Welcome and Prayer (Greg)
Greg welcomed everyone to the call. Iragi led the group in prayer. Rigo, who had joined the previous trip to Congo, shared a few words of encouragement.
Greg reviewed the agenda for the call, which included:
- Talking about Connects on Upwork
- Answering any Upwork questions
- Discussing a Bible verse (1 John 5: 11-12)
- Introducing new people to the call – Welcome to Elin, Tiffany and Carmel who work on Africa Mupya with Greg in the United States
Bible Verse
1 John 5:11-12
(NIV) And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
(LSG) Et voici ce témoignage, c’est que Dieu nous a donné la vie éternelle, et que cette vie est dans son Fils. Celui qui a le Fils a la vie; celui qui n’a pas le Fils de Dieu n’a pas la vie.
Question: What is “eternal life”? What does that mean?
Answers: Eternal life is Jesus. Having a relationship with Jesus
Eternal life is life without any end – the life we get to spend with our Creator, for which we have shared.
Question: Does eternal life start as soon as faith starts?
Answers: I think eternal life looks different now than it does when we die.
Look at verse 13 in that same chapter: 1 John 5: 13
(NIV) I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
(LSG) Je vous ai écrit ces choses, afin que vous sachiez que vous avez la vie éternelle, vous qui croyez au nom du Fils de Dieu.
If we believe in Jesus, then we have eternal life now. I [Greg] believe there are lots of parts to eternal life. One of those is that Jesus is a personal and powerful provider for his people. Jesus promises to be our provider, but he also made us to work. I get great joy from my work. We are trusting Jesus will provide to us by using Upwork. This is why we are doing this experiment called EHI (Exporting Human Intelligence).
Upwork Updates, Successes and Challenges
Last week, Iragi and Legrand brought some questions with Connects.
Elin shared what we found on Connects, and the link is posted on Africa Mupya in the June 2023 Meeting Summary.
Due to the fact that many Upwork users expressed concerns about the amount of free Connects available on Upwork, we have come up with a plan to help EHI members earn more Connects. This will allow EHI members to bid on more jobs that they are qualified for. Greg stated that this is not a gift or a hand-out, but an opportunity for EHI members to share their data and knowledge within a survey.
Not all EHI users are qualified. Qualifications include:
- Attended EHI training
- Created and shared Upwork profile for review and feedback
- Have demonstrated effort to be actively pursuing work on Upwork
- Regularly attend meetings, work to improve their profile and help others join this community
This is an opportunity for dedicated, hard-working EHI freelancers who have demonstrated effort.
Elin will follow up with the qualified EHI members with details on how to accept the Connects survey job in Upwork in order to earn money to purchase Connects.
We’re going to do this experiment for three months and together we will evaluate the result and see what we need to do to improve or stop the experiment.
Availability Badge
- We do not recommend paying Connects for the daily Availability Badge for new freelancers just starting out
- This is best for freelancers who have established themselves and get more invitations than they have time for
- The weekly price of the badge may fluctuate
- https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403673074707
Freelancer Plus Membership
- Freelancer Plus plan costs $14.99 USD a month
- You’ll receive the following perks:
- You’ll be visible. Upwork keeps your profile active, even if you take a break
- You’ll gain insight. See what bids your competitors are making on a posted job
- You’ll get help engaging with clients. You’ll get 80 Connects per month (70 included with your plan purchase, and 10 FREE from Upwork!) to help you find great new projects
- You’ll stand out. Upwork will give you a customized profile URL so clients can remember how to find you
- You can keep your earnings private if you want to keep your earnings confidential
- To set up Freelancer Plus:
- You will need to set up a billing method by Visa or PayPal
- If you have sufficient funds, the monthly fee will be deducted from your Upwork account balance
- If not, the full amount of the fee will be charged to your primary billing method
Additional Upwork tips can be found here.
Use Your Connects Wiseley. See the June 2023 Meeting Summary
Submit a Proposal (Use your Connects wisely when you submit a proposal)
Before you use your Connects to submit a proposal, do this:
- Carefully review the job post to make sure it matches your skills and availability
- Make sure you have enough time to submit a quality proposal
- Check to see if the client has hired anyone yet — sometimes clients don’t close a job right away after hiring
- Review the client’s history — do they usually hire right away and have previous freelancers enjoyed working with them?
- Consider the number of freelancers who have already submitted proposals and whether the client is interviewing others yet. It may be more difficult to get the client’s attention
Closing Prayer
Augustin closed the group in prayer.