page — so they generally don’t require that much writing. That’s one of the things that makes it a great choice for Upwork beginners.
They also all tend to follow the same basic formula, which can easily be learned by someone in middle school. I wrote an entire tutorial about it, which you can check out here.
5. Blog/article writing
An enormous (and quickly growing) number of businesses today have blogs. Unlike personal blogs, which talk about personal things, company blogs use blog posts to inform and educate their customers and potential customers in the hopes of increasing sales.
For example, Whole Foods Market posts recipes on their blog. It’s free and helpful information, but they’re also hoping you buy the ingredients for the recipe next time you’re in their store.
And it’s not just big businesses like Whole Foods, either.
For example, a small private school might write a post about one of their recent events, with pictures of happy students and parents, as well as inspirational quotes from people who attended. That sort of posts helps strengthen their bond with their existing students (and their parents), and also looks great for parents who are researching the school to see if they want to send their kids there next year.
Another example might be a local dry cleaning company publishing a post about a new environmentally friendly cleaning technique they’ve adopted.
There are as many different types of company blog posts and articles as there are stars in the sky — and there are no shortage of clients on Upwork looking for people to write them.
I know from personal experience that many of those jobs can be a great fit for beginners. For example, one client paid me $125/hr to write relatively short (500-700 words), straightforward blog posts about the various services they offered. They came up with the topics, and they even gave me an outline for each post — my job was basically just putting it all into words in a nice article format.
And one of my students got her very first Upwork job writing an article about “5 great beaches to visit” — she did the research online (searching google, reading reviews of beaches on travel sites, and so on), wrote a simple article, and got paid.
To see for yourself how simple this can be, check out the video below to watch me write a short, simple article from scratch, right off the top of my head:
6. Proofreading
Proofreading might not sound very beginner friendly, but in the right situation it certainly can be.
Again the key is to stick to small, simple, straightforward jobs. So for example if a client needs proofreading for a 600 page manuscript chock full of technical jargon and Latin scientific terms, that would not be a good fit for a total beginner!
But consider a different scenario — one of my first Upwork clients had some articles that needed proofreading.
He didn’t care about perfect grammar or strict adherence to English rules or style — he just knew that his articles were full of egregious typos and wanted someone to do a basic cleanup, mostly just fixing the typos.
Based on his needs, a high school student could have done the job.
This is another area where I’ve taken some flack from the Old Pros, who are convinced you need to be some sort of genius to be a proofreader, but my experience shows that isn’t the case.
For many clients’ needs, a good attitude, an eye for detail, and basic feel for written English (or whatever language you happen to be proofreading in) can easily be more than enough.
7. Miscellaneous tasks
As you’ve probably gathered by now, just about any small, simple Upwork job can be a great opportunity for beginners.
Over the years, I’ve seen countless niche-type jobs that — while they may not be common enough to make a career out of — can certainly be good opportunities when you’re new to Upwork and just trying to get some experience, income, and good reviews under your belt.
Here are a few specific, real-world examples:
- A client once paid me $30/hr to watch YouTube videos and write a few bullet points summarizing each one.
- Another client paid me $40/hr to rewrite their “boring” job advertisements to make them more fun and exciting.
- A student of mine got his first Upwork job installing a simple WordPress plugin — something any high school student could have done, in less than 10 minutes.
Notice that none of these things requires any special education, training, or significant amounts of experience.
So next time you’re on Upwork perusing the latest job listings, keep your eye out for anything that might fit the bill, even if it doesn’t quite fit any of the categories I’ve discussed above.
Do you know of any other great Upwork jobs for beginners? If so, please comment below and tell us what they are so we can all benefit from each others’ experience.
(Image Attribution: “Little Biker :P” by Gunjan Karun is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)
Hi. I want to work with upwork.Since I m a begginer what should i do first?Hope yoh can help me.
Thank you. You made it sound approachable. I’m in for this.
I would like to begin my online job and work with upwork asap
My name is Wilson, plz can u help understand how to copywrite, and also how to spot a job for hire. thanks
Im looking for an online job and found out about upwork but Im very hesitant if I can do any of the Job. But after reading your insight/info I think I need to give it a shoot!
Thank you very much😊
Wonderful info there.
Such a kind gesture immensely appreciated.
Thanks alot for sharing your insigths. That was very helpful!
Indeed great insight, thank you Dañy
Your insight into this matter have been soo helpful. Since am a new freelancer on upwork. Stambled into this while doing a deep research upwork jobs for beginners. Am greatfull.
Hey how its going do u see scope for begginers
A million thanks. Am always scared of been unqualified. Please send me your social-media handles
I am so impressed with all of your insights and your incredible kindness sharing your knowledge and advice. Could you help me understand how to work the milestone payment plan?
Thank u Soo much for sharing this. Have been soo scared that I’m not qualified for upwork jobs. Pls can I get your social media handle, anyone
OmahaCopywriter
Thank you very much, I personally have learnt alot
This is great Danny. I’m about to start this journey. Here goes…and with your expert advice.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.
Thanks so much Danny
This is really great Danny! Sometimes when we hop on upwork, we stay so laser focused on one thing, not realizing that starting small with a few smaller gigs that have nothing to do with our specialty and working our way up can actually help. =)
Hi Danny! Tnx for sharing with us your experience in beginning,means a lot to me. I
m so insecure. My profile is still private. I don
t even know if that`s good.I just found an offer to write a CV with a cover letter,which seems grate to me. But it offers $50 for one CV which is extremely suspicious. Haw is protect from non-payment of work.
