A Proven Upwork Blueprint To Grow Your Freelance Business

1. Introduction: Hi there. My name is Test Trotter. I'm a former solo freelancer who got my start on upwork. Over the last few years, I've learned so much about upwork, including best practices that helped me leverage the platform and grow from a freelancer to an agency making high six figures. Here's a little bit about me. I've maintained 100% job success score on the platform. I am expert vetted and in the top 1% of talent, I have worked over 3,000 hours on the platform. I am continuously in the first one to two pages of search results when clients look within my niche. If you selected this course, it's safe to say that you've either already started your freelance career or thinking about starting whatever the case congratulations are in order. It takes guts to leave the security and stability of a standard nine to five job for the unknown landscape of self employment. I know how scary it can be, trust me, I've been there that said pat yourself on the back. You are making a decision that puts you in the driver's seat of your own life. With freelancing comes so many benefits. Here are a few of my favorites. First, freedom, with remote work being the norm in the freelance world, you can literally work from anywhere. Not only that, but you decide how your days are spent and when you take time off. Next, unlimited income. You dictate your rates, hours, and the number of accounts you take on. Third, passion filled living. Just like your income, you dictate the niche or space you work in, which means you can gain valuable skills and work in an industry that you are most passionate about. Finally, self development. Choosing the freelance route means you will inevitably face challenges. But with these challenges, you will learn so much more and become so much stronger and at a much faster rate than you would in a traditional work environment. This is because you really only have you to rely on. This builds character and resiliency, which will in turn help you navigate life much better. If you are ready to grow your freelance career, you've come to the right place. Throughout this course, I will be sharing proven tactics that have allowed me to drastically grow my business and become a part of the top 1% of talent on upwork. Here's what we'll cover. A breakdown of what upwork is and navigating the platform. How to optimize your profile for proposal invitations, proposal best practices to land those pitch calls. How to sell yourself on a pitch call. And tips for client satisfaction and retention. I also include some free downloadable guides throughout the course to help you out during this process. Grab your pen and paper classes in session. 2. What is Upwork: Welcome to lesson one, where I give you a lay of the land. Starting on the login page, if you don't have an account, the first step is to obviously make one. Once you sign in, this is what you'll see on your home page. I'm going to go through each tab and really walk you through it. You have your find work tab, which is where you can look for relevant jobs. We will go over that more on an upcoming proposal lesson. You have your network, which is a feature that allows you to connect with fellow freelancers. This is great to take advantage of if you each offer complimentary services or would like a referral buddy. If either of you reach full capacity saved jobs. Well that's in the name. This is jobs you've saved that you can revisit in proposals. You can view your active proposals. Proposals you were invited to and proposals you have submitted to profile obviously takes you directly to your profile. My stats is a great place to check your profile views and visibility. Your job success score, which can make or break your profile and shows your overall client satisfaction rate. Stats on responsiveness which is shown to clients, That's super important. You also have projects which allow clients to order from an already set menu of services you've created. Consultations are included in this, and we'll cover that more in the next section. Under the My Jobs category, you can see all of your active contracts and past contracts. Under the reports tab, you can see an overview of earnings for the week that are in progress in review pending or available, meaning you can deposit them into your account. You can export these summaries by clicking on my Reports. Billings and Earnings allows you to set a custom time frame and see your total earnings within that period for each client. Connects History allows you to view your connect balance and spending connects are what you use to send proposals. It's like a Port Currency. Transaction history shows the latest payments from clients and any payments you have sent for membership fees. You can also download a certificate of earnings which proves the amount you've earned if you need it for a new apartment or whatever the case may be, which is pretty cool. Finally, messages takes you to the messages between you and clients. There you have it. A quick walk through of the platform for this lesson's homework. It's pretty simple. Make an account if you haven't already and spend a little time familiarizing yourself with the platform. On the next lesson, we will dive into profile optimization. See you there. 3. Optimize Your Profile: Welcome back to another lesson. Today we are going to dive into your profile, which is arguably the most important thing for attracting and winning clients. As of the time I'm recording this, there are nearly get this 18 million freelancers using upwork to find projects. It's safe to say that when clients post a job on the platform and invite freelancers to apply, they have many options to choose from. That's why a killer profile is crucial to set yourself apart from the Pac. When clients come to upwork, not only do they post a job, but they can invite top freelancers to apply. This gives those invited freelancers an edge. The client already came across their profile, most likely because it was highly recommended by upwork, meaning the platform boosted its visibility. They were impressed and sent them a personal invite to apply for freelancers new to the platform. The goal is to get to the point of getting those invites. The first step is to build that profile up and make it so strong that even if you're self submitting proposals, a client is impressed enough to book a call with you. Now I'm going to share that elements of a profile and go over how to optimize each aspect of your profile for the best results profile image. This is likely the first thing that potential clients will notice. If possible, it is best to have a professional shot with a clean background. You should also be smiling. Remember, first impressions are important. Next, get your identity verification. It is super easy and just requires a quick webcam check from upwork to check that your identity is accurate and it provides an extra layer of trust to those who check your profile. Video upwork gives you an option to include video, and I highly recommend that you do this. Could either be of you telling viewers