Expert-Vetted Freelancer Challenges the Norm With Her Career

Hyunjn “Jenna” Kang-Graham has been freelancing since 2009.

As a Expert-Vetted social media marketing specialist and market researcher on Upwork, Jenna has distinguished herself as a professional with very high level technical and soft skills. She is among the top 1% of independent professionals on the platform.

It goes without saying, Jenna knows a thing or two about what it takes to be a successful freelancer. We sat down with her to learn more about her unconventional life. Plus, she shared first-hand wisdom for freelancers aspiring to similar levels of success and clients hoping to work with professionals like her.

Smashing stereotypes and breaking boundaries with freelancing

When Jenna travels back and forth between South Korea and the U.S., her work never stops. With global clients, she’s not limited by international borders so her work simply accompanies her wherever she goes. But the road to this lifestyle wasn’t traveled overnight.

Originally from South Korea, Jenna’s freelancing journey began in 2009 when she moved to Cedar City, Utah, where her American husband was offered a job as a professor.

Jenna with her husband and fur babies

Despite being a qualified digital marketer in Korea, Jenna found herself short on work opportunities in the small American town. “I had digital marketing experience from my job in Korea, but I struggled to find opportunities where I was. So, I began freelancing remotely for Korean clients, while promoting myself as a writer and writing consultant through my blog. ”

In 2009, freelancing was a more unconventional career choice than it is today. While Jenna saw it as an opportunity to continue advancing her marketing skills and career, many in her circle simply saw it as a “hobby job.”

“Nowadays people dream about remote work. You can work from home or from anywhere. But back then, the attitude in Korea wasn't like that. If you were freelancing, it didn’t really count as career experience. They didn’t consider it a respectable career,” Jenna reminisced.

Then, a couple of years later, when  Jenna and her husband moved to Seoul, she found herself contending with another societal stereotype in Korea. “If you’re a married woman in your thirties, it’s still really hard to go back to the workforce.”

Freelancing came to the rescue, yet again. And this time, Jenna wanted to keep growing. “I worked for Korean clients for five years but I wanted to explore more global marketing opportunities.”

Enter Upwork: the fuel to Jenna’s fire

In 2014, Jenna used to manage a thriving online community that she built for Korean women in intercultural relationships. “One of the community members mentioned Upwork (then Elance) so I checked it out and decided to create a profile and start looking for a project I can work on.”

She remembers feeling like she was starting her career from scratch. Unable to share proprietary work from previous clients, she felt she was back to zero. “Although I had good experience, there was no evidence I could provide. I had no proof of what I could do well. So that was tricky.”

But instead of letting the circumstances get her down, she put her marketing hat on and decided to focus on getting a few good reviews for her work. “When you’re shopping online, you prioritize products with good star ratings and reviews. So that was my strategy for Upwork too. I applied for lots of different projects that suited my skills and always did my best.

“When you do good work and build a great relationship with clients, they give you a good rating. I always got five stars with good positive feedback. And when you become a top-rated ‘product’—or a top-rated freelancer in my case—you get better opportunities.”

Client testimonials from Jenna’s Upwork profile

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Jenna’s strategy and hard work paid off. Her five star reviews landed her a long-term project with an enterprise client in the tourism industry. She calls this her “first great break” and worked with the client for five years before COVID decimated the tourism industry.

Freelancing enables learning, growth, and global success

Jenna’s positive attitude and hunger for learning from every experience are the key driving factors for her success. While COVID-19 led to her losing her long term client, she looks back on it as a major turning point in her career. “The five years of experience working in a global marketing team for a major client really gave me the confidence that I can do well as a marketer and market researcher on a global level. I realized I don't need to be limited to a space, or to the country I live in. I can work for clients anywhere.”

Jenna, working from a cafe in Seoul, South Korea

This professional experience led to more great reviews for Jenna. She also earned a 100% Job Success Score and became Expert-Vetted on Upwork. “These boosts to my Upwork profile definitely helped! And while tourism struggled during the pandemic, the e-commerce industry started booming and I found it relatively easy to transition to the industry, thanks to Upwork.”

Jenna started working with a Korean e-commerce startup. This experience then led to finding another enterprise client, which, to Jenna’s delight, was a company that wasn’t focused on Korean growth alone.

“I wanted to do more than just Korean projects. So this particular client was amazing because it was a technology company and they wanted market research on e-commerce technology. The CEO just respected that I had the experience they specifically needed and they didn’t care about where I’m from or what my native language is. My background and my skills were all that mattered.

“So that's always my approach now. I just prove myself to clients first and then they will eventually give me more opportunities.”

Jenna puts her heart and soul into each project she takes on. She learns on and off the job with a dedication that has led to a diverse international portfolio of clients. She takes experience from one project and knows how to apply it to another, even in different industries.

“Nowadays creativity and innovation come from fusing different experiences and I can do that because of my diverse experience. My Upwork profile has allowed me to demonstrate this and clients have definitely noticed. Each client experience has led me to learn and grow and find another client as a result of that experience.”

Life (and her career) have come full circle in 2024. Now, clients in Korea are pursuing Jenna for her expertise. They value her diverse, global freelancing experience and want to accommodate her in whatever way she prefers to work—which is usually remote.

Advice for new freelancers: go above and beyond

Jenna says freelancers have a lot more opportunities now than were available back in 2009. “Whatever skills you have, there are clients who need them. So just get started. Build your experience and start getting good reviews and then you can move on to better projects that suit your interest more.”

Her number one piece of advice to new freelancers is to always do your best work and commit yourself to the client. She shares her own approach to her work as an example. “I never have a Plan B. I focus on one project at a time and I spend a lot of my personal time studying and developing my knowledge of the industry because I want to know what competitors are doing. I really commit myself 100%.”

She believes this dedication and commitment are what help her stand out and why clients keep coming back to work with her.

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Advice for clients to work with Expert-Vetted talent

Jenna is proud of the effort she puts in behind the scenes for every project. For clients looking to work with Expert-Vetted talent like her, she wants them to understand why top-rated freelancers charge more for their expertise.

“I really commit myself 100% for each client. So if they pay too little, I need to work on multiple projects because then I don't make enough money to support myself. So when I'm working on multiple projects, of course, I can’t use all my attention for that particular project. Divided attention can mean lower quality work.

If you want your freelancer to be a reliable extension of your team, give them a certain level of stability. This will give them the time to develop their skills and knowledge; and support your project’s success.

Maybe other freelancers are more affordable, but when you pay top-rated talent, you know you’ll get good results. You get the experience and knowledge you’re paying for and you will be more successful in what you want to do when you're paying them fairly.”

Jenna’s number one request from clients is to be clear on what they would like her to do. Unclear job descriptions or expectations make it difficult to assess if the client and the project are a good fit for the freelancer and vice versa.

Jenna is always open to new projects and the opportunity to grow her knowledge and skill set. Send her a message or invite her to submit a proposal if you would like to work with her.