landing clients

[58d98725]

I have been on Upwork for almost two months now and not only did I manage to land my very first client but also I worked 4 jobs leaving me with 4 five-star reviews, but after all that I am still struggling to land clients and most of my proposals are not seen even the boosted ones, I really appreciate any kind of advice,

thank you,

[martina_plaschka]

So you found 5 clients, not one? 

[the-right-writer]

I'm a little confused by your profile. It says you joined yesterday, yet you show four jobs from past months. Am I missing something? "Member since July 6, 2022." Did you work, then close your account and rejoin?

Whether you joined when Upwork says you did or when you say you did, the fact that you have had five jobs in two months is not bad for someone new.

Correct the problems with your profile, and add more to your portfolio. If you don't have jobs to show, create something. Showcase what you excel at and explain why to the potential client. Also, since you are new, read the TOS and everything in the forum on scams.

You seem to have had good fortune for someone brand new. Many new freelancers with great skills struggle even to get that first job. Be prepared to apply for many jobs you may not get. The platform runneth over with freelancers. Find ways to stand out from the crowd. But please, before you go chasing money, learn and abide by the rules, or you will be scammed.

[ericaandrews]

The 'member since' information on the Community profile refers to how long the person has been on the Community.  That date doesn't have anything to do with when the actual Upwork freelancer profile was created, which is misleading.  They are 2 different profiles.  Lots of people "new" on the Community forum have been on Upwork for years, and many Upwork freelancers have no 'Community' profile because they never posted anything in the forums.   There's no 'member since' date showing on the actual Upwork profile, or maybe I just can't see it as a freelancer.

Either way, 4 or 5 clients in 2 months is not bad at all, and with all his skills being focused on high-demand programming, he's not going to have problems finding work for much long.  In fact, he'll be getting more invites/offers than he can handle

[the-right-writer]

Thanks, CJ. This is good information. I thought the jobs were from 2021. My bad.

[ericaandrews]

I will give you a word of advice:  The 'boosting' of profiles is actually likely HURTING you, not helping.  When you submit a 'boosted' profile, it submits your proposal to the client with a 'note' attached that basically says "This freelancers paid more to be noticed', which screams desperation and scares off many clients.  The same is true for that 'available now' badge:  It makes the freelancer look like they are desperately in NEED of work, which is not how you attract clients.  If you go to the 'Client' forums, you'll see many clients complaining about 'boosted' profiles because it ranks proposals by how much a freelancer PAID, not by their qualifications.  May clients will actually automatically reject or archive a proposal that comes in 'boosted'.   I tried that proposal 'boosting' for a week or 2 during the 'pilot' phase last year and actually got FEWER responses. When I stopped using it, my normal response rate was back.  UW has furnished no proof or statistics whatsoever linking 'boosting' to landing more jobs at all.  It's nothing but a gimick and a waste of connects and a way for them to make more money.   I'd stop using it if I were you and turn of 'available now' if you're using it.

My other suggestion: Your profile availability says "as needed - open to offers". This may actually be signaling to clients you are too BUSY to take on new tasks.   It suggests you have 'limit' availability, which might scare away clients that need lots of hours per week from a freelancer.  "as needed - open to offers" is what many freelancers use where they are pretty much fully booked, and will only accept new clients in special situations or if some 'really great' offer comes along.  You might want to change it to 'under 30 hours', 'over 30 hours' etc so that clients browsing your profile don't see your availability and assume you're 'too busy' to even contact.

[1fdb8435]

can you help me how to send proposal in a not boosted status.

[PradeepH]

Hi Rubelyn,

Thank you for your message. You can send proposals without boosting by clicking the 'Send for X Connects' button. You will need to ensure you do not click 'Boost' button while submitting the proposals.

Thank you,

Pradeep

[58d98725]

Thank you all for your wise words,

I just don't know how I am doing because 70% of my proposals are not even seen

I will take into consideration the scam of boosting,

and just a question about proposals how long should they be? can I have a customizable template?

and thank you again 

[ericaandrews]

There's no way that I am aware of that you can know if a client has 'seen' your proposal. A lack of response from the client doesn't mean they didn't 'see' it, because the client is not required to provide any response at all. I never agreed with this policy since freelancers are basically REQUIRED to 'respond' to every invite from a client, regardless of how idiotic the invite is, or have our 'responsiveness' score shown on our profile drop.  Basically, freelancers are punished for ignoring invites, but clients are not punished for being unprofessional and not sending a yes/no response to a proposal.  I think they need to institute a 'responsiveness' score for clients and include it on THEIR profiles as well.

[58d98725]

You can see in the stats information about Proposals (it's a bet feature) but it gives some information