7 Tips To Increase Your Freelance Revenue

Freelancing, for many, is the path to a career breakthrough, both in terms of personal fulfillment and money earned. After working with hundreds of clients that freelance—and freelancing myself on Upwork—I will share the useful insights I’ve learned from others and from my own experience while earning my Expert Vetted badge and obtaining a 100% job satisfaction score.

But first, let’s review some of the reasons you may wish to become an independent talent freelancing through Upwork:

• As of 2023, Upwork has 5 million registered companies looking for independent talent
• 30% of Fortune 100 companies utilize Upwork
• In 2022, clients spent $4.1 billion on Upwork

Upwork offers unprecedented access to work. The trick is to find the value and fit that matter to you as you navigate the many opportunities. Learn how to maximize the income you make—in some cases I’ve seen income increases as high as 35%—by following seven tips.  

1. Avoid bidding too low
2. Customize each proposal
3. Prove your value
4. Set up job alerts
5. Define and focus what you offer
6. Upgrade to an agency
7. Pass on projects that don’t fit

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1: Avoid bidding too low

Many freelancers think bidding low on a job gives them the advantage. This is definitely not the case.

When a client posts a job, the amount they list for the project is what they’ve deemed the project is worth. Sometimes the client may have guessed accurately, but many times they may not know what is required to complete the job, and it’s your role to tell them.

If you keep it professional and courteous, the process of explaining how your bid matches the actual scope of work for the job will showcase your expertise and value.

Bidding too low could give clients the opposite impression you seek—that your value is also low. Employers often view low-wage workforces as dispensible due to their high turnover. Employers may also correlate low-pay with low productivity.

What to do

Bid what you think the job is worth, and share how you came to that amount. You may agree with the client’s budget or bid even higher. To decide the project’s worth, you can factor in your skills, the industry wage standard, and the time it will take to complete the job.

Key takeaway

Bidding a job’s fair value will land you with higher pay for each project, and mean you can take on fewer projects, or increase your pay overall. If it turns out the client hires a freelancer who bids lower, that client may not be going for the quality you provide. If that’s true, they are likely not the client for you.

2: Customize each proposal

Most freelancers submit impersonal proposals. Personalizing your proposal, then, is an easy way to stand out from the crowd.

The clients I work with on Upwork report that 18 out of 20 proposals are too general. Clients reviewing proposals can tell which are templates. Spending an additional three minutes personalizing your proposal will automatically place you at the top of their list.

What to do

Make the first 20 words of your proposal count. Clients only see the first 20 words before clicking to view more, so you have 20 words to capture attention. Personalize the template Upwork provides. Ways to do that include:

• Customize your headline: Pay attention to what the client has specifically requested in the job description and directly address that in the headline of your proposal to show the client you’ve read and understood what they are looking for
• Get specific in the body of the text: Outline how your skill sets or experience relate to what was mentioned in the job post
• End with a catchy post script (P.S.): Clients are drawn to a P.S., so incorporate this element into your proposal as an additional proposal entry point

Key takeaway

Since 18 out of 20 proposals are not personalized, you will be in the small percent of personalized proposals more likely to land the job.

3: Prove your value

Landing a job goes beyond writing a good proposal. Once you’ve caught the interest of a client, they often request to meet you through a video chat, especially with high-paying contracts. You’ve not yet earned the contract but you have earned an additional opportunity to prove your worth. Avoid being reactive and hopping onto a call before taking the time you need to prepare.

What to do

On the call, be confident, but not overly so. Tune in sensitively to the clients needs and focus on conveying the results the client will get from you. Spend 30 seconds on your prior experience—then focus on value creation.

If your client’s goal is to create a best-seller, for example, share the value, beyond the best-selling book, that you’ll help them create.

After your brief share on how you’ve helped other clients write a best-seller, spend the remaining time on how you’ll help the client not only create their own best-seller, but envision how they may take it further, setting up a coaching career using the book as a lead magnet, for example. You may also want to suggest additional book projects.

Key takeaway

Proving your value encourages clients to work with you not just once, but repeatedly, building a stable of repeat customers. This adds to an ongoing income stream and reduces the hassle of fighting to land new contracts.

4: Set up job alerts

As you search for jobs on Upwork, setting up job alerts that relate to your area of expertise will help you be among the first people applying to the job once it’s posted and potentially when the client is still online. (Although don’t rush too much—still be sure to think through and personalize your proposal.)

My research shows that Upwork freelancers are more likely to land a job when they apply within 4 hours of the job posting. There is a good reason for this.

