Caleb Ulku shares a simple Upwork strategy: submit proposals on weekends. Using data showing WordPress job postings on Upwork, he demonstrates that while job volume drops roughly 50% on weekends, freelancer activity drops far more than that. This creates a competitive advantage — weekend job postings receive significantly fewer proposals, making it much easier to stand out and get hired.
A tactic for Upwork freelancers to submit job proposals on Saturdays and Sundays to take advantage of reduced competition from other freelancers who take weekends off.
View concept page →The relationship between job posting volume and proposal volume on Upwork, where fewer jobs on weekends still attract disproportionately fewer proposals, creating a favorable signal-to-noise ratio for active freelancers.
View concept page →The observed behavioral asymmetry where freelancers disengage from platforms like Upwork on weekends at a much higher rate than business owners stop posting jobs, creating an exploitable opportunity.
View concept page →The idea that when you submit a proposal on Upwork matters as much as the quality of the proposal itself, because timing affects how many competing proposals a job receives.
View concept page →The primary guest and SEO expert featured in the video, founder of an AI SEO agency that developed the Core 30 local SEO methodology and scaled to 97 plumber clients using AI-driven content and local link-building strategies.
View concept page →The practice of monitoring the number of Upwork job postings containing specific keywords (e.g., 'WordPress') over time to identify patterns in job availability and competition.
View concept page →Send your proposals on Saturdays and Sundays. Most freelancers take weekends off, so jobs posted on weekends receive far fewer proposals compared to weekday jobs, even though there are still a significant number of jobs available. This gives you a much better chance of getting noticed and receiving a response.
Because the majority of freelancers take the weekends off. While business owners are less active on weekends (roughly half the normal volume of jobs are posted), far more than half of freelancers stop submitting proposals. This imbalance means that weekend job postings attract significantly fewer competing proposals, making it easier to stand out.
Based on data from July and August, approximately 30 to 40 WordPress-related jobs are posted every day on Upwork. On weekends, this number dips to roughly 15 to 20 jobs per day — about half the weekday peak volume.
The best time to submit proposals on Upwork is on Saturdays and Sundays. While fewer jobs are posted on weekends (roughly half the weekday volume), the number of competing proposals drops even more dramatically because most freelancers don't work on weekends. This gives your proposal a much higher chance of being seen and responded to.
Yes, business owners are less active on weekends but still post a substantial number of jobs. For example, WordPress-related job postings drop from around 30–40 per day on weekdays to roughly 15–20 per day on weekends — still a significant opportunity for freelancers who are willing to work on weekends.
According to the video, almost every single one of the first five jobs that new Upwork freelancers landed came through weekend proposals. By submitting proposals on Saturdays and Sundays when competition is lowest, new freelancers were able to get responses and build their early job history on the platform.
Absolutely. Even though the number of jobs posted on weekends is roughly half the weekday volume, the number of competing proposals drops by much more than half because most freelancers don't work weekends. This means your proposal has a disproportionately higher chance of standing out and getting a response, making weekends one of the most effective times to apply.
Most freelancers take the weekends off and stop submitting proposals on Saturdays and Sundays. This is a missed opportunity because business owners still post jobs on weekends, and with far fewer competing proposals, the chances of getting hired are significantly higher. Treating every day — including weekends — as a workday gives you a major competitive advantage.
On weekends, the number of proposals submitted by freelancers drops significantly — much more so than the drop in job postings. While job postings fall by roughly half on weekends, the proportion of freelancers sending proposals drops by even more, since the majority of freelancers take weekends off. This creates a favorable ratio of jobs to applicants for those who do apply on weekends.
WordPress-related jobs were used as the example. A chart showed that WordPress job postings on Upwork averaged 30 to 40 per day on weekdays, dipping to around 15 to 20 per day on weekends. This data was used to illustrate the weekend opportunity for freelancers across all categories.