🦾 How Gavin Earned $12k+ on Upwork with Smart Client Management

Recently, we published a full case study on how Gavin Hewitson, founder of the email marketing agency In-box, transformed his Upwork profile into a profitable channel. Here’s a short takeaway with key insights and a practical guide to his journey from $0 to $12k+:

🪫 BEFORE:

• When Gavin first joined Upwork, he struggled to gain any traction. His experience didn’t translate into instant credibility on the platform.
• He earned just $600 from a couple of small jobs, and manually writing proposals was eating up too much of his time for little return.
• Building credibility was tough since clients often looked for freelancers with a proven track record.

How Gavin Turned It Around:

📌 Start Small to Build Credibility

• Take Lower-Paying Jobs: Gavin accepted jobs at just $15/hour to establish a foothold on Upwork. It wasn’t what he was used to, but it helped him gain initial reviews and credibility.

• Incremental Rate Increases: Over time, Gavin raised his rate by $5 each month. This allowed him to slowly but steadily boost his hourly rate to $150-$200, all while building a solid track record with clients.

(Don’t expect to start at your ideal rate. Start low, build trust, and increase rates gradually)

📌 Choose Jobs with High ROI

• Good Revenue vs. Bad Revenue: Not all jobs are worth the effort. Gavin prioritized high-ROI jobs that didn’t require a ton of time for low pay. He avoided jobs that drained too much time and paid poorly, focusing instead on projects that offered better long-term potential.

(Think of it as quality over quantity—focus on jobs that pay you well for your time, even if it means turning down others)

📌 Turn One-Off Jobs into Long-Term Clients

• Deliver More Than Expected: For Gavin, the goal wasn’t just to complete the task. He looked for ways to add extra value by offering insights on how his work fit into the client’s bigger picture. For example, if he was hired for email marketing, he also provided recommendations on integrating his work with Google Ads and SEO strategies.

• Integrate with Other Areas: By taking a broader approach, Gavin became more valuable to his clients. He wasn’t just their “email guy”—he was someone who understood their whole marketing system, making it harder for them to replace him.

(This approach helped turn short-term projects into long-term retainers)

📌 Build Relationships that Last

•  Focus on Retention: Instead of chasing new clients all the time, Gavin focused on keeping the clients he had. He nurtured relationships and turned one-off jobs into monthly retainers, creating a stable income stream.
• Stay Indispensable: By staying involved across different departments and offering more than just the core service, Gavin ensured his clients relied on him for multiple aspects of their business. This made it much harder for them to cut ties with him.

(Retention is key—nurture relationships so you spend less time finding new clients and more time deepening existing ones)

📌 Use GigRadar to Save Time

• After months of manually writing proposals, Gavin realized this was a huge time sink. He decided to automate his proposal writing using GigRadar. This freed up his time to focus on managing client relationships instead of constantly searching for leads.

(While automation only accounts for 10% of his strategy, it gave him more time to focus on high-value tasks like building long-term relationships.)

👌 AFTER:

• Clients Acquired: 25+
• Active Clients: 8
• Revenue Earned: Over $12k on Upwork
• Current Rate: $150-$200/hour
• Retention: Many one-off projects turned into long-term clients, helping Gavin focus on relationship building and sustainable income.

💡 Curious about how Gavin integrated automation into his workflow?

... where you’ll find exclusive quotes from Gavin himself and more details on how GigRadar helped him streamline his lead generation.

🚀 Following Up on Gavin’s Story: Guide to Starting an Upwork Agency

Alright, so you’ve just read how Gavin turned his Upwork profile into a serious revenue-generating business. To keep up the momentum, we’ve rolled out a new guide on how to create and grow your own Upwork agency. This guide is perfect for business owners looking to scale on Upwork, freelancers who want to expand, and anyone considering starting a business on the platform.

Here’s a quick overview of what you’ll learn:

👉 Choose Your Niche

Focus on 1-2 specific niches. Specializing helps you stand out and attract clients who need exactly what you offer. This makes it easier to build a strong reputation and client base.

👉 Use Upwork’s Project Catalog

List clear, defined services with set prices in the Project Catalog. This helps attract clients who prefer buying specific services rather than hourly work. It’s a quick way to generate leads.

👉 Research Competitors

Understand what similar agencies are charging. Set competitive rates that reflect your agency’s value while ensuring they are sustainable for growth. Avoid underpricing to establish credibility.

👉 Overdeliver for Initial Clients

Go above and beyond for your first few clients to build a solid reputation. This can lead to glowing reviews and referrals, but once established, find a balance to maintain efficiency.

Want to see all the strategies in detail and learn how to attract top clients on Upwork?

🌪️ Healthy Upwork Pipeline: Newbie Edition

This newsletter is typically for established Upwork businesses, but we’ve published a lot of material recently aimed at new agencies. So, this edition is dedicated to those looking to start an agency, and here’s a quick reminder about the Upwork pipeline. To land contracts, you need to maintain a CRM and track everything. Here’s the basic Upwork sales cycle: from bid to contract:

The graphic shows the essential metrics to measure in your funnel or pipeline.

Below is an example of a clean, simple HubSpot setup for an Upwork pipeline (with custom stage names, so don’t get confused):

Check out our previous newsletters for:

• How to set up a CRM for Upwork with GigRadar integration;
• Simple follow-up rules you need to use;
• How to personalize your follow-ups;
• How to write cover letters manually and with GigRadar's Sardor AI;
• For more information on maintaining your Upwork funnel, check out our community

You can also book a consultation with our top Upwork expert, Tamara Levit, to discuss this topic or anything related to doing business on Upwork.

📞 Book a consultation via our amazing Support

❓ Have you already tested bidding terms? 

I want to remind you that last week, we rolled out a new feature, and some agencies are already reporting impressive increases in their LRR, so here a quick overview:

• Specify Your Rates: You can now set your hourly rate or fixed price for bids. This means you can choose how you want to charge clients, making your proposals more competitive and clear.
• Automated Bidding: This feature automatically submits your bids based on the rates you've set. You don’t have to worry about manually sending bids every time a job is posted.
• Dynamic Scanners: You can customize scanners to search for job postings that fit your specific criteria. This helps you quickly find relevant jobs without sifting through everything.

Also, we're bringing this up again because some users didn’t fully understand how these features work. ❤️ Our amazing support team, including Mariia, has been handling these inquiries in the community to help clarify things:

❤️ GigRadar Community

HAPPENED: New to GigRadar? This One’s For You.

If you’re new to GigRadar or just curious how it works, join our upcoming live webinar. Our team will show you the basics and answer any questions you’ve got. We’re making this session easy for newcomers, whether you’re a fresh user or a newsletter reader interested in checking us out. Here’s what we’ll cover:

1. Basic functionality overview.
2. Creating and managing scanners (we’ll show you exactly how).
3. How to find useful information and get support from GigRadar.
4. Using our community channels.
5. Getting involved and connecting with other users.