Transcripts
1. Intro: one. My name is Sylvia, and welcome to my skill share class. If you don't know me, I'm a virtual assistant and social media manager from Portugal. And I've been working through a pork since 2013. So I say, I know a thing or two about platform, and so they I'll be sharing with you all some tips and tricks on how to fill out your profile, kind of what to put in each section and the best practices you can use. Uh, if you're completely need to up work as a platforms and maybe you don't have an account yet I have another course that I've done previously where I guide you through the mindset of deciding whether or not you want to work from home and work for yourself. So and I also guide you through, I ask you some questions to help you decide what skills to market and what service to offer on up work. Um, so you want to check that one out first if you don't have an account yet, But this one is kind of the next level course, and I plan on doing another one after this that will guide you through how to filter through jobs and actually submit your proposals to clients so you can start earning some money on the platform. So, yeah, this one is all about your profile, So stick around if you want to learn about it and also follow me on my profile so you can get notified when the new one pops up about your proposals. And also, if you have any questions during the course or any request for future courses, leave them in the comments and I'll make sure to check them out and reply to you. So, yeah, let's get on with course, shall we?
2. Smile (for the photo): All right, so on this first lesson will be talking to you all about your profile Picture on a fork. Now, I said the number one thing you want to keep in mind on this is that you wanna look professional. Of course, this is a a platform for you to find jobs and you want to look professional. Of course. Now this doesn't mean any to be any color church, because I'm not on mine. I think you just need to look polished now on mine. I'm wearing a black journal, ACS. So it's pretty plain and simple, but there's nothing wrong with that. Um, I'd say, um and also you want to keep in mind You want to show up with a smile so eccentric Let's take this example. If I was to teach the whole course with a frown on my face or looking like I'm Ward, you would probably think, Well, maybe she's not happy about being working on a pork. Um, maybe why is she teaching about this? If she doesn't like that anymore, she doesn't feel confident or happy on what she's doing Now. If I teach the whole course with a smile on my face, I feel more approachable. And I feel like, um, you probably feel like I'm happy doing what I'm doing, and you probably want to do that, too. Now, in this case, uh, I feel like if I were to be a client on a work, I would find a person with a smile, and I feel like they're more approachable there. NYSE. They're fun, and I live with that. So that's my opinion. But I think you should definitely be leading with a smile. Now, more even one person than what you wear or the smell you put on your face is that you want to take the photo on a well lit place. Like what? What does it matter if you were wearing even a shirt, a nice shirt and the smile on your face? If it's too hard to see it like you want to take it in a well lit room, so preferably one that's being hit with sun at the time, Uh, or even outside mine was taking outside, and also you don't need a fancy camera, my house sticking with my phone, and I have I don't have the fanciest phone I have an iPhone S e so pretty outdated. Um, and it's still like it's a nice picture. Especially because it was taken outside now. Yeah, pretty much. You don't need a fancy camera. And any fancy background mine was just taking against the white Wall, but it doesn't need to be white. Like it should be a plain background, so it's not too busy to distract from your face. Um, listen, Feel like fun? It could be fun color background. I'm actually thinking of changing it out to a pink background to stand out a bit more in the search because this kind of looks played to me. Um, yeah, pretty much. Just look polished. Smile and half good lighting, and you should be fine. Now let's get on to the next lesson.
