Solved: HELP!!!! - Page 2

Brian B · ‎12-27-2019

I have submitted over 20+ proposals without an interview or job offer, can someone please provide me with pointers? Or even review my profile? I'm frustrated!

John B · ‎12-27-2019

Brian, Upwork will not allow the exchange of personal emails or phone numbers.   I believe there is a facility within here where one can send a private message. That comes into our Forum email box. If you will figure out how to do this -- I will get your message -- and we can connect from there. It would be a thrill to work with you through your start up time frame on Upwork.

Here are a couple key pieces of information.

One your rate: $150 - it was. I think you just changed it to $100 based on forum advice. That is certainly one's discretion. Here's a good path to take. Upwork provides a 'premium' service (or something of that name). It is $15 a month or so.   With it, we get some extra connections, but the key value is this. For each proposal sent -- Upwork will display the competing contractor's highest bid (rate), the average bid (rate) and lowest bid (rate). With this service, you can check what is being bid on the work you want, and not so very much guess at rate.

Also, and this is key. The first step I would recommend you take: distill down, from your past career, eight to ten projects or work efforts with specific deliverables.   From this, you can literally build up your profile portfolio. There is no rule from Upwork that indicates our portfolio work has to be delivered solely on the Upwork platform. As long as the work is true-and-done, it is fair game for portfolio listing. With your decades-class experience and about 20 hours of time, you can deploy a portfolio of past work that provides a crushing competitive advantage.

Just a couple tricks of the trade. There are more.

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Christine A · ‎12-28-2019

Robert G wrote:
I am going to disagree to some extent of the idea of the resume. I am not a client so I really don't know what makes them choose a freelancer, but, my general experience is that a formatted resume that lists your your work experience, like dates and positions. That doesn't say anything how you have skills or how you can help a client. Don't get me wrong, I do have a resume type listing, but it is just as part of my profile and I would never include it in a proposal.

I agree that a resume is unnecessary and most clients won't take the time to read lengthy proposals. Clients are not looking to hire you as an employee (in most cases), so they don't need to know about everything that you've ever done. I think that the best way to get attention is to write a short but effective proposal that addresses their needs. They can read the education and experience sections in your profile if they want to learn more about you.

Tiffany S · ‎12-27-2019

I think there are two problems.

First, your profile doesn't really say anything. Reading it, I get that you think you have a good skill set for the industry and you have experience, but you tell me nothing about why I need you or what you can do for my company if I hire you.

Second, there are several typos or minor grammatical errors in your profile. At your price point, clients will expect more professionalism than that--particularly in an area where they absolutely can't afford to hire someone they can't count on to be meticulous.

Brian B · ‎12-28-2019

Thank you! I have double-checked, triple-checked and I cannot find any grammatical errors. I even used Grammarly and couldn't find any errors. Can you please provide me with examples?

In my profile, I thought I did a good job articulating my cybersecurity expertise. LOL!

Petra R · ‎12-28-2019

Brian B wrote:
Thank you! I have double-checked, triple-checked and I cannot find any grammatical errors. I even used Grammarly and couldn't find any errors. Can you please provide me with examples?

Robert G · ‎12-28-2019

I just went back and reread your profile. For me, I don't see anything there that tells me how you can help me if I am the client based on your past experiences. What measure of success did your achieve? What monetary or resource impacts did you make, in hard values, not just "made things better". I read this a sales brouchure, not a "why I am so great" statement.

Also, if you are going to have multiple profiles, which probably is a great idea, make them different. I think I only noticed a few words different. As a client, I would look at this and think you don't take the time to differentiate yourself and skills.

I use my proposal as the cornerstone of how to get the work, not a static profile that someone has to seek out. I think of the profile in the same way as having a website somewhere it the web-world. I don't expect anyone to find me that way, never have.

I don't mean to sound hard, but you asked so I am giving my thoughts. Do as you wish.

[that cost $.05 for EXPERT adivce]

Keith B · ‎12-31-2019

Just to add my two cents...Been on Upwork for one year now. It took about 50 proposals and two months to get my first job. A miracle really, knowing what I know now, which is all the advise you have gotten. After the first job it took two more months to get my next job and then I had about three months of really good flow and then in September, the bottom dropped out. Nothing since September!! Over a hundred proposals and nothing!

So I did what every commentor did Brian...I started really looking at my profile and asking the tough questions. What am I really selling? Not how do i make money, but what am I selling and how does a potential customer really experience my profile? Are they impressed? Do they get turned off by the rate? Am I all talk about capacity but short on communicating potential solutions to problems?

In short, we are freelancers and that does not always mean we know business and selling. The last month I have completely reworked my profile to address this and am hoping that 2020 will bring a different result. AND...I'm going to not assume that my current profile is the final rendition. Got to look at it constantly...

Don't give up.