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Kristen's avatar
Kristen K Community Member

New and in need of help

Hello all.

 

I am new to the Upwork community, and I am trying to get my profile ready to start winning jobs. I was on the site for a while several months back with no success, as all jobs I applied to requested a portfolio, which I do not have yet. Would someone help me out with some tips on how to get things going?

 

I am new to the field of proofreading and have not had any jobs yet. My resume looks pretty thin. I am unsure of how to sell myself appropriately and effectively. Any advice would be welcome.

13 REPLIES 13
Robin's avatar
Robin H Community Member


Kristen K wrote:

Hello all.

 

I am new to the Upwork community, and I am trying to get my profile ready to start winning jobs. I was on the site for a while several months back with no success, as all jobs I applied to requested a portfolio, which I do not have yet. Would someone help me out with some tips on how to get things going?

 

I am new to the field of proofreading and have not had any jobs yet. My resume looks pretty thin. I am unsure of how to sell myself appropriately and effectively. Any advice would be welcome.


Ok, first of all Welcome to Upwork!

 

I can't see your profile, as it is not public, so I will answer according to your queries....

 

First of all, you will have to create a portfolio, it's very easy, you just need to create some, so that client would feel confident while hiring you, it's very easy to create one.

 

Practice some proofreading work for yourself and showcase it as your porfolio, mention that you have not done this for a client (be honest, honesty always works).

 

Write a good profile description, give some upwork tests related to your skills...

 

Now, getting your first job, it can be easy, but you will have to be smart enough, look for a $10 or so job, which doesn't takes much time, if youre confident, mention in the first line of your proposal, I can quickly delivery this job, even in half an hour (Everybody needs quick work).

 

I hope this helps!

Thanks

Petra's avatar
Petra R Community Member


Robin H wrote:

Now, getting your first job, it can be easy, but you will have to be smart enough, look for a $10 or so job, which doesn't takes much time, if youre confident, mention in the first line of your proposal, I can quickly delivery this job, even in half an hour (Everybody needs quick work).


Horrible advice.

Please, Kristen, ignore that. If you start taking cheap jobs you will have a horribly hard time getting taken seriously and win over the proper clients.

 

Please also don't tell clients you will rush through their work. Not everyone "needs quick work" - the clients you want to attract want GOOD work, not FAST work.

 

Avoid sounding desperate and cheap (which is what Robin suggests) as that will land you with the wrong kind of clients right from the start.

 

Kristen, you really want to redo your overview:

 

Remove the "at home" part of your title. Nobody searches for an "at home" anything, and whilst most freelancers do work "at home" - there is no need to stress the fact, it is not a selling point. Lose the "amateur" part of "amateur proofreader."

 

Either you're a proofreader or you are not. Rewrite your whole overview and concentrate on what you CAN do, not who or what you are and what you can't do. There is no need to list the document types you can proofread, that goes without saying.

 

Concentrate on what you bring to the table, your unique selling points and how clients benefit from hiring you.

 

Fill your portfolio with work you have proofread and or edited. It does not have to be paid for work and there is no need to mention if work in your portfolio was done for portfolio purposes only. It would be stupid to stress that fact.

 

Please tell me the two jobs you did win did not involve Amazon... Oh dear.... they did.

Were those reviews for free (!!) e-books and are clearly marked as having been paid for on the actual reviews?

 

Were you aware that such jobs are forbidden on Upwork because they are forbidden by Amazon? And that Amazon have already taken over 1000 freelancers to court?

 

NEVER accept Amazon review work. Not only should your moral compass tell you that this is unacceptable, it is also forbidden.

 

 

 

Mary's avatar
Mary W Community Member

@Petra.  +1,000

Robin's avatar
Robin H Community Member


Petra R wrote:

Robin H wrote:

Now, getting your first job, it can be easy, but you will have to be smart enough, look for a $10 or so job, which doesn't takes much time, if youre confident, mention in the first line of your proposal, I can quickly delivery this job, even in half an hour (Everybody needs quick work).


Horrible advice.

Please, Kristen, ignore that. If you start taking cheap jobs you will have a horribly hard time getting taken seriously and win over the proper clients.

When did I say go for a cheap job, I said look for a $10 job, which might be a work of 15 minutes or so...

