After signing my first client with a very low budget, an old colleague contacted me on LinkedIn saying he needed help with some DevOps work. I told him I could do it — but only through Upwork because I needed help building reviews. It wasn’t a high-profile or high-budget project, but I signed him anyway. After completing these jobs, I got 5-star reviews and hit 100% JSS. And Client #1 started a long-term collaboration with me. Then the day came that every freelancer waits for — a client reached out to me on their own, without any proposal. We signed a contract on my terms. I’m now working with them and expecting more work ahead. I’m still in my struggling phase, but I love my small wins.A girl who knew nothing about freelancing left her job and started something completely new with high goals, big thinking and a persistent attitude. I believe these are small steps toward my bigger vision. I’d be more than happy if any of you take your first difficult step because of this story and if anyone needs help, I’d love to support you.

...so I found this exercise "What's Cool About YOU" that's going to make you WAY more interesting to talk to. Seriously. I got this from Sean Stephenson (the three-foot-tall giant, may he rest in peace)... ....and it's called "What's Cool About You?" Here's the deal... ...when we meet people in Skool communities, we do the boring stuff: "I'm a course creator" or "I run a marketing agency" or whatever. YAWN. 🥱 But what if you could share the WEIRD, COOL, RANDOM stuff about yourself that actually makes people go "Wait, WHAT? Tell me more about that!" That's what this exercise does. It helps you remember (and share) the stuff you've done or experienced that you normally wouldn't mention... but which opens the door to WAY deeper, more fun, and more intellectual conversations. ...because let's be honest... nobody remembers the person who said "I do Facebook ads." But they DEFINITELY remember the person who said "I once trained myself to become #3 in the world at footbag" or "I have a street dog in India named Scooby who's in charge of 12th Road." 😂 HERE'S THE EXERCISE: Write down everything that's COOL, WEIRD, INTERESTING, or UNIQUE about YOU. Not your business accomplishments (boring). YOUR life accomplishments. YOUR quirks. YOUR stories. Some examples to get you started: - "I was a vegetarian for 25 years" (then went back to eating meat like a savage) - "At twelve years old, I won a silver medal in sailing in the Norwegian championship" - "I became one of the biggest party promoters in San Francisco" - "I pet or talk to ALL dogs I meet on the street... because I know they need love" - "I was in the Army and became the second-best dog handler... with a BRAND NEW dog that had never been trained" (the winner had a dog that had been there for 6 years... just saying 😏) Or maybe you've got stuff like: - "I can solve a Rubik's cube in under 2 minutes" (okay, that's not impressive, but if it's under 30 seconds, NOW we're talking) - "I once ate 47 tacos in one sitting" (don't judge me) - "I taught myself to play ukulele during lockdown and now I annoy everyone at parties" - "I lived in a van for 6 months and loved every second of it" - "I can name every country in the world in under 5 minutes" (nerd alert)

When I first started, I did what most beginners do: begged AI to write my “About Me.” Before that, I looked at profiles of top DevOps freelancers with 100% job success scores and gave those references to AI so it could build something similar for me. Profile looked good. I added 3–4 high-level mindset? I had that in mind that Upwork must be full of big end-to-end DevOps jobs like Blockchain-as-a-Service… but no. Most job posts were small tasks: fix Nginx, set up CI/CD, update a pipeline, restart the universe, etc. I even bought the Upwork premium plan so I could be the first to see every new job. Didn’t help. Competition was wild. I changed my keywords, edited my project catalog, and kept applying. Mostly got ghosted. Sometimes clients viewed my proposal and vanished like I had insulted their ancestors. So I started researching clients outside Upwork – LinkedIn, emails, company websites – to personalize proposals. Surprisingly, it worked. I ended up getting three calls: - One from Upwork (high bidding) - One from LinkedIn (after finding the company name) - One from email (again from company research) But none worked out. One hired someone else, one offered very low pay (I wasn’t ready to accept low budgets then) and one didn’t need DevOps anymore. Still, at least they responded. After dozens of proposals and burning 80+ connects like a ritual sacrifice, finally one client replied to my proposal. Their budget was low, and I needed work + reviews. So we made a deal. Client #1. And that’s how the journey started.

Hi friends, May I ask you a question? Please post in the comments where you are from. This way, we can see where all the members live. Afterward, take a look through the comments and feel free to like or say "hi" to members who are from your area. I'm super curious to see where you're all from and will read every single comment. Let's gooooo! - Mischa 🫡

Until I dug in. With the right skills and the right confidence, anything is possible. When I first started, I was so unsure—who would even buy the skills I have? They seemed so simple. But over time, I realized they feel simple to me because I’ve been doing them for years. They’re not simple for others. From a freelancing perspective, the key is to sell the skills you have, not to worry about who will buy them. It’s all about the right approach to selling. I’ll be sharing my experiences here. Let me know if you’re also struggling with freelancing or thinking of starting. Let’s share our challenges and help each other.