Tips for freelancers! Do your research, know ...

healthcarequeen · ‎02-22-2019

Hi all,

I've been a freelancer on Upwork previously and now I'm more of a client hiring other freelancers. Freelancers are the best of the best. They are proactive, skilled and highly motivated.

On a recent project, I hired two freelancers. They wrote excellent proposals but their deliveries were mediocre at best. I've now learned to look for specifically skilled specialist instead of general knowledge or industry knowledge-based freelancers.

The one thing the freelancers didn't do was research!!! As an example, one freelancer mentioned training employees in their project delivery. I don't train or work with employees! They didn't research my industry, my business, and clients. I provided my website and a slide deck but they didn't bother to understand my business.

You can not do branding or marketing for a client if you DO NOT understand their profession, industry or business. You will deliver subpar work.

My tips for you is to make sure you go above and beyond and try to really understand your client's business, their pain points and ask questions! Know your areas of expertise and niche where you offer the most value. If you took one class on YouTube, you are not a Facebook Ads expert.

This post speaks to only a few because I know there are so many excellent freelancers on Upwork.

hussein-fathi · ‎02-22-2019

Hello

I think Upwork has attended to this issue by allowing freelancers to share portfolios on their profiles.

The other thing a client could do is refusing to pay and resort to disputes; Upwork may very well approve your request for a refund.

Another thing you do is giving the freelancer the feedback you think they deserve so it helps other clients decide whether they hire them or not.

Upwork is a place that is very competitive and the administration makes sure only the best freelancers remain on the platform. If a freelancer exhibits poor performance or fails to achieve client satisfaction, Upwork is likely to suspend their account.

healthcarequeen · ‎02-22-2019

Thank you for your comment. I think the point of my post (maybe it's in the
wrong section) is to offer tips to freelancers. They can't correct what
they don't know. Don't apply for projects when you don't do your research
and understand your client's business.

Upwork can only help with so much because the freelancers delivered work
but it was poor quality. I've provided kind feedback to the freelancers on
what they could have done better.

hussein-fathi · ‎02-22-2019

I strongly agree with "know your limits" rule.

I don't know why anyone would take on a job that's above their set of skills

Thanks for the tips

petra_r · ‎02-22-2019

Queen J wrote:
They can't correct what
they don't know. Don't apply for projects when you don't do your research
and understand your client's business.

"Researching your business" is work. That is something that should be paid for. Once your have hired a freelancer, you are free to pay them to research your business. Expecting freelancers to research your business to simply make a proposal is asking for free work and forbidden under Upwork's terms of Service.

healthcarequeen · ‎02-22-2019

Thanks for commenting. Researching a business is not work. We're not
talking deep research here — just an idea on the service or product the
business or person offers. A SUCCESSFUL freelancer should know the company
they are dealing with. I wouldn't submit blind proposals or approach
clients blindly without having an understanding of their business. My issue
was after I hired the freelancers and they still didn't do their research.
No excuse!

petra_r · ‎02-22-2019

wrote:
A SUCCESSFUL freelancer should know the company
they are dealing with.

Clearly, by your standards, I do not qualify as a "successful freelancer?"

Maybe I am a successful freelancer (by my standards) because I do not waste my time on clients who expect me to spend my valuable time jumping through hoops before they hire me.

My issue
was after I hired the freelancers and they still didn't do their research.
No excuse!

As long as you are paying for that research, you clearly have every right to expect to get what you pay for.

Ironically, most people get what they pay for, one way or the other.

Unfortunately, they often don't know what that actually means.

healthcarequeen · ‎02-22-2019

Sorry, just offering advice. No need to get defensive. Take it or leave it.
I operate an annual six-figure consulting business and don't provide
mediocre work to my clients. If I can't help them or deliver value, I won't
work with them. Doing a bit of research could help elevate your business
and hourly rate. You have an employee mindset. No one is asking for free
work.

petra_r · ‎02-22-2019

Queen J wrote:
You have an employee mindset.

Hilarious....

tlsanders · ‎02-22-2019

Queen J wrote:
Sorry, just offering advice. No need to get defensive. Take it or leave it.
I operate an annual six-figure consulting business and don't provide
mediocre work to my clients. If I can't help them or deliver value, I won't
work with them. Doing a bit of research could help elevate your business
and hourly rate. You have an employee mindset. No one is asking for free
work.

I think your intentions are good in offering this advice, but it seems a bit misplaced on Upwork--something that's surprising since you say you are or were a freelancer yourself. The vast majority of jobs posted on Upwork don't include information that would allow a freelancer to identify a business, let alone research it.

Many of us successful freelancers avoid the problem you're describing by bypassing postings from clients who don't know enough to or can't be bothered to provide adequate information to draft a relevant proposal.

In another context--for example, a regular job board where the posting includes the company name and department and the posting is for a full-time or long-term arrangement versus a relatively small project, what you describe is the norm. But, it's not really the way the Upwork market is designed to work--freelancers often have no way of knowing who the client is when bidding.

gilbert-phyllis · ‎02-22-2019

OP, it's not clear whether you are advocating FLs spend time researching the client before submitting a proposal, or as part of (or in preparation for) getting the project under way AFTER landing a contract. If the former, then IMO it depends on the nature of the work and also, how much info the client has provided in their job post. My work is typically very consultative, so if I have any kind of starting point, I will spend a couple of minutes with Google and LinkedIn, and check out the client's website if I can find it, as part of deciding whether to submit a proposal. But no more than that, unless/until the client is invested in me, too. My willingness to bend this rule is directly proportional to the size and juiciness of the opportunity, of course.

