Ep: 385: Why you stopped using Upwork

Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at outsourcing. This is episode 385 why you stopped using Upwork. So I recently had a podcast episode about my feelings about upwork. I also sent out a newsletter about it and it was the most responded to thing I've done in a really, really long time. You obviously had strong feelings about this too, and most of your feelings were basically the same as mine. Upwork is it's not a bad platform. It's a good platform, but contrary to popular belief, it's not that easy to use. You don't really know or have any control over the person you hire and you end up spending way more when compared to hiring an OFS on onlinejobs ph. I actually got one email from Lucas whose message to me about this really, really summed things up. And it summed up like six other emails that I got from people about this. So here's what he says. Hi there John. I wanted to add some comments about the upwork article. This was a response to my newsletter. I used to use Upwork and Fiverr the second one I still use for some specific jobs, but the day I left Upwork behind I still celebrate as if it was the 4th of July. Some time has passed since, so maybe my impressions are obsolete, but here's what I still hold one. The hiring process in upwork is not easy. Onlinejobs ph it was so easy an idiot could do it. Just read the manual and follow the steps to the letter. I would call it boring if not for the fact that it saved my business partner and I a ton of time for an and additional recruiting work. So now let me insert here. I don't really think the recruiting process on Upwork versus Onlinejobs ph is that different, but the steps at 1vaoa.com really do make this super duper simple. And it really is easy to to find someone amazing at onlinejobs ph. Now, I haven't used upwork in a long time. I know that my process doesn't exactly work there, so I would imagine it's slightly more difficult. I don't know that it's like crazy different though. I'm actually going to tone down Luca's love for onlinejobs ph here, which is maybe not something I should do, but it's what I'm doing, he continues. Number two, I actually don't know who is at the other end of the line with upwork. In theory I do, but they're like gypsies Here one day, gone the next. Do I need some adjustments? Too late, Jose. Working on the Internet is stressful enough without having to deal with disappearing workers. And I'm going to add to this. This was the deal breaker for me. It was the required turnover at upwork, where upwork. The whole premise of it is get work, get a review so that someone in the future knows to hire you because you got a review so that you can get paid more and get another review. Like the whole concept is based around turnover and it's flawed. Next, number three, he continues. Number three, with upwork, I pay a lot in advance. The person doing the stuff doesn't get much, not until the very end. And even in that instance, with a serious cut from what I paid, they are not happy because they feel underpaid. I am not happy because I feel I overpaid. In short, difficult to use, impersonal, inefficient, expensive. I don't know how we can even compare the two. I know that when I employed my first va, the world of Internet work changed for me and for her, and we could not be happier. They're like family. Of course, if people prefer to be impersonal and miserable at work, then okay, I guess upwork would work for them. Cheers. Keep up the good work, Luca. Now. Hey. Look, just because you're using upwork doesn't mean you have to be miserable at work. This is Luca's perspective. It's also my perspective, and it was a whole bunch of your perspectives because you sent me these messages. If you love upwork, I'd love to hear it. I'd love to hear what makes it good for you. If you haven't yet hired someone, well, now's a pretty good time. And whether you use upwork to do it or online jobs to do it, I don't really care. I really just want you to experience getting something off of your plate and seeing what that feels like. Now, obviously I'm biased. I feel like onlinejobs PH is a much better way to get that done, especially long term, where you don't experience the turnover piece of this, nor the markups, nor the difficulty of finding someone. But if upwork's what you want to do, because you're okay paying a salary markup forever in order to avoid the upfront recruiting cost and online jobs page, fine, go for it. Just hire someone and see if it changes your life.