Hello, everybody, I'm Jennifer Marie and
welcome to my youtube channel where I teach
you different ways that you can make money
online. If you haven't already, make sure to
subscribe to my YouTube channel for more videos
on how to become a work from home freelancer.
And before we get started, I just want to
make it very clear that I have not been
sponsored by Upwork. To create this video, I'm
not affiliated with Upwork in any way, I am
just a top rated Freelancer on up work.
And these are all my own opinions about the
platform. So I have many different videos on how
to get started as a freelancer on
upwork.com. I think Upwork is one of the
best freelancing websites to get started
selling your skills. In a few years, I went from
a complete beginner Freelancer on Upwork to
top rated plus and I have earned over 80,000
US dollars on Upwork in the past four years. If
you are not familiar with Upwork Upwork is a
platform where you can sell your freelancing
skills and services and apply to jobs for free.
I'm going to link you in the description below to
a whole list of my different videos on
getting started with Upwork. How to create an
amazing profile and get accepted onto Upwork to
become a freelancer and also how to apply to
jobs and write winning proposals. But in
today's video, I'm going to focus on connects. So
the other day I received a question from a
subscriber asking me about how connects work.
So I want to take this time to create a video
to answer all of these questions. What are
connects our connects free? How can I get more
free connects? How many connects does a typical
job require? What happens when you run out
of connects? And do you lose connects even if
you don't get accepted for the job. So what are
connects connects our Upwork virtual currency.
So freelancers use connects to apply to
jobs, and different jobs require different
amounts of connects. Now since people generally
try to spend their connects wisely, this
means there is less competition for jobs
than there would be if everyone could apply
without limits. So if connects didn't exist,
you could apply to any job you wanted. But that
means the client might receive 300
applications. connects means that people are
applying only to jobs that they are actually
qualified for. And I think it gives you a
better opportunity of having your proposal
seen by the client. So do I always need to
spend connects when applying to jobs,
usually you will have to spend connects to submit
proposals to Upwork. Now submitting a proposal is
basically you applied to a job that you see on
Upwork. However, no connects are needed when
a client invites you to bid. So a client invites
you to basically have an interview for a job on
up work when a client sends you an offer. So
you can accept and you will not spend any of
your connects when a client purchases your
project catalog project or when you send a
proposal within an enterprise talent cloud.
So if you're just starting out, you
probably are not a part of an enterprise talent
cloud. But if you work for an enterprise
client, you will eventually get accepted
into a talent cloud and then you can apply to
any jobs in that cloud without spending any of
your connects. So the main question I get is
are connects free? Is it free to apply to jobs
within Upwork. So basically, within Upwork
there are two different plan types. We have the
basic plan which is completely free, and
then the freelancer plus plan, which I have for
1499 US dollars a month, you can see that this is
my current plan. However, this is not
necessary. When I was first starting out, I
just had the basic plan and I was still able to
get some jobs. So with the basic plan, you get
10 connects for free each month. If you have
the plus plan, it's 1499 a month, and you have 80
connects that you can spend. But if you're
just starting out, you can use the 10 connects
per month and you don't have to spend any money.
So how can you get more free connects. When you
successfully register on Upwork. as a freelancer
you'll receive 40 connects to get started.
When you complete the Upwork readiness test,
you'll receive another 40 connects. So if you
haven't done the upward readiness test yet, make
sure to do it and you will get 40 free
connects. To do the test. Just click on find
work and click here on the up work readiness
test. And then click Start test. I have
already done the test. So I've already received
those free connects.