The hiring process for independent talent like freelancers is different from the hiring process for corporate recruitment. Corporate recruitment can take weeks to months. Clients hiring a freelancer through Upwork are hoping for a much faster procurement process. Some as fast as a few hours.

What to do

Set up job alerts on Upwork using an RSS job alert aggregator. There are many free options to choose from, but I like to use Blogtrottr (check out my YouTube video that shows how to link it to your Upwork job search). The process is easy and lets you get instantly notified of job openings.

Key takeaway

If you are among the first few people applying for the job and you’ve delivered a great proposal, the client will likely view your application, increasing your chances of landing the job.

5: Define and focus what you offer

A common mistake freelancers make is offering too many services. This sometimes makes sense when you start out—you want to be everywhere to increase the number of jobs you can apply to. You may be trying to figure out which skill gets the most traction.

This is a good approach for a beginner. As you build your career, however, you need to narrow your niche. Define and focus what you offer, to avoid these variables that happen to generalists:

• You have more competition
• Your diverse focus prevents you from effectively honing one skill
• Your portfolio is too general and doesn’t show enough experience in one area
• Your client network can’t refer you as an expert
• Your marketing will be too broad, rather than specific and refined

Specialists, in general, earn more than generalists.  A specialist could get $2,000 for a project, whereas a generalist can only get $1,000. A specialist has years of concentrated experience, marketing, and skills to show for it.

Who would you hire if you were looking to build a website for your fashion brand, for example?

Applicant A: Has six years of experience as a web developer for fashion brands.

Applicant B: Has six years of experience as a web developer.

You got it: Applicant A.

What to do

Make a list of the niches within your skillset. Go onto Upwork and input those niches one after the other in the job search. Any of the niches that bring up 3-5 job posts daily (you will need to track back to the previous days) is a good start. This shows there are jobs in this niche.

Select the niche that has the most job posts daily—as long as you enjoy the niche.

Key takeaway

Freelancers that develop a niche reduce their competition and build a network where one high-paying client refers them to another higher-paying client. After successfully nicheing, you can command more fees due to your concentrated years of experience in one area.

6: Upgrade to an agency

Even when you are dominating a niche, you could be leaving money on the table. One of the best ways to increase your pay is to offer clients a package of skills that relate to the main skill you are marketing. Do this by bringing in others with their own niche skills in areas that relate to yours.

A client looking to build a website for their fashion brand, for example, would ideally need these skills:

• Web developer
• UX/UI designer
• Brand/website copywriter
• SEO Blog writer in the long run.

You landed the web developer spot. But what if you became an agency owner that specialized in building websites for fashion brands, and you could get the client to work with you on everything?

What to do

You can set up an agency on Upwork. Find freelancers you can vouch for that complement your skill and then apply for jobs or pitch your services as an agency owner to clients you have landed and get 10 to 20% of the total fee the other freelancers in your agency will earn.

How this boosts your revenue

You’ll still be sending proposals that rely on your niche skill sets and impressive experience base. Except as an agency owner, you’ll offer a comprehensive service to your client, bring work to freelancers who may not have found the work themselves, and get that 10 to 20% additional revenue. You still hold the client relationship, and monitor the output and end product from the other freelancers.  

7: Pass on projects that don’t fit

It’s common to feel insecure and bid on or accept a job that isn’t a fit for you, simply because you are worried about revenue. I advise against this, to avoid spending time on the wrong project when you could instead be freed up to find and bid on one that is right.

You also risk producing low-quality work, when the project isn’t a fit, or having a less-than-desirable connection with the client, potentially leading to bad reviews.

What to do

Take time to vet your clients and the project they are proposing. Even when you are tempted to say yes, pass on clients you aren’t sure about, and turn down projects that seem too challenging, unclear, or don’t quite fit your niche. Turn them down politely, and even refer them to another freelancer if you know someone who would be a better fit for the client or the job.

How this boosts your revenue

When you say no, you lose the job, but you give yourself more room to take on more enjoyable and high-paying projects.

Learn how to increase freelance revenue

Once you figure out where you fit and how to show your value to clients on Upwork, you’ll unlock the pathway to greater financial success. Finding great clients through platforms like Upwork have changed the game for freelancers.

Continue the upward trajectory of your career by learning from your mistakes and the mistakes of others. There is money to be made. Make it!

Want to learn more about becoming a master freelancer? Join my course Freelancer Masterclass, available now. Reach out to me on Upwork to find out more.