Why you should NEVER go off the clock
For some reason, I always hear about other freelancers that want to take their business offline to save some extra money because they feel like Upwork is a rip-off.
I also hear from clients about wanting the same thing, but that definitely doesn’t make any sense. For now, we’ll just focus on freelancers.
Here’s why that’s really stupid:
1. You can just add the fees into your base rate.
This is by far the dumbest reason for not wanting to use Upwork for all their jobs is the fees.
But it makes absolutely zero sense to weigh this into a factor since nobody ever has a problem paying the increase.
2. You aren’t insured.
If the client fucks you over, Upwork ensures that even if the client tries to completely bail from paying, they cover you. Many times a client will have big ideas but when push comes to shove, they have little to no interest in following through with their payment promises.
Should you care about this? NOPE!
Let Upwork cover this so you don’t waste your time trying to hit up or complaining to someone that doesn’t give a shit about you.
What are you going to do?
Take them to small claims court?
File a grievance?
Get the fuck outta here! Not only will this cost you money, more importantly, it will cost you time.
Time when you can be working with legit clients that have no problem paying you.
And if you’re working with other clients and completing tasks you’re making yourself more valuable. If you’re known for fighting with clients and having disagreements, nobody will want to work with you.
Let Upwork handle it — that’s why you’re paying the big bucks.
3. You’ll have to make your own memos to show the client what you’ve been doing.
One of the biggest waste of time with clients is having to take time to show you what you’re doing. It’s also the last thing a client wants to ask. If you’re working off Upwork, you need to constantly update your client on the status and current budget.
These usually necessitate a daily report that includes all the things you worked on and the exact amount of time you’re put in.
Unless the project is being paid on milestones, which you’ll have an even more difficult time proving, since 9 times out of 10 the scope of work has changed from the original scope of work.
So all this time wasted sending these reports still won’t guarantee you being paid.
Sounds awesome, right?
4. It builds your reputation so you have better stats.
One of my most valuable accomplishments in the last 3 years with being on Upwork has been the reputation I’ve developed.
The reputation involves the great reviews, the stars, and the money that’s been exchanged. All of these things would be impossible to demonstrate without a lot of time being invested. Not to mention, if you try and prove this on your own, it still won’t be as good as if it were displayed on a 3rd party marketplace.
Having this information displayed in an unbiased marketplace proves that you’re better than the competition.
There are millions of freelancers and thousands of people looking for good talent. Being able to outshine the other freelancers is hugely important for growth.
I have a lot more information regarding this topic in other posts.
5. Social proof of your pricing.
Like I just said in number 4, social proof is one of the most effective strategies in marketing. Nothing says social proof like people paying you a lot of money and being super happy about it.
During your first interview, instead of spending time telling the potential client how awesome you are, you can simply defer them to other people that think you’re awesome. Since some of my clients have spent over 70 or 80 thousand dollars, they will also feel a lot better about paying you.
Easy to manage multiple clients. This is one of the only reasons I actually am able to consult. If you’ve read some of my other posts, you’ll know that I have severe ADD.
Some things that help this ADD are working with multiple clients and doing many different things throughout the day.
Part of why the Upwork time tracker is so awesome is that I can easily switch between clients and get right into it. If it were not for this system, billing would be a cluster fuck and I probably wouldn’t be able to keep track at all of my clients and they’d all be pissed at me.
6. Guaranteed payment.
Again, the guaranteed payment is so awesome, and such a great thing that Upwork handles. Like I mentioned before, sometimes clients’ credit cards will expire or their PayPal is out of cash. In the past, you’d hear excuses or they’d just ignore you until you went away.
With Upwork, they’ll ensure that any log timed, as long as you keep an accurate memo, is paid with no question. This will literally save your ass if you depend on this type of work to keep the lights on.
