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This is the worst thing Upwork has ever done to freelancers.

In one of my previous Hacker Noon articles I expressed my personal opinion about Upwork’s decision to begin charging freelancers for every single connect they use to submit proposals. Of course, we can’t and shouldn’t all agree.

If you think this is a bad thing, then welcome to the club. If this is a good thing for your freelance business, I can still understand you. But, if you say this is great, then I have to write this article.

This is exactly what happened to me. I got this comment on Medium.

So, I began writing my reply, but then I realized it would be a lengthy one. This is how I come up with this story.

How Did We Come To This?

There’s no such thing as “competition” in freelancing. Can we agree on that?

Every freelancer is unique. Every freelancer plays his or her own game. You set your own price that makes you happy and you bid. You DON’T compete! That’s ridiculous. You’re doing your very best to win a project. You don’t compete with other freelancers. You compete ONLY with yourself.

In all of its unfairness freelancing can be surprisingly fair. That’s the thing I love the most about it.

We are equal because we are not equal. We come from different countries and with different backgrounds. We have the different set of skills, talents, and expectations. Our hourly rate isn’t the only thing that sets us apart.

We are all freelance brothers and sisters. That’s why we should stay together as one. How can some freelancers be so heartless and selfish? One freelancer’s loss is another freelancer’s gain. Seriously?

Upwork’s Divide And Rule, So You Can Charge More

If you want to see first-hand how the lack of empathy looks like in the freelance world all you have to do is check out the comments on Quora or Reddit regarding Upwork’s connects policy.

Screenshot Reddit

Screenshot Quora

Screenshot Quora

Are all of those spammers standing in the way of your perfect freelance happiness? Some freelancers are more successful than others. Does this give them the right to look down on their less fortunate fellow freelancers?

Look at what the Upwork Elysium did to us?

Just Because You Feel Good Doesn’t Make You Right

I used to be a Rising Talent on Upwork. Then, I spent quite some time working as the Top Rated freelancer. My freelance luck turned around. Eventually, I became a desperate spammer. Do you hate me, feel sorry for me or you just couldn’t care less? Do you think it’s not going to happen to you? Are you freelance fail-proof? Do you think that both you and your beloved Upwork are better off without me and others like me — spammers?

If I were to blame someone for my trouble that would be Upwork for doubling its fees, among other things, never the so-called and non-existent “competition.”

Is this your way of thinking and justifying this situation? Fewer spammers. Fewer bids. Better chances for me. Well, if that’s the case Upwork won’t thank you for your service, but it will certainly benefit from it.

Upwork can get away with this connects policy change because of the dissonant voices in the freelance community. Do you remember? We couldn’t even unite when Upwork doubled its fees. There were freelancers earning more than $10K per client who obviously felt privileged. It’s the same thing all over again.

The Upwork Caste System At Its Finest

I’m not saying that Upwork would have changed its mind about the connects, if we had all stood together against it, but at least, we would have made their management think twice about this decision. This way, some freelancers still feel privileged, but they will still have to pay for all the connects they use, nevertheless.

Here’s a friendly word of advice to the “upper-class” of Upwork freelancers. Pay close attention to how Upwork’s shares perform at the NASDAQ. Someone will have to cover all of Upwork’s losses. So, don’t be surprised if they increase their fees even more.

The saddest thing about it, there would still be freelancers to defend Upwork.

United We Freelance, Divided We Pay More!