Client Profile
Alaska CGI, led by Ukrainian artist and entrepreneur Mariia Yanushkevich, specializes in delivering photorealistic 3D renderings and animations for interior design, product marketing, and architecture. From small kitchen robotics to full-scale building visuals, her team transforms ideas into compelling digital experiences.
But it wasn’t always a team effort. In mid-2024, Mariia was operating solo—managing lead generation, client communication, and project execution entirely on her own. The turning point came when she discovered GigRadar, a tool that would help her escape burnout and build an agency from the ground up.
Before GigRadar: Hustling Alone, Drowning in Manual Work
After the war disrupted the architecture and construction industries in Odesa, Mariia’s studio lost many clients. Left with few local opportunities, she turned to online platforms to find new work.
Initially, she relied on Instagram, Behance, and YouTube, but soon found them unreliable:
On Instagram, I got a lot of spam and clients offering half the rate I charged on Upwork. If I could get $10 per square meter on Upwork, they’d offer $4. It just didn’t make sense financially.
While Behance helped her land her first overseas client, the lack of a proper payment system for Ukraine pushed her toward a more secure platform: Upwork. Having used it briefly during university, she reactivated her profile and began applying manually to jobs.
The process was exhausting. Mariia invested hours into writing custom proposals, refining her profile, and analyzing job descriptions. Despite her efforts, she often received no replies—even when she knew her portfolio was the perfect match.
It was so frustrating. I’d send a proposal for a project that was exactly like something I’d done before. I knew I could do it fast and well, but they wouldn’t even respond. After that, you don’t feel like applying again.
In an attempt to scale, she hired a lead generator to write proposals for her. Unfortunately, the person lacked expertise in her 3D niche and delivered poor results—only 1 successful project from 30 proposals in the first month.
Why GigRadar Made Sense
Mariia heard about GigRadar from a local Ukrainian freelance community and saw ads on Instagram. At first, she was skeptical. Friends warned her that the tool worked only for top-rated agencies, and she wasn’t there yet.
Still, she decided to give it a try. The first month wasn’t smooth: the scanner settings were too broad, bringing in irrelevant jobs—like animation for solar panels or modeling for handbags.
But then everything changed.
We had a call with the GigRadar manager, reset the scanners, and boom—I got 15 projects in one month. That was the moment I realized I couldn’t go back to manual bidding ever again.
This surge in work gave Mariia the confidence, and the revenue, to begin growing her team.
From Solo Freelancer to Agency Owner
Mariia’s success with GigRadar allowed her to move from freelancing to managing a real business. She began by hiring support to handle project execution while she focused on operations. Her agency quickly grew to a team of five.
When I worked alone, I did everything great, but I was stuck. I couldn’t grow, couldn’t increase prices. Now I can delegate, get feedback from clients, and move on to the next project.
She even launched a second Upwork agency account to train junior staff and route overflow projects. This also allowed her to build additional feedback and credibility on the platform.
Today, she only takes on projects that fit her team’s capacity and quality standards. If a client seems like a poor fit or displays red flags, she feels confident saying no.
Now I can actually choose who I want to work with. And that freedom—being able to say no—is something I never had before.
How GigRadar Works for Mariia
Mariia uses GigRadar’s scanner to identify the most relevant jobs and disqualify those outside her niche. The Laziza AI feature became particularly valuable for filtering out jobs that required skills like AutoCAD or drafting, which she doesn’t offer.
In my field, many clients want someone who can do both rendering and drafting. That’s not realistic. Laziza AI helps me block those posts automatically. It saves me hours every week.
Instead of spending her evenings writing cover letters, Mariia now lets GigRadar handle bidding—freeing her time for project management, quality control, and client communication.
Her hourly rate jumped from $25–30 to $55/hour, and she maintains an average of $35–40/hour across projects. In terms of client volume, she now receives 5–6 relevant leads per week and converts around 2 of them into paid projects.
Sometimes I turn GigRadar off—not because it doesn’t work, but because I don’t have time to answer all the messages. That’s a quality problem I’m happy to have.
Performance Metrics & ROI
Before GigRadar:
- 1–3 projects per month
- $5K total revenue on Upwork
- Emotional burnout, inconsistent replies
- High effort, low conversion
After GigRadar:
- 15 projects in the first optimized month
- $40K+ total earnings across main and agency accounts
- 5-person team consistently booked
- Raised hourly rate from $25 to $55
- ROI recovered within 1 week after resetting scanners
She also reported that even with occasional mismatched jobs (about 10–20% of leads), the system worked better than any other approach she’d tried—including human assistants or cold outreach.
Final Advice for Other Agencies
Mariia stresses that while GigRadar is a powerful automation tool, you still need a strong foundation: a good profile, quality portfolio, and humanized communication.
Don’t just paste ChatGPT replies. Write like a person. Add a joke. Show you read the job post. Clients notice that. It’s the little things that make them choose you over someone else.
When asked what she would tell someone on the fence about using GigRadar, her answer was both honest and funny:
I absolutely recommend it. Just don’t go into my niche—I don’t want more competition!
Conclusion
Mariia Yanushkevich turned a solo freelance practice into a thriving 3D visualization agency by leveraging GigRadar to solve her biggest bottleneck: manual lead generation. With her scanners and Laziza AI working 24/7, she now wins better projects, works with better clients, and has the time to scale her business the way she always imagined.
Ready to scale your agency like Alaska CGI?
Book your free GigRadar demo today and unlock smarter, faster, and more relevant lead generation on Upwork.