Like I said before, the free Freelancer basic
membership automatically gives you 10 free
connects to use each month and if you don't
use them In a month, these should roll over
into the next month as well. Another way to get
free connects is if you submit a proposal to a
client, and then when an interview and reply to
this interview, you'll get a bonus of 10
connects. So imagine you apply to a job. And then
the client offers you an interview, and you
respond to them, you will get 10 connects a
bonus of 10 connects even if you don't get
the job. But you have to reply and win the
interview at least. And you can earn up to 50
connects every seven days. If this happens to
you, and for whatever reason, you don't get
that bonus, just make sure to send a message
to the Upwork support team. They are excellent
and they'll get back to you right away. So two
other ways that you can get free connects which
are a bit more difficult. If you
complete an earn and Upwork skill
certification, you'll enjoy a one time
connects bonus. So the Upwork skills
certifications are offered by invitation
only, and they have them in web and mobile
software development and design and creative. Now
what is invitation only. So in order to get
invited up work suggests that freelancers have a
solid reputation keep a complete and up to date
profile that's not set to private, and maintain
an active account in good standing. And
finally, if you earn a rising talent up work
talent badge, you'll receive a one time bonus
of 30 free connects. So the badges go rising
talent, then top rated and then top rated plus.
Another question I get is can you buy connects
and yes, you can buy connects. So connects
costs 15 cents each and are sold in bundles of
1020 4060 and 80. So click on your little
profile icon, and then click Settings. Then
you'll go to membership and connects. And then
you'll click add more connects or buy
connects, you'll select the bundle you wish to
purchase, click Add connects, and your
account will automatically be
charged. If you want to view your connects
history, the connects that you have received
and the connects that you have spent. Click on
View Connect history. And this will give you
an idea of how you're spending your connects.
So how many connects does a typical job
require. So every job is different. Sometimes
it's to connect sometimes it's six
connects. This is an example of a job that I
just saw today. And the required connects to
submit a proposal is for now Here is another
example of a job I saw posted today. It says
you can send a proposal for one Connect, and you
can now boost your proposal to get noticed
this job would have been six connects before. So
this is a new thing that Upwork is trying out a
new way to spend your connects where so many
different jobs that used to be four connects or
six connects are now only one Connect. But if
you are really interested in the job,
you can spend as many connects as you want.
And the client will then see your proposal above
other proposals and will see that you are really
interested. This is something that Upwork is
trying out it is new, this is beneficial for
you because you can apply to more jobs. If
you only want to spend one Connect. Probably
the client will still view your profile, they
might not view it first, and you don't have to
spend more connects. So this does give an
opportunity for you to apply potentially to 10
jobs a month using your 10 free connects without
having to spend more. Or if you really want a job
then you can choose to spend more connects. If
you look here, it says we're testing a new way
for you to use your connects to make your
proposal stand out even more freelancers who bid
the highest number of connects will have their
proposal in the top slots and marked with a
blue lightning bolt and highly interested so
this is something very interesting that you can
try out I will be creating another video
to try out this boosting your proposal because I
haven't tried it yet. But this is something
interesting to know. And right now you can apply
to a lot more jobs with less connects than you
could before. So what happens when you run out
of connects? If you've used up all of your
connects you can wait until the next month to
get another 10 free connects to use. You
could also upgrade your membership plan to
Freelancer plus to get 80 connects per month
and you can always switch back to the basic
membership if you want or you can purchase
connects for 15 cents each. Another question I
get a lot is do you lose connects even if you
don't get accepted for the job. So yes, you
will not gain back the connects so you will
lose the connects you spent even if you don't
get a job offer, however, connects are
returned if the job is canceled, or if Upwork
cancels the job for some reason. So if the client
decides I no longer want to post this job and
they cancel it, you will get a refund of those
connects. However, your connects are not
returned if the client chooses another
freelancer, if the client lets the job
expire without hiring, or if you withdraw your
proposal from a project, so don't withdraw your
proposals thinking you're going to get back
connects because you will not. However, as I
said before, if you submit a proposal to a
client, and then you win an interview and reply,
you will get a bonus of 10 connects and earn a
maximum of 50 connects every seven days. Okay,
so that is it for this video on all about how
connects work within Upwork. I hope this has
provided you all with some clarification. And
if you have any other questions about how
Upwork works about connects about the new
boost your proposal feature, make sure to
leave a comment in the comment section below.
Again, check out my other videos on up work
by clicking on the links in the description
below. Thank you guys for watching and I'll
see you in my next tutorial.