a little bit about yourself or promotional video showcasing you and your company. Next about you, make sure all relevant information is filled out, including language, educational background, and diversity certifications. If applicable, case studies include case studies in your portfolio to give clients a sense of your work. I suggest choosing cohesive cover images for each, your profile is aesthetically policing skills, add the maximum 15 skill tags based on your services. This will help your profile of visibility. Last but not least, reviews are gold on upwork. If you're new to the platform, I would highly recommend getting a former client to leave an outside testimonial. As you work with more clients on upwork, the goal will be to get them to leave those five star reviews. Once your profile is filled out, you're going to tackle the title and overview section along with your profile image. This header text is the first thing clients see. It's important that it's attention grabbing. I suggest leading with adjectives such as results oriented, goal driven, or results based, and then listing your service something like results based digital marketing in the very next line mention a top client goal framed as a question, maybe they want to get a higher ROI and increase their bottom line. Then this line could read something like, are you ready to five times your ROI and increase your bottom line From there, include a couple of quick paragraphs about your background, what you do, and how you can benefit them. I recommend including an easy to read bulleted list of your services so they can easily skim through, then wrap with a call to action. Encourage them to message you and schedule a call. Here's another quick tip. Include emojis for that extra flare. There you go. You're left with a show stopping profile. For this lesson's homework, go ahead and fill out your profile. Using the tips discussed, I included a free download with a profile checklist and template to help guide you any questions. Feel free to shoot me a message. I'm also happy to review your profile and send some feedback. In the next lesson, we are going to tackle proposal best practices. I'll see you there. 4. Proposal Best Practices: Hi there. Welcome back to another lesson. Since following along, you've learned how to navigate upwork and optimize your profile to impress potential clients. In this lesson, we're going to cover proposal best practices that will increase your chances of locking in a pitch call. As covered in our first lesson, upwork allows you to directly submit proposals in order to bid for jobs. As you build your profile and get those highly sought after five star reviews, you may be invited to directly apply to a job which is great because it means the client is already aware of you and thinks you could be a great fit. Plus it doesn't cost any connects, which remembers Upwork's currency. If you're invited to a job until that point, though, it's essential to submit proposals yourself. To do this, you go to the Find Work tab, click Find Work, and search for jobs within your niche. For example, social media upwork also has a best matches list that is a great recommended list of jobs based on your skills. As you are perusing, it's best to thoroughly bet a project and determine if it's the right fit for you. This obviously helps prevent you from taking on a job that isn't aligned with your expertise. In addition though, it can help weed out any potential scams or folks looking for free work, which unfortunately occurs from time to time on the platform. When going through the jobs, look out for the following. Make note of their hourly or flat rate budget range. If provided, does it match your pay expectations? If it is a little lower than your ideal range, it may still be worth submitting. As some clients are open to negotiation, use your best judgment here. Next thing to check for would be the expertise level. Does it say beginner, intermediate, or expert? To be honest, I prioritize the budget range more than this as it gives me a good read on clients expectations. For example, a client could put expert here, but put the budget at $10 which I would ignore. It doesn't seem to be a sensible expectation. However, a client could put intermediate with a budget range of $40 to $80 per hour, which I would accept. Again, use your best judgment here. Now once you click on the job, it will open up to show the full job post. Be sure to thoroughly review this to ensure it's aligned with your skill set. Also, some clients may put secret words in their job post and require that you include them in your proposal to ensure you're not a bought, it's important to read through everything very carefully. You can also check their reviews, if any, to learn of other freelancers experiences with this client, which I would recommend. Assuming you decide to submit a proposal, you will click the Apply Now button. It will take you to the Submit a Proposal page. Here you have the option to change your rate if it's within the proposed range. I recommend leaving your rate as is. If your profile rate is a little higher. I typically recommend bringing it down to the same number as the maximum number they've listed. This increases the likelihood that they will open it and you can almost negotiate if you land the job. There's also a rate increase section, useless at your discretion. I typically say never because we negotiate to do a flat rate per month dependent on the scope once they move forward, saying never seems like it may give me a bit more of a competitive edge. Now for the cover letter, the most important part. When creating your cover letter, keep in mind that clients only see the first one to two lines at first. When going through the freelancers who have submitted proposals, it's important that those are attention grabbing. I typically like to greet them by name if I'm able to see it in their job description or a review. And then I include a quick sentence on why I am specifically interested in their job or space. This makes it much more personable and will help you stand out from there. You want to make sure your proposal is detailed but skimmable and to the point many clients get dozens of proposals, if not more. They should be able to easily read what your skills are and why you'd be a good fit. Here are some essential things to include. First, your background. How many years of experience do you have? What past clients have you worked with? What results have you achieved? Next, your ideal approach when working with clients. What is your communication style? Do you do hourly work or flat rates then end with a call to action. Include a call scheduling link. If you have one, like calendly or directly, ask them to message you and set up a time to chat. Also, it's always good to include a proposal or portfolio attachment that showcases your past projects and results. When you are ready to submit your proposal, upward gives you the option to boost your profile, which moves it to the top of the list. This can be great, but keep in mind that it will cost you connects and the cost increases quickly when you send out many proposals. So it's important to allocate a set budget for this. Remember, always be friendly and helpful with your responses. Be timely too. Upwork actually tracks this and adds response time ranges to accounts. And that concludes this lesson on proposals. For today's homework, I'd like you to craft your proposal template. Remember to leave a few blank spaces for job post specifics. I've included a downloadable sample to help you get started. And once you have that created, start sending out those proposals. If you get any call inquiries, let me know. In the next lesson, we will discuss how to sell yourself on the call to lock in the contract. See you there. 