My Upwork strategy with lovable.dev: 29 projects in 7 months, $4.4k biggest win

Just hit my 29th Lovable project on Upwork and wanted to share what's actually working right now.

Quick context: I quit my job in May and went all-in on offering Lovable builds on Upwork. My biggest single contract was ~$4.4k.

The thing that surprised me most? Chasing posts with 50+ proposals is a waste of time.

What actually worked was making my profile strong enough to get invites + boosting with connects.

Here is the setup that got me consistent invites:

Visibility: Turned on availability badge + profile boost.
Portfolio: Added 2-3 sample projects (even template builds work fine).
Copycatting: Studied top freelancers in the niche and modeled their structure.
Completeness: Filled out everything—photo, education, rate, location (no half-done sections).
Pricing: Started lower to build momentum, then raised it after each 5-star review.

The Sales Approach:

Always offer a quick video call (camera on, good mic, quiet space).
The "Kickstarter": I got someone I knew to hire me for the first job to get a real 5-star review (absolute game changer).
After each good review, I bumped my rate $5 until I found the sweet spot.
Result: Now I'm at [Insert Rate/hr] and getting about 2-3 invites per week.

I taught a friend this same approach and they landed multiple clients too, made $10k+ in a few months. Obviously staying within Upwork rules (no outside contact before contract), but this has been solid for building consistent income.

Question for you guys: Anyone else focusing on the invite strategy? What's your hit rate on invites vs cold proposals right now?

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