Getting started as a freelancer is tough. Most people always think about every single aspect and take a little while to get started. Looking for an edge on the competition is normal which is why the question of whether or not you could buy someone else’s Upwork profile comes up often. Are you able to purchase a profile on Upwork and use it as your own?
The answer to this question is no. This is because due to the fact that Upwork deals with so many scammers on a regular basis, they have a very strict policy on identifiying your true identity. This includes verifying your ID, phone number, and more. If Upwork felt as if you aren’t the person on your profile due to a strange change in IP address or any other red flags, they will suspend your account and investigate further.
Below we will get into more details on why buying someone else’s Upwork profile is not a good idea.
Your Skills Are Not Their Skills
You could be a writer, and try and buy an Upwork account of another writer, however if you’re not as experienced as them, or if you have a different writing style, clients are going to notice. This could lead to negative feedback.
You should start your own account based around your own skills and try and build up a strong profile that will last for years, without the risk of getting suspended.
Chance’s are if you’re trying to buy a well established Upwork account (which isn’t possible), it’s probably going to cost a good amount of money. Instead of using that money to buy that account, you should invest that money into a course that is going to make your skills more competent to be a good freelancer.
The fact that you’re trying to buy an account from someone else may mean that you feel as if your skills aren’t good enough, or you want a shortcut. We can assure you that there is no shortcut to success on Upwork, or freelancing altogether for that matter. You need to put in the hard work to be successful.
Proposals Are More Important Than Having a Profile
Having an established Upwork profile is not going to help you get jobs. Let’s say for example you did get a chance to buy an Upwork profile, and it’s incredibly successful with a ton of great feedback. That doesn’t guarantee you jobs.
You don’t know the process that person used to get clients attention and let them know that you were the person for the job. This means you have to start from scratch and figure out how to write proposals and market yourself.
Proposals should be reverse engineered for each job you apply for, to show the client that you understand their needs and can provide solutions for them. This takes time and effort, which is why buying someone else’s Upwork profile won’t help you in the long run.
Can You Sell an Upwork Profile?
Let’s say you’re on the other side of the spectrum and you’re thinking about selling your Upwork profile. You have no use for the platform anymore because all of your clients are currently off of the platform and you’re making good money. Does this mean you should try and sell your profile?
The answer is no because of the same reasons we mentioned above. It’s against the rules of Upwork and it’s also not guaranteed to benefit the person purchasing it.
However, there is another way you could use your Upwork profile to make a little bit more money, and that is to scale your business.
If you feel as if you’ve reached the most amount of work you can put it in on a regular basis, selling it may feel like the best option. What you should do though, is take on more work and outsource the work to people that do it just a little bit cheaper than you.
This could be challenging due to quality of work, but if you could find a balance and have good communication with the people you outsource to, it could be successful.
Let’s use freelance writing as an example, because this is what I do. If you charge $30 per 1000 words and take on more work, you could get someone to do the work for $15 per 1000 words and make the $15/1000 word difference.
If you keep an excel sheet of all the articles and people you have working for you, you could easily scale and still maintain good quality work while making more money.
Conclusion
In conclusion, buying someone else’s Upwork profile is not possible and not a good idea. You won’t be able to truly represent yourself as the account owner, and you will have to put in hard work to stand out from the competition regardless. Invest time into building your own profile and improving your skills, rather than trying to take shortcuts.
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