Latest / Solopreneur Sessions with Fexingo: One-Person Businesses, Freelancing, and Independent Work / How a Solopreneur Built a Business on One Freelance Platform Profile
Transcript
- Lucas: So, there's this idea that a solopreneur's business is only as strong as their last pitch. But what if the most important piece of marketing you ever create is the one you don't think about after you set it up? I'm talking about your profile on a freelance platform. Luna: You mean like Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal — that kind of thing? I feel like most people treat those profiles as a checklist. Fill in your skills, upload a photo, maybe write a sentence. Then they wonder why they're not getting hired. Lucas: Exactly. And that's where today's story comes in. Sarah Chen — a graphic designer based in Austin. She started on Upwork in 2020, the early pandemic days, doing tiny gigs. Her first project was a logo for a local bakery, paid twenty dollars. Fast forward to last year, she crossed two hundred and forty thousand dollars in revenue, all sourced through a single Upwork profile. She never took a single client off-platform. And she did it without spending a dime on ads. Luna: Wait — two hundred and forty K on Upwork alone? That's impressive, but also, Upwork takes a twenty percent cut on the first five hundred dollars with a client, then it scales down. She must have been paying a lot in fees. Lucas: That's the kicker — she actually stayed on-platform because she built a reputation system that fed itself. The fees she paid were a fraction of what she would have spent on traditional marketing. And because Upwork's algorithm rewards profiles with high completion rates and positive feedback, her visibility kept increasing. Luna: So what specifically did she do differently? Because I've seen plenty of profiles that are basically 'I design logos, hire me.' That's not a strategy. Lucas: Right. Sarah treated her profile as a living document. She didn't set it and forget it. The first thing she did was niche down. Instead of 'graphic designer,' she made her title 'Logo and Brand Identity Designer for Health and Wellness Startups.' That's a mouthful, but it targets a specific buyer with a specific pain point. Luna: So she went after the health and wellness niche. That makes sense — those businesses need branding that conveys trust, and they're often willing to pay more per project. Lucas: Exactly. She also rewrote her overview to tell a micro-story. She didn't just list services. She wrote something like: 'I help health and wellness founders turn their passion into a visual identity that clients trust. My process starts with a deep-dive discovery call, ends with a brand kit you can use immediately, and includes unlimited revisions for thirty days.' That thirty-day revision guarantee — that's key. Luna: Unlimited revisions for thirty days. That's bold. I've seen freelancers get burned by scope creep with offers like that. But I guess if you price it right and have a clear process, it signals confidence. Lucas: It does. And Sarah calibrated it so that the revisions were limited to the original scope — not new deliverables. That distinction was spelled out in her contract. But the main effect was reducing the buyer's perceived risk. When someone hires you on a platform, they're taking a chance. That guarantee made her profile stand out among hundreds of others. Luna: Which brings up a point — if these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, maybe you've thought about how to support shows like this. We keep Solopreneur Sessions ad-free, and listener support is what makes that possible. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small thing that goes a long way. If you've gotten value from the episodes — maybe a tactic you've tried, or a reframe that shifted how you work — you can throw a few bucks into the tip jar at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's all lowercase, no spaces. Luna: And we really appreciate it. It keeps the show clean and lets us focus on stories like Sarah's without any sponsor noise. So back to her profile — what else did she tweak? Lucas: She also optimized her portfolio. Instead of a random assortment of her best work, she curated exactly five projects, all in the health and wellness space. Each one had a detailed case study — the client's problem, her solution, and the outcome. Numbers, where possible. Like 'increased website engagement by forty percent after rebrand.' Specifics build credibility. Luna: And I bet she leveraged client testimonials too. Upwork allows clients to leave public feedback, and she made sure to ask every client after a successful project. Lucas: Absolutely. She actually had a system: after delivering the final files, she'd send a follow-up message thanking the client and asking if they'd be willing to leave a brief review. She even offered a small discount on their next project if they did. That incentive turned one-off clients into repeat clients. Luna: So she's essentially using the platform's own feedback loop as a growth engine. The more positive reviews she got, the higher she ranked in search results, which brought more clients, which generated more reviews. It's a virtuous cycle. Lucas: Right. And she was strategic about which projects she took on. Early on, she accepted lower-paying gigs to build her rating. But once she had a track record, she started declining projects that didn't fit her niche. She'd politely say 'I specialize in health and wellness brands, and I don't think I'm the best fit for this project, but here's a recommendation.' That actually earned her respect and sometimes referrals. Luna: That's a great point. Turning down work can paradoxically increase your perceived value. And when you recommend someone else, you're seen as a helpful expert, not just a transaction. Lucas: Exactly. Now, one other thing she did that I found interesting was how she used Upwork's 'proposals' feature. She didn't just submit a generic cover letter. She would always reference something specific from the client's job post — like 'I noticed your current logo uses a gradient that might not translate well to print. I have an idea for a flat-color alternative that maintains the feel.' That level of customization was rare. Luna: And it shows you read the post carefully. Clients can tell when a proposal is a copy-paste job. That effort alone probably doubled her response rate. Lucas: It did. She told me her response rate went from about one in ten to one in three after she started doing that. Now, the bigger question is whether a platform like Upwork is a sustainable long-term home. Sarah was on it for four years, and she's now thinking of starting her own agency website to reduce dependency. Luna: I think that's smart. Platforms give you distribution, but they also control the relationship. They can change their algorithm, raise fees, or even ban you. The goal should be to use the platform as a launchpad, not a permanent base. Lucas: Exactly. Sarah's plan is to keep her Upwork profile active as a lead generation tool, but to funnel high-value clients into a direct relationship after the first project. That way, she avoids the platform fee on repeat work. She's already started — about thirty percent of her revenue now comes from off-platform repeat clients. Luna: So she's gradually building an independent business while still benefiting from the platform's reach. That feels like the optimal path for most solopreneurs. Lucas: Yeah. And her story underscores something: the profile itself is not a static asset. It's a living piece of marketing that needs constant refinement. Sarah reviews her profile every quarter — updates her title, refreshes her portfolio, adds new testimonials. She treats it like a storefront. Luna: Which is exactly what it is. If you walk past a storefront every day and the window display never changes, you stop noticing it. Same with a profile. Lucas: Right. So the takeaway for any solopreneur listening — whether you're on Upwork, Fiverr, or even LinkedIn — is to ask yourself: when was the last time you updated your profile? If it's been more than a month, you're probably leaving opportunities on the table. Luna: And if you're just starting out, don't underestimate the power of a hyper-specific niche and a thirty-day guarantee. Those two things alone can differentiate you from the crowd. Lucas: Absolutely. Sarah Chen didn't reinvent the wheel. She just made her wheel more visible, more trustworthy, and more targeted. And that added up to a quarter million dollar business from a single profile. Luna: That's a great story. Thanks, Sarah. And thanks for listening, everyone. Lucas: Until next time.