How to Be the Change You Want to See in Upwork

Upwork is a popular online place where freelancers and clients from different countries can find each other. You see it as an opportunity to secure employment and at the same time display the talent to enhance a career. But it is also a quite competitive and rather difficult environment when one has to work with different demands, appraisals, and circumstances.

First of all, you are a freelancer, and everybody knows that it has its pitfalls – the problem of finding clients, receiving popular and good reviews, or having a stable income. It might have come to a point where you got frustrated, discouraged, or even angered at one point or the other. You have probably asked yourself why some clients are so demanding, or why are they unfair or do not respond at all. Perhaps you may have thought things were not this way.

However, have you ever asked yourself what could you do or what needs to be done to change these? Can you ever imagine that doing things differently or changing the perception clients and you have towards each other is possible? Did you know that Upwork is a place where you can be the change you wish to observe in our day-to-day operations?

In this article, I will share with you my Upwork and life philosophy, which is based on a famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi: One of Gandhi’s famous quotes was: ‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world. ’ In this article, I’m going to tell you how this quote can make your Upwork better and how to implement it.

Why Be the Change?

Now you might be thinking why should you be the change and why not wait for the others to change? Sometimes we are quick to justify ourselves and say that it is none of our business, tell ourselves that it is too difficult, or convince ourselves it will not change anything. But still, it is possible to list numerous advantages in becoming the change for yourself and others.

First of all, being the change means being responsible for one’s activities, behavioral responses, and feelings. They keep wishing to be guided by their nature and hence, are not swayed by factors such as the clients, the reviews, or the competition. It means that you decide to do something that follows your beliefs, expectations, and norms irrespective of the situation at hand. It can thus assist you to increase your self-esteem and self-efficiency, and self-esteem also assists one to overcome stress, anxiety, and negativity.

The second aspect of being change is that one must be willing to impact change on others. It means that you impact clients, coworkers or friends, either by positively role modeling, encouraging them or assisting them. It is about your efforts to enhance relations between clients and freelancers and to improve overall users’ experience on Upwork. It is to help you create awareness, contacts, and connections; as well as personal satisfaction, joy, and meaning.

How to Be the Change?

Now that you know why you should be the change, you may wonder how you can be the change. You may think that it is too complicated, or that it requires a lot of time, effort, or resources. However, being the change is not as difficult as you may think. It is actually quite simple, and it can be done in small steps, every day.

Here are some practical tips on how to be the change you want to see in Upwork, based on my own experience:

Give new clients a chance. As a new Upwork user, you may have struggled to find your first clients, or to convince them to hire you. You may have felt frustrated by the lack of opportunities, or by the low rates offered. You may have wished that more clients would give you a chance and trust your skills and potential.

Well, why not do the same for other new users, who are in the same situation as you were? Instead of ignoring or rejecting them, why not give them a chance, and see what they can offer?

You may be surprised by their talent, creativity, or professionalism. You may also help them grow their confidence, portfolio, and career. And you may end up with a loyal, grateful, and long-term partner.

Give low-review clients a chance. After signing up for Upwork, you might have been given a low rating by a client for one reason or the other including misunderstanding or a disagreement or a mistake that you made.

You may have been outraged or shocked by the feedback, or the changes it produced to your profile, rating or ranking. That is why you may have wished that the client would have been less critical, more tolerant and constructive.

Similarly, why not the same for other users who one way or the other has received a low review from a client? Why not let them give it a try and see how they will go about it instead of shunning them or looked down upon. You might learn they are really competent, dependable or sociable, or the like.

You may also help them improve their skills, performance, or communication. And you may end up with a satisfied, happy, and repeat customer.

Understand your client’s situation. Sometimes, being a freelancer, you might have faced some issues or problem in your work like deadlines, changes in scope, computer or any other problems or even personal problems.

You may have felt that you were under pressure, that things were getting on top of you or that the situation or its impact on quality, speed or earnings was very irritating.

Perhaps you have wanted your client to be more supportive, understanding and thus more accommodating. Well, why not the same for the client experiencing some complications or issues with business for instance, budget, market, competition or even customers? Why don’t we just try to listen to them instead of complaining or blaming them and ask ourselves how can we support them?

You may find that they are rather quite decent, compliant, or thankful. You may also assist with helping them find a solution to their issues, accomplish their objectives or increase their company’s size or profits. And you can receive a faithful, polite, and lasting partnership with the same women.

Be the Change Challenge

In conclusion, I want to encourage all of you to become the change that we aspire to see in Upwork and in the world. I am sure you will find this philosophy useful in enhancing your circumstance within Upwork, and your life in general. I also believe that this philosophy can assist to become a positive part of the world benefiting as many clients, projects, and reviews as possible.

I urge you to try and see what kind of outcome will come out of that kind of change. So I dare you, to make the difference from where you are right now.

What do you think? Does this make sense to you and here they are complicating something simple for the sake of learning and achieving the impossible? What is your attitude toward such a philosophy? Can you share at least one incident, one success story of how you have been the change, or someone who was the change for you? Does anyone have questions or comments regarding how individuals may take action according to the principles of being the change?

Let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear from you.