Hey guys, as some of you have seen I restarted my Upwork game on December 1st. 0 dollars per month in retainers. I spent the first month or so understanding how Upwork works in 2026, as I had not applied to a job in over a year.
Once I understood how the game is played now, I got rolling (check my previous posts about it).
Since then I've landed $27,780 in monthly retainers, and about 5k in what will probably just be one off jobs. The crazy part is I've barely pushed on it. My bottlenecks for resources have been what slowed me down (hence why I'm hiring, apply at matt@width.ai), and once cleared up I should be able to push even further. I've also turned down 5 jobs so far that did not fit my criteria.
I will be recording a full breakdown video this weekend on the Journey, what I do, how I've been able to land these, and my plan moving forward.
If you are trying to scale on Upwork I highly recommend you tune in. Video will be on the channel.
good luck - Matt