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chrisprince
Community Member

Request for Freelancer Feedback on My Profile

Hey all, 

 

Hope you're all doing well.  

 

I'm sure that everyone feels this way from time to time but I'm having a really hard time getting responses to my proposals.  I'd be very grateful for any (constructive) comments on my profile.

 

I'm hoping that there's something glaringly obvious that I'm just not seeing.  Perhaps I'm too close to it. 

 

My Job Success Score is at 100% and my last few clients have left glowing feedback.  While I'm far from the most talented contractor in my field (Architectural Visualizaion) I'm also far from the worst.

 

I've attached the info PDF I usually attach to proposals and the text of a fairly representitieve proposal to a client is below.

 

Any feedback or advice would be most welcome.

 

~C

_Hi, I'd love to help. I'm an independent freelancer specializing in architectural visualization. That's fancy industry talk for, "I make 3d models of my clients' designs, apply texture and lighting and render them". There's a lot more to it than that, but there it is in brief.

 

I can see that you're new to the platform, so you're going to be bombarded with proposals and information shortly. I'm going to keep this short and sharp. If you want to know more, you can set up a voice call and I'd be happy to walk you through the process*. *Really, even if you just want to know how the platform works. I've worked with so many clients who've had an awful first experience or been burned by unscrupulous contractors.

 

As for me, I've been working in the field for about eight years. I'm what's known as a generalist. I personally see to every aspect of the process from start to finish. I'm on call throughout the project and work is tracked through Upwork's desktop app (which is excellent and sends regular screenshots of my screen to the workroom so you can keep track of what's going on).

 

I've found that newer clients value reliability above anything else. On that score, I'd refer you to my other clients' testimonials on my profile page here: https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~01b8bcdf89cccfaccc?viewMode=1 From there, a quick look at the examples attached (and more on my profile) will give you some idea of what to expect. I'd suggest reviewing a few more proposals but (and I'm aware that this may sound a bit self-serving) don't leave it too long. Experienced contractors get a bit wary of clients who've received 20+ proposals and still haven't made a decision. I apologize if I'm telling you things you already know.

 

Some clients prefer brevity but there's a lot of uncertainty inherent with online hiring and I prefer to keep my clients in the loop.

 

If you'd like to get started (or if you'd just like more information), give me a quick call. No obligation. Regards,

 

~Chris P._

 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
joywriter
Community Member

Hi Chris!

 

It's too long!  I would cut that by more than half and go straight to the project details, commitment to deadlines, confirm values/budget and that's it.  Quick reference to recommendation letters and other basic straight to the point details.

 

There's a lot of redundancy in your text where you say the same things (none related to the proposal) more than once and you really need to remove all the excess of that proposal.

 

This is all stuff you need to delete:

 

"I can see that you're new to the platform, so you're going to be bombarded with proposals and information shortly. I'm going to keep this short and sharp. If you want to know more, you can set up a voice call and I'd be happy to walk you through the process*. *Really, even if you just want to know how the platform works. I've worked with so many clients who've had an awful first experience or been burned by unscrupulous contractors."

 

"That's fancy industry talk for, "

"There's a lot more to it than that, but there it is in brief."

 

 

Make this one sentence long:  "As for me, I've been working in the field for about eight years. I'm what's known as a generalist. I personally see to every aspect of the process from start to finish. I'm on call throughout the project and work is tracked through Upwork's desktop app (which is excellent and sends regular screenshots of my screen to the workroom so you can keep track of what's going on)."

 

I have no idead why you included this in your proposal as there is no need and is not clear.  I would just delete it:

" I'd suggest reviewing a few more proposals but (and I'm aware that this may sound a bit self-serving) don't leave it too long. Experienced contractors get a bit wary of clients who've received 20+ proposals and still haven't made a decision. I apologize if I'm telling you things you already know."

 

"Some clients prefer brevity but there's a lot of uncertainty inherent with online hiring and I prefer to keep my clients in the loop."

 

Good luck man!

 

Best,

Hugo

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23 REPLIES 23
pudingstudio
Community Member

I have NOT read your proposal template.
It's too long.

Clients have 20+ of these to go through.

 

Why would they read it?

First, that's not a template.  If you'd read that, you'd know that.

 

Second,  I don't have a proposal template.  Every project that comes up gets a proposal tailored to it.  If I were posting a job I wouldn't want to hire a contractor who can't be bothered to put in more effort than some boilerplate template.

