𝗜 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 $𝟭𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗼𝗻 𝗨𝗽𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆. 35 jobs and 437 hours. Honestly, this feels bigger to me than the number probably looks. When I started on Upwork, I was charging $12/hour and still had a lot to learn. I was figuring out how to find clients, how to present my work, and how to build a good profile. It wasn't always good. I had a cancelled job, a bad review, and my JSS dropped quite a lot. There were times when I seriously wondered if I could make freelancing work. Then I started getting better clients. Some small projects became bigger projects, and a few clients stayed with me for a long time. One of my first clients became someone I worked with for more than a year. Then I joined a full-time job, so I had to stop Upwork completely and close the work I had at that time. I honestly didn't know when I would come back. After leaving that job, I started looking for work again and slowly started coming back to Upwork. I was working part-time until last month too, so there was a lot going on at the same time. And yes, I was pretty worried about starting again. My profile wasn't where I wanted it to be, I had lost some momentum, and I had to start reaching out to clients again. But I kept doing it. Today I opened my profile and saw $10K+. That made me smile. Not because $10K is some huge number, but because I know everything that happened before getting there. The first $12/hour job, the cancelled project, the bad review, the clients who trusted me again, the long-term projects, leaving Upwork and finally coming back. I'm still looking for a good remote job where I can work with a good team and keep growing. At the same time, if I can build a good name through my work and freelancing, I'd be happy to continue doing this full-time. For now, I'm keeping both options open. Really thankful to everyone who trusted me with their work along the way. ❤️ One milestone done. Let's see what comes next. #Upwork #Freelancing #FreelancerJourney #FreelanceLife #CareerGrowth #Milestone #ProfessionalGrowth #RemoteWork

Day 01 — Starting my Contra journey.

No clients. No big freelance portfolio. Just starting.

I’m going to document the process honestly — what I learn, what works, what doesn't, and whether I can actually land clients.

If you're also trying to get into freelancing:

What’s the hardest part for you right now — finding clients, building a portfolio, or getting your first project?

Let’s see where we are 30 days from now. #Contra #Freelancing #BuildInPublic #100DaysOfCode