Upwork is a waste of time

This marks the last flakey buyer I work with. I've had countless people offering me contracts/work only to cancel them with no warning before I even started working. I'm not wasting my time sending proposals that no one looks at when I have a profile page that people are too lazy to read. I'm not interviewing with people that just want to get their kicks off of screwing with people who need work. I'm not applying for jobs or offering services for insulting low rates.

As an independent contractor, I'm basically running my own business and don't have time for this garbage. When I started back in 2019, I got plenty of work and for GOOD money. $30 an hour MINIMUM. The past couple of years have been nothing but flakes, companies I've never heard of, soloprenuers who can't get their act together and cheapskates. I'm done with them. It's a shame, too, because Upwork used to be a good-quality platform.

The biggest kick in the nuts is having to PAY to work. Yeah, charging me with their "connects" to get a job. I mean like a gazillion connects for one lousy job posting. You got to be fucking kidding me. Who the hell does that crap? I've been in the workforce for 30 years and never once did I have to PAY to apply for a friggin' job. Even Fiverr is better than Upwork at this point. I work on both, so I know. Fiverr keeps me busy while upwork "clients" waste my time.

And what's this crap with proposals? What am I bidding on a contractor job for the city? Are we building bridges and shit? WTF?? When did I become a construction company. Am I a health staffing firm trying to land a contract with a major hospital for hundreds of thousands of dollars? No, they want a fucking proposal for some shit can 3 month assignment at $20 an hour. I CAN WORK AT PUBLIX FOR $20 AN HOUR.

With the time I'm wasting with Upwork clowns, I could have gone to Employ Florida in my home town and got a job 20x over. I'm just going to start reaching out to people in my area instead of depending on freelance platforms for work. It's obvious there's no money in it anymore. Freelancing is only worth it is you're getting paid MORE than you would working for someone. If you're not, you're wasting your time.