Can Freelance Writers on Freeeup Land Decent Work? 

Will Freelance Writers on Freeeup Be Connected to the Top 1% of Clients? 

TL:DR: Experienced freelance writers are unlikely to find well-paid projects on Freeeup.com, especially given the extensive requirements to be accepted onto the site. 

Writer note: Due to the NDA signed by freelancers on the site, I have not included any screenshots from the site. However, I’ve done my best to explain how the site works from a freelancer perspective. 

As an author in the freelancing space, I’m always keeping my eye out for the next big thing or platform that stands to make things easier for us freelancers. From finding clients to streamlining invoicing, consider me on board when there’s an opportunity to do things more effectively, faster, or easily.

Freeeup is one of the newest freelance job platforms on the market claiming to only accept the top 1% of freelancers. Theoretically, this should work out well for freelancers because only the top 1% of clients will be on the site, right? It’s more like champagne taste on a beer budget. 

The site reports that there are over 85 freelancer skillsets for which workers can find gigs on the platform. Based on my scan, it looks like most of the gigs are research/work to support ecommerce sellers. 

(By the way, if you’re curious about the top 24 most profitable freelance side hustles in general, check out this link to get a free report.)

For freelance writers on Freeeup, the setup is slightly different than other job platforms. The most “work” you’ll have to do is getting accepted to the site. 

After that point: 

• You’ll be able to search job listings on the site and submit your information, which opens up a conversation with the client if they are interested 
• Most of these conversations happen on WhatsApp or Skype, which leads me to think that most of the freelancers on the site are working outside of the U.S. 
• There are no fees or monthly fees owed by freelancers on the site. According to Freeeup, “The amount we charge the client is the client’s rate. The difference between the client rate and freelancer rate is 15% with a $2.00 minimum.”
• You get to set your own hourly rate and reject jobs that don’t fit into that scope 

Qualifying to Be on Freeeup

As far as freelance platforms go, Freeeup has one of the most extensive application processes I have seen. It took over three months for me to go from application to review to interview to acceptance on the platform.

If you make it through the initial review, you’ll need to wait to text chat with someone on their team on Skype. For me, the first available time to do that was about six weeks after I received my acceptance notice. I begrudgingly accepted it and then waited for the interview to roll around.

The interview involved asking me some more questions about my background and how I approach client projects. At the end I was told I’d be a good candidate for the platform and then sent information about how to sign all the relevant forms. Once that was completed, I was able to view jobs on the site. 

Budgets from actual jobs on Freeeup 

It’s important to me to test out platforms to see what kind of options exist for new and experienced freelancers. Although I often receive emails from platforms asking to put up a guest blog on my site, I will only review or recommend something I’ve personally used and believe is helpful for freelancers. 

• $10 for articles up to 2,000 words 
• $16-17 for an “expert” article writer creating 1,000 word pieces 
• A client wanting to pay $77 total for three 1500-word pieces (I even emailed to clarify this one.)

Now, as this blog is focused on freelance writers, I can’t speak to whether or not the quality of jobs in other categories are well paid, because I don’t know the going rate for most of that technical work. However, for any job platform that includes various categories for freelancers, I use the listings for freelance writers to get a gauge on whether or not the platform has enough variety to make it worth a writer’s time.

(And on a side note, please check out this blog post about how to job search on Upwork. Similarly, Upwork has many low-paying gigs or no rate listed jobs, but doing some digging will often reveal better clients and opportunities. After comparing the two, I feel that Upwork has many more jobs posted on the site for freelance writers. 

Some other things I spotted/experienced while gig-seeking on the site: 

Some of the Jobs Are a Bit Vague 

Many of the clients don’t enter a budget at all, providing limited information about the job. This makes it hard for freelancers to decide whether or not to bid on something. This is a problem on other freelance job platforms, too. 

Once you find something you’re interested in, you’re supposed to discuss details of the job with the client. I could see this being a lot of back and forth for jobs that aren’t a good fit, such as if the client can’t afford you.

Get Emails About Open Jobs 

As a member, you’ll receive emails from the virtual assistant team when Freeeup is struggling to fill a job. I think it’s nice that they go out of their way to send you these options. Furthermore, I replied to one of these and the VA wrote me back providing me options when I said the gig was priced too low. She said she was willing to go back to the client and mention that. 

Owner Interest/Support 

I posted a brief recap of my Freeeup thoughts in my FB group. Those comments were shared with the CEO of Freeeup, who was quite professional in reaching out to me to get my feedback (and not in a shady way.) 

We spoke on the phone for ten minutes and I gave him some direct feedback about why I couldn’t recommend the site for writers. I think it shows great forward-thinking to accept feedback from freelancers in an effort to make the platform better. So kudos to Nathan for reading the feedback and asking for more detail!

In addition to the owner’s involvement, most freelancers have a big interest in how easily and quickly they can get paid for their work. I like that the site says they pay you weekly. 

Freeeup’s Referral Program 

Freeeup also has a referral program for sending freelancers or clients to the site. According to their site: 

• • “For all clients that you refer, you are paid $0.50 for every hour that they bill. Similarly, for all freelancers that you refer, you are paid $0.25 for every hour that they work through FreeeUp. For expert level freelancers, you are paid $0.50 for every hour they bill.” 

Overall, I don’t think it ever hurts to be on a platform for freelance work unless you’re spending so much time on it that you never see your return on investment. Since we can’t really know where Freeeup might be headed in the future, I think you should consider applying and keeping it as a backup plan.

I might check out their job board once a week to see if anything decent has been posted, but I would not recommend that freelance writers spend more than that!