Proposals: The Key to Freelancing Success
Introduction:
Despite the fact that freelancing has become more and more popular over time, many freelancers lack knowledge of how the system works. If you find it difficult to get your first job on Upwork, then let us help you with a couple of advice and freelancing secrets. After reading this blog post you’ll learn how to write good proposals and succeed in your freelancing career.
Key Components in Freelancing
Below we have chosen several key components that are a must for a freelancer to stand out on the platform and offer high-end service. It’s essential to have all of the mentioned components if you truly want to boost your productivity as a freelancer.
Perfect Profile
The first and most important thing for an upwork freelancer is the profile. It tells a lot about who you are and what service you offer. Here you can include enough information about your skills, experience, past work, completed projects, etc.
A perfect profile is supposed to have a high-quality profile picture, verified account, accurate information about skills and education. The more information you put in there the better for you. The client who visits your profile should be able to see all the relevant information regarding your profession and skill set. It’s a great way to grab attention and make the client think of hiring you.
Strong Portfolio
What do we mean by a strong portfolio? A strong portfolio should contain visual proof that you are pro in your area. Here you can attach photo and video materials along with short descriptions that tell about your past projects and things you have done before. Even if you haven’t worked for someone else and don’t have a material in hand, you should still create something impressive to showcase. For instance, if you are a designer, video editor or a logo maker, try to make materials for yourself and attach them to your portfolio.
Video Introduction
Luckily, upwork is between the freelancing platforms that provides all the necessary tools to help you introduce yourself with all your potential. Thus, a video introduction is the next great way to strengthen your profile. You can make a video where you’ll talk about yourself, your skills and working strategies. A client who has a lack of time to go through your entire profile, may just click on your video description and learn how you can help them.
Testimonials/ Client Feedback
In case you are new on upwork and don’t have client reviews/feedback yet, you may still attach testimonials that you have on your other projects. This allows you to showcase what your past clients think of your personality and how you work. Testimonials help to build trust between you and your future clients.
Valued Connects
During the last few years connects have become a major topic of upwork. They seem to be everything and as a freelancer you should value every single connect in your account. They are money and they buy projects for you.
Thus, treat them wisely and don’t waste your connects on projects that don’t seem to be yours. Take more time to investigate the job you are applying for and pay attention to every detail before sending a proposal. You should be 90% sure that this client is going to hire you. This is how you value your connects.
Key Points to Succeed in Freelancing
If you want to know how you can succeed in freelancing through proposals, then follow the below steps.
#1 Put Yourself in the Client’s Shoes
Perhaps one of the primary things that the majority of freelancers don’t care about is putting themselves in the client’s shoes. What does this mean? Imagine you are a client yourself. You have some amount of money, limited time and a bunch of tasks to be completed.
You are looking for someone for help. You are not looking for someone to take your time and money and disappear. You are after quality work that can help you in your business. So, all you expect from the freelancer you have hired is to know what you really need.
#2 Understand the Project
Here comes the next important step. Once you read the job announcement you should make sure you understand the project and the requirements of the client before submitting a proposal. Ask yourself whether you got what the client wants to see at the end of the project. Even if the job announcement is too short and many details are missing out, you can always discuss them with the client. Your most important step at this stage is to let them know you are aware of the main task and can help them with that.
#3 Understand the Client’s Perspectives
Mutual understanding is as important as taking the responsibility to fulfill the job. If you don’t understand the client’s perspectives, you’ll definitely face problems during your cooperation. Ask yourself questions that you think the client may ask you. This way you’ll find out the client’s perspectives and will easily give answers to their questions. If you have understood the client’s expectations, then focus on things he will appreciate in your proposal and skills.
#4 Remember ‘Time is Money’
No one likes to wait for long and waste their money. These days the value of time and money are equal to each other. Always remember that upwork clients are looking for fast, reliable and responsible freelancers. They don’t like to spend time on explaining little things related to their project. They are looking for someone who is all in on the theme and knows the best way to help them finish their tasks. Therefore, be creative and use all your potential to prove to them you are the best fit.
#5 Push the Client into the Funnel
You can make the client hire you only if you have already pushed them into the funnel. You can do this through your proposal, profile and portfolio. We have already talked about these 3 components and you should pay attention to the details to keep the client on the track.
#6 Call to Action
When the client is engaged with your proposal and profile, he has already gone through the call to action step you were planning. This is where the conversation starts and this is where you need to be smarter. Your conversation with the client should be as serious as your previous steps. Here the client decides whether he needs your help or not. Sometimes they immediately send a job offer and that’s awesome. But if they message you and want to clarify details, you must have literate diplomacy to represent yourself in your best.
Writing Good Proposals
Summing up, we share some good tips on how to write a good proposal.
Find the client's name and use it in the first sentence of your cover letter.
Catch the keywords in the job announcement and use them in your cover letter.
Let the client know you understand what they need.
Try to be as specific as possible.
Check the below video for more job proposal secrets.