How to start freelancing on upwork part-time

Upwork offers moms a flexible, accessible way to earn $20-75 per hour from home while maintaining control over their schedules and rates. The freelance platform connects 12 million freelancers with 5 million clients, making it easier to find work in writing, design, admin support, legal services and more without needing your own website or marketing strategy.

• Creating a strong, specialized profile increases your chances of getting accepted and hired
• Most successful freelancers apply multiple times before getting accepted
• Include a professional photo and complete all profile sections
• Craft a specific headline that includes what you do and who you serve
• Use relevant keywords naturally throughout your profile
• Research successful profiles by creating a client account to see what works
• Start with beginner-friendly rates to build reviews and experience
• Write customized proposals that show genuine interest in each job posting
• Deliver excellent work and follow up to request reviews

Check out our upcoming resource at littlehandsbigplans.co featuring 50 business ideas moms can do part-time. If you start freelancing on Upwork after this episode, I'd love to feature you in a future podcast!

If this episode resonated with you, please share it with another mom who needs encouragement. Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and connect with me on LinkedIn.

For other episodes and resources, visit our website at https://littlehandsbigplans.co/pages/podcast

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Little Launch Series
• 0:36 Upwork Basics for Mom Entrepreneurs
• 1:41 Benefits and Earning Potential
• 3:23 Step-by-Step Profile Creation Guide
• 6:26 Getting Hired and Final Encouragement
• 7:53 Resource Announcement and Closing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Little Launch series, a mini-series from Little Hands, Big Plans, a podcast where we talk about building a life of freedom and intention after motherhood. One small step at a time. In each short episode of this series, I'll walk you through one practical, flexible business idea that you can start as a mom, right from home. These are low-cost, practical, nap-time friendly ways to build income without sacrificing the season you're in. Let's launch something little that could grow into something big.

Speaker 2: 0:36

On today's episode, I want to talk about how you can start freelancing on Upwork as a mom and as a small business owner. One of the things that surprises me the most is how many people have not heard of Upwork, at least at play dates. Upwork is essentially a freelance workers marketplace, and it has over 12 million freelancers and 5 million clients that use the platform, and so what that means is that anybody any small business owner, any person, even if they don't have a small business that needs help with something, can go on Upwork post a job. It can be ongoing, it can be a one-off project, and then freelancers can apply to the job, and that's how people are matched, and the prices can be set based on hourly if it's ongoing, or it can be a set rate. And so let's talk about some stats and why freelancing is one of the most accessible ways to start earning money from home on your terms. So, on Upwork, moms typically earn between $20 and $75 per hour, depending on their niche. You can freelance in pretty much anything, from writing, graphic design, admin support, legal help, social media and more. You set your own schedule and can work as little as five hours a week. So think about what your skill set was and before you left the workforce, if you've left it or if you're thinking of making a switch, and how you can translate it into Upwork.

Speaker 2: 2:19

Some of the benefits of Upwork is that it's completely flexible. You can choose what projects you take when you work and how much you charge. Platforms like Upwork make it easier to connect to real clients without searching for additional help. You don't have to have your own website, worry about SEO or anything of the things that can seem overwhelming as a small business owner. It's simply you build up your profile, and so how it works is that on your profile it shows how many hours or previous projects you've worked on Upwork, and the more jobs that you do, the higher the ranking. So you're going to get more stars, more reviews. It's going to show that you've worked more hours. It's going to show your percentage of success on previous projects. So when you're first starting, it might be slower. You might have to apply for more jobs, but the longer you're on the platform, the easier it will become to secure jobs.

Speaker 2: 3:23

Let's go step by step on how you get into Upwork and I'm going to give you some tips to get accepted into Upwork, because one of the biggest misconceptions is that if you get rejected by Upwork the first time you try, that's it. You can't keep applying. But most freelancers that I've talked to that are on Upwork have actually had to apply multiple times before their profile got accepted. And so you can create a profile by going on Upworkcom, and the stronger the niche, the better chances that you're going to have. And so if you pick a specialty, you're going to have greater chances of getting hired and also getting on the platform, because Upwork loves specialists, not generalists.

Speaker 2: 4:13

You want to have a strong profile headline, which usually includes what you do and who you are working with. So, for example, you could put virtual assistant for coaches. You could put content writer for health and wellness brands, you could put a data entry support for busy entrepreneurs. You get the gist. You want to use keywords naturally in your profile, and so if you know specific software, you can say I help entrepreneurs with Canva, trello, google Workspace. And you want to invest in a professional looking photo if you can, because it helps to build trust and you don't have to even hire someone. You don't have to get a fancy picture, but you do want it to be professional looking.

Speaker 2: 5:10

Another common reason why people don't get on upwork is if their profile is half filled. So, for example, if you leave sections blank, this can affect you both getting hired and also getting on the platform. And you can actually also create. If you want to get examples of profiles, you can create an account like you're going to hire people and then you can search talent so you can see the people that are ranking high and what their profiles look like. So when you're're applying, you have a better idea of what works. And again, just try to avoid really competitive areas unless you have a really strong portfolio. So certain things like like data entry or graphic design are going to have more competition. But if you're really specialized in it and you have a strong portfolio, that's okay. And again, if you get rejected, just tweak your profile. Try again in a couple weeks, and many freelancers report that they were able to get on the platform after trying multiple times.

Speaker 2: 6:26

Another common tip is that you want to set beginning friendly rates, because remember that the more ratings, the more hours, the more jobs that you do, the easier it's going to become. So it's a compounding effect, and so if you start with a lower rate at the beginning, then you can raise your rates once you get more jobs and once you start getting five-star feedback. And then the most effort in the on the platform is also on applying for jobs. If you're especially if you're just starting out, you want to make sure that you're writing custom proposals to show that you're interested in the job, and I think when I've hired in the past, that has been the key of when people stand out in the application, because a lot of people apply with boilerplate language I can tell I didn't even read my posting. And if you make something that's custom and that it shows that you actually care about the what the poster said, that makes your job applications stand out.

Speaker 2: 7:33

And then, lastly, you want to make sure you deliver excellent work and follow up, ask for a review, because that's going to make it easier to keep going. All right, and the encouragement I want to leave with you today is whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as if working for the Lord, not for human masters Colossians 3, 23. And if you do decide to go on Upwork, I would love to feature you in a future podcast. So let me know if this episode sparked an idea or gave you the confidence to explore Upwork. And don't forget that I'm going to have an upcoming resource on the website littlehandsbigplansco, and it's going to essentially have all of the ideas the 50 business ideas that moms can do part time, so keep an eye out for that.