As a Nigerian, there are questions we often ask ourselves when we want to try freelancing; in this article, I will discuss 3 of those — using Upwork as a case study.
Can Upwork make you rich?
Despite how good Upwork can be in making you money if you get lucky, it isn’t something I will really advise you to rely on if your goal is wealth or even long-term financial stability. As a smart freelancer, you should be planning your Upwork exit strategy immediately after you start making money on Upwork. On Upwork, there are many things that could happen to you that can change your life for the worse which you might have little control over.
Let me give you an example!
Some time ago, a client suddenly terminated my only remaining contract on Upwork without prior warnings; as if that is not enough, my JSS score dropped a few days later from 100% to 79% effectively destroying my then Top-Rated status in the process which was because the client left a bad private review which Upwork doesn’t show anyone since it is private.
Unfortunately, that private feedback is actually what really counts — not your public feedback. Unfortunately, once your score drops from 100% to under 90 or under 80, getting a new job is much more difficult. With a score of 79%, I faced an uphill task to get a good new role.
Luckily for me then, if you were a Top-Rated or Top-Rated Plus freelancer, you could request for the removal of the feedback (within 2 weeks of losing your badge) — which is exactly what I did (though, I only requested the removal of the private feedback as the public feedback is okay). Starting from September 2024, this option is no longer available.
You can also remove the negative feedback if you refund the client, but that will still have no effect on improving your JSS score; even so, unless it is a small fee, it will be very difficult to decide to refund a client just because you want the negative feedback gone — your time and sweat will have gone to waste.
This is one of the problems that you could face if you rely on Upwork too much as your only income source — I learned the hard way and I am now warning you not to make the same mistake. Some freelancers even get their accounts suspended or banned for mistakes that they were probably not aware of — that’s how bad things can get if you get really unlucky.
If you are making good money on Upwork, your primary goal should be to diversify your income, do big projects, and plan for the future — all of which are part of a good exit plan. This is because Upwork income isn’t a permanent thing and it isn’t really like an actual traditional job in terms of longevity.
In fact, the primary aim of Upwork isn’t to get employed in the traditional sense of employment, but the jobs there are more like contracts that are incredibly easy to terminate. You might say that traditional jobs are also contracts and can also get terminated easily, but you still can’t compare both in terms of longevity and ease of contract termination.
For example, when you get employed in companies or establishments in your country, you don’t go with the intention that your job contract can be terminated in a month — you go there with the aim of working there for as long as possible and probably leave if you get better offers.
On Upwork, many jobs have very short contract lengths; some last for a few hours, and some last for days, weeks, months, or years. The jobs that last for years are an exception, not the norm. This is the opposite of traditional jobs where you normally expect your job to last for years barring an unfortunate situation.
Depending on your niche, you might be getting short-term jobs or longer-term jobs. If you are a writer, you might be probably looking at shorter-term jobs; but if you are a digital marketer, virtual assistant, or web designer, you might find it easier to get longer-term jobs.
Either one you get, you can make a lot of money on Upwork; but, you will need to be extremely careful not to squander your gains.
If you achieve success on Upwork, you can leverage your skills, experiences, and achievements to land jobs elsewhere; so, you don’t have to work on only Upwork before you make money.
The issue is, that once you start earning dollars from Upwork, it becomes difficult to accept most naira-paying jobs in Nigeria; hence, you will likely be looking for other remote opportunities where you can keep earning dollars. If you try to land other remote roles – either through LinkedIn or other platforms, you will end up facing a lot of the challenges that I mentioned here.
Note: Having an Upwork exit strategy doesn’t mean that you should quit Upwork; it is simply a way of planning and diversifying your income so that you don’t rely too much on Upwork alone.
In summary: Through Upwork, you can lift yourself from poverty into the middle-class range; but, to achieve wealth and long-term financial stability, it is much better to diversify your income and own your business.
How long should you work on Upwork?
Many people lack vision and they get complacent when they taste some success; Nigerians making money on Upwork aren’t an exception to that.
As a Nigerian, you should know that you don’t have things rosy; hence you should always be smart and look for opportunities to earn money elsewhere in case Upwork suddenly becomes too difficult for Nigerians.
Another thing you have to worry about is that the platform itself could go off at any moment — thereby making it very difficult to get new jobs. I am sure you don’t want to risk that; hence, when you start making money on Upwork, you should start planning your exit.
Even if the platform continues working, you could still have problems as a Nigerian when any of the previous issues that I discussed here catch up with you. Suddenly, receiving dollars could become impossible due to international restrictions; verification could become very stricter thereby eliminating most Nigerians from the platform; or other regulations may come up hereby destroying the ability of most Nigerians to earn through Upwork.
In summary: You can work on Upwork as long as it is convenient to do so, but always plan your exit and be ready for anything.
Should I quit my job for Upwork?
If you have a stable job, please don’t quit unless you have gotten good offers on Upwork that will make it difficult to continue working your normal job.
Upwork isn’t too stable when it comes to job security, and I don’t want you to place all your eggs in one basket.
If you are one of the lucky few, and you end up getting good offers on Upwork, then you can quit your Nigerian job if combining them is getting too problematic; but remember, immediately you start earning good money on Upwork, you should start saving and investing the money wisely.
Another thing you want to take note of is your CV and portfolio; I believe that as you are working on Upwork, you should be building your portfolio and CV/resume — this will help you a lot. For example, my CV is filled with companies that I work with on Upwork.
Honestly, I don’t subscribe to the idea of having a single source of income; losing it could be disastrous if you don’t have an alternative source. Once you start working on Upwork, you should immediately try to get other jobs from other platforms that you can combine comfortably so that it will serve as a side hustle.
If you don’t want the stress that will result from combining jobs, you should be looking at the entrepreneurship alternative. Investing your Upwork income wisely is honestly one of the best gifts that you can give to yourself.
Conclusion
Now that you have the answers to important questions regarding Upwork, it is time to start making money on Upwork. If you want to learn more about how to craft great Upowork cover letters, then check here.
