Caleb Ulku explains three concrete strategies for landing your first jobs on Upwork when you have zero reviews. He emphasizes that the first 4-6 jobs are the hardest but critical, as they unlock Upwork's Job Success Score which dramatically improves response rates. The three strategies are: (1) compete in a lower-competition skill niche even if it's not your long-term focus, (2) send personalized screencast video proposals tailored to each client, and (3) use Upwork's specialty profiles to laser-focus on hyper-specific sub-niches (e.g., 'ActiveCampaign' instead of 'email marketing') where top competitors have little to no earnings history. He also introduces the 'ice cream truck rule' — don't pitch the value of your service category, because clients already want it; just prove you're good at it.
A proposal philosophy stating that clients already want the service they posted for, so freelancers should immediately demonstrate they have the skill and quality rather than convincing clients why they need the service.
View concept page →An Upwork profile optimization approach where a freelancer creates a general profile plus two specialty profiles hyper-focused on specific sub-niches or tools with lower competition but sufficient job volume.
View concept page →A personalized video recording sent as part of an Upwork proposal that shows the client's own website or job posting in the background, demonstrating genuine effort and dramatically increasing response rates.
View concept page →Additional profile slots on Upwork (up to three total) that allow freelancers to target specific niches or tools separately from their general profile, improving algorithmic matching for niche job postings.
View concept page →Upwork's internal system that uses keywords from a freelancer's profile, especially the overview section, to match freelancers with relevant client job postings and rank them in search results.
View concept page →An Upwork metric unlocked after completing approximately 4-6 jobs that significantly improves a freelancer's response rate and visibility on the platform.
View concept page →The approach of landing first Upwork jobs in a lower-competition skill area rather than your primary specialty, in order to accumulate reviews and a job success score more quickly.
View concept page →The principle that each Upwork proposal must be uniquely tailored to the individual client rather than using a template, as personalization signals genuine interest and dramatically increases response rates.
View concept page →The practice of verifying that a chosen sub-niche has sufficient job postings on Upwork before building a specialty profile around it, balancing low competition with enough demand.
View concept page →The practice of including quotes from past clients, colleagues, or character references directly in your Upwork profile and proposals to establish trust when you lack platform reviews.
View concept page →The practice of performing your service on your own projects to build a portfolio when you have no client work to show, demonstrating capability to potential clients.
View concept page →The primary guest and SEO expert featured in the video, founder of an AI SEO agency that developed the Core 30 local SEO methodology and scaled to 97 plumber clients using AI-driven content and local link-building strategies.
View concept page →You need approximately four to six jobs (with five being the magic number for most new profiles) to earn a Job Success Score on Upwork. Once you have a Job Success Score, your response rates from clients will increase significantly, making it much easier to land additional work.
The ice cream truck rule means you should get straight to the point in your proposals rather than pitching the value of your service. Just like an ice cream truck doesn't open its window and deliver a long speech about why ice cream will improve your life — it simply says 'I have ice cream, it's good, it's $5' — clients on Upwork already know they want the service (they posted the job). They just need to know you have it, how much it costs, and that you're good at it. Don't waste time convincing them they need the service; focus on showing them you're the right person to deliver it.
If you have no client experience, you have a few options: (1) Get testimonials from people in your personal or professional life who can vouch for your honesty and trustworthiness — this could be your landlord, banker, real estate agent, or anyone who knows you well. (2) Do the service for yourself — run your own Facebook ads, write your own articles, do SEO for your own website, or create sample graphic design work — and add those to your portfolio. The goal is to show potential clients that you have 'good ice cream' even without formal client reviews.
The strategy is called 'laser focus' — instead of competing broadly in your niche, create specialty profiles hyper-focused on specific sub-niches or tools within your field. For example, instead of competing under 'SEO' (where top freelancers have $200K–$500K in earnings), create a specialty profile focused on 'Google My Business (GMB)' or 'Yoast' — specific tools where competition is much lower. Similarly, instead of 'web design,' focus on a specific WordPress plugin like 'Akismet' or page builder like 'Elementor.' Upwork allows you to have three profiles total (one general, two specialty), so use those specialty profiles to target high-volume, low-competition sub-niches.
