Most freelancers who start working on Upwork face the difficulty of taking the first contract. They begin to look immediately for medium and large contracts, not considering small in which they pay about $5.
You might say that $5 is too small and you will not even start working. And this is a big mistake. Because most likely you will not be able to take a contract for a very long time, if at all it will turn out in the end. Here are the reasons why it is worth getting your first contract for a small amount of money.
You are new and no one trusts you
No matter how good you are, your work history is empty and this does not cause customers’ trust. They do not want to sign big contracts with you, because they do not know what to expect from you. But they will be able to agree for a small work with a smaller payment.
You will receive your first review
After work that you have done well, you will get a good review. Now you are no longer a beginner, and the next contract will be simpler, since you already have information about you and in the history of the work there will be relevant information.
In the future there may be more work
If you execute an order for $5, then the client may need more work. And he will most likely return back to you. But here it is also necessary to consider what kind of budget he has and whether he plans to spend more. If you just ordered a small 5-minute job, then maybe it’s just worth considering him as your regular customer and asking him from time to time whether he needs help.
If you have done a long and complicated job, which in your opinion costs much more than $5, then it is better to refuse it in the future and find your customers who will pay as much as you will be enough. Do business with such people only when you start building a reputation on Upwork.
Conclusion
In the end, I want to say that you should not wait for serious contracts if you have just registered on Upwork. Take on the small work and get your first testimonials. This will give you great acceleration, and subsequent customers will begin to trust you more.
Please note that you may have to deal with a layer of customers who want to pay as little as possible, and you will have to spend much more time and effort than you think.