My Own Tips On Building Long-Term Client Relationships

I've been very blessed to have clients who trust me a lot through the years. Upwork has been my full time job since 2010. I'm able to provide for my needs and even become the breadwinner of the family. I always make sure that I do have good relationships with all my clients and I do my best in everything. 

There are four factors that are helping me keep my job or my clients. These are very important to me as I believe they are the reasons why I have what I have now, what I achieved already and will help me achieve more. They are the following:

1. PRAYERS

Prayers do really work. If you give yourself to God and trust everything to Him, everything will fall into places. I also experienced bad times, but whenever I talked to Him and tell Him my problems, I always feel relieved. I know God is always guiding me and will bless me with not just what I need but what I deserve. Prayers also helped me stay focused and prioritize well. He bless me with wisdom, might, understanding and knowledge to perform my job with excellence.

2. HONESTY

Honesty is very important to me. Like what my clients told me, they like and always appreciate my honesty. Every time I have an interview with a client, I always tell them honestly if I can't do a particular task. I don't like to tell them I can do this and that just to get the job. It will just cause conflict and problem and will result to a negative feedback on my Upwork profile. I don't want to disappoint my clients. I also tell my client in advance whenever I have an important appointments, especially when I have a medical check up so that he won't be left clueless when he contacts me for an urgent tasks. I also tell them whenever a problem occurs that may affect the deadline. You can talk about the issue and most of the clients are understanding enough to adjust for the deadline, especially when he trusts you with everything.

3. MEET THE DEADLINE

If a client gives you a particular task with a deadline, it only means he trusts you enough that you will be able to meet the deadline and you won't give any headache to him, especially if the task is very important. Make sure that you set a time frame to complete the task. You also need to have good time management so that you won't face any problem in the future. 

Upwork Funds Transfer Fails

Have you ever experienced a failed local funds transfer? I once experienced it and learned a lot from my own experience. I was so comfortable and confident with my transfer because I've been doing it for so long already. I'm using the BPI savings account for my transfer. So I transferred Wednesday and usually the money comes to my account on Friday around 5am.  I didn't know what made me decide to check my account online one day earlier. But when I checked on it, I always have this message: 

I was so worried I called the BPI hotline. The customer service representative told me that my account has been automatically closed because the balance turned zero due to the charges during the end of the month. I was so shocked and didn't know what to do since it was the first time. Yeah, I remember my previous balance was less than 100. I didn't expect it to happen because I usually withdraw all the money I earned for some reason. 

The next thing I did was contact the Upwork customer service for my concern.  I contacted them last August 1, 2016. The agent told me that once I initiate a withdrawal in Upwork the funds are sent to the payment method on file. If there are any issues with my bank account the funds are returned to Upwork after 8 business days. He suggested that I allow 8 business days for this withdrawn funds to be credited back into my Upwork account.

I waited with some worries still thinking if I would really get my money back. I checked my account everyday hoping the money was credited back already. And then one lucky day, I have my money this morning, Sept 9, 2016. They only deducted the previous withdrawal fee when I withdrew the money last week.

I'm now temporarily using my RCBC My Wallet account for my earnings since I still don't have a new BPI savings account. I only have Voter's I.D because my passport was expired already so I need to provide one more valid ID. The good thing is the teller told me that the bank accepts postal ID. According to the girl from Philpost, I will have my postal ID in two weeks. I still prefer BPI as it has no other fees. I will just be careful next time with my balance so I won't experience the same scenario.

So there, don't be afraid when it happens to you and please be mindful of maintaining the balance of your account so that you won't face any problem in the future.

How I Started My Upwork Journey

Hello everyone! I just wanna share why I ended up working online for several years already. I started it on April 2010. Nung time na yon, part time lang siya since I didn't have stable internet connection and I didn't own a laptop. Nakikigamit lang ako actually ng desktop ng pinsan ko tsaka ng broadband niya. I started working at www.odesk.com which is now Upwork. 

How I was able to find odesk? I'm actually the type of person na mahilig magresearch and hindi basta basta sumubok. I used keywords like legit online job, work at home, homebased and more. Then I saw odesk. Hindi naman ako naniniwala kaagad sa odesk kc mahirap na baka maloko pa ako. Then nagresearch ako about sa odesk. Nagbasa basa ako ng reviews and naghanap ng proof na legit sya. Then nung mejo naniwala na ako, I registered and took the odesk readiness test na required noon para makapagapply sa mga job post. I think hindi na sya required sa upwork ngayon. Oh by the way, Elance-oDesk was rebranded as Upwork. Elance was also a legit freelancer platform. 

Yon n nga, I started sending my cover letter to different job posts. Then yey, I got one. $1 per hour job. It was a research job about carbon footprint. I was so lucky that I didn't wait so long para sa first project ko and importante kasi na magkaroon ako ng feedback para mas madali makakuha ng trabaho. Then, the job took less than a week and my client was satisfied with my work and gave me 5 stars. 5 stars mean I satisfied my client and it is the highest feedback a client can give, 1 star being the lowest. Then after two weeks I was able to withdraw the money. Yeyyyyy, it's legit. I was so happy that time. 

Then after that, I applied again and tried my luck. I got another job but still for part time lang kasi nagtry din ako magtrabaho sa factory, sa call center and sa travel agency. I needed a more stable job then kc breadwinner ako. 