Record a short, personalized screencast video for each proposal and include the link early in your proposal text — ideally visible in the preview window. This works because: (1) Most Upwork proposals are copy-paste templates, so a custom video immediately stands out. (2) It demonstrates that you took extra time specifically for that client. When recording, show the client's website or job posting in the background, use language that mirrors the client's own wording, address their specific questions, and ask what additional information you need to move forward. Critically, never send the same video to multiple clients — each video must be recorded specifically for that one client, or it's no better than a copy-paste proposal.
Yes, it's perfectly fine to take jobs in a less competitive area that may not be your long-term focus, just to build your initial reviews. For example, the speaker's primary agency does SEO, but his first few Upwork reviews were for business valuation — a much less competitive field where he had skills from business school. Getting those first four to six reviews is the priority so you can earn a Job Success Score, which dramatically improves your response rates. Once you have that foundation, you can shift focus back to your primary specialty.
Upwork's algorithm does not sort freelancers chronologically or by total earnings. Instead, it sorts them based on how well a freelancer's profile matches what the client is likely looking for. This means a new freelancer with a hyper-focused specialty profile can appear at the top of search results for a specific sub-niche query, even ahead of established freelancers with much higher overall earnings, if their profile is more precisely aligned with the client's search.
Upwork allows you to have three profiles total: one general profile and two specialty profiles. The recommended strategy is to use your general profile for your broad skill set (e.g., 'web design' or 'SEO'), and then use both specialty profiles to laser-focus on specific sub-niches or tools within that field (e.g., 'Elementor' and 'Akismet' for web design, or 'Google My Business' and 'Yoast' for SEO). This approach helps you appear more prominently in searches for those specific topics where competition is much lower.
A good sub-niche should meet two criteria: (1) Low competition — search for the sub-niche term on Upwork and look at the earnings of the top freelancers. If the top results show very low or zero earnings, competition is low. (2) Sufficient job volume — click on 'Jobs' and search for that sub-niche to see how frequently jobs are posted. If only one job per month is posted, it's not worth building a specialty profile around. But if there are five or six jobs per day, it's an excellent sub-niche because you get high volume with low competition.
The biggest mistake is using the classic sales approach of trying to convince clients of the value of the service you're offering, when they already know they want it — that's why they posted the job. For example, if someone posts a job for a bookkeeper, starting your proposal by explaining why bookkeeping is important for tax time is wasting their time. They already know that. Instead, focus immediately on demonstrating that you are good at the service. The other major mistake is sending copy-paste proposals, which get very low response rates compared to personalized proposals or video proposals.
According to the speaker, sending a proposal should not take more than a few minutes. The key is to be consistent and send proposals every day. While personalized video proposals take more time than text proposals, the higher response rate makes the extra effort worthwhile, especially when you're trying to land your first few jobs.
Combine all three strategies for maximum impact: (1) Create a hyper-focused specialty profile in a low-competition sub-niche (e.g., Elementor for web design, or Active Campaign for email marketing). (2) When you apply to a job in that sub-niche, record a short personalized screencast video showing the client's job posting or website in the background, using their language, and addressing their specific needs. (3) If your main specialty is too competitive to break into initially, consider applying to jobs in a related but less competitive area to build your first few reviews. Together, these strategies give you a targeted profile that ranks well for specific searches, a standout proposal that gets noticed, and a realistic path to your first Job Success Score.
Getting your first jobs on Upwork is genuinely difficult because clients tend to choose freelancers with proven track records, and without reviews, you have no social proof of your abilities. However, it does get significantly easier once you earn a Job Success Score, which requires approximately four to six completed jobs. After that milestone, your response rates from clients improve dramatically. The speaker emphasizes that despite the initial difficulty, it is absolutely worth pushing through — his entire agency was built from Upwork clients.
Based on the speaker's research, here are low-competition sub-niches by category: (1) Web Design: Instead of 'web design,' focus on specific WordPress plugins like 'Akismet' or page builders like 'Elementor.' (2) SEO: Instead of 'SEO,' focus on 'Google My Business (GMB)' for local SEO, or 'Yoast' (a WordPress SEO plugin). (3) Email Marketing: Instead of 'email marketing,' focus on a specific platform like 'Active Campaign.' (4) Graphic Design: Instead of 'graphic design,' focus on 'logo design' or 'book cover design.' The pattern is to go from a broad category to a specific tool, platform, or deliverable within that category.
