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Vent: The week I made $0 and almost quit freelancing for good
Last March I had a stretch where I landed zero clients for 10 days straight. I spent like 30 hours sending out proposals on Upwork and got one reply that ghosted me after the first message. My savings dropped to $200 and I was seriously looking at grocery store job postings. What broke the streak was a random referral from a former client who needed a rush project. Has anyone else hit a wall like that where you just stare at your inbox wondering if you chose the wrong career?
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sullivan.quinn3d ago
You mentioned "staring at your inbox wondering if you chose the wrong career" and I totally get that feeling. But heres something nobody talks about enough in these threads - maybe the wall you hit is actually a sign you outgrew the platform, not the career itself. A lot of freelancers get stuck in this cycle where they keep throwing energy at Upwork or similar sites long after those places stopped working for their skill level. That random referral that saved you? Thats not luck, thats proof your reputation is stronger than any proposal you could write.
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tessalane3d ago
Haha, right? It's like that ex who keeps texting you even though you both know the spark is gone. I spent a solid year sending out 50 proposals a week on Upwork before I realized I was basically begging for scraps when my actual network was right there. Sometimes you gotta ask yourself if you're freelancing or just really, really addicted to getting ghosted by strangers on the internet.
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