I recommend not relying on the default “best matches” filter that everyone else uses. Instead, create custom searches using Upwork’s advanced filters and focus heavily on keywords. I include every platform you can think of—N8N, Make.com, Claude, various code models, Notion, Asana, Pipedrive, Monday.com, etc.—and separate them with quotes and the OR operator (e.g., “make.com” OR “n8n”). This gives you a large base of prospects looking for specific platform integrations, which is exactly what an automation specialist offers.
After you’ve built a platform‑based list, move up to a needs‑based approach. Instead of just listing platforms, categorize the need: lead generation, sales, marketing, revenue, ops, fractional work, and so on. This creates a much larger top‑of‑funnel.
Once you have that big list, open about a hundred tabs, skim each prospect quickly (about ten minutes total), and filter out the ones that don’t make sense. You’ll be left with maybe five to ten high‑quality prospects, which you can then apply to individually. So that’s how you do it on Upwork.
Go to Upwork.com, click 'Find Work', type 'automation', and apply to recent posts—raw dog the GH LX expert for full snapshot design, GH LX form and automation setup, or an AI automation engineer role (10K spent). Build a fully spec'd email triage AI drafting service (200K spent); there's money everywhere if you know where to look. Apply to many, maybe five, set an hourly alarm to reload the page for new posts. Don't worry about proposals with 50+ bids—80% are junk like 'Hello dear, I'm an automation developer, I'll help you.' They're not customized, have no value, and people glaze over at m‑dashes or AI junk. There's still room to boost your posts, which many overlook. (Side note: I've been testing clickbait vs. high‑value long‑form, trying different terminals, etc.—but that's unrelated.) My Upwork profile is solid: $1K+ earned, top‑rated, five‑star reviews, 100% job success. Competition is growing, and my theory rate feels lower despite following tips. If I were you, I'd aim for a 10K/month milestone with some upfront capital, focusing on input goals rather than output. Upwork is full of people making 10K/month with little upfront investment; the niche is exploding, with a million new niches monthly as tools evolve rapidly. You could become a Higgs field expert or learn Open Claw—even a mediocre tool can sell if you know how to position it. The idea that things are getting harder is false; our niche hasn't grown as fast as the number of people, so competition is actually easier now than before. If supply and demand were equal, competition would be the same; if demand is lower, competition is higher; if demand is higher, competition is lower. Anyway, Leto, son of Paul Atreides—thanks.
We already work with any industry on anything they need—AI systems, business software, automations. The simplest way to start productizing is not to invent a new service, but to look at what you’ve already delivered that clients liked and double down on that. Make a list of every project you’ve done over the past year, pull the email threads, project files, and note the industries and types of work. Patterns will emerge: you’ll see which systems you built most often and, more importantly, which ones generated the most revenue. Use that data to decide which services to package. Then, reach out to the clients you built those high‑value systems for, remind them of the results, and ask for referrals and repeat business. Reactivating past clients is a low‑effort way to generate upsells—typically a 3‑4% uptake rate, and I’ve seen 15‑20% when I first started. Identify the most profitable, least time‑intensive product you’ve created—often an automated follow‑up agent or similar—and turn it into a repeatable checklist or product. Streamline the delivery: ask if you really need three discovery calls or if a single call or a form will suffice, reducing time investment and allowing you to raise prices, which is pure leverage. In short, catalog your past work, find the high‑margin, low‑effort services, market them to similar clients, reactivate old customers, and refine the process into a sellable product.
I wouldn’t sell the whole system as one monolithic offer. Instead, I’d break it down into its components—pipeline (a CRM), lead qualifier, scheduler, and a suite of tools like job post writers and CV screeners. I’d create multiple tiers and packages: for example, a basic package with just the CRM, another with CRM + qualifier, another with CRM + qualifier + scheduler, a fourth with just the tools suite, and a full package with all four. Then I’d test each package as a separate offer to see which resonates most. The most‑popular package gives natural upsell paths—you can sell the basic package, then add the qualifier, then the scheduler, etc., or bundle them together. I’d also consider adding a second niche, such as HR departments, alongside recruitment agencies, and run two variants per package (giving 16 tests total). To test efficiently, I’d send about 800 emails a day using roughly 25 mailboxes (costing ~$170/month) plus lead‑scraping infrastructure (~$200/month). In the first month I’d run all 16 tests, drop the underperformers, and scale the winners. This approach lets you validate each piece before committing to the full workflow.
On Upwork, you don't really choose a niche; Upwork is your zero to one, not just getting $60 but maybe $600 or $6,000. To maximize your odds of success, come up with a good advanced search—a set of filters for terms like automation, N8N, Claude code, or make.com. Each day, use that filter to get a big list of matching jobs, open them in 50–100 tabs, and quickly verify which are good. You'll end up with maybe 10 jobs you can actually apply to, across various niches and technologies, so having some technical ability helps you talk about platforms confidently. Then record a quick video and apply to each job. This SOP isn't magical; it's just a strategy that works a bit better than others. By stacking it up volume‑wise, you'll eventually succeed—like investing a dollar and getting $1.50 back. If you repeat this daily for many years, you will succeed.