5. Pitch Perfect: Welcome back to another lesson. If you followed along so far, you've learned how to navigate the upward platform, optimize your profile, and send showstopping proposals. In this section, I'm going to teach you some best practices on delivering a project winning pitch. Once you get a potential client on the phone before the call, be sure to research the client, understand the client's business industry and specific needs. Ask for website links and other relevant information. These details will help set you apart from other freelancers. Secondly, upwork allows you to start a call directly in the chat. You're just going to click on this, create a call button on the top right. I highly recommend having your camera on. Trust me, I've done experiments on this and you are more likely to land the client with your camera on. It's much more personable and helps better establish trust and rapport with the client. Next, when kicking things off on the call, it doesn't hurt to establish a personal connection. Ask about their day or weekend and share more about yours. From there, it's important to put yourself in the expert chair, so to speak, lead the conversation. Ask them to give you an overview of their project and brand and what they're looking for. Be sure to listen attentively and take notes. After they share their information, you're going to dive into a couple of things. First, your background and experience. Share how many years you've been in the industry, who you've worked with, and what you've helped them with. Next, go over your standard workflow and scope when working on a project like theirs and be detailed here. Then ask them if they have any questions. Finally, you can end with saying you'll be following up with a proposal and pricing. Based on the discussion, I have a pre made pricing deck I share with clients and I recommend the packages that I think they should start with. This makes it super easy for me to quickly follow up. Speaking of follow ups, I typically will follow up two times. I wait a couple of days from the call date and send a little nudge if I haven't heard from them, in which I ask if they have any questions, then I follow up a week later. If I still haven't heard back, I find it's good to offer a little incentive with the second follow up like a discount or an offer. And that's how you compile a project winning pitch. I included a downloadable pitch script for your reference. For this lesson's homework, I encourage you create a draft pitch along with a standard proposal and or pricing deck. You can send clients after the call if you don't have one already. In the next lesson, we're going to cover best practices for workflow and contracts to ensure client satisfaction and retention. See there. 6. Client Satisfaction and Retention: Welcome back to your final lesson where we dive into best practices. Once you've land the account, pat yourself on the back. You've optimized your profile, submitted a killer pitch and proposal, and have landed a client. Obviously, the work doesn't stop here. In order to continue to expand your freelance business, you need to deliver quality work and a positive experience so that clients keep coming back, leave positive reviews and even give you referrals. First, I highly recommend having your own contract. You may client sign upper provides one, but you need to cover all your bases to ensure you're protected. Here's what I recommend. Including in your contract clearly outline your agreed upon scope. This will prevent clients from making additional requests at no charge. Have a client obligations section. A successful working relationship requires things from the client as well. So be sure to lay that out whether there is a maximum number of days given for responses and requested information, same day, request fees, guidelines for written approvals, et cetera. If you are providing ongoing services, I recommend having a minimum number of months required. For example three. You can also require 30 day notice before a client terminates. Lay out your payment expectations in the contract as well. Do you require upfront payment, a 50% deposit? And finally, I always recommend including a harassment and safety clause that allows you to terminate at any point if a client is causing verbal, mental, physical, or emotional distress once the contract has officially begun, it's in your best interest to have a very clear structure and workflow. The client is relying on you to lead your scope. So you should have the following in place, A clear onboarding process. I have an e mail template that I send new clients. I offer them a digital Starbucks gift card, which is always a nice little touch. I introduce them to the team and I ask for a list of initial things I need to get started, like branding guidelines, assets, social media access, et cetera. We also have them fill out a questionnaire with relevant company info like target demographic, competitors, goals, et cetera. And finally, I provide them with a timeline for the initial deliverables. Internally, I have project templates within a Sauna. This is a great tool that allows you to set one time recurring tasks. I duplicate the template and add in the applicable due dates and assigned team members. That way we can make sure everything is getting done. If please clients that have been with you a while or who are leaving, don't be afraid to ask them for reviews. As I mentioned, reviews are gold on upwork. You want to get as many five stars as possible. There you have it. These are the surefire ways to retain accounts and offer a great client experience. I included a downloadable contract template for your reference. I urge you to refine it according to your offerings and preferred workflow. 7. Closing: Congratulations on completing my freelance success course. I hope you've gained valuable insights into optimizing your upport profile, crafting winning proposals, and delivering pitches that lock in clients. I wish you the best in your freelance endeavors. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me. I would also love updates on any clients you land along your journey. If you have a moment, I would greatly appreciate a review. This gives me valuable insight into how I can improve my course and make it more informative. Plus reviews help other freelancers like you find this course. Wishing you much success and growth on the uppert platform.