3. Get verified: so this one is going to be even shorter. But it's a really important step that gives you that extra level of credibility on your profile. And it's so simple and so easy to do that. You really shouldn't skip on this step. And that is to get verified. You see here, that blue tick. Now, this isn't the same as getting verified on Twitter. You know, need to be famous. Are anything special? This just means that you've uploaded your I d. With a picture onto up work, and then you need to get on a quick video calls with them with somewhat at up work. Now, this is like five minutes ish eso not too long, not too hard. And basically, it's just for them to verify it that you your face matches with your I d and that you're who you say you are. And I think they ask you a few questions about your your details or maybe your i d. I think, um, so, yeah, it's pretty simple. And if you are who you say you are, this should be totally fine. So, yeah, let's get onto the next lesson, which will be about your title
4. Keep your title short: right. So now we'll be talking all about your title on your profile. So that's this bit right here, and it will show up for your clients. Rectal Oh, your name. So it's kind of the first thing they see about you. Uh, now you want to get this short and sweet, visit me to be too long or too complicated, but basically what I would like to do is I like to describe what you offer as well as who you help so in mind, you can see virtual assistant. That's who I am, what I do and for the busy sold for her, that's who I help, Um, and also I have two profiles. I have my general one and a specialized one, which will be talking about later on another lesson. But basically on this one, what I do is I'm a social media manager and who I help. It's still the for this busy solo burner, so basically that's it. You want to keep it short and simple. You can to use emojis on your title nor any special characters, so it's really a place to keep it simple and describe what you dio
5. Write with your client in mind: All right. Now, onto your profile. Overview. This is the meat of your profile. This is where you can write basically anything you want, but I have some tips for you. Nine Number one tip is to avoid talking about yourself. I avoid talking just about yourself. Now it's probably the most intuitive to write about yourself on your profile. Um, one thing I could do and I've done it past is to say something along the lines of Hey, my name is Sylvia and I have a degree in multimedia arts and I've helped clients with this , this and that, and I have skills and this listen back and I still do that a bit, but I keep my client in mind first. Now, to be able to do this, you can either work with clients before and know what they need and what they what you've been helping them with. Or you can also conduct some market research even if you work with clients before it's always helpful to do some market research in order to be targeting your client better so you can with market research or with past experience, you can see what they're paying points are and also kind of what they need help with. This will help you more when crafting your what services to offer as well. Aziz your packages and also you can see the kind of words they use, both the words they used to describe their business to describe their pain points and even what they need help with. So those words are always good to include in your profile or any copy that you have. But basically, I'll give you the example of my own profile right now that's ridden with my ideal clients in mind. Now I still say, Hey, my name is Sylvia and I'm here to take the busy out of your business because my client is a busy solo pron ERT. So they have a business, but they're too busy running it. And maybe if they had more time, they could have more clients or more billable tasks in general. So first of all, I asked them two questions to kind of, um, certify that they're my ideal clients. So there's trouble with finding time. Um, maybe want to grow your client base. So if they had their reading through this and answering yes to both of some. Then I say, Well, I'm the person help you I'll take the weight off your shoulders on Then I kind of going to more like social proof, saying that I helped Soaper nurse and has been working on this for five years, and I love helping my client so kind of the motivation behind what I'm doing and you could be next, and then I go ahead and this is a good thing. To add onto any profile is a bulleted list of any kind. So whether you want to show off your skills as a bulleted list your certifications if you have many or in this case, I showed my services that I offer, um, it's a good idea because clients you have to think if a client is looking for help on a platform, we're probably looking at many different free lesser profiles. Eso they're probably not looking just like yours, and if they're busy, if they need help, is because they're probably busy and they don't want toe read through a big book of text like mine is breaking up into like sentences. I don't like to write full paragraphs because that's more intimidating and harder to skim through. But both of lists are great. So in mind, I separate them with emojis because you can use them on your review. I also use them here at the top to kind of highlight that I'm it's operated freelancer on up work. Um, we'll talk about that later on another lesson, but and then I go ahead and I I'm like, OK, so you like what you see are ready to invest in this and that I have a cult action. Feel free to message me. I'd love to hear from you. So this is kind of these are my tips. And also keep in mind that only the beginning of your of your taxed will show up in the general few when they're looking through different freelancers. So, as you can see here, it shows until, like, half of clients, Um, see, I keep that in mind, get the most important text at the front. Uh, yeah. If you want any specific tips on your own profile, you can copy and paste it either In the comments are in the class project and I'll give you any tips. Any things I change or make better or any things that I think are really working well on your profile. So I'd love to hear from you on this because it's the most important part in my opinion, over your profile spoke in a different thing. You can have a different, uh, overview for your specialized profiles, but we'll get onto that later. So just leave me a comment or a project with your overview, and I'll help you out with that. Now let's get on to the next lesson.