Hi Danny, thanks for this great insight for beginners. I am new on Upwork and I have been doing some findings on how to go about it due to the fact that I am a beginner.
I really love writing yet have got no proof or testimonials to show new clients. I want to pursue with this your analysis.
Hi there! About the miscellaneous tasks… I’ve been wondering: what are the perfect keywords to search for jobs and different tasks like that?
Danny, first of all I pay my gratitude to you for encouraging others to pursue their career in freelancing as well as pointing out the perspective doors of opportunities to new comers. Thank you for all that. I am professional accountant having more than 10 years of experience in providing book keeping and accounting services but outside the Upwork. I made my account on odesk in 2014, but could not actively worked because of my job agreement where they prohibited me to work other than the work assigned by my firm. Now I completed that job agreement and want to… Read more »
Hi Danny! Thank you for this helpful article! One question– when submitting proposals as a beginner, do you recommend addressing the “beginner” status with potential clients?
Hello. Great post! I just want to know if you’re familiar with Search Engine Optimization? Do you know how one could practice SEO even without coding knowledge? I see SEO-related job posts on Upwork, and I’m really hoping to land a job on one.
Hey Danny, quick questions:
1) If you don’t know how much it would cost per project so you go with hourly rates, and the client hesitates because they never work on hourly basis before (and fear it will go over-budget)- how do you deal with this situation?
2) Client says my rate is “too high” (30 usd per hour) for a beginner copywriter — should I lower them or just let go of that client? I am torn, kinda desperate and in need of money here.
Danny posted a great Tweet on Twitter recently regarding your first question – his answer was this: “”I know the idea of an open-ended bill is uncomfortable; how about I work on this for 1-2 hrs, then update you on my progress. We can repeat or pause as needed, you’re in control. ”
I thought that was great!
Thank you for the reply Melinda, I did say that they can “test-drive me for an hour or two, see if you like what I came up with” and they still don’t like it (I guess their budget was too small?) — so I did gave them a quote of 450 Usd (15 hours because I don’t want to overpromise myself, they need quite a look of work done) and they ghosted me. I guess I am not what they are looking for. Finding the right clients can be so hard…
Danny,
Thank you for choosing to share your knowledge with other needy freelancers. I mean, you truly represent the notion, “A candle loses nothing by lighting up another candle” Keep it up!
I hope I can be able to do the same for others.
Thank you Runsie! Really appreciate that.
Hi Danny, thanks for building confidence in pursuing a freelance career on sites such as upwork. Such a huge barrier. The old catch 22 on “entry-level with 10 years of experience required”. I especially took note of the email copywriting section. I’ve been trying to get a foot in here but find it hard to break into the niche without any previous ‘proven work’ to show. Everyone seems to be tossing around conversion and open rates as a guarantee. Do you find any truth in this? Like you mention in your ‘green light method’. If you show an example does… Read more »
Hi Anders, I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone guaranteeing any particular conversion rates or open rates, but in any case I wouldn’t recommend doing that. Just start small, and work your way up. There are many clients who won’t even measure open rates…they just want an email written and need someone to write it for them! Have fun.
Update: So I went with your advice going for ‘just written copy email’ and after sending out around 10 proposals aimed at this, I managed to land such a project for a client. Thank you, appreciate the assist.
Yes! Very encouraging, indeed! I’m a Designer and a Writer; however, I’m just “breaking out” into my Writing career— feels daunting because I don’t have the “experience”, but I feel more hopeful after reading your article. Thanks, Danny! 🙂
Great to hear, thanks for letting me know Michelle!
great post with encouraging tips! How did you get past the “experience gate”
when signing up and creating your account? I’ve been writing and editing
but have no official paper to suggest I’m qualified. What barest of information did you
provide in your profile for Upworker? very curious. thanks
See my Ultimate Guide to Getting Your First (Or Next) Freelance Job. It’s right here on the blog and answers your question, and then some.
Wow this is great. I was feeling so overwhelmed thinking I need to be applying to and getting all these high paying jobs. I mean obviously I do, but starting small is a great way to build confidence and get some good reviews. Now I don’t feel as bad for still using water wings.
Awesome Allison! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know.
Hello Danny,
This post contains a lot of great information. I find while applying for most jobs like the ones you are suggesting…(ie, blog writing, article writing) most clients are not really paying well for these….I am sometimes torn between wanting to accept a job that doesn’t pay too well and taking less than I know it’s worth, just to have more jobs under my belt. I know I am worth more than I have been offered…but I don’t want to turn away people helping me get in the door either. What do you suggest?
Hi Audrey, you’re not looking for “most clients” — you wouldn’t have enough time in 1,000 lifetimes to service most clients as that would be millions and millions of clients. Instead try to find the ones who are willing to pay what you’re worth. Also I don’t think about this in terms of “what clients are paying”, because as a freelancer I am a business owner and it’s my job to dictate how much my services cost. It’s an attitude adjustment for sure but it’s worth it. Just like if you go into a high end steakhouse they don’t say… Read more »
Thanks for the reply….I suppose I will just keep pressing foreword and learning as I go. I enjoy your blog posts and have enrolled in your copywriter course. Hoping that will help. Keep up the good work.
Just starting out and you make this so much easier to digest! Thanks for all the info for the shallow water swimmers 🙂
You are very welcome Alyson and thank you for the comment!
Love this! Thank you so much for putting this list together!