Jennifer: Hello, everybody, welcome back to my channel,
Jennifer Marie VO, where I teach you different ways that
you can make money online working from home. If you are
one of my subscribers, you'll know that I talk a lot about
how I think the best way to make money online is to become
a freelancer. If you start developing your own skills and
become really good at writing, or translating, or
transcription, or graphic design or video editing, any
sort of skill that you can do online, those skills are also
valuable. Companies nowadays are all online. And there are
so many services that people require online. So if you
become really good at certain services, and develop your
skill set, you can sell these skills to different companies.
I work full time as a video editor, video creator and
voiceover artist and I am selling these skills to
different clients of mine all around the world. So I have
been preparing today's video for quite some time, I'm going
to do a series of different videos on how to get started
as a freelancer on upwork.com. Now before I continue this
video, I want to say these are all my personal opinions on
upwork.com. And I'm not affiliated with them in any
way other than the fact that I work as a freelancer on
upwork.com. I have been using upwork.com since 2017. And
I've worked my way up to becoming a top rated
freelancer. And as of the time of creation of this video, a
top rated plus freelancer. And if you have never heard of
upwork.com, basically on Upwork clients will post
different jobs. For example, looking for a blog writer
looking for someone to design or create this video, there
are 1000s and 1000s of different jobs available. And
clients will basically post an ad saying hey, I'm willing to
pay $200 for someone to create a video. And then freelancers
see these jobs and have the opportunity to apply through
Upwork to get that job. So again, I am going to create a
series of different videos on how to use upwork.com. And in
this first video, I'm going to teach you how to get started
how to create a profile and apply to become a freelancer
on upwork.com. The first step I recommend you do is do
research really think about what kind of skills you want
to sell, and do research into all the different profiles
that you see on Upwork that relate to your field. So for
example, if you are an entry level graphic designer, you
can do some research about different freelancers who are
offering the same skills that you want to sell yourself and
get an idea of how much you can charge, what sort of
things you can say in your biography or in your profile.
And then also make sure that your profile is free of errors
completely. So in this video, I'm going to show you exactly
step by step what you can do and give you an idea of how to
create a good profile that will get you accepted into the
platform. And in my next videos, I'll show you what it
looks like once you're in Upwork how to apply for jobs.
One thing I also want to note is that you can only have one
profile with upwork.com you cannot have duplicate
profiles. So make sure you do a really good job with this
profile before you submit your application to upwork.com. And
before we get started, make sure to subscribe to my
YouTube channel if you haven't already by clicking
on the subscribe button below. So let's get started. Okay, so
let's get started signing up to Upwork. The first thing
you're going to do is click on sign up. Here, you can click
Continue with Google continue with Apple or put in your work
email address. Then click Continue with email. And here
it says complete your free account setup. So you're going
to put in your first name, your last name, create a
password and select your country. And then you want to
select I want to work as a freelancer. And you can go
ahead and put in your your username any username that you
want, you can sign up to the email list of up work if you
want. Otherwise, just click Yes, I understand and agree to
up work Terms of Service including the user agreement
and privacy policy. So the next step is that you have to
verify your email to proceed. So go ahead and go to the
email address and click on the link provided to verify your
address. Okay, so once you verify your email, you're
going to be directed to this page which is creating your
profile. Now make sure to fill this out completely because
Upwork can deny your application to become a
freelancer so you want this profile to be completely
filled out. So click continue to provide a high quality
experience to all customers admission to Upwork is highly
competitive. Here's how it works. One fill out your
profile thoroughly and accurately. To submit your
profile. Three, you'll receive an email within 24 hours to
let you know if you were accepted. We are currently
experiencing a high number of applications. So create a
standout profile to increase your chances of getting
approved. Do your absolute best job and making this full
and look good. And that way you'll get accepted to become
a freelancer for Upwork. So let's click start my profile
so it First, it asks you how you would like to fill out
your profile. So if you already have a LinkedIn
profile, this might help you and you can upload your
LinkedIn profile, or you can click fill out manually. So
the first section is expertise. Tell us about the
work you do. So what is the main service you offer? Now
you can change this later on. But right now if you're
thinking, Okay, I'm going to join up work because I want to
become a virtual assistant or I want to apply to graphic
design jobs or writing jobs, make sure to fill that out. So
you can select the main category of the main service
you offer. And there's all sorts of different ones. Let's
say your main service is writing says what types of
writing do you do? Let's say you do content and copywriting
editing and proofreading Creative Writing resumes and
cover letters, for example. What skills do you offer
clients, and you can start typing to search for skills.
So for example, proofreading, copy editing copywriting, and
you can enter up to six more skills, so I recommend you
fill it out completely.
