The Bring Your Own Talent (BYOT or BYO) program lets you accept your client’s invitation to work on an Upwork contract even if you are not currently a registered member of Upwork.
Why did your client ask you to use Upwork? They may want the benefit of doing everything in one place. We centralize your contract information, payments, and reporting in one place with the BYOT program.
There are four types of BYOT invitations. You can find yours below.
NOTE
Any client in the Upwork Marketplace can use the BYOT option to invite you to Upwork. Please note that some clients will have different membership plans and different requirements.
BYOT Program Benefits
Freelancers and agencies who work through the BYOT program enjoy some benefits, too.
TALENT BENEFITS
- Getting paid within days of completing work: Payments become available for withdrawal within days of completing work or the end of the work week for hourly contracts.
- Simplified invoicing and payment processing: We automatically invoice clients for hourly contracts, and we offer a simple payment request process that is part of submitting completed work for fixed-price contracts.
- Payment protection and security: Your work is covered by Upwork Payment Protection.
What invitation do I have?
Before you join an Upwork Bring Your Own Talent program, a client must invite you. Sometimes, a client will invite you directly to a contract to start on a project right away. They can also send an invitation to a Talent Cloud. Joining Talent Cloud adds you to their private talent group so that you can be considered for current and/or future opportunities.
If you've been invited to a BYOT program, you can register directly on Upwork to find your offer. It will be the first thing you see after registering and verifying your email address!
You can also access your offer from your BYOT Invitation email. There are four types of invitations, You can find yours below:
When you are invited to a contract, you will find contract details like Project Name and Hourly Rate in your invitation email. Find the next steps to accepting your invitation here!
If your agency is invited to a contract, you will find contract details like Project Name and Agreed Amount in your invitation email. Find the next steps to accepting your invitation here!
If you are invited to a Talent Cloud, you will find a personal client message in your invitation email, but not specific contract details. Find the next steps to accepting your invitation here!
Accept Invitation: Freelancer to Contract
Before you join the Upwork Bring Your Own Talent program, a client must invite you. Accept your Freelancer to Contract invitation with these steps:
Choose the green button in your email to accept your invitation. You'll be directed to activate your account. Don’t worry - accepting an invitation and creating an account does not create a public freelancer listing on Upwork.
You'll have a chance to review and confirm the details of your contract offer, including the scope of work, scheduling, and payment before you accept the offer.
Depending on your client, you may need to upload working documents before you can start on your contract. Some clients will require a few extra onboarding compliance tasks, such as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
Choose Start Task to complete each step. If you don't see onboarding tasks, you can go straight to accepting your offer!
Once you've completed any necessary onboarding tasks, we'll review and confirm your information.
PRO TIP:
You may need to wait for review or for your client to complete tasks, even if you completed all your tasks. You don’t need to do anything else until you are contacted by your client or Upwork
Send a message to your Hiring Manager to start work. We will send your message to two places:
- Your client's email
- Your project room in Upwork Messages
PRO TIP:
Your message will be the first note in Upwork Messages to kick off your project. It doesn't need to be long or complicated. Think of it as your chance to get started with your new client!
Accept Invitation: Agency to Contract
Before you join the Upwork Bring Your Own Talent program, a client must invite you. Accept your Agency to Contract invitation with these steps:
First, you'll need to accept your BYO invitation. Once you do, we can create an Upwork agency listing for you!
You’ll receive a personal invitation via email. Choose the green button to accept, add your agency name, and create your listing.
You'll have a chance to review and confirm the details of your contract offer, including the scope of work, scheduling, and payment before you accept an offer.
Depending upon your client, you may need to upload working documents to get started on your contract. Some clients will require a few extra onboarding compliance tasks, such as NDAs, which we will review and confirm.
Choose Start Task to complete each step. If you don't see onboarding tasks, you can go straight to confirmation.
We’ll send you a final agency invitation via email. Choose the green button to accept. This will confirm your public agency listing on Upwork.
Note:
Accepting an invitation and creating an account does not create a public talent profile on the Upwork marketplace. It does create a searchable public listing for your agency. Your Upwork agency listing cannot be made private. However, you can choose whether or not you'd like to build a talent profile for the marketplace.
It's time to accept your offer!
PRO TIP:
If you log in and don't see your job but see the message below instead, double-check your login information.
Select the user icon on the top right of your screen and be sure to choose your name, not your agency name.
Then head to your My Jobs page to find your open offer and follow the steps to accept.
Accept Invitation: Freelancer to Talent Cloud
Before you can join an Upwork Bring Your Own Talent program, a client must invite you. Accept your Freelancer to Talent Cloud invitation with these steps:
Choose the green button in your email to accept your invitation. You'll be directed to activate your account.
Note:
Accepting an invitation and creating an account does not create a public listing on Upwork.
You'll have the option to create an Upwork profile. Learn more about creating a profile here.
If you want to start a profile and finish it later, that's okay! Just remember to complete the section you've started, or jump back to the last complete section, before choosing Skip.
Note:
Enterprise invitations do not require profile creation. You can choose to skip directly to verification.
You're all set! As part of your client’s Talent Cloud, you’re ready to work when the next project is available.
PRO TIP:
You can choose to add your tax information now, so that it's quicker to get paid later. Learn more about taxes here.
Accept Invitation: Agency to Talent Cloud
Before you can join an Upwork Bring Your Own Talent program, a client must invite you. Accept your Agency to Talent Cloud invitation with these steps:
Choose the green button in your email to accept your invitation. You'll be directed to activate your account.
Note:
Accepting an invitation and creating an account does not create a public freelancer listing on Upwork. It does create a searchable public listing for your agency.
You'll have the option to create an Upwork talent profile for your agency.
If you want to start creating a profile and finish it later, that's okay! Just remember to complete the section you've started, or jump back to the last complete section, before choosing Skip.
Note:
Enterprise invitations do not require talent profile creation, just an agency listing. You can choose to skip it.
You're all set! As part of your client’s Talent Cloud, you’re ready to work when the next project is available.
PRO TIP:
You can choose to add your tax information now so that it's quicker to get paid later. Learn more about taxes here.