I completed my first contract on Upwork! And what I learned from it

I finally got on the ball and started submitting proposals on Upwork. Of the first two submitted, one was accepted! The client first asked me a few questions via messaging and then also requested a phone call. My proposal was accepted shortly after the phone call. The job was to transfer an existing website built about 15 years ago to WordPress, as well as provide some tutoring via screenshare for the client to learn how to navigate WordPress. The client ultimately decided to move to another format because WordPress wasn't easy enough to use. So we decided to end the contract early. The client seems happy though and said I did a great job.

Here are a few things I learned and that I'll implement going forward:

• Set milestones or deadlines, even if the client says they don't want to. While this client at first said there was no rush and didn't want to set a deadline, that changed and there was a sudden urgency to get things done. Setting up expectations from the beginning would've eliminated any questions.
• Remember that answering project questions counts as work, and so the timer should be running when doing so. There were several occasions where I was responding to messages about the project and I should've been getting paid for that time. I didn't notice until I had been working for quite a while and by that point I couldn't remember what time I'd started.
• Don't wait until a current project is finished to start bidding on new work. You really have no idea when a project is going to end, so you should always have some business in the pipeline.

I can't find the words to express how exciting this freelancing venture has become. I really can work from anywhere as long as I have an Internet connection! I thought I wanted an office job as a front-end developer, but I can't imagine doing that now. I haven't applied for a job since I started getting regular order on Fiverr. And now that I'm learning to master Upwork, I see no reason to work for anyone else ever again.