Can LinkedIn ProFinder Challenge UpWork?

[Lex DeVille]

Got an email this morning to notify me of LinkedIn's Profinder service. A freelance matching service that looks like it could be direct competition for UpWork. I just gave it a quick glance, but it looks like they match freelancers with local gigs.

Also looks like freelancers have to be on a LinkedIn premium business plan for $47/mo after the first 10 proposals. Still, that $47 gets you all of linkedin's business level benefits plus proposals and you don't have to pay 20% fees when the work's done. You could actually save a LOT of money over UpWork pretty easily while getting benefits and networking opportunities.

LinkedIn ProFinder

Here's their FAQ page:

LinkedIn ProFinder Frequently Asked Questions

Besides, UpWork premium costs $10 on top of your service fees. That doesn't even help you get found by clients (I asked them).

What do you guys think?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[The-J]

I hope so. F*ck Upwork. The only good thing is that it helps manage escrow and time management for my contractors. Makes that side of things easy.

 

[devine]

Of course it will.
It will slay it ffs.

 

[nradam123]

I literally went from doing work in UpWork to getting work done through UpWork. For web developers UpWork seems to be a highly underpaid competitive field lol unless you have a team or something. Maybe for copywriters its a good place because most Indians (Lol, me included) cannot write like a native person.

Its nice that you saw this, sounds like its going to be a hell of a lot more profitable. Are you going to try?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Lex DeVille]

I literally went from doing work in UpWork to getting work done through UpWork. For web developers UpWork seems to be a highly underpaid competitive field lol unless you have a team or something. Maybe for copywriters its a good place because most Indians (Lol, me included) cannot write like a native person.

Its nice that you saw this, sounds like its going to be a hell of a lot more profitable. Are you going to try?

I may to see how it works. Not really any need at this point, but I was considering upgrading LinkedIn anyway. I agree with you about developers on teams. At least one girl I saw on a team had earned over $100k in the last year. Pretty good for Upwork.

 

[devine]

I may to see how it works. Not really any need at this point, but I was considering upgrading LinkedIn anyway. I agree with you about developers on teams. At least one girl I saw on a team had earned over $100k in the last year. Pretty good for Upwork.

I think it's more about effort and "what it takes", than money.
I was making $100k+/year without freelance accounts, without a team (means 100% goes into my pockets) and etc, before I transitioned to Fastlane.
Anyone who thinks I was doing good - rest assured that I wasn't. I can imagine how much worse would it be if I would run it through Upwork.

 

[ApparentHorizon]

Hopefully they can overcome the stigma that freelance sites have (cheap clients & cheap/shoddy work), and position themselves as a premium service.

UpWork is great for finding developers, so they can still fill a need. Therefore, I don't think I'd want ProFinder to completely crush them. Let them compete a little bit so we can get some higher quality platforms.

And for the love of god, if they can fix the "you can only communicate with each other through our platform," nonsense, I'm in!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Lex DeVille]

Hopefully they can overcome the stigma that freelance sites have (cheap clients & cheap/shoddy work), and position themselves as a premium service.

UpWork is great for finding developers, so they can still fill a need. Therefore, I don't think I'd want ProFinder to completely crush them. Let them compete a little bit so we can get some higher quality platforms.

And for the love of god, if they can fix the "you can only communicate with each other through our platform," nonsense, I'm in!

LinkedIn is going local for now. Maybe so they can get a foot in the door and scale up later. Being local seems like a huge advantage since you can charge higher rates and meet your client in person. Much easier to build rapport and close sales.

Upwork is making their messenger system more like Skype to cut out Skype and avoid any outside communication. One of my freelancers asked about working outside upwork and I agreed. Shouldn't have said anything through the platform, but wasn't thinking about it at the time. Upwork suspended my account temporarily a few days later until I sent an email saying "I will not take freelancers outside Upwork."

Going local might be another reason to make sure you have lots of linkedin connections. A local person might have 50-100 connections. If they're looking at 2 freelancers and one of you has 2,000 connections while the other only has 20, it will be "obvious" who the "trusted expert" is.

 

[ApparentHorizon]

LinkedIn is going local for now. Maybe so they can get a foot in the door and scale up later. Being local seems like a huge advantage since you can charge higher rates and meet your client in person. Much easier to build rapport and close sales.

Upwork is making their messenger system more like Skype to cut out Skype and avoid any outside communication. One of my freelancers asked about working outside upwork and I agreed. Shouldn't have said anything through the platform, but wasn't thinking about it at the time. Upwork suspended my account temporarily a few days later until I sent an email saying "I will not take freelancers outside Upwork."

Going local might be another reason to make sure you have lots of linkedin connections. A local person might have 50-100 connections. If they're looking at 2 freelancers and one of you has 2,000 connections while the other only has 20, it will be "obvious" who the "trusted expert" is.

It's an interesting dynamic they have going on. ProFinder's customers in this case are the freelancers, but at the same time, they have to keep a steady stream of hiring managers coming in. It's no longer one sided.

UpWork: And that's the fundamental flaw with these freelance sites. Real talent won't work for those kinds of rates and fees. At this point, it's an unspoken rule that you contact each other off the site and on your own terms. Even as a job poster, connecting with freelancers externally produces better results.

• Do I need recommendations?
  Recommendations are essential. Whether or not you get hired can often depend on the quality of recommendations you have on your profile. Make sure you have relevant recommendations featured on your profile to attract more leads.
  
  A great recommendation has 3 parts – it clearly defines your role on a project, references the skills used, and includes a date.
  
  
• What if I don't have recommendations?
  If you have too few recommendations, ask past clients and coworkers to write one. Be sure to remind them of the project you previously worked on in your message. Don't be afraid to be explicit in what you want them to say.
  
  To send a recommendation request, click here.

Spotted this in the FAQ^

If you have a few really great recommendations, from industry leaders, you may not need all of those connections.

ProA: 3 recommendations from the local banking execs and 500 connections.
vs
ProB: 1 recommendation from a friend and 2000 connections

 

[AlphaWulf]

I'm willing to give LinkedIn a chance here

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jon L]

I sure hope so. Upwork has lost my business, permanently. Their customer service is on par with the worst I've experienced anywhere, including AT&T from 15 years ago

 

[Andy Black]

I like LinkedIn. Lots of good connections and work has come my way through it.

I don't use it as a content marketing platform, and find a lot of the content being posted is pretty spammy or formulaic. I may do so later on.

I think it's a smart play by LinkedIn. It's a professional network where people use their real profile and are careful to put their best foot forward.

 

[Fox]

Glad someone is taking the fight to Upwork. Even if you don't move hopefully it takes off and cause a more competitive marketplace.

Fiverr needs a competitor also, they are just as ridiculous with fees.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Lex DeVille]

Glad someone is taking the fight to Upwork. Even if you don't move hopefully it takes off and cause a more competitive marketplace.

Fiverr needs a competitor also, they are just as ridiculous with fees.

That's an interesting point. Haven't bothered with fiverr in a long time. Every time I do I get shit, even when I pay for not shit.

My experience with fiverr has been much worse than with Upwork overall.

TBH I'm really surprised it took so long for a competitor to challenge any of these companies.

Upwork has been around long enough to merge two companies into one... I wonder which one Tim Ferriss used originally. I don't recall.

 

[devine]

Talking about fiverr.

 

[OlaWebEmpire]

Hello @SinisterLex

I have an linkedin Profinder account with premium but i am lacking getting client and i think my proposal is very poor.

I am using the same technique of your course on proposals writing but i think something is wrong somewhere.

Can you help with one i can use?

Or you have an idea?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.