 

Third, a client who's considering spending money to have work done might be incentivized to pay a bit more attention than glancing at a proposal and deciding "TLDR"

 

Thanks for your feedback all the same.  Perhaps I'll consider being more brief.

 

 


Chris P wrote:

First, that's not a template.  If you'd read that, you'd know that.

 

Second,  I don't have a proposal template.  Every project that comes up gets a proposal tailored to it.  If I were posting a job I wouldn't want to hire a contractor who can't be bothered to put in more effort than some boilerplate template.

 

Third, a client who's considering spending money to have work done might be incentivized to pay a bit more attention than glancing at a proposal and deciding "TLDR"

 

Thanks for your feedback all the same.  Perhaps I'll consider being more brief.

 

 


You are applying for a project, not a job.
Clients are looking for a person to do 'a thing', not for an employee.

Makes sense to be personal, detailed and showcase all of your skills. When applying for a day job.
Employer pays a lot of attention to CV's.

Clients don't have to. They get lots and lots of us (freelancers), many of which are very capable of doing a task client needs to be done.

Thanks for your reply Antun

 

To my mind: I do work, it's a job.  It's also the terminology used on this site.  "Job Success Score" makes me think people could use the terms _job_ and _project_ interchangably without too much confusion.

 

I see your point though.  I realize that clients may have a lot of proposals to go through but I still feel like, if it were me, I'd want to know as much as I can about a contractor and the processes involved before I commit to hiring them.

 

My challenge seems to be in tyring to figure out which information is of value to potiential clients and which is not


Chris P wrote:

I realize that clients may have a lot of proposals to go through but I still feel like, if it were me, I'd want to know as much as I can about a contractor and the processes involved before I commit to hiring them.


That is what the interview process is there for, not the proposal. The proposal is there to tempt the client to look at the freelancer's profile and the profile should entice them to start communicating with the freelancer.

 

Your proposal wants cutting down drastically, it is long and rambling.

 

It wants to be no more than a third of what it is now.

Thank you Petra, 

 

Good note.  This seems to be the consensus

tlbp
Community Member


Chris P wrote:

Thanks for your reply Antun

 

To my mind: I do work, it's a job.  It's also the terminology used on this site.  "Job Success Score" makes me think people could use the terms _job_ and _project_ interchangably without too much confusion.

 

I see your point though.  I realize that clients may have a lot of proposals to go through but I still feel like, if it were me, I'd want to know as much as I can about a contractor and the processes involved before I commit to hiring them.

 

My challenge seems to be in tyring to figure out which information is of value to potiential clients and which is not


Why do you ask for advice? You believe none of it.

chrisprince
Community Member

Actually, I took on board Antun's point about the length of my proposal. 

 

I took issue with his quibbling about semantics "Job vs Project".  This was off-point and not useful.

 

thank you for your input

You asked for feedback didn’t you? Are we only allowed to give you feedback that you like?
lysis10
Community Member

Poor Antun. No good deed goes unpunished, Antunfriend.

I did specify "constructive" feedback.  At least Antun was good enough to suggest a potential issue to consider.

 

Would you describe your comment as constructive?

I didn’t make a comment, I asked two questions but I think your answer is clear enough.
I officially am turning down your request for feedback on the grounds that it will incriminate me.


Mark F wrote:
I didn’t make a comment, I asked two questions but I think your answer is clear enough.
I officially am turning down your request for feedback on the grounds that it will incriminate me.

I guess that's one of your new super-powers as our new super-guru? 

 

your questions were rhetorical (so more like comments really) and not useful.

 

I'm sorry that you feel criminalized.  I'll try to be more encouraging in future.  Thanks for your comments

Just wish all threads like this started with the "constructive" word.

Should cut down very nicely on all the self-promotion round here.  🙂

florydev
Community Member


Chris P wrote:

Just wish all threads like this started with the "constructive" word.

Should cut down very nicely on all the self-promotion round here.  🙂


What are you talking about, self-promotion?

 

 

joywriter
Community Member

Hi Chris!

 

It's too long!  I would cut that by more than half and go straight to the project details, commitment to deadlines, confirm values/budget and that's it.  Quick reference to recommendation letters and other basic straight to the point details.

 

There's a lot of redundancy in your text where you say the same things (none related to the proposal) more than once and you really need to remove all the excess of that proposal.

