18 proposals, only one responds and then opts someone else...

[naveenfreelance]

18 proposals were submitted. Only one client approached and assigned a couple of tasks to see my writing style. He writes, "I made it to the top four." Finally, the client decides to go with another freelancer.

[25005175]

one client approached and assigned a couple of tasks to see my writing style

---

What kind of tasks? Asking for free samples is a common abuse

[naveenfreelance]

Did I get cheated? I wrote two articles for him of 600–700 words for a pet niche.

[25005175]

Did you get paid a fair rate for those articles? If not, then you let yourself be cheated.

[naveenfreelance]

I wasn't paid. This was my first experience, and I was excited to write for him and jumped on to it. I might have been cheated.

[25005175]

Don't start any more jobs until you go through everything that Jeanne linked in To all freelancers looking for help.

[the-right-writer]

Did you have a contract with payments in escrow for fixed price or auto-tracked hours?

[naveenfreelance]

I do not know about escrow and how to get that. Can you brief me on what it is and how to get it?
My apologies for not responding soon. I was traveling and could not access the website. 

[williamtcooper]

Yes you shouldn't be doing free work. Writing two articles is free work.

[naveenfreelance]

Hmm,... This was my first experience, and I'd be careful hereafter.
Thank you for your response.

[discobubbles]

If you provided free work and did not receive any compensation, then yes, you got cheated.

There are times I will go the extra mile to land a client, but it's a judgment call. Is there payment verified? Have they been on Upwork long? If they haven't, then that would be an indicator.

As an illustrator, I will send them rough drawings pre-contract if they need extra verification I can do the job, but if I sent them a finished logo or illustration, that would be foolish on my part without a contract.

For writing, sending them writing samples is good, but if they are asking for specific writing samples, based on their prompts, I might do a couple paragraphs at most. Your portfolio is where you "prove" that you can do what you say you can do. If they can't make that determination and demand that you fufill a couple of "sample" assignments then I would be hard-pressed to do anything without a contract.

Sorry to hear this happened to you.

[lucioric]

If that is true, **Edited for Community Guidelines**. We are here fishing jobs, not cheats. We don't have time for scammy clients.

[naveenfreelance]

I learned from this and will be more cautious the next time.

[prestonhunter]

Naveen:

You are talking about writing articles?

For most people, writing is a HOBBY.

Writing is something people do for FUN.

You shouldn't necessarily be trying to earn money as a writer.

[emmamclaren]

What planet do you live on? Thousands of people around the world earn money as a writer

[the-right-writer]

Preston's assessment is correct. If he had not posted it, I would have.

[emmamclaren]

If someone wants to have a crack at making money from writing, let them. There's no need to drag them down for trying. 

[the-right-writer]

I'm not dragging anyone down, and neither is Preston. The truth must be acknowledged. Many people on this platform like to write, therefore, they are a writer. Wrong. Therefore, they like to write.  I used to play around with code. I do not list web writer in my profile.

Upwork is a jobs platform. It is not for learning a skill. The classes, and everything Upwork offers, only works if you have basic skills. Many, many freelancers don't. Those freelancers infuriate clients and prevent genuine freelancers from reaching the client.

No one posts in glee that so many waste time, money, and hope on trying to be a freelancer, when they will never make it. However, we are all adults in self-employed business. It is wrong to tell someone they can be a freelancer when they don't have the skills. It's one thing to hone your skills, it's quite another to learn them. Upwork is not the place to learn a skill, and those who think they can just make money will fail.

[prestonhunter]

re: "What planet do you live on? Thousands of people around the world earn money as a writer"

Nobody is saying otherwise.

But do you think Naveen is going to be one of those people?

[discobubbles]

I spend way too much time writing for it to be considered as a hobby, but maybe I should seek therapy for that

How Naveen wants to make money is really up to him and the market to decide. Besides, who doesn't want to know how to prevent, mitigate cat shedding?

[melaniekhenson]

---

James Thomas G wrote:

I spend way too much time writing for it to be considered as a hobby, but maybe I should seek therapy for that

How Naveen wants to make money is really up to him and the market to decide. Besides, who doesn't want to know how to prevent, mitigate cat shedding?

---

I think what is being hinted at here is that "liking" to write does not necessarily make one a professional/marketable writer. He's not saying that there's no such thing as actually writing for a living, if you're good enough at it.

I did a double-take at the wording too. 😊

Correct me if I'm wrong, Preston. I could be.

[lucioric]

Ha. About writing as therapy, whenever I don't have enough income by projects, I spend more time writing here as a way of venting off. I hope we all can tilt more the balance to WWW.Upwork.com than to COMMUNITY.upwork.com.

[lucioric]

Some people should think that we are coding, or writing, for charity, or for hobby.