Sa travel agency pa ako noon nagtatrabaho ng naaksidente ako. It was 2012. Pauwi ako ng Batangas noon nung nabangga ng isang SUV ang sinasakyan naming tricycle. Ako yong napuruhan ng sobra kaya nainjured ng sobra ung mga binti ko. I had sleepless nights, always crying, I lost my appetite and felt desperate kasi hindi ko na magagawa iyong mga normal na nagagawa ng isang ordinary woman na katulad ko. Hindi ako pwede maglakad ng hindi nakawheel chair. At first feeling ko wala na akong pag-asa. Mga 5 months akong ganyan, parati akong umiiyak lalo na at ako nga ang breadwinner ng pamilya. 

Siguro napagod na lang din ako magpakahina ng dahil sa nangyari. Kaya napaisip ako bigla at nasabi ko sa sarili ko na "Jhing hindi ikaw yan eh, palaban ka eh". Then after that hiniling ko lang sa kanila na bilhan ako ng laptop at kailangan ko ng internet connection. After that, inopen ko ulit ung odesk account ko and started sending cover letters again. Then luckily, after a week maybe, a client sent me a job offer. Yeyyyy. It was a fixed price job. My client was so kind and he knew everything about my situation. Ang nakakatuwa pa noon, iyong mga kapatid ko di naniniwala sa online until nagpawithdraw ako sa mama ko hahaha.

After that contract, nagtuloy tuloy na. Mas naramdaman ko na may plano ang Diyos kung bakit sa dinami daming tao ako iyong nasa sitwasyon na mayroon ako ngayon. Hindi ako nakakaramdam ng kahit anong tampo sa Diyos kasi kahit ganito ako na hindi pa nakakalakad ng walang saklay, maraming naman syang blessings na ibinibigay sa akin. Never akong naging jobless since naaksidente ako noong 2012. Mas nasusuportahan ko pa nga ang pamilya ko financially ngayon eh. Naisip ko nga kung hindi siguro ako naaksidente, sobrang hirap pa rin ako sa paghahanap ng trabaho sa factory, sa call center at kung saan saan pa. Naniniwala talaga sa kasabihan na everything happens for a reason. And one more thing, God blessed me with a man na hindi ako iniwan at never ipinaramdam sakin na may kulang sa akin. He is willing to marry me kahit nakasaklay ako, ako lang talaga ang umaayaw kasi ayoko maglakad sa simbahan ng nakasaklay kaya nagpapagamot ako ulit at hoping na makalakad na soon. 

How To Have An Upwork Account

Hello there!!!! Do you wish to work in the comfort of your home? Do you wish to earn money while no one is bossing you around. I will try my best to explain the process though I admit I'm not good at explaining. Please bear with me. One more thing, I'm not perfect with grammar so sorry for any mistakes. No hate please. Just trying to help.

All you need to get started or have an upwork account is a computer, internet connection and skills/talents. When you have that three, yuhooo you can now start. 

Here are the steps on creating your account:

1. Go to www.upwork.com.

2. Sign up for an account.​

3. Create your freelancer account, then verify your email address to access all of Up work.

4. After that, you can now create your profile. Your profile is your opportunity to advertise your skills to clients. Highlight your strengths and skills with the description of the type of work you do, your educational background, your employment history, your skills, your achievements and so on. Your profile must be approved, so take your time completing it.

​5. After everything is set up, you can take some skills test to demonstrate your skills to potential clients and make yourself more marketable. I've done lots of testsanyway :)

6. Then after that, you can now start finding jobs. There are lots of jobs in upwork like data entry jobs, research jobs, eCommerce, coding, accounting, bookkeeping and a lot more. To give you more specific ways on how to perform a job search, you can check this link https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211063078-Search-for-Jobs

What I do is I check on the available jobs every now and then so that I would be able to send more cover letters. More applications, more chances of getting hired. :)

Just try and try until you get the job you want. It may not be just a one day process, but if you have that "tiyaga and pagsisikap", you will land your first job. 

After all the steps above, the last step will be praying. Pray and you will be blessed with all your heart's desire.

Don't forget to download the upwork timer. I will discuss it also soon. Please don't hesitate to comment below any of your questions.

                        

Paypal As A Payment Method In Upwork

PayPal is an online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to traditional paper methods like checks and money orders. It is one of the largest internet payment options. 

To start, please register with www.paypal.com and complete the info needed. To be able to withdraw the money, you will need a debit or credit card. You can also use it for online shopping or online payments. Once everything is set-up, you can now link your PayPal account as a billing method. To do this, here are the steps:

1. Click the Settings icon, and then click Billing Methods.
2. Click the Add a Billing Method button.
3. Click the Set Up button for PayPal and fill in the form.
4. You’ll be returned to your billing methods list. Confirm that the correct method is set as primary.
5. You may add multiple PayPal accounts, if desired.

Paypal is not available to all clients as a billing method so the options to use PayPal will only appear in the Add a Billing Method form if it is available to you.

Please also note that in order to use PayPal as a billing method, you must have a verified Paypal account and have at least  one PayPal-linked billing method that isn’t eCheck such as credit card, debit card or any bank accounts. 

Upwork charges a $1 fee per transfer to PayPal. Then transferring to your bank account, there will be no fee if you withdraw above the recommended amount which I think is P7000.00. If you withdraw below the said amount, PayPal will charge you P50.00. Some banks may also charge fees also for electronic funds transfers. You can contact your bank directly for more information.