In July my teaching gig ended (maybe…) and I had more time to focus on freelancing. I started to work with a new client in the last days of July and sent some proposals on Upwork.

On Upwork, unexpectedly I got a reply to both of my proposals (to do stuff around AWS) and both of them interviewed me. I usually get a reply every 10 proposals so this isdefinitely an outlier to keep an eye on. Things I think worked in my favor:

  • Getting and keeping my top-rated badge (if you are on Upwork, try very hard not to lose it).
  • Boosting proposals to be in the top 3.
  • Sending proposals on a Saturday night. Low competition.

I am starting to see more interest in my profile on LinkedIn too. Posting once a week got me some likes (almost all are friends). I think I will keep doing it, but I will only post personal stuff. From what I have seen, it works better for me.

The numbers this month should not be very far from what I made in June. They might be a bit less since I don’t have the revenue from teaching.

Item Income/Expense
Amazon book sales + 86.41$
Freelancing + 281.35$
Upwork freelancing + 935.79$
Teaching + 397.20$
Appliku - 10.00 $
Hetzner - 5.31 $
AWS fees - 17.26$
SEO tools - 14.64 $
Italian P.Iva - 33.93 $
Total + 1619.61 $

I was wrong. It’s my best month so far, and it could be better given the yearly expenses I made.

I increased a bit the rate on Upwork, and it made a difference. Probably that’s the biggest contribution to the increase in income. I am going to increase them more (little by little) in the future. Let’s see if and when I stop getting clients.

I have a few more freelancing gigs lined up already for next month and for September too. Those should give me the financial stability to work on Data Internships and Stoic Quotes without too much stress. And maybe pursue some other small bet.