 

Just take a small break and think for a while, would you hire a new freelancer on Upwork for a $200 or a thousand dollar job?

 

Please think before proving someone wrong...

 

Thanks

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Professional proofreaders and editors do not work for $10/hour and rush through it. 

 

There are no 15-minute editing jobs if a person is a professional. But I suppose if you don't care what kind of work you produce, you're only worth $10. 

 

It reminds me of those job posts where the client says, "this should only take you 5 minutes if you know what you're doing." That client gets what they pay for. 

 

No wonder there are so many lousy books on Amazon. lol

 

 

 

Kristen's avatar
Kristen K Community Member

Robin,

 

Thank you for your answers. I have changed some things, and would greatly appreciate any other comments you would be willing to give.

 

I understand where everyone is coming from, and I take all things "with a grain of salt," as the saying goes.

Goran's avatar
Goran V Retired Team Member

Hi Kristen,

 

I`ve changed your profile visibility back to public so that our Community members can view your profile and share their thoughts. You will also appear in search results now, thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork
Phyllis's avatar
Phyllis G Community Member

Kristen, Petra's advice is spot-on. Good luck!

Robin's avatar
Robin H Community Member

I know Petra is very experienced in answering the queries, but sometimes she sounds very RUDE...

I try to be very accurate with my answers and this time I think, my suggestion on this query is not wrong...
Kathy's avatar
Kathy T Community Member


Robin H wrote:
I know Petra is very experienced in answering the queries, but sometimes she sounds very RUDE...

I try to be very accurate with my answers and this time I think, my suggestion on this query is not wrong...

---------------------

Whether Petra's reply is "rude" or not, (and I don't find it rude at all.) her advice and comments are not only spot on but correct. She's been on here long enough and is highly successful and knows what she's talking about, To not take her advice and suggests would be like shooting yourself in the foot. 

 

As to tell the OP to mention on her portfolio pieces that she hasn't done this type of job for a client (be honest, honesty always works) - honestly has NOTHING to do with what's in her portfolio, A portfolio showcases the style of her work and how well etc it's done. To tell the OP to take $10 jobs and do them very quick is VERY wrong. Clients want Good professional work, Work on here is not a race to see how fast you can finish a job, but how well you can deliver work that meets or exceeds a client's expectations. 

Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

I think those of us who are regular Forum partipants can't fully appreciate the perspective of a complete newcomer here.

 

I think that a very large proportion of the comments made by regular participants may strike SOME newcomers as rude.

 

This isn't about any one "Guru" or Forum regular.

 

There is a very specific tenor to the Forum that may not match what newcomers have experienced on other sites. Especially if they come here thinking it is "Upwork Customer Support," without fully realizing that it is a public forum whose comments are almost exclusively from site users - not Upwork employees.

 

I don't know that there is an any ideal "fix" or "change" that should be made. If newcomers are not presented with the truth, even though that truth may come as a disappointment to them, then they are not really being helped.

 

I know that I repeatedly think back on a recent post and wonder if I was too harsh, too blunt in what I wrote... But more often than not, those are the posts that newcomers thank me for. Even if I admonished them directly.

 

So I think this has a lot to do with the perspective of an individual newcomer.

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A quick glance at your profile shows that you are not even a writer, let alone have anything to do with professional proofreading and editing. 

As someone in the publishing business for many years, I can guarantee that you couldn't be more off base. 

 

 

 

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To add to Petra's advice about Amazon reviews:

 

A few years back, Amazon started removing the accounts of anyone participating in fake book reviews. 

They also sued about 1,000 fake reviewers. 

 

Don't ever do it again - and report any job post that looks like it's asking for fake reviews (FB, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. 

 

Also, as an Editor, I can you it is a highly competitive category (on and off UW). You need to stand out. That doesn't mean taking $10/hour jobs. If you are serious about this as a career, seel out more professional training. Scribendi certification isn't going to give you the competitive edge you're going to need.  

 

I think with your current experience, you are charging correctly, but you need to gain better experience then up your hourly rate, gradually. 

 

$10/hour will get you $10/hour clients that will ask for "free" work and then ask for even more work after you accept the contract. You'll end up doing endless revisions for $10.  

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