Stage 8 · Lesson 4 of 8

Rising Talent and Top Rated

Upwork's , Rising Talent and Top Rated, show you have a good record. Rising Talent needs either an invitation from Upwork, or a 4.8 average rating with at least $250 earned in the past 12 months. You also need a 100 percent complete profile, recent activity, a of 90 percent if you have one, no negative feedback, verified identity and a .

Top Rated needs a 90 percent JSS and a first project more than 90 days ago. It also needs a strong score for 13 of the last 16 weeks, $1,000 earned in 12 months, a complete profile and a clean account. Each badge awards 30 . Being paid off the platform removes them for six months.

Common trapchasing badges with tiny contracts instead of doing good work for real clients.

A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 1 cheat sheet entry come when you add the roadmap to your account. Add it

Resources for this stage

Keep handy

Toggl Track
Track real hours per project to find your effective rate and true capacity
Upwork Help Center for freelancers
The exact Rising Talent, Top Rated and JSS criteria, which blogs often quote wrongly

Also worth your time

Learn In PublicRead
Sharing what you learn keeps past clients and new ones aware of your work
Show Your Work!Go deeperPaid
Building a reputation that brings clients to you, for when referrals start to matter