Mar 24, 2022 08:37:11 AM Edited Mar 24, 2022 08:39:14 AM by Meloney G
Hello, everyone, I'm new to Upwork, not even a week in and I've had nothing but scammers asking for work. Either they want to talk on Telegram or me send them interviews questions ( by email) outside of Upwork, with no contract in place. Just like most of you here, I'm wanting to make an honest living, and not deal with these knuckleheads. 😂
My question is, when I send a proposal can I put a warning on my bio/about me page?
Something like. WARNING: If you need work done, I will only respond/interview on Upwork, until a contract is in place.
Would like your thoughts.
Thank you
Meloney Garner (Nikki)
Mar 24, 2022 08:44:52 AM by Preston H
There is no Upwork rule that prohibits freelancers from adding warnings such as you describe to their profile pages or proposals.
Mar 24, 2022 09:03:15 AM by Peter G
Sure, go ahead. Might help scare of the some scammers from bothering you.
Mar 24, 2022 10:15:50 AM Edited Mar 24, 2022 10:19:34 AM by Martina P
I wouldn't do that.
Why? A serious client might resent being put into the scammer category, or being suspected of it.
You are telling clients that you have had bad experiences and want to avoid them. A serious client doesn't care about your prior bad experiences. He only cares about your skill to do his job. You are starting with a negative tone, and that's not good marketing.
You might deter some scammers, but I highly doubt it. I have a reasonably good profile/JSS/hundreds of jobs, and scammers still invite me to the tune of 5 a day. I want to scream at them: Don't you understand that I am very experienced and can spot a scam from miles away? YOU ARE WASTING YOUR TIME!
So in conclusion, it's better to have to delete a few invitations/responses than lose good clients. But it's your profile, if it works for you, by all means do it.
Mar 24, 2022 10:33:48 AM by Meloney G
Yes, that was the one down fall of me adding a warning, because I thought the same way, that someone might think Im already insulting them, I don't want to be that person. For now I'll just delete.
Thank You for your feed back. 🙂
Nikki Garner
Mar 24, 2022 10:42:07 AM Edited Mar 24, 2022 10:45:33 AM by Martina P
Meloney G wrote:Yes, that was the one down fall of me adding a warning, because I thought the same way, that someone might think Im already insulting them, I don't want to be that person. For now I'll just delete.
Thank You for your feed back. 🙂
Nikki Garner
In the end, this message is about you and your needs, when your messaging should be about the client only.
Edit: forgive me for being blunt: your profile is weird. First, it's only about you - first mistake. Second, I'm really not sure if you are trying to tell people that you are divorced or something, but please change that darn text. What I said before applies: it has to be about YOUR CLIENT, and NOT about yourself.
Mar 24, 2022 11:01:11 AM by Meloney G
😂 I'm not easily offended, so I don't mind you being blunt. Yes, I need to change my profile, which is why I've been on Upwork most of today, working out the problems I may have.
Thank you again
Nikki
Mar 24, 2022 10:26:10 AM by Robert Y
I'd say don't do this. Clients don't like being treated as potential scammers, so it will have a negative effect. In fact, when you get used to Upwork you'll probably be able to spot all scammers without even sending a proposal, so this issue won't arise.
Mar 24, 2022 12:19:38 PM by Meloney G
Thank you for your feedback. Yes, I agree, I am glad I decided against a warning, the last thing I want is to lose potential clients. I'll just have to be careful who I respond to and/or who reaches out to me for a job. So far I've been able to spot the scammers, pretty quickly.
Thank You again.
Nikki