6. Show off your specialty: It's so kind of a new future to up work. Already specialized profiles. I think they introduced this last year and find Thomas taken. And basically, what they are is you used to only have a chance to have one profile so you could have one chest toe, have a title on lunches to have an overview. And that's it. Um, but now they introduce the special ice profiles so you can have a second or even 1/3 profile. You can have up to 31 general into specialized one. So make use of that. I still have to create my 2nd 1 I'm still debating all in what service? I want to promote their. But basically what you can do is you can create a new profile and you can start from scratch. But I recommend you start Crosby General profiles. So first, you Proust your general profile, you write your title and your overview. And then once you create the specialized profile you get to, they copy it for you the title and overview, as well as the drop history and portfolio. Um, but those will talk about later, but basically get to keep I definitely recommend edit the text. Don't keep it the same because it's another opportunity for you to talk a bit more about that specific service that you're offering on that specialize profile. But you can copy it over just to keep the same layout, the same template in a way. So it kind of looks cohesive, and you don't miss out on any topics that you like to talk about, so I'm not going through with this. But maybe I should show you what you can dio so you can select from a different variety of specialties and you can also request specialty is now that won't be ready up front. So you need to kind of select the closest one to watch you on offer. But they have a range of them, and you can search here for grapple, So shield social. Oh, jeez, social media. You can have social media strategy, social media marketing. That's the one I have. And you can select that you don't see your specialty, but basically you wanna have. This is a good way to showcase a different skill than your main one. So I was thinking maybe the 2nd 1 I could have would be video editing or audio editing for podcasts. Something like that, because you can have the bulk service you offer and band individual services. And you can also craft the popular projects, which will talk about later. They stay the same, and I think they should probably change that. So they changed with every profile. But you can change, for example, your hourly rates on the specialized profile so you can have different rates for different services. And I'm not going to go into detail on the hourly rates because that's really individual to each person. But you can also select. If you have worked previously on the platform, you can select which fast jobs you want to show on each specialized profile. So I selected only the ones that are related. It's social media, uh, and also deem a bit further down. You can select the portfolio pieces that you want to show on this wolf out. So it's a completely new profile, apart from the projects, which I hope they change in the future. But yeah, also, if you need any, um, review of your specialized profile, let me know again in the comments. And let's get on to the next section that Lex Pleasant
7. Add a video: So one other great thing to add to Europe or profile is a video salvagers, super powerful on any platform, any form of marketing. Um, but video on a park? I haven't done it yet because have been putting it off for so long. But basically it makes your profile sten out because first of all, not many people will do it. Take it for me. I've been on a blood from for seven years, and I haven't gotten around to do it. So that kind of gives you an idea. And second of all, video is that more personal? So clients can re three a profile and get an idea of what you do and what you help them with. But if you record a video especially if you record a video talking to the camera like I'm doing right now and you look directly at the camera and south directly to them, they'll feel this will feel like it's a much more personal kind of ah, sock like you are in the room with them. Um, and one thing I would say if you record a video directly speaking to the camera, what I would do and what I'm planning to do on my own video is to kind of give a recap of your profile kind of the more important topics, um, and speak directly to that. Like you're in a conversation. Now, some tips that I can give you for your video are kind of the same tips I gave you for your profile photo. So keep it well, it's no one likes to see. No one wants to see them of them like video, because they won't be able to see your face against. Smile the spa show that you're happy And do you like, enthusiastic and emphatic and looks directly at the camera. I said this before, but that's the most important thing, like you see how different it is if I'm speaking directly to you or if I'm just reading through my notes here, that makes it last personal. And also keep it short like you don't wanna clients. Probably. Like I said before, they are looking at different freelancers, so they're probably not going to sit through a 10 minute video. Keep it realistic, so I'd say 1 to 2 minutes five maximum is ideal. Uh, and to add a video, you just need to upload it to you to first. And it has to be public. And then you pissed of the link here and you select what kind of video is so if you're talking directly to camera like I was talking to you about before you'll select this one with me talking about my skills and experience. Um, another thing you can do is you can create a portfolio video that shows your work. So maybe either just showing your work with no sound or music in the background or something like you sharing your screen and showing previous work and maybe speaking over it if it if you don't show your camera or you can use something like I'm doing for this scores I'm recording this using looms so I can have my camera but, uh, down here and how my screen sharing with you all. So those are some ideas for your video. If you decide to record one for your profile, feel free to share your link in the comments or in the class project. I'll also have my link to my profile in the description. So once I have the video, you can check it out and get some inspiration for your own video. So, yeah, that was pretty much it for this lesson. And now let's get into the next one.
8. Share your packages: I So now onto another new feature of up work. This one is even more recent than the specialized profiles, I believe, because it still says new, and that's the popular projects. Now, this is very control. Okay? Hiss Europe packages your set, Bryce packages. Um, you can show off up to three. Now, I had more than three. I still meet up the bees, but what I did was I bundled three packages into each popular project, so that's kind of a sneaky way to get around it. Um, basically, these are especially helpful if you plan on working on a lot of fixed price projects. Because on fixed fresh projects, clients have generally of budgets, and they want to know if you can stick with that budget. And if there are just looking at your hourly rate, they probably won't know how long it takes you to creo to create a certain private or do certain tasks. So it's really helpful for them to be able to see the total, uh, the total price for what you offer. So here you can just and it's done. You can add, um, a title for your package. You can have unique at a starting price. But you don't need at a Nanning price, so you can have its starting at in this case for 97. I can't believe this. And then you need to select the category your package it is in and at the description and the related skills. So let me up late this so you can see it's now starting at 4 97 So, yeah, that's pretty much it for the packages. I won't go again into detail on pricing because that's so individual to each person and each skill sets. So, yeah, let's get on to the next section, The next lesson.
