[wiseleo]

Your first few projects are essentially to build credibility. Don’t try to make money. You are trying to level up. Think of it like playing an RPG. You start with easy quests designed for newbies with no experience and eventually unlock treasure.

What can you do that takes you no time and is in demand? I figured out how to something that takes 4 hours in 15 minutes and charge flat rate for it based on the original 4 hours. There is a handful of annoying errors other techs make that I instantly fix without sharing my secrets. ;)

Context: I have first refusal rights in my territory as a field tech on another site. I bill $5000+/mo in gross receivables. It didn’t happen overnight. I started by doing a few unprofitable tasks.

[iudqnolq]

Got it. Most of the projects I've seen are by people who want to bill hourly. Upwork provides some sort of "recommended" wage. How much would you discount that by? I'm afraid that if I'm too cheap even people looking for minimally skilled cheap coders won't want to hire me. Also, so far I'm zero replies for two proposals (a few hundred words each, not copy-pasted). Roughly what should I expect?

[wiseleo]

Don't know, but I would just apply until someone lets me work.

Your proposals are likely too long for easy stuff. Two paragraphs should be enough.

[iudqnolq]

Good to know.