7 Key Benefits of Freelancing on Upwork

In this day and age, freelancing is the new norm of work and for any new freelancer, my number one recommendation site is Upwork.

It is depicted that in the next 6 years, Upwork will increase it’s annual freelancer revenues to $6 billion from $1 billion today.

It is hard to ignore these numbers but I am not here to talk about numbers. Freelancing on Upwork comes with its ups and downs but today let me focus on the benefits of freelancing on Upwork.

1. Build Long Term Relationships.

One thing I love with Upwork is that freelancers interact on most occasions with clients.

A client is able to gauge your communications skills, work ethics and work quality, and above all proper time management.

All these qualities give birth to relationships that last for years.

When relationships are fostered there is no boundary to what may come of the relationship.

Your client may give you bonuses on special occasions like holidays, get in touch with you when they are visiting your country and above all flood you with lots of work which in return results in lots of trips to the bank.

BONUS: Get the insights on Why Upwork is rejecting new profiles.

2. Get long term contracts.

Who doesn’t love long term contracts? I know I do.

Well, on Upwork, it is easy to get contracts that last years depending on the quality of work you produce, the type of work, the amount of work a client has and above all the job posting the client put up when crafting the job post.

Mid 2012, I landed a contract from an American Client. It’s Mid 2015, I still work for the same client on an hourly basis and this helps pay my bills.

Below is an example of a long term contract on Upwork. Note the client indicates that the job is meant to last more than 6 months and also indicates the workload expected.

3. Earn Bonuses

Imagine opening your Upwork account and getting a bonus notification for a job well done.

It does happen and although not so often, once in a while clients do pop in with some awesome bonuses like one I received a while back. A $110 bonus. Ain’t it awesome.

To get bonuses one needs to over-deliver on assigned jobs and have a very good client that appreciates your work.

4. Interacting with people from all over the world.

By embarking on freelancing on Upwork, you are opening up to the world.

You get to apply to jobs posted by clients from all over the world and in due course interact with them either via messages, Skype or any other communication method available.

This is one of the reasons why I started freelancing and I think you should too.

5. To get return and referral clients

Nothing proves a freelancer’s worth better than getting return clients and above all, referral clients.

Clients that appreciate your work will always get you more work and more money.

Clients talk, and in doing so they end up discussing all sorts of things, including a recent, for example – video that you did for client or website that you coded.

A referral client is a clear indication that your work is being appreciated and what you are doing is worth doing.

6. Get to learn new things

If you are looking to learn new things, new software or new techniques, Upwork is an awesome place to be.

Over the past 3 years, I have learned that nothing comes easy and a simple way to learn is by checking up on job postings from clients and researching what other freelancers are doing.

7. Make more money.

If you want to make more money, Upwork is the place for you.

Most of the freelancers I have interacted with dislike bidding for jobs.

Well, bidding is not an easy task but with the necessary skills, irresistible and up-to-date profile, a killer cover letter/proposal it is easy to get hired.

Most clients tend to not know how much to charge for a particular task – this is true.

If you are a transcriber and you are comfortable with a pay of $15 / audio hour transcribed on non-bidding sites like TranscribeMe, Speechpad etc then that’s you. No ill intention on the mentioned sites but hey, who doesn’t want more money in their pocket. I know – I do. This is the reason why I freelance on Upwork.

A client may pay up to $60 to have the same audio hour transcribed and on most occasions without the strict guidelines that non-bidding sites have.

Here is a sample job that required a transcript for a 1 hour video and the pay was $60. Awesome money right there.

It doesn’t matter the skills you possess or the line of work that you are aligned to.

The benefits of freelancing on Upwork stretch across the board and are not limited to what I have mentioned here.

Feel free to add more benefits of freelancing on Upwork in the comments section.