Okay, so once you've filled out all the skills that you
offer clients, you can click Next. Now they're going to ask
you what is your level of experience in this field, so
entry level, intermediate, or expert. So if you have been
doing whatever you have chosen, whatever skill you
have chosen, you've been doing it for quite a while, you can
click intermediate, let's say you're completely new, you
could put entry level, click Next. Then they asked you for
your education. So you can add the schools you attended areas
of study and degrees earned, you can click Add education.
So if you've gone to college or university, and you want to
add that in here, and you want to add the area of study or
the degree, you can go ahead and add this. You could also
add in if it was a language school or something as well.
If you've studied a foreign language at some school, or
you have some sort of certificate, go ahead and add
that here. Okay, you can add if you have, you know, a
diploma or certificate in a certain certain language, just
add anything that you have, go ahead and add here. Okay, I'm
going to skip this. But I recommend if you have any
education that you can add, maybe you've done some sort,
of course that relates to the expertise, you're doing maybe
a graphic design course or a writing course, or language
skills, make sure to add that here and make it as full as
possible. I'm going to click skip this step. So we can
continue, but I recommend to fill this out. So you will
need to complete the skipped steps later to submit your
profile. So you do have to fill out everything, okay. So
if you haven't gone to college or university or something
like that, then just go ahead and add whatever education you
have, even if that's high school, for example. Now it's
time to add your past work experience, build your
credibility by showcasing the projects or jobs you have
completed. So you can click Add employment. And here you
can add any companies that you've worked for the
location, your job title, and then the period of time that
you worked for them. So for example, from January 2010, to
January 2015, or that you currently work there, and then
write a description of your job. Again, I recommend
filling this out very detailed, because you do want
to get approved to become a freelancer for Upwork. So you
want to give as much information as possible. The
next you have languages, what is your English proficiency.
So for example, I would write I'm native or bilingual in
English, and then you can add in any other languages you
speak. So this is a chance for you to, you know, show off
your language skills. I know a lot of my subscribers speak
multiple languages, which is wonderful. And you can go
ahead and add all the languages that you speak, and
then click Next. So now you have a chance to set your
hourly rate, how much you want to charge people for your
services, you might be a little confused about what to
write per hour. But you don't have to worry about this so
much just yet, because later on in Upwork, you can apply
for jobs. And you're you'll get a better idea of what
people are paying for different projects, you can do
some research before you set your hourly rate, maybe you
want to put it something like $20 an hour or $10 an hour or
even you know $50 an hour depending on your skill level
and what the general pay rate is for that skill. Now I want
to explain Upwork service fee. Okay, so the Upwork service
fee is 20%. When you begin a contract with a new client,
once you Bill over $500 with your client, the fee will be
10%. So here's Upwork pricing structure right here. So when
you first start with a client, there will be a 20% fee. So
that means basically let's say you did a job for $100 for a
client Upwork would take $20 and you would keep $80 okay
and then once you have made Over $500 with a client, that
Upwork only charges 10%. So if you do a job for $100 Upwork
only takes $10. And then if you work with a client for,
let's say, over a year, a couple years, and you have a
lot of work with them, and you make over $10,000 Upwork only
charges 5%. And this is really great because it encourages
you to continue working with clients long term. And
eventually you will benefit from that as well. So let's
say for example, we put the hourly rate at $50. Again,
you're going to want to do some research about what you
should be charging based on your services. And I'll show
you how to do that afterwards. And then you're going to click
Next. Okay, so here we have title and overview. So it says
learn more about writing a great profile or browse
profiles in your category. So this is a short statement
describing the services you offer examples mobile
developer award winning graphic designer specializing
in magazine ads, accomplished blogger and ghostwriter. And
then they also have an option to browse profiles in your
category. So I recommend right clicking and pressing open
link in New Tab. And here, it will link you to upwork.com
slash hire. And you can do some research as you're
creating your profile, which I 100% recommend you do. So
let's say we're a writer, and we want to go article writers.
And you can see here, examples of different profiles. So you
can go ahead and click on any of these people to get an idea
of the sorts of things they're writing. So here would be an
example of the title, this guy, put expert, business
writer, storyteller and published author. And then he
has a whole bunch of information on the skills that
he's offering. So go ahead and browse through these different
categories and then get some ideas for what you should
write for the title and the professional overview. Okay,
so for example, experienced blog writer with a fun and
quirky edge wanting to gain more traffic and followers to
your blog. The key is entertaining and engaging
content with great personality. I have been
writing content for blogs for the past five years and know
what it takes to get readers to stay keep reading and
become lifelong followers. With my engaging and
entertaining style of writing, I'm able to connect to readers
and keep them wanting more. It's time you find the right
kind of writer for your blog to succeed and thrive. I
specialize in blog writing content creation social media,
then you could write something like contact me for a custom
quote for your for all your writing
needs, for example, okay, and you can see here I have this
little icon and if you don't know what this is, this is the
Grammarly extension and you can download Grammarly for
free and use the free version which I will link to in the
description below and when you download Grammarly and the
Grammarly extension it will help you to make sure you're
not making any errors. So let's say for example, I had
this and I wrote this wrong you can see here Grammarly
this Grammarly extension will help you correct these errors.
