The image says everything. The dino-woman. Very clever.

Upwork can be tricky. It's very different today than years ago. So much more competitive and it feels like the best way to land a project is by undercutting your prices, which I'm not a fan of.

I haven't been using it consistently for a long time. I like your recommendations, going for blogging, etc.

Though I will say, if you're in a specialized field, like the pitch deck expert you mentioned, you might fare a lot better there than say a freelance copywriter or freelance graphic designer, for example. Just my opinion.