It's your friendly neighborhood curmudgeon here to talk about something I see constantly on the sub: UpWork.

UpWork is a fantastic way for freelancers to make money. LinkedIn, Twitter, your local newspaper, and shouting on the street can all be lucrative ways to land clients and be successful. Just because something didn't work for you, doesn't mean it can't work for someone else.

When I see people complaining about the lack of work or low rates on UpWork, two things always come to mind:

1. How are you pitching to clients? Are you using a boring pitch that they're immediately going to skip? Does it even show your skills and what you're offering that client, or are you just saying you can write words good?

2. What niches are you focusing on? Sure, you can be an expert in underwater basket weaving, but that doesn't mean clients are paying top dollar for that niche. I'm not saying to abandon your underwater basket weaving book dreams, but let's be a little realistic here.

To answer the first question, I'll show you the pitch I send to 99% of clients, and it works more often than not.

It comes with two pieces: I tell the who I am/what I do, and I ask a leading question to get a response. Clients see it and see I'm invested, and it usually works. Pair it with relevant samples and it works like a charm.

For the second question, it's really up to you. I can't tell you how much you'll earn in a niche. I'll say that Tech (including crypto, but that's a whole other can of worms), Legal, and Medical stuff will pay quite well, but I'm sure there's money in any industry. However, I would stay away from pop culture, gaming, and travel unless you're already established. They're over-saturated and underpaying in most cases.

The final piece of advice I want to give is raise your rates aggressively after your first few gigs. UpWork's algorithm kicks in after you've been working for a bit, so it's not uncommon to start with one of the shitty under .05c/word gigs for maybe a month. After that, start raising your rates. You should be scared to tell them your rate, but never negotiate. Pick a rate, stay firm, and use it in your pitches. The work will come, I swear.