I’m Usman Ali Sandhu. I’m working as a web developer Agency owner on Upwork. I was pretty average in coding and development in the beginning (2015). I met my friend Ismail Khan on Facebook in a freelancing group. He urged me to start freelancing and I was totally unaware of this field.
Ismail helped me and I started outsourcing projects. It went pretty well for some days but after some time, the workflow stopped.
This was a very heartbroken time phase for me. My degree had just finished and here I was, completely dependent on outsourcing work to make ends meet. As a programmer, I was not someone who could be bracketed as the best in the business. I was ordinary, to say the least.
My First Job:
There was a software house next to my apartment in Lahore. I started working there as an intern (WordPress Developer). In my job, I showed some business development skills that made my boss happy. He switched my role from web developer to “Web Developer + Business developer“.
My job was to win a project on Upwork and then also finish the job as a web developer. This was a learning curve. I cashed on every opportunity given to me because later on when I learn everything, I wanted to jump the boat and work for myself on Upwork.
Freelancing Career:
I saw a video on YouTube(Digiskills) that inspired me to take a bold step. I built inner courage and decided to take a huge step in my life. The courage helped me in quitting my job and starting working as a freelancer on different marketplaces.
I created accounts on Fiverr and Upwork. Thankfully, the decision of quitting my job did not backfire. I started earning $150 a week which gave me the confidence to continue my freelance work.
Sadly, fate ditched me at that time. My Upwork account got suspended. Heartbroken, pressed by financial vows to make ends meet and look after my family, I had no choice but to go back to filling employees’ shoes and work for someone.
I started working for a company as a business development resource for 25k monthly because Upwork Support told me that you can’t have an account on Upwork again.
I continued working on my job for 3 months and then again I heard from a friend that you can make a new account by changing details. I had to provide different details to work on Upwork. I created a new bank account, and new email address and started working on Upwork again.
Path To Success:
After I made a new account, I won my first project right within 30 minutes of account approval. Yes! After 30 minutes.
A good omen perhaps, the signs looked good so was the drive to finally get my fair piece of PIE as a freelancer.
I started excelling as a freelancer and grew my profile on Upwork. The best thing I’ve learned is, client retention helps you grow a long way. I worked hard, day and night, and sometimes slept under the desk because not even in my nightmares, I wanted to work for someone again.
I started enjoying the freedom of being self-employed and being my own boss. The freedom of upscaling my work, growing, and living a dream life played an instrumental role in moving forward.
To date, I have earned over 80k USD, which is 13 million PKR on Upwork. I own an agency on Upwork and the best feeling is that I provide jobs too as I have people working in my team.
Conclusion:
If you have enough passion to do something, Allah helps you as long as you are sincere in your work and give your best to everything. Hard work pays off, it sure does; if you do not give up.
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