Seeking solution for disappointment

akbarriz123 · ‎07-02-2021

Hello experts, good day!
I may sound little unnerved here but this is the best platform I have found to discuss my thoughts with.

I hardly get any responses against my proposals. More than a year and I have managed to break only 3 tasks/jobs, all smaller ones. Right now I have 19 submitted proposals and 2 genuine active candidacies, where clients are not responsive. I am not sure is there anything wrong with my profile. However, I tried to be different as much as I could while writing my overview.

I am a seasond professional in real life but it seems like people are not recognizing my skills here at Upwork. I know there's a lot of competition in the domain of my expertise; how may I convince clients to try availing my services here at Upwork?

Shall I directly incorporate this in my each customized proposal that I am a seasoned professional in real-life and they should put in their trust by giving me a chance here at Upwork? Does this seems sober and admissible?

Need expert's opinion on this grave concern.

Thanking you,

Akbar Rizvi

tlbp · ‎07-02-2021

Are you applying for writing jobs or for one of your other skills?

Lots of people invest time and effort and don't land gigs. I've seen several posts about it on the forums today. It is really hard to guess why some get their proposals accepted and others do not.

feed_my_eyes · ‎07-03-2021

A lot of people think that if they're good at something, clients will magically recognise this and give them work. They're missing the fact that you need sales and marketing skills as well. You need to figure out how to solve the client's problem and convince them that your solution is better than what the other bidders are offering. Not just, "I'm really good, I have all this experience, you should give me a chance, me, me, me."

c63ea194 · ‎07-03-2021

Hi Syed

19 proposals is nothing. It's very possible to not get response from 19 proposals even if you are the best in your niche, simply because of statistics and probabilities, especially if the jobs you apply for, receive 20-50 or 50+ proposals.

I would also suggest the following improvements for your profile:

- Use some more professional and smily picture.

- Add some description about 'What you can offer to the clients' or:

'I can do this...'

'I can do that...'

'I can create...'

As you currently only speak about what you have done in the past and what is your knowledge.

- Increase the hourly rate on your profile. You may still apply to jobs for $5 but generally it's not good to have a very low rate in your profile, as this way clients that put quality over money will completely ignore you.

These are my 2 cents

I wish you the best in the future!

kinector · ‎07-04-2021

Syed Muhammad Akba R wrote:
Hello experts, good day!
I may sound little unnerved here but this is the best platform I have found to discuss my thoughts with.
I hardly get any responses against my proposals. More than a year and I have managed to break only 3 tasks/jobs, all smaller ones. Right now I have 19 submitted proposals and 2 genuine active candidacies, where clients are not responsive. I am not sure is there anything wrong with my profile. However, I tried to be different as much as I could while writing my overview.
I am a seasond professional in real life but it seems like people are not recognizing my skills here at Upwork. I know there's a lot of competition in the domain of my expertise; how may I convince clients to try availing my services here at Upwork?
Shall I directly incorporate this in my each customized proposal that I am a seasoned professional in real-life and they should put in their trust by giving me a chance here at Upwork? Does this seems sober and admissible?
Need expert's opinion on this grave concern.

Thanking you,

Akbar Rizvi

Akbar, maybe this helps. I'm here making an attempt to read your profile as a client:

Seems to be an Urdu writer... or perhaps a translator. He seems to make no difference between these two jobs.
The title suggests something about "data analyst"... which doesn't show anywhere else in the profile. So is it just a random word in the title then?
The same thing with the "customer support" without any other mention about it anywhere... It looks like the writer of this profile had no clear idea what can do really well.
There is no mention about who his clients might be, which suggests he doesn't yet understand how his industry (/industries) actually works.
He's got good reviews so he's doing something great. But the copywriting job done is basically a fourth job he's listing being good at and the data mining job is the fifth.
The ongoing job looks like some testing task... which is the sixth type of job.
So, if I needed a copywriter, I'd pick a guy who has a great track record in copywriting. The same thing for testing. Or Urdu translation. Or data mining... I'd pick a guy I know gets the job done. A specialized expert.
His rate is $13/h, yet the work he did just finished was done for just $5/h, so I'd probably manage to negotiate the rate to $5 or $6 at the highest. He'd need me more than I'd need him, I could just pick just about any other guy.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Your profile is so unfocused that you end up competing with everyone else and as your track record now spreads over 3 different fields, it will be hard to bring more focus to your profile even if you rewrote it.

The key question would be this: Who in the world needs you most? Write your profile to attract only those people. Skip everything else even if you have more skills. You can change your specialty later once your profile is credible.