 

This is all stuff you need to delete:

 

"I can see that you're new to the platform, so you're going to be bombarded with proposals and information shortly. I'm going to keep this short and sharp. If you want to know more, you can set up a voice call and I'd be happy to walk you through the process*. *Really, even if you just want to know how the platform works. I've worked with so many clients who've had an awful first experience or been burned by unscrupulous contractors."

 

"That's fancy industry talk for, "

"There's a lot more to it than that, but there it is in brief."

 

 

Make this one sentence long:  "As for me, I've been working in the field for about eight years. I'm what's known as a generalist. I personally see to every aspect of the process from start to finish. I'm on call throughout the project and work is tracked through Upwork's desktop app (which is excellent and sends regular screenshots of my screen to the workroom so you can keep track of what's going on)."

 

I have no idead why you included this in your proposal as there is no need and is not clear.  I would just delete it:

" I'd suggest reviewing a few more proposals but (and I'm aware that this may sound a bit self-serving) don't leave it too long. Experienced contractors get a bit wary of clients who've received 20+ proposals and still haven't made a decision. I apologize if I'm telling you things you already know."

 

"Some clients prefer brevity but there's a lot of uncertainty inherent with online hiring and I prefer to keep my clients in the loop."

 

Good luck man!

 

Best,

Hugo

Thanks Hugo!

 

Great notes.  I'll be sure to pare proposals down in future.  

 

Generally, it's easier if a potential client has hired on the site before.  If they're new to hiring freelancers online then I often find clients need a bit of cajoling.

 

The work I do also tends to require a lot of client involvement.  Building a rapport is key to projects running smoothly and it can be tricky to find the right balance between keeping things brief and familiarizing them with the process.

 

 


Chris P wrote:

 

Generally, it's easier if a potential client has hired on the site before.  If they're new to hiring freelancers online then I often find clients need a bit of cajoling.

 

The work I do also tends to require a lot of client involvement.  Building a rapport is key to projects running smoothly and it can be tricky to find the right balance between keeping things brief and familiarizing them with the process.

 

 


Yes, it really depends on the client.  To the contrary of some comments on this thread, not every CLIENT on Upwork is looking for freelancers for just a quick job with a quick job proposal. A lot of clients are looking for a VERY DETAILED applications, recommendation letters and a CV apart from follow up video calls as well.

 

I've worked with single clients where our contracts lasted for almost three years. Some of these were multibillion dollar companies, F100 companies and the applications I sent to these jobs (openings) were VERY large, but straight to the point with answers and notes to the points in the job description. Sometimes it was clear they needed me to provide them with that information, other times it wasan't.

 

Sometimes I have sent large proposal as well due to the nature and past history of the client and was indeed hired for the small one time job.

 

Again, it varies. You need to analyze the client, precisely what they are asking and try to give them key information with the least amount of text.

 

Nowadays, if they are a new to Upwork or a client with lot's of history, I still make sure my proposal is short and straight to the point, unless they layout questions which will request additional feedback from me. Good luck man!

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts Hugo, 

 

Glad to know that I'm not completely off the mark.  I remain convinced that it's best to consider how best to approach each and every client.

 

But it's equally clear that I need to drastically reduce the length.  My thanks to everyone taking the time to post useful advice.

 

 

martina_plaschka
Community Member

Much too long, as others have stated. 

Plus you are not doing yourself a favor recounting the negative experience of other clients, you want your client to get a warm and fuzzy feeling, not being scared of the perils of upwork. 

Recently I applied to a proofreading job, and the text was so bad that I told the client the text is painful to read and I offered my lowest possible rate just so that he does not spring this text on unsuspecting German customers, who don't like to be assaulted with catastrophically bad German. I knew of course I would  not get that job, because I basically told the guy he made a bad decision by hiring the translator he hired, or really does not know how to use google translate, but I needed to tell him how bad the text was. Was still worth it.  


Martina P wrote:

 

Recently I applied to a proofreading job, and the text was so bad


It wasn't the 20k esoteric kiddy story, was it?

 

Thanks Martina, 

 

Good points.  Many people agree that brevity is important (especially in initial proposals)

 

Your point in not drawing attention to other clients' negative experiences also has a lot of merit.  Duly noted.

 

Also, I applaud your honesty with your problem client even though it practically ensured that you would not be considered for the job.

 

Your candor would have helped them realize what they were doing wrong, at your own expense.  This attitude elevates the experience of everyone using this platform and I wish we had 100 more like you

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