First of all, you shouldn’t offer your time and expertise for free, that’s not fair to you. My brother and I just set up his Upwork profile, so I can only tell you what he did. Here goes:
- First, we filled out as much of the profile as possible.
- Then, he started researching YouTube videos about setting up a successful profile and joined the local Facebook group for people who work on Upwork.
- Completed Upwork readiness test (which you already did), as well as the English test and a few graphic design tests that check if you know how to work in various programs and know the design basics.
- Uploaded about 10 of his previous projects to his portfolio.
- Started sending in proposals.
He didn’t get any responses the first few times, but the key is to keep sending them out. Make sure to do it by the book — there are Upwork pages that tell you exactly how to apply (explain how you’d get the job done and what makes you the person they should hire).
My brother actually got the “Rising Talent” (or whatever it’s called) badge on his profile after just a few days, without even doing a single job. We don’t know how it happened, we just assume that Upwork awards them to people who are actively trying to fill out their profiles. Now he's done a few low-paying jobs, but it's slow going. But I imagine everyone’s journey is different.
Anyway, I wish you the best. Just don’t sell yourself short: you need to get paid and clients need to understand that.
