Episode 107

How to Make $80K on Upwork (From a Top 3% Freelancer) - w/ Anas

May 12, 202600:45:10On YouTube too
How to Make $80K on Upwork (From a Top 3% Freelancer) - w/ Anas thumbnail

Two years ago, Anas lost his full-time UK job. He went back to Upwork — the platform he'd already used to make over $80K while studying — and within months landed an 18-month Swedish contract that generated over $5M in client revenue.

Who this is for

  • You are building something real and need the unpolished version before the launch post.
  • You would rather hear Anas's version while the mess is still fresh than get another polished hindsight sermon.

Key takeaways

  • Make $80K on Upwork (From a Top 3% Freelancer) - w/ Anas
  • Starting on Upwork Before Feeling Fully Ready
  • Or, if you've been laid off and no one's calling you back, maybe it's time to look at upwork as a serious alternative....

Need the cleaner version?

I pulled the sharpest parts of this lane into a guide so you do not have to reconstruct the answer from memory later.

Read the guide

Fast scan timestamps

00:00The Biggest Misconception About Freelancing
01:55From Industrial Engineering to Data Science
03:15Saturation, AI Tools, and the Changing Job Market
05:00Starting on Upwork Before Feeling Fully Ready
06:42Niching Down and Writing Targeted Proposals
09:47Getting First Reviews and Building Social Proof

Read the complete transcript

The complete conversation is available with timestamps, speaker labels, and links to the exact questions it answers.

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8,306 transcript words85 timestamped blocks

Transcript-backed moments

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00:00:00

My wife created a job for me in 2022 as she gave me 5 stars. Anastriyad is in the top 3% of all upwork freelancers. 80,000 US dollars earned till date, completely self-taught. A data scientist originally from Morocco studied in the UK,

00:00:17

got fired from his job about two years ago, milked back everything from scratch. It was a shock for me, it was the first time that I lose a job. If you speak like a CEO, like you're there to help the business,

00:00:28

improve something, then you're always going to get a project. If you're trying to make real money in 2026 with freelancing in addition to already having a job, this is the episode for you.

00:00:39

Or, if you've been laid off and no one's calling you back, maybe it's time to look at upwork as a serious alternative. I promise by the end of this episode you will know exactly what you need to do

00:00:50

to get started and thrive in this world. Please join me in welcoming Anastriyad to the Ready Set Du Parcast. Let's get into it. Anastriyad, welcome. So, you've had about $80,000 earned just doing freelance work.

Show notes

Two years ago, Anas lost his full-time UK job. He went back to Upwork — the platform he'd already used to make over $80K while studying — and within months landed an 18-month Swedish contract that generated over $5M in client revenue. A 60-second intro video that gets him hired in 24 hours. In this episode of Ready Set Do, I sit with Anas, a Top Rated Plus Upwork freelancer (roughly the top 3% on the platform), to walk through his exact playbook for freelancing on Upwork in 2026.

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