TG960 T

I made a manual Excel tracker for Upwork proposal costs, and I'm interested in how other freelancers keep their records useful.

One distinction matters: the cost of a winning proposal is not the total spent applying for work.

For a hypothetical completed set of 10 proposals, suppose each uses 14 purchased Connects, none are returned, and exactly one leads to a contract. At USD 0.15 per Connect, the set uses USD 21 in Connects, while the winning proposal alone uses USD 2.10. This is an illustration, not a typical win rate or earnings forecast. It excludes boosts, membership, other fees, taxes and time.

That's why my approach is to log every proposal, keep its status separate, and record earnings and withdrawals separately from contracts.