In this blog I am going to reveal how I made my first $10,000 on Upwork and how you can do the same. The truth is, taking the first step on your freelance journey is often the most difficult. Keep reading to discover how I started, how I continued to gain momentum from each job I landed, and how you can replicate and do the same in your freelancing career.

• Taking That First Step as a Freelancer
• How Much I Made On My First Projects On Upwork 
• How I Landed My First High-Ticket Client 
• How I Earned My First $4k
• Making My First $10K Freelancing On Upwork
• How Lucrative Upwork Is

 Taking That First Step as a Freelancer

If you are just starting out as a freelancer, and your focus is only at the end goal of success, that’s fine but it will seem impossible and most likely will discourage you from even taking that first step to start. There’s a famous quote from a wise man named Lao Tzu, who said:

• "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

When you are first starting out, focus on one step at a time, and start taking actions that will get you closer to your freelancing goals. It's the same with inspiration, don't look at the final result, look at what successful people in your field did to take steps towards achieving their goals. Once you take one step in the direction of your goal, the second step gets easier.

Whether that be:

• Learning a new skill
• Finding a new job
• Starting a business
• Becoming a freelance writer
• Starting a side-hustle

When you're starting your own business or you're starting out freelancing, it's really hard to compare yourself with others who are already well-established and see how you can get to the position that other successful freelancers are in. If you go on Upwork and you see some of the top-rated freelancers who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, it's tough to think that you can get there and you can compete with them. 

However, it's a lot easier to understand when you're able to first look at every single step of their journey because no one is an overnight success. It all takes dedication and consistency. Down below I am going to be sharing my freelance journey with you from my very first step, all the way to me making $10k a month on Upwork.

How Much I Made On My First Projects On Upwork 

My name is Paul and this is my Upwork profile:

How I Landed My First High-Ticket Client

Once I discovered that Upwork could turn into a full-time thing for me and replace my current job I had at the time, that's when it all changed for me. I then was able to land my first big client after this realization. I consider big clients “high-ticket” clients because you're able to secure over a thousand dollars or more for a project.

My first high-ticket client upped my earnings to $1,435 with the next project I worked on. I also got an amazing testimonial and a 5-star review where the client said: 

• “Paul was phenomenal to work with. I had knowledge in the PPC world and also was relatable and understood the importance of driving measurable results.“

This client wanted someone who knew about Google Ads to provide a walk-through of the platform for them and build out multiple targeted campaigns.

So with this project, I started to get some real momentum and I was thinking: 

“Maybe I really can turn this into a full-time job or a side-hustle.” 

After this project, I had a total of $1,435 in earnings on Upwork. Then the next project was a $500 fixed cost project. That brings me to $1,935. So now just under $2,000 in earnings and this is where this client said that they needed someone who was a PPC expert to look at the data that they had before a certain time. After I worked with them, they were so satisfied and they said they would consider hiring me again for my services and they recommended my services to others.

How I Earned My First $4k

This next part jumps into how I earned my first $4,000 on Upwork. This next project I worked on was offering my expertise and looking at what was going on in the client’s account, and what they’re doing. I got a $500 fixed-price project from that and it was only about a month of work. From there I moved on to a project and worked six hours for $49 an hour and I secured another $269.50 bringing me to a total of $2,204.50, and this project was someone who needed a consultant for Adwords and Analytics. This is again, a very similar project to the other ones.

Then I found a very awesome opportunity and I worked on this project for 44 hours. So this was an ongoing project where I worked from 2018-2019. I helped this client set up their YouTube Ads. The only difference with this was I helped them manage those ads on-going. So not only did I help them set up the campaign, I managed them, I logged my hours and I was able to secure $2,164.17 bringing the total to $4,368.67. This project was an ongoing project that helped me just focus on making some money on Upwork on the side of my current job. I knew I was going to get a great review from them and at the end of it I secured a good review, and a testimonial where they said: 

• "Paul is an excellent freelancer to work with. He listened to everything we wanted and was able to come up with solutions and worked with us easily to deliver what we were looking for.”

Their YouTube page has grown tremendously with a minimum budget due to my skill and managing and building the ads and they highly recommend working with me. Now this client was an awesome client to build case studies around because I took their YouTube channel which had no subscribers and no views and we drove over 50,000 views on every one of their popular videos and was able to promote their services and create a local commercial that helped the company get in the spotlight.

At this point on my Upwork freelancing journey I had racked up $4k in earnings.

Making My First $10K Freelancing On Upwork

Now moving on to how I earned my first $10,000 in earnings on Upwork. The next client I had, I was able to secure $3,460.67 and this client brought me to $7,861.34 in earnings. They needed not only someone to do Google but also Yahoo, Bing, Pay Per Click Ads, and they're a growing agency.

So from there, that was an amazing and lucrative project I got to work on and worked on where it was an hourly project at an even higher rate. For this project, I was able to secure $414. I worked 16 hours for $69 an hour. So if we add that $414 in, it brings us to $8,275.34 total in earnings.

This was someone that didn't end up going with Linkedin Ads. They were asking about Google Ads. They didn't know that that was the right direction and so I guided them in that direction, looked at what Campaign that they set up, and they were on their way after that. From there, I went on and that's when I landed the next client where this was another the big high ticket client - a $2,058.57 project which brings my earnings to $10,333.84 on the platform.

There is so much potential when you put in the work on Upwork and stay consistent. If you are interested in finding out for yourself how lucrative Upwork can be, start this on the side of your current job. You don't have to do this full-time and quit everything you're doing. In fact, it is encouraged you try this on the side first like I did and build your experience up from there. It doesn't hurt to get some extra income, whether it helps pays your car bill, helps contribute towards rent, or helps pay for your food. Every single dollar counts.

However, there are myths associated with freelancing that often will hold aspiring people back from pursuing freelancing on Upwork as their career full-time. This is why I am here to shed some light on the benefits of the lucrative side to freelancers on this platform. As we know, there’s no definite answer to how much freelancers can get paid or how much you can make as a freelancer yourself. To leverage Upwork’s lucrative opportunities, it depends on:

• The value and your services that you are providing
• The amount of hours you're putting in
• The amount of experience you have
• The type of skills you’ve developed over-time

Freelancing on Upwork is so flexible unlike any other job position because it lets you decide the rate you’ll charge for your work. When you find a good client, they will be more than happy to pay you what you’re worth and even give you referrals (which is encouraged to try and get from every client you work with).

The only limit to earning more money as a freelancer, is yourself. We are in the digital era where earning money online is easily accessible to anyone who takes advantage of providing in-demand services to clients. If you want to discover why freelance annual earnings are in the trillions and see success stories on top-rated freelancers, you won’t want to miss this article!

The first step is always important. Once you make the first step, you gain confidence and your motivation to succeed will grow. It is necessary to have dreams, but daydreams will not come true by just thinking about them, you have to take action. If you want to hear more about this topic and liked what I went over in this blog, I made a YouTube video that outlines the beginning steps of my freelancing journey to help inspire you to take that first action step to become a successful freelancer yourself.

>>> Click here to watch my new YouTube video now!

- Paul Mendes

 Founder of Profitable Freelancer