The ice cream truck opens the window and says, hey, I have ice cream. It's good. It's $5. They never start with a long pitch about what their name is, where they're from, and why ice cream is going to improve your life.
If somebody's on Upwork, they're not looking to be convinced about how ice cream is going to improve their life. They just want to know you have it, how much is it, and that it's good ice cream.
When I look at proposals on Upwork, what I see is people assuming I don't want the ice cream. They're taking the classic sales approach of convincing me of the value of the service I already want to buy.
I posted a job on Upwork saying I need a bookkeeper. So if you're going to start by telling me why I need bookkeeping to keep everything in order for tax time — you're wasting my time. I already know all of that. I want the bookkeeping. What I want to know is that you're good at it.
If you can't find anyone in your life to say you're honest and trustworthy, then I might consider that getting reviews on Upwork maybe isn't the biggest priority right now. Maybe you should re-evaluate how you're handling yourself.
If you've never done work before for a client, do the service for yourself. Run some Facebook ads, write an article, do some SEO — put that in your portfolio. Show that you have good ice cream.
Most proposals on Upwork's platform are copy-paste. The fact that you went the extra step to record a video proposal — that's going to get noticed much more likely than just a text proposal.
What you should not do is record one proposal and send that to everyone. That's as bad as a copy-paste cover letter template.
It's okay if your first few reviews maybe aren't what you want to do long term, but they're in a less competitive space to just get those first few jobs under your belt.
Upwork's algorithm that sorts the freelancers is not necessarily based on chronological order and it's not based on earnings — it's based on how much your profile matches what that client is likely looking for.
I hate using the word freelancer because that puts you in the wrong mindset.
Getting your first 4-6 jobs is the hardest part; competing in a less saturated space (e.g., business valuation instead of SEO) makes landing those initial reviews much easier
Once you have a Job Success Score, your response rates improve dramatically — this is the critical threshold for new profiles
Clients who post jobs already want the service; they just need to know you're qualified and available
Social proof helps establish credibility before you have Upwork reviews
Any form of third-party validation helps establish trust with potential clients
Portfolio samples demonstrate competence even without paid client history
Most proposals are copy-paste; a personalized video stands out and significantly increases response rates
This visually proves the video was made specifically for them, not recycled
Using the client's own language signals you understand their needs and will be a good fit
Showing genuine interest and identifying next steps demonstrates professionalism and engagement
A recycled video is as ineffective as a copy-paste cover letter; clients need to feel the proposal was made just for them
Upwork allows up to 3 profiles; sub-niche profiles face far less competition and Upwork's algorithm matches profiles to relevant job postings
A sub-niche with only 1 job per month isn't worth building a specialty profile around
Broad categories like 'web design' or 'SEO' are dominated by freelancers with $100K+ in earnings; tool-specific searches often show competitors with little to no earnings
Consistency is key to landing those first 5 jobs; each proposal should only take a few minutes
The combination of low competition (laser focus) + personalized outreach (video proposal) dramatically increases the chance of getting a response
Freelance marketplace platform the entire video is about; speaker built his agency using it
"my entire agency is built with jobs from Upwork"
Mentioned as a very common web design tool used as an example for niche specialization
"WordPress is a very common web design tool"
Mentioned as a popular WordPress plugin used as an example of a laser-focused sub-niche profile
"Akismet is a very popular plugin for WordPress"
Mentioned as a popular WordPress website builder used as an example of a laser-focused sub-niche profile
"Elementor is a popular website builder on WordPress"
Mentioned as a local SEO sub-niche (referred to as GMB) to create a specialty profile around
"GMB short for Google my business listing is local SEO"
Mentioned as a common SEO-focused plugin for WordPress as an example of a niche sub-profile
"Yoast which is a very common very popular SEO focused plugin for WordPress"
Mentioned as a popular email marketing platform used as an example of a laser-focused specialty profile
"active campaign, which is a very popular, very commonly used email marketing platform"
Mentioned in passing when observing a competitor's profile on Upwork appeared more focused on ClickFunnels than ActiveCampaign
"he's focused more on ClickFunnels clearly"