Captain’s log, stardate 20180103

113,796

Sent by Jonathan Stark on January 3rd, 2018

If you search Upwork for “web development”, you’ll get 113,796 results.

Whoa. That’s a lot.

But maybe “web development” is an outlier? Maybe other disciplines aren’t so horrible commoditized?

Mmmm... no.

IT & Networking - 100,388 results
Marketing & Sales - 169,628 results
Design & Creative - 355,059 results
Writers - 366,224 results

Here’s the kicker:

Regardless of the search you do, half the results in the first page charge $40/hour or less.

Here’s a typical example:

Alex A. - Graphic Design

Upwork Top Rated

Job Success: 100%

Hourly rate: $40/hr

That’s right. A top rated (by Upwork) graphic designer with 100% job success percentage is making $40/hr.

This is nuts!

Ask yourself:

How can you expect to compete with this tidal wave of low cost labor?
How can you stand out from the crowd?
How can you justify a premium rate?

If you believe that you are worth more than $40/hour - or don’t want to charge hourly at all - you have to completely change the game.

For the next few days, I’m going to talk about how to get noticed, how to attract ideal clients, and how to charge and get what you’re worth.

Spoiler alert:

There’s no silver bullet, it’ll take some time, and you’re probably not going to like my advice.

But I’m quite certain that you need to stand out to survive long term as a self-employed software professional.

If you don’t, you’ll be number 113,797.

Stay tuned...

Yours,

—J

P.S. Would you like to kickstart the process of standing out from the crowd and getting paid what your worth? I help people with exactly that in my private mentoring program. Particiapation is limited. Secure your spot before the opportunity is gone -> https://jonathanstark.com/mentoring

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” —Albert Einstein