Can you make money with Upwork?

In this Upwork review, you will find out about Upwork, including whether you can make money Upwork, including whether Upwork if legitimate and worth your time and effort. Let’s get right into it.

My Upwork review

• Website: https://www.upwork.com
• Legitimate: Yes
• Cost to join: free
• Recommended: Yes – for freelance jobs

There are lots of ways to make extra money online. Some sites are more about offering payment for volumes of menial tasks, and others are more about providing a platform for you to offer your freelance professional services for a negotiated fee. Upwork is the latter.

Upwork is a global freelancing platform where independent professionals and businesses connect remotely. It is perfect for professionals to find jobs that are matched to their skills and experience.

There are a range of skills that are in demand on Upwork. Here are the categories that job posters can search on to find the freelancer that will meet their needs:

Signing up to Upwork, and submitting an application

Signing up to Upwork is straightforward, requiring your name, username and work email address. Once you’ve verified your email address, you’ll be directed to fill in an application form. Not all applications are approved, so it’s in your best interests to take your time with your application form. Treat it like you are applying for a job, and provide a high quality application. Here are the questions you will be asked:

The categories you can choose from include:

• Web, mobile and software development
• IT and networking
• Data science and analytics
• Engineering and architecture
• Design and creative
• Writing
• Translation
• Legal
• Admin support
• Customer service
• Sales and marketing
• Accounting and consulting

Once you’ve chosen your category, you will then be prompted to select the types of work you do within that category. You then need to complete a list of skills that you can offer clients. There are prompters available within the categories.

You’ll be notified within 24 hours if your application has been successful.

There are other questions you can complete to provide a fuller picture of who you are. You can add a professional title, together with an overview of your skills and experience, your education and English proficiency.

You also set your desired hourly rate. As the image shows, there is a service fee of 20% when you begin with a new client. The fee is reduced to 10% once you have billed over $500 (and up to $10,000) with the client. For example, if you are going to be billing your client for $1,000, the first $500 will attract a 20% service fee, and the remaining $500 will be at the 10% service fee rate. Any billings with your client that exceed $10,000 are subject to a 5% service fee.

You can also select the hours that you will be available. You can choose between:

• More than 30 hours per week
• Less than 30 hours per week
• As needed – open to offers

The types of jobs you can do with Upwork

The range of jobs available in Upwork is huge, and span the categories listed above.

Here’s a sample of what some of the jobs look like:

As you can see, assignments differ in duration, hours per week required, and expertise level required. This site really does have opportunities for a diversity of people.

If you see a job you’re interested in, just click on it, then submit a proposal.

Payment for your hard work

All projects you work on are covered by Upwork Payment Protection. This helps ensure you get paid for all work you successfully complete through the website.

• Invoices and payments happen through Upwork.
• For work with hourly rates, you submit your time sheets through Upwork.
• For fixed-price jobs, set milestones and funds are released via Upwork escrow features.
• There are several payment options available. These include direct deposit, PayPal, wire transfer, local funds transfer and Payoneer. You’ll need to choose what’s best for you, as some payment methods are subject to fees.

In order to be paid, you’ll need to submit your tax information, and of course your preferred method of payment.

Can you make money with Upwork?

Yes – you can absolutely make money with Upwork. By doing high quality work, on time, you will get more and more work.

Like any of these types of platforms, there may be a more workers available than there are jobs making it hard to get good work; and people who have already established themselves as great performers on the platform are likely to get more work than someone who is new and trying to make a name for themselves.

Be careful about the jobs that you submit an application for. Some ads I saw weren’t very clear about their requirements, so I would suggest only applying for those jobs that you feel describe a job that is unambiguous and within your skill set.

Is Upwork legit?

Upwork is legit. Like Fiverr, Upwork is a legitimate platform for you to provide your professional services for a fee.

The 140 million users of Upwork operate out of 180 countries. It is estimated that $1B is billed by freelancers annually. The company is expected to file for an Initial Public Offering at some point this year.

Please leave any comments or questions below and I’m always happy to help. If you’ve discovered any other great ways to make money online that have worked for you, please share your experiences!