Puneet Kumar J wrote:
Hi,
I am Puneet, very new to Upwork. I have been trying to get my first Upwork Project but failed miserably from last few days.
Is there anything I am missing?
Thanks!
Puneet
Hi Puneet,
Do not despair. It takes new freelancers months to get their first job and usually dozens of proposals (if not hundreds).
A few recommendations: your profile is a bit sparse and disorganized. You have a previous project listed as a popular project. Popular projects are for out-of-the-box solutions you offer clients, not previous projects you did well. Previous projects that you want to spotlight should go in your portfolio. A Popular Project would be, for example, if you were a resume writer "Resume Review". There's nothing specialized about it; it's just an off-the-shelf solution they can buy for a specified price.
Add some things to your portfolio, add any education or certifications. And work on your profile opening text box to highlight what is truly unique about you and what you can provide to a client. Right now it reads like you pulled bullet points off your resume that were your last job description. That's not what a profile is for. This is where you sell yourself. And to be competitive on Upwork, you will need to really sell yourself. So use that text field to tell us why you are unique, how you stand out, and what you do that's different/better/higher quality than all your competitors. One thing to do is read your profile and ask yourself if you switched out the person's name, could it be true of any other person in your field? If so, it's not unique enough.
Take a look at your proposals and make sure you are speaking to what the client needs done and not to your previous qualifications. It's okay to point out how you're qualified, but clients want to know what you are going to do for them, not a ton of details about how great you are. They do want to know how "how great you are" contributes to them getting their project done and their being entirely ecstatic about project execution and quality, but only in that sense. So really make sure everything in your proposal is geared toward the client's needs, and not just about yourself.
Hope these tips help. Hang in there, as it takes a little time to get traction.
