Author Topic: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?  (Read 8892 times)

Maccountant

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Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« on: June 23, 2018, 05:32:11 AM »

I am interested in doing some freelance side work (bookkeeping and lighter accounting work) and wanted to know if others have had success using some of the popular freelance sites out there?

Are there other sites that may not be as popular but have worked well for you?

What are some online resources or other tips you would recommend for someone just looking to get started?

hodedofome

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2018, 09:55:14 AM »
I know people on the Amazon FBA world that swear by the two sites you mentioned. There are quality people in the Pacific and Eastern Europe who are highly qualified and talented, speak English and will work for $3/hr because it’s higher than what they’d make in their home country with their home currency.

SeattleCPA

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2018, 03:04:26 PM »
It seems like a really tough nut to crack for accounting and bookkeeping work. (I own and manage a CPA firm that provides corporate tax services.)

The fiverr system, for example, would make it very difficult to communicate lots with clients about money stuff in the way you need to in order to do accounting work. And their pricing model destroys opportunities to create value and higher margins through your personal service etc.

BTW? I use fiverr regularly for one-off monograph covers. So I'm pretty familiar with that as a customer.  And fiverr can work okay for that stuff.

But for bookkeeping? Accounting work? Yikes.

P.S. If you want to do this, I'd probably just recommend you setup a website yourself, do a bit of local advertising and local search SEO, and then go for it. If you're not ready to do that, maybe first align yourself with a CPA firm where you get to learn the ropes and then maybe later get referrals.

CareCPA

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2018, 07:18:15 PM »
I do a small amount on Upwork.
The biggest problem is that people who go to Upwork looking for help are generally looking for the cheapest solution. Can you compete against $3 an hour for bookkeeping?

There are some accountants who can charge a real amount, but you'll have to either do jobs for cheap, or be on there a long time to be able to accumulate enough feedback to get considered at higher prices.

AccountingForLife

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2018, 08:40:23 PM »
I've tried Upwork but haven't really gotten any results from it.

The company I work for does use Upwork for outsourcing. As a bean counter I find it expensive for the type of work we get in return.

SeattleCPA

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2018, 07:32:16 AM »
I do a small amount on Upwork.
The biggest problem is that people who go to Upwork looking for help are generally looking for the cheapest solution. Can you compete against $3 an hour for bookkeeping?

There are some accountants who can charge a real amount, but you'll have to either do jobs for cheap, or be on there a long time to be able to accumulate enough feedback to get considered at higher prices.

Agree with everything Chris says here...

Also this comment: The way you make accounting work as a business is to provide services at higher rates and not lower rates. Commoditizing your services (or allowing others to do so) destroys your profitability.

P.S. to Chris. I love the website. Great work! I'm sorry to say that I had not seen your site before.

CareCPA

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2018, 07:48:12 AM »
I do a small amount on Upwork.
The biggest problem is that people who go to Upwork looking for help are generally looking for the cheapest solution. Can you compete against $3 an hour for bookkeeping?

There are some accountants who can charge a real amount, but you'll have to either do jobs for cheap, or be on there a long time to be able to accumulate enough feedback to get considered at higher prices.

Agree with everything Chris says here...

Also this comment: The way you make accounting work as a business is to provide services at higher rates and not lower rates. Commoditizing your services (or allowing others to do so) destroys your profitability.

P.S. to Chris. I love the website. Great work! I'm sorry to say that I had not seen your site before.
Thanks! The website just went live about two weeks ago. Still some kinks to work out, but I appreciate the compliment.

Writer_Girl

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2018, 09:42:34 PM »
These sites make me flinch a little.  It's better than NOT getting paid, I guess, but a lot of artists flock to these kinds of sites and end of getting really taken advantage of.  The pay rate is just...unfair.

kpetar

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #8 on: July 04, 2018, 04:32:17 AM »
I used to sell on Fiverr and people are willing to pay way more than $5 for a gig.

You can offer what you want, even traditional business orientated services but the real question is what services will bring me clients?

Since there are a lot of bookkeeping gigs and reviews on those gigs, there must be a solid demand.


westtoeast

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #9 on: July 04, 2018, 06:04:21 AM »
I've personally done well with Upwork, but the services I offer are very specific to the United States. This may be why I am able to get gigs with a higher price point. Because of the Upwork fee scale, it makes sense to find a few clients who will need ongoing work instead of lots of random gigs where you only work with the client once.

MaaS

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2018, 10:13:55 AM »

I am interested in doing some freelance side work (bookkeeping and lighter accounting work) and wanted to know if others have had success using some of the popular freelance sites out there?

Are there other sites that may not be as popular but have worked well for you?

What are some online resources or other tips you would recommend for someone just looking to get started?

As a buyer, the sites are a decent resource.

As a seller? Run. These sites are the garage sale equivalent of the freelancing market. The people who look for help there tend to have incredibly low price expectations. It's a race to the bottom.

I'd start with LinkedIn ProFinder. I've found some solid clients from it.

zazpowered

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2018, 03:39:51 PM »
I've used both as a buyer of services. As someone wanting to find work I would find jobs where you can actually stand out and charge a higher rate

nurseart

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #12 on: July 12, 2018, 06:56:16 AM »
Other side of the coin, but I've hired someone on upwork to help out on a project for our small business. The hourly rate is higher than what I would normally pay but for smaller specific projects it is fantastic. There is QI built in so I know I am getting good hours out of the person. I plan on using upwork again.