And this is the free extension I'm showing you. So if you go
to the description below this video, I'll link you to
Grammarly where you can sign up. And you can use the free
account to correct your punctuation, which is so
important. If you have any punctuation errors in anything
in your profile or spelling errors, you know, it's not
going to look very professional and I can see
people getting their accounts, you know declined for
approval. So make sure to install that extension. And
then you can see here, all you do is click on the error and
you can go ahead and correct it. Now you can see I only
wrote this much, you can write quite a bit more. So again, I
recommend you use this to talk a little bit about yourself a
little bit about your skill. And you can put that whatever
it is you specialize in or my services include and just give
basically an outline of what you're offering. Okay? Whether
that's logo design, graphic design, make a very clear
profile and portfolio about what you are advertising our
offering and make it as detailed as possible. Okay. So
once you've done that, you're going to click Next. Now it
says please upload a professional portrait that
clearly shows your face. freelancers with a friendly
professional photo are hired five times more often than
those without a photo. So we're going to go ahead and
click Add profile photo and try to use one that really
shows you a genuine photo that's nice and clear. When
you do this, you can choose your photo and then you can
make this circle just go over like that. Okay, so for
example it said did something like this, so you don't even
have to crop the photo it will do it for you. Then, click
Save So again, mine wasn't a professional portrait. But if
you have an opportunity to put on a nice shirt and take a
picture and have someone take a nice picture on your phone
in front of a white background or something like that, brush
your hair look nice and professional and take a
picture, that will give you a greater chance of getting
accepted as well. Okay, now you have to fill out your
location. So it says, Where are you based, we take your
privacy very seriously, only your city and country will be
shown to clients. So go ahead, put your country your street
address your city, your postal code, your clients are only
going to see your city and your country. So make sure to
fill out your correct country. People are accepting
freelancers from all over the world in Upwork. So you don't
have to, you know, make sure to put your country where
you're actually living in pain, the last thing you have
to do is add in your phone number. And then you're going
to click Preview profile. So once you finish this, you can
preview your profile. And you'll see right here, of
course, it says you skipped some steps, you must complete
these before you can submit your profile. So I would have
to add my education. But you can see here, this is what
your profile would look like. So if you wanted to make any
edits to this, you can click on the plus icon. And you can
edit your title if you wanted. And then click on this plus,
if you wanted to add any anything else with your
overview. Again, it says here describe your strengths and
skills, highlight projects, accomplishments and education.
You could adjust your hourly rate if you want, you can
click to adjust your skills. And then again, you want to
add your employment history and your education. Over here
you can edit your languages. So once you're done all of
this, you're going to go ahead and click Submit profile, this
icon will become available to you once you have filled out
all the necessary information. So again, I recommend you go
over this, you make sure it's free of any errors whatsoever.
And you make it as nice and full as possible so you can
get approved. Okay, so if I were trying to submit this, I
would even add more than just this, I would fill out my
employment history, I would fill out all my education and
make everything look as good as possible and put my full
name here. Now one thing very important, you are only
allowed to have one profile with Upwork, you cannot have
more than one account. So I will not be submitting this
profile. Because I already am on up work, I just wanted to
do this demonstration, you cannot have more than one
account. So work really hard to keep your account and only
one account, I stress that okay,
when I got accepted into Upwork, I had to have a
verification, phone call, I believe it was with Skype. And
it was just a really quick verification to verify that I
was the person that I said I am in my profile. So make sure
to put accurate information about where you live your name
and make sure your picture is really you. So you will get
accepted into Upwork. And once you get accepted into Upwork,
you can search for 1000s and 1000s of jobs. You can see
here I just typed in writing and there are 19,912 jobs
found. And this is just one category. You can search by
experience level by job type by the number of proposals.
You know, Upwork is really an amazing platform for starting
your journey on becoming a freelancer. And if you follow
my channel, you know that I believe becoming a freelancer
is one of the best ways to make money online. I
absolutely love Upwork I know a lot of people you know have
pros and cons about it. But Upwork has really helped me to
become a full time freelancer. So I just think it's a
wonderful platform. So in my next tutorial, I'm going to
show you how to search for jobs, how to apply for jobs
and submit proposals, so you can start trying to get hired
by these different clients. So once you've been accepted into
Upwork now you can view jobs apply to jobs, and edit your
profile to add more things like a portfolio to create an
outstanding profile to make sure you get hired for more
jobs. So in my next tutorial, I'm going to teach you how to
view jobs apply to jobs and create an excellent proposal.
So make sure to like this video if this helped you out.
Feel free to share in your comments below your experience
on upwork.com and any other questions you have about the
platform. Thanks again for watching you guys and I will
see you in my next tutorial.