[naveenfreelance]

I enjoy writing, but I also thought I could make some money. 

[m_terrazas · Accepted solution]

---

Naveen C wrote:

18 proposals were submitted. Only one client approached and assigned a couple of tasks to see my writing style. He writes, "I made it to the top four." Finally, the client decides to go with another freelancer.

---

Yes, they deceived you, or rather you deceived yourself.
Do yourself a favor and go to ACADEMY (at the top of the forum), read the help, the forums and the TOS very carefully.
And this post about scams:
https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/Top-Red-Flags-for-Scams-From-Community-Member-Wes-C/b...

Asking for free work is against TOS (not doing it).
If you don't have a contract, don't do work.

[bobafett999]

Naveen, also at your price you have lots and lots of freelancers swimming with you.  The buyers who fish in those ponds are cheap and most of the time crooks.  They know for a fact that new freelancers are so excited to be on upwork and hungry to get their first gig that they would not do their homework and read up on the resources upwork provides.

[williamtcooper]

Naveen,

Your writing style should be in the Portfolio section of your Upwork Profile to refer the client to review. Never do free work because your time will be wasted. Contain all the needed information in the combination of your cover letter and Upwork Profile. Thanks!

[discobubbles]

I can tell you from looking at your profile, I wouldn't be too keen to hire you. So that's an answer about the 18 proposals thing. 

I say this as someone who constantly is looking at my own profile wondering what I am doing and not doing to get work. What turns people off? What do people see? What is my persona?

It's not that the work is bad Naveen, it is that there isn't just much there at all. If you haven't gotten any assignments then find a topic to write about and make that your assignment. Give yourself work to do. Do you like food? Write a review of your favorite restaurant. Do you like music? Write about your favorite band. Do you hate my response? Write how my response isn't helpful at all. 

You have to give clients something that sets you apart. You need to highlight why they should care about what you do. What service will you provide for them? If your passion is cat grooming, I want to hear what it is that makes shedding an issue for you, and what about a cat's fur hygiene means to you specifically. 

Also, your question makes me want to rewrite my Ghostwriting profile.

[allpurposewriter]

James,

You should have your profile reviewed in the New to Upwork forum. You would certainly pick up some pointer there.

I review profiles with a careful appraisal of the meta-communication aspect. This isn't an appraisal of what words you choose so much as a review of what the reader perceives. You might get something out of that.

[discobubbles]

Anthony,

Thanks for the response!

I'm not new to Upwork, and I have gotten profile reviews, I've also read up on the subject, that doesn't mean I even begin to know everything there is to know about it. At this point, I  think I need to do some A/B testing, and moving information around, consolidate some of my portfolio, and present it in different ways. I also need to continue to do research on other profiles and see what they are doing that works and if I can incorporate it into my profile.

Just today I at least noticed a jump in my profile views due to some of the work I did over the weekend.

[naveenfreelance]

Hi James, 
That was a nice piece of advice and will probably be a shot in the arm for me.
I'll work on the advice and see if it affects a change.
Thank you very much, James.

[bobafett999]

Also, don't ever provide free 500-600 word articles.   Stay hungry.  5-10 or 15 dollars( even with current exchange rate) after upwork cut, money transfer fees won't go far.

[naveenfreelance]

Dhanyawaad Prashantji. I will do this from now on.

[lucioric]

Ha. Welcome to the Upwork experience this month.

[a485ff2e]

It is common practice for cheap clients to trap gullible new freelance writers on Upwork, asking them to write samples for 500 to 1000 words and then coming up with a reply such as " We have found someone else" without you even noticing they are just scammers.

Moreover, pursuing writing as a career requires patience and time. We need to define our writing niche and master the subject. Genuine clients looking for an experienced person will be quick enough to judge how far you hold experience in the writing niche in which you claim to have experience.

As far as my experience goes on Upwork, I can say that once you have identified your niche and mastered the subject, you are definitely on the right path.

[naveenfreelance]

Thank you very much, Rahulji. I will make some changes and will specialize now.

[lucioric]

Indeed in my case I am sometimes wondering if the clients CAN read my proposals and my invitation responses, nowadays.

[elisa_b]

"I like to write" = "I am a copywriter"

"I know something about a foreign language" = "I am a translator"

I do both for a living and I know the misconceptions above will never be eradicated. 

[prestonhunter]

Most people who are EXCELLENT writers and who actually DO LIKE writing do not try to make a living at writing. Some of the best writers in the world have jobs other than writing. Just like some of the best singers and musicians in the world have jobs outside of the music industry and don't try to earn money through music.

[tlsanders]

The problem I found with this was that if I wasn't writing for money, some other thing I was doing for money was always cutting into my writing time.