Is it effective to search specifically for cold email and lead generation jobs on Upwork instead of general automation jobs?
Searching for cold email and lead generation roles on Upwork is a solid way to niche down. You will run into a variety of lead gen styles on the platform, but it aligns well with high-value systems that focus on outreach and acquisition.
The main rule to follow is volume: as long as your niche search terms still allow you to find enough high-quality jobs to submit about 10 consistent applications a day, go for it. If narrowing your search prevents you from hitting your daily outreach target, broaden your criteria to include wider growth and conversion systems.
We have a bunch of people in Maker School experimenting with a wide landscape of niches, which is a benefit of being in the community. You can see which niches are working and which aren’t. HVAC, dentists, and law firms aren’t making a ton of money with automation because there aren’t enough of them to apply high‑volume, iterative strategies. I don’t recommend focusing on local services; instead go entirely digital and target industries with large headcounts that can benefit from automation without hurting profitability. The biggest boom right now is recruitment, which saw a surge of interest and will likely rise again. I also suggest experimenting with recruitment, older‑school agencies that haven’t caught up, MSPs, IT consultants, and similar businesses that can source leads automatically via tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
It's not that the competition is really high or that you're lazy. Realistically, it's a combination of multiple factors, but you're missing that you're not applying the right effort at the right place—being strategic with your effort. It's not that you're lazy if you don't get the results you want; often you simply haven't applied your high levels of willpower in the right tactical place.
Your situation isn't really an issue—you're already using lead‑generation strategies that don't demand daily time. The biggest improvements in life come from doing the same thing consistently over a long period. I recommend a daily lead‑generation activity that requires you to articulate the benefits of your service, such as recording a video or leaving a voice note. Examples include sending DMs on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, or TikTok, or engaging in relevant communities. Talking to people in a social‑media style helps you get 1% better each day at explaining benefits and understanding needs. You can also create personalized icebreakers for large lead lists using tools like Ampify to automate the process.
On Upwork, avoid narrowing your niche; there simply aren’t enough specialized clients (e.g., dog‑walking businesses) to sustain you. Instead, treat the platform as a way to get repetitions—apply to any automation job you can find and take whatever work comes your way to build experience and reputation.