9. Get client feedback: now answer the work history and feedback. This one is going to be a pretty short video because there is not much you can do here. Um, the best you can choose to provide the best service you can and always, um, deliver what you promise, or under promise and over the livers so your clients can be happy and leave you, hopefully, five start feedback and a good a good written feedback that's always so helpful, especially to get more science down the light. One thing you can do is you can share your feedback on social media with these images that upper creates. I'm a bit sad little offer instagram yacht, but maybe in the future. And also you can, like I said before you can select which, um, we feed vacuum on shown on each of your specialized profiles. So here I can go into here and select, for example, if I want to have this one shown and I actually want it shown. So let me see if there's any other ones that I won't show. No, I would this one showing, so yeah, I can have these will on showing in my specialized profile. That's pretty much it. So let's get on to the next one, which are testimonials
10. Ask for testimonials: so now onto another new feature. Up work is really upping their game here, which is testimonials. Now. This is a great social proof because you can ask for testimonials from past clients, whether you've worked with them on the platform or not. So it's great. If you've worked with a client outside of work and you want the their feedback to show on a platform, you can request it. Ah, and also if you work for them into platform. All of these I worked with on up work, and I wanted to have another chess for them to leave feedback and talk about how we work together. So to request feedback, you just need to come here other first and last same their business email address, which is where, where they will receive the request for the feedback and then you need to add their Lincoln profile. Their title. This is optional and the project type as well, and you can send them, um, a message requesting their feedback. So this is great, Um, and then once they leave feedback, you can decide whether you want it shown on your profile or not. So if they leave you bad feedback These ones you can turn off now. The other ones on your profile, you can't. So yeah, because these ones you requested them. You get a more say in what shows on your profile. So that's good. That's basically it. Next up, we'll talk about your full deals.
11. Add at least 1 portfolio piece: It's so another key thing that you should have on your profile is for folio pieces. Now you may think that these are only helpful for designers or other visual type projects on but totally makes sense. But you can also use them for non visual based projects, and I'll definitely give you some ideas. But basically, let me show you first how important it is to have a portfolio. Pisa's least one in your profile. See this one here, the 1st 1 that shows in my profile when clients us are searching on the platform for various real answers. This shows up The first portfolio piece I have on my profile will show up, um, in the list view. So with other feel answers above me, mind shows up with my profile portfolio peas, so that's really important. You definitely don't want to leave this blank. You wanna have a least one portfolio piece? Um, but basically some examples would be if your work is not ah, traffic related or visual in any way you can show screenshots of past projects. For example, um, or maybe you have some stats from previous clients or projects you can also create a fun graphic with that, um, and have it show here. You don't necessarily need an image in your portfolio peas, but it definitely makes it stand out a lot more. And also, another thing you can do with your powerful you pieces is you can link them to pass jobs you've had on platform. So as you can see here, I'll show you an example. Here. This is the best project I've had a long time ago, and I have, um, those. I don't have a feedback because the client didn't leave any. But if I had, it would show here and then the related portfolio item. And it's clickable off force so people can see what I did and has a clickable laying for the images I created for this project. So that's great. So any future clients can see the past work that I've done, so that's pretty much it for D portfolio. And again, you can also select which portfolio pieces you want to show in each of your profiles, your specialized profiles, so that's pretty much it. And again afterwards will talk about your skills
12. Define your skills: another really important for it. I mean, they're all important in their own way, but your skills clients get actually filter freelancers, my Surfin skills. So you want to keep this these skills really relevant to what you do and what you help your client wit. It's worth adding that in your general profile, you can Onley add up to 10 skills, so you definitely want to use them all but be get them relevant. And also it's worth visiting every once in a while. I definitely could do that for my own skills, because you change over time. The services you offer change over time, and that's normal. Um, and also you want to keep them as relevant as possible at all times because again, you get so few of them that you there's always some that you can replace with others that are more relevant at the time. Um, and apart from that, in your specialized profiles, you can add a big more skills. So I'm internally sure if you have a limit on these. But the good thing on these, um, in these specialized profiles is that they filter that kind of categorize your skills into different categories. So as you can see here, you can select from the existence skills or you get add other skills. So I don't It doesn't say here the limit. So I'm not sure if there is a limit in the Specialized fulfills its kind of trialling and ever, at least for now. Maybe that's something they haven't updated yet. But as you can see here in the general profile, it says you can only add up to 10 skills, and here you have to take them out. They don't suggest and he skills for you. So yeah, that's pretty much it. And afterwards I'll talk about other important things that you can add to your profile.