CubicleWarrior

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #13 on: September 07, 2018, 08:26:40 AM »
I regularly use Fiverr and Upwork for my side business. Fiver for the quick, simple, items that don't require a ton of skill (ex simple images). Upwork for the professionals.

I may be in the minority, but I don't search for the lowest price on Upwork, I search for the best value. Poor quality costs too much. When filtering applicants I look for strong profiles (pictures, portfolios, and aptitude tests). I also look for people who actually read my posting. Anyone who puts automated replies gets automatically rejected. Lastly, I look for reviews.

If you're starting out on Upwork you will have to build credibility. That may mean taking lower paying gigs to start out. Consider it tuition to build a client list and good reviews. If you do good work, chances are the same people will hire you. And you'll be able to increase your rate once you're known.

stevewisc

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #14 on: November 08, 2018, 10:15:49 PM »
I’ve hired part time accountants via indeed, Craigslist and referrals.  Most stop by the office to do the work but wouldn’t have to. 

We hired a remote accounting firm in the Phillipines it was a little lower cost but the value was terrible.  Language, time zone and task management was rough for us. 

Might try some limited direct sales visits to small businesses. Offer to help with payroll or AR - common pain areas for some folks.

Good luck.

lollylegs

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #15 on: November 09, 2018, 12:53:22 AM »
I did quite well on Upwork a few years ago,mainly writing articles related to my profession.  Don't aim for the lowest priced work though. Get a few jobs under your belt then put your prices up. Write each bid tailored to the job and have a professional looking bio/profile. There are people who will pay very well for good quality work.

AlanAbroad

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #16 on: November 09, 2018, 11:02:31 PM »
I've had much success with Upwork and recommend it to others.

I don't go for the lowest price for services but for the best value and fit.

I've gotten all sorts of translations done, had someone run data analysis for a thesis, and even hired one lady to get some documents attested for me at an embassy abroad. I chose her specifically because she was (a) in the location that I needed the attestation done and (b) was noted in a review to be diligent and reliable.

That was absolutely all that I required at that time, and I paid very fairly. It still cost me 10-15X less than if I flew there and did it myself.

Basically, yes for Upwork, imo.


laxstache

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #17 on: November 28, 2018, 01:54:13 PM »
I started looking for work on Upwork, and eventually concluded that the platform is formatted to better serve the people doing the hiring vs. doing the working.

The market tends to be really saturated if you're looking for work and it can be tough to differentiate. On the other hand, I've had tons of luck hiring people on Upwork to complete jobs for clients I've found in the 'real world'. The arbitrage opportunities for finding paying customers / companies in the real world and providing kick ass services via freelancers on upwork are huge (at least I think so).

rulesforrebels

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #18 on: November 28, 2018, 02:42:13 PM »
With the skillsets your talking about you'll have more luck with Upwork, Upwork to me is a bit more serious about business where as Fiverr is a lot of silly gigs, social media shares, etc. People on these platforms really lowball you on the cost so look at Upwork as a way to build a profile and build some feedback to the point where people request you for gigs or you can work with people off of the platform. Ultimately your never going to make much money just working on these platforms.

If you decide to expand into other gigs things which are really easy to crank out make the best gigs, something which can almost be automated. I used to sell lists of hot selling products, do video intros where I used a software to literally just plug in a word, brand or logo and it would spit out like a 15 second video intro. You want to focus on things which can either be automated or done really quickly.

dreaktor

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #19 on: January 02, 2019, 06:22:01 AM »
I am doing really great on Upwork, it is one of the main income sources I have. The other is Freelancer.com
https://www.upwork.com/fl/borisvasilenko
You don't have to compete with lower priced offers coming from all round the world, just find your niche and build credibility in it. For example, as a software developer not from US, I chose an 'expert at some specific stuff' niche, and started with 25 per hour. In 10 months I went up to 45 per hour, which is reasonable for my clients and good for me. I have seen a lot of freelancers from US who earn 60-70 per hour, some soft architecture guys make above 100. And you can definitely do six figure annual earnings on Upwork/Freelancer.com, if you put all your effort into it.
Upwork is world wide job marketplace and obviously it is tough to begin working there. It's more about pscyhology than about everyhting else. Many people immediately see a lot of reasons why they will not be able to succeed. I had to read a couple of motivational books, to manage myself to even start believing that I can succeed there.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2019, 06:25:46 AM by dreaktor »

Rightflyer

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Re: Who here has had success with Upwork or Fiverr?
« Reply #20 on: January 07, 2019, 06:20:00 AM »
Upwork just reflects the reality of a market economy.

We have hired some people from the third world to do low-skill tasks and paid them what it was economically worth.

We have spent far more on Occidental contractors with certain valuable skills; usually native English speakers due to the nature of the work. In our experience, once we found a dependable freelancer we tried to shift work their way whenever possible.

If you have a niche where you can provide a solution to an employer, they will pay gladly.