Get Business Help on Demand With Instant Consultations

Have an idea you need to bounce off of a seasoned professional—right now? Curious to see how well you'll work with independent talent? Need to solve a problem as quickly as possible?

Instant consultations on Upwork may be the solution you’ve been looking for.

How instant consultations can help your business

Instant consultations take seconds to request and are a great way to tap into the expertise of professionals on Upwork.

While each professional on Upwork decides how to structure their consultations—and what they can talk about—you can get 30 to 60 minutes of help on topics like:

• Improving network security at your organization
• Planning and scheduling social media content
• Starting the apparel design process
• Launching an e-commerce shop
• Building a sales funnel for an online course
• Understanding your business taxes

Instant consultations differ from traditional consultations on Upwork in that there's little to no wait time. Rather than booking a professional's time in advance, you can opt to talk to them now.

How instant consultations work

The first step in launching an instant consultation is finding someone you'd like to meet with. After logging into Upwork, navigate to the search bar at the top of your dashboard and select “talent” from the drop-down. Type in a service or skill that you need help with. A list of qualified talent will appear—just select “offers consultations” in the search filters along the left to narrow your results.

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Look for talent profiles with the label "Next consultation time: Now." This indicates the talent is available for an instant consultation.

After clicking "Book a Consultation," you'll be directed to a page with more details about the service. You'll get the opportunity to select how long you'd like your consultation to be.

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Click on the green "Continue" button to proceed. At this point, we'll notify the consultant of your interest. Once they accept your request for an instant consultation, you'll be charged the listed price.

We'll send you and your consultant instructions on how to start a Zoom meeting together right on the Upwork platform. There's no need to set up a meeting link or figure out how to communicate—we take care of everything.

And don't worry—if the talent you want to speak with isn't available right now, or doesn't offer instant consultations, you can continue to schedule consults in advance.

Know you're getting expert help with instant consultations

Instant consultations are only offered by a select segment of the professionals on Upwork.

In order to meet with you instantly, a professional must have a Top Rated or Top Rated Plus talent badge and prior experience offering consultations through the platform.

This means that each time you book an instant consultation, you can be confident that you're meeting with someone who's well versed in both their area of expertise and working as a consultant.

And, if you enjoy working with your consultant, you can always invite them to work with you more via an ongoing Upwork contract.

Start an instant consultation now

Talent Marketplace™ users can begin requesting instant consultations now. The independent professionals you rely on to get work done efficiently are online and available to meet in minutes—sign up or log in to your Upwork account to start booking consultations right away.