I acquired my first freelance client in 2015 on Elance, which later merged with oDesk to form Upwork. That was after spending 1 year of sending proposals every single day.It was a small gig and I ended up making only $3/h, but I felt like I discovered a new world!Living in Moldova, I knew my potential was limited. Even some of the most experienced software developers capped at $4-5k/month and although I was earning much less than that, my goals were more ambitious.For starters, I was dreaming of one day earning $50/h.If you had told me back then that I would go on to make $150/h as an independent freelancer let alone between $200-300/h as a product studio owner, I would have laughed in your face!But this is my reality now.I still have a long way to go with my studio until we hit 7-figures, but I no longer have to worry about putting food on the table.All thanks to freelancing.Over the years, I've gone through every imaginable challenge that a freelancer can face:- Abusive clients- PayPal account closure & chargebacks- Disputes- Late payments and chasing clients- Unpaid work- Ghosted by clients- Ghosted by freelancers when I needed help on larger projects- Increasing Upwork feesBut I didn't let that stop me because there was no going back.Instead, I learned how to avoid or deal with every situation. I learned how to pick the clients I work with. I learned how to spot red flags. I learned how to find good help. I learned how to avoid late payments and so much more.It's so counterintuitive, but the more I raised my rates, the better the clients I got!So I'm extremely grateful that freelancing exists.If I started all over again, I'd grow much faster because of the experience I gained since I made more mistakes than I can count and even landed a handful of negative reviews in the early days.So if you want to short-circuit all that and start making money as a freelancer ASAP or grow to 6-figures a year while working only 5 hours a day, DM me!