13. Other important things: I last been on lease, I'm going to show you a couple of other important things you can add to your profile. The help you with? Ah, kind of your credibility on the platform. The 1st 1 is certifications. Now here I have yells, which is an English exam that I did a couple years ago. But you can select from a variety of certifications. They have one that I'm looking to get, and then I'll definitely put it on my profile. Oh, you can also have a dual angle exam which probably is more accessible than they Yeltsin. You can have Google ads, certifications as well as helps blood certifications. And these are the ones that I'm looking to get. But yet you can pause the video at any time if you want to check out the certifications you can get and that up work accepts until they black for sorry if I'm looking through them too fast. But basically this gives you an idea of fat. You can also add your employment history. So I'm pretty lame. Of the only job I've ever had was working as a freelancer on a pork um Miyahira Recon right company, the location, etcetera. And you can say if you currently work there or not. Um, basically, that said, that's really straightforward. And you can do that as well with your education. So I have my high school degree and my my university degree here. Um, basically, it's kind of the same as your as your previous jobs. Ah, you just still it out. And you can add other experiences as well. So you basically just add a title and description. Maybe you've been featured in a magazine. Or maybe maybe in blocos, that would be poor. Um, that you could show the link. Um, what else? You can have had an exhibit of some of your work somewhere. Um, happily, much. Anything you want to share that would be relevant to your profile can go here. And yeah, that's pretty much it. That pretty much covers what you can do with your profile. Uh, I'll have another lesson right after their I'll talk to you about where? How to get top rated status on report. So I kind of go through the facts. There is not much I can give my own, um, inside on that, but I'll kind of show you on the criteria that you have to meet to be top rated, and that's actually really helpful to get jobs on up work. So station for that bad after and yeah, so too, on the next lesson.
14. How to become Top Rated: it's so the last thing I wanted to talk to you about is how to become toe operated. Now this is really important and really helpful, because I found that ever since I became top rated I don't quite remember when I waas, but I find that I get more clients coming to me and I don't have to apply to those that many jobs. So I don't have to waste my connects or waste my time looking for jobs. The clients now kind of come to me mostly, so that's really good. And you get this badge on your profile, which shows that your top rated and up work also boosts your profile in searches. So I'll kind of just go through the the criteria that you have to meet. I'll have this linked in the description so you can check it out for yourself that if you have any like doubts about it, But basically you need to have a good job success score so 90% or higher and this comes from your past. Clients see back. Um, also your first higher on up work has to have been more than 90 days ago, so you need to be on a platform for a bit. Not that long, but you won't get it straight away. Ah, you have to have either rising talents status or a job success score of 90% for a two least 13 out of the last 16 weeks. So you have to keep a good reputation on a platform. Ah, you also have to have 100% complete profile. And if you've done everything that actually with you in this course so far, you probably are good to go. Um, you also have to have earned a least $1000 on the last 12 months on the platform. So this is really hard to get. They just want you to be active on the platform and earning on the platform, because it wouldn't really be fair if I now stopped working on a platform and next year I was still a top rated because I wouldn't be actively working. You also want to have your fill ability up to date on your profile, so on they have free options. I didn't show you those before, but you can have more than 30 hours less than 30 hours or as needed, So that's what I have right now because I'm open to suggestions. Um, and you also have won a having a cow with good standing. Um, basically, you're gonna be on up works. Good side. Um, anyone on me active again on the platform. You wanna have either earnings or proposals sending proposals you don't have to be earning on the last 90 days. But if you're not earning, you need to be actively seeking jobs. So basically, the some of it'll is you want to be active and you want to be on a platform for a police three months before you get on that status, that really will help you out. So hopefully this was helpful. Again. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or if you want me to review your profile, you can share your copy or your link. And yeah, I look forward to helping you and stay June and follow me for the next course. All about proposals. Talk to you later. Bye.
Sílvia Pinho, Social Media Marketer & Content Creator