A FL worth their salt is going to learn as much about their client's business as they need to, in order to do a stellar job, and they're going to make sure they get paid for doing it. That's the opposite of an employee mindset. It's how someone earns half a million dollars on UW.

healthcarequeen · ‎02-22-2019

I have no idea what "FL" or "OP" means. I think you all are misunderstanding my post. In my original post, I didn't mention anything about free work or submitting proposals with thorough business research.

The freelancers DID NOT research after they were HIRED. There is absolutely no excuse for that. NONE! I hired them for a marketing and branding project, and they provided content that did not match the company's product or service offering.

They were provided with more than enough information.

The main reason I do not work on Upwork anymore as a freelancer because clients hardly ever provide enough information. I make it an effort to provide as much information as possible when posting jobs.

I guess it depends on your industry too. A translator wouldn't probably need much information about a business as someone who works in sales, marketing, consulting, advertising, etc. would need.

gilbert-phyllis · ‎02-22-2019

If the work was shoddy--as it sounds--then I hope you left appropriate feedback.

The FLs who need your advice won't hear it. This place is teeming with the inexperienced and ill-prepared, and UW keeps letting more jump in without a clue.

tlbp · ‎02-22-2019

FL--Freelancer

OP--Original poster

OP's post was a lament about freelancers who just write generic content not tailored for their client. There are many freelancers who have been trained to create "SEO" articles and genuinely don't understand that there is more to content marketing than that.

I think her first post mentioned that she had hired both the freelancers and both then returned work that was not acceptable--or at least that was the meaning that I took from it.

"On a recent project, I hired two freelancers. They wrote excellent proposals but their deliveries were mediocre at best. I've now learned to look for specifically skilled specialist instead of general knowledge or industry knowledge-based freelancers. "

Perhaps the confusion comes from the lack of context in later portions of the post. I think what she meant to say is that freelancers should not apply for jobs if they don't intend once hired to do the necessary research to deliver acceptable results.

jr-translation · ‎02-23-2019

Queen J wrote:
I have no idea what "FL" or "OP" means. I think you all are misunderstanding my post. In my original post, I didn't mention anything about free work or submitting proposals with thorough business research.

The freelancers DID NOT research after they were HIRED. There is absolutely no excuse for that. NONE! I hired them for a marketing and branding project, and they provided content that did not match the company's product or service offering.

They were provided with more than enough information.

The main reason I do not work on Upwork anymore as a freelancer because clients hardly ever provide enough information. I make it an effort to provide as much information as possible when posting jobs.

I guess it depends on your industry too. A translator wouldn't probably need much information about a business as someone who works in sales, marketing, consulting, advertising, etc. would need.

Ouch! A translator would need even more information than the other groups you mentioned. You can tell good and bad translator apart easily because the bad ones do not bother to ask. But never mind, you are in good company believing translators only look up single words in dictionaries.

As for the rest, yes research is useful and can help landing a job but once you have hired somebody you should make sure you provide all the information needed or have the research defined as part of the contract. If the information provided is being ignored, you can ask the freelancer to do the work he was hired to do before you pay.

jendejournett · ‎02-22-2019

How can you research your buisness if your comapany name isn't visible in the ad? Some postings are pretty clear with the name given but most I have found are not clear or you only see them AFTER in your proposal list.

Also, are you hiring people at the bottom range or the midrange or top? I always wonder if the proposals I am competiting against are at the lowest rate and that's how they are getting the work.

prestonhunter · ‎02-23-2019

re: "On a recent project, I hired two freelancers. They wrote excellent proposals but their deliveries were mediocre at best. I've now learned to look for specifically skilled specialist instead of general knowledge or industry knowledge-based freelancers. "

Successful people make mistakes and learn from their mistakes.

Any client with a significant amount of work to be done who pays for work that they can't use is doing something right.

Any successful business will try to maximize the return on their investment by hiring people at different levels of pay and expertise. If a client never fails in their hiring efforts, then they aren't trying enough different things.

Truly successful people try different things and sometimes fail. They key is to quickly recognize failed efforts and abandon them, focusing on successful efforts. Successful clients will hire many freelancers, but only continue working with the very best among them.

prestonhunter · ‎02-23-2019

re: "How can you research your buisness if your comapany name isn't visible in the ad? Some postings are pretty clear with the name given but most I have found are not clear or you only see them AFTER in your proposal list."

One of the secrets to how I have earned a lot of money on Upwork is that I have never googled companies or clients. When applying to jobs, I rely only on the information that is available on Upwork. Even after I am hired, I never do research about companies or clients outside of what the client themselves provides me.

Perhaps there are certain types of jobs for which "research" about clients is necessary? I wouldn't know. That's not my area of expertise.

wendy_writes · ‎02-24-2019

Did you spend time talking/communicating with the two FLers as to 1) your target market; 2) the image you wanted to convey;3) your primary competitors; 4) were you available (and pleasant) for feedback?

This knowledge and approach should be something every buyer knows and communicates to those they hire. FLers are not mind readers ...

melaniekhenson · ‎02-24-2019

Queen, how much research of your own did you do to make sure the freelancers you were hiring were willing to do the research you wanted? There are all different types of freelancers here at all different skill levels. Did you look for written feedback indicating the freelancers did in-depth, product specific work on past projects?

You expect certain actions, so you need to vet your freelancers to make sure they are solid in that specific area.

In adition, in the job listing do you state "Must have a working knowledge of Industry Z or be willing to research the industry upon accepting the project"? Many of my clients have stated in their proposals that the freelancer must know their industry and quite a few even require examples of previous work in that industry.

You should state what you are expecting of the freelancer in the proposal. The time to spring "Now go and do this research off the clock" is not after locking the freelancer in so that she can not simply say "no thanks."

FTR, any time research has been part of an assignment I've taken, the client communicated this clearly in advance and my research time was on the clock.

Tips for freelancers! Do your research, know your limits and areas of expertise.