Upwork: Read a book, write a 500 word review. Sure thing, easy! Whoa whoa whoa not so fast...

[Choate]

Figured I'd bid for this gig to build up my profile, little did I know what I was getting into.

500 words of writing to me is worth more than $10, but they wanted a book review too. Work is work, so I took it on.

7 days to complete the job.

What is this job, you ask?

Read and review a 696 page PDF file fiction book based on an alternative universe, focusing on things like conscious dreaming, traveling the netherverse, and learning the dark art of cosmic manipulation.

So... make sure you ask questions before accepting work, no matter how small it may seem.

 

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[GoodluckChuck]

Oh man... You better settle in. Sounds like its gonna be a long journey.

*Future Review* - "The book was too long. The end."

 

[Ironjr]

Figured I'd bid for this gig to build up my profile, little did I know what I was getting into.

500 words of writing to me is worth more than $10, but they wanted a book review too. Work is work, so I took it on.

7 days to complete the job.

What is this job, you ask?

Read and review a 696 page PDF file fiction book based on an alternative universe, focusing on things like conscious dreaming, traveling the netherverse, and learning the dark art of cosmic manipulation.

So... make sure you ask questions before accepting work, no matter how small it may seem.

Most jobs I took on Upwork were in this level of suck or worse. The pay is bad, people describe something while expecting another... not worth it.

 

[mike24601]

I think you'll probably spend about 10 hours on this project to begin with, if you read fast. $1 an hour doesn't strike my fancy.

 

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[lowtek]

Yeah, clients are usually cagey about details until you press them. Have to learn to ask the right questions to get the good clients.

Usually if the job post is just 1 or 2 lines I treat it with suspicion. Clients that write detailed descriptions are easier to deal with and less likely to pull a fast one.

 

[AFMKelvin]

Yup been there done that.

I agreed to a write captions for a 15 minute radio interview for $15. How hard could it be right?

Well those 15 minutes turned into four hours. It's amazing how sound compresses writing. To write out what you hear takes such a long time. They wanted me to do a second one and I said "no thank you."

 

[Formless]

@Dark Water

Hahahaha, there's your first mistake. My (unsolicited) advice to you is don't let this make you bitter.

It's common to start negative self-talk when you're doing a shitty job like this. The problem is that when you're angry, your thinking becomes hyperbolic.

So:

"This is a job I don't like doing."

Turns to:

"Upwork is totally shit and there's no opportunity here."

Or even:

"freelancing is slowlane wtf am I doing... I should just do ecommerce." ​

You learned to be more careful, and your next job will be different.

Be rational. Don't talk yourself out of freelancing over one bad experience.

 

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[bitcoins]

Always, always ask questions on Upwork. I personally would think about Opportunity Cost. Unless you're living in a third world country, this isn't worth the time by a long run. It's sad to see the rates on that website have such variance, especially due to the exporting of cheap labor to India and all that. Asking too much may get you rejected more, but then again you won't waste your time hopefully. I think Upwork is decent (I've both worked and sold gigs on there) for connecting with people, but eventually it does have some major downsides to it. I think they raised the fees multiple times as well. But hey, good luck with finding more gigs It seriously is just a number's game! You'll hit the right job soon, just have to keep looking for it.