Upwork Proposal Writing Hacks: 3-Steps Strategy With 14 Winning Case Studies)

1. What's Inside The Course & How To Connect: Hi there. A warm welcome to the course, How to Write winning Proposals on upwork. If you are an up worker and you want to learn how to write quality proposals that get answered by the clients, then this course going to help you as a top rated upwork filancer. I have revealed all my techniques, strategies, and knowledge on writing winning proposals, on upwork in this course so that you can write quality proposals that get answered but in a better and faster way. Well, before going to the actual learning, let's see what's inside the course very quickly. Okay, well, this course is divided into two sections. The first section is all about writing winning proposals. You will learn how to craft winning proposals that get answered by the client. I'll share my three strategies of writing winning proposals with multiple real examples. Okay, then comes the second section. In this section, you will learn how to answer invitations and how to deal with screening questions in the right way. You will also learn what to check when you are sending a proposal, Except for these two sections. There is another bonus section in this section, some give as from my end that may help you write more winning proposals on upwork. Okay, so let's check every section a little more detail very quickly. In the first section, there are three less. The first lesson of this section start with what is winning proposal and why most proposals get rejected. Then I will discuss my three step winning proposal writing method with ten case studies. Then comes the second section. In this section, there are two less. The first lesson is about invitations. How to answer them with two actual case studies. There is another lesson which will tell you how to deal with screening question fearlessly with two examples. Okay, there is a bonus section here, You will get my three proposals that gave me almost $5,000 earnings in total. Also, you will get my 48 winning proposals for your reference. One more thing, I keep updating this course, so I may add new lesson to any section and add bonus lesson to bonus section. If I do so, I will give you an update. Okay, I know you will have doubts and questions about the course and I'm here to hold your hand when you need it. If you have any questions regarding this course, just ask me. Here on this platform, I usually check queries at least once every day. So you will get your answer within 24 hours usually. But it may take a little more time if I'm on a vacation or if it's a holiday. In that case, you need to wait a little more. But I assure you that I answer your questions as fast as possible. In the Q and A section, there are many questions already answered. You can also check them for resolving your doubts. Okay? So, that's all. Let's start the learning together. Thank you so much. 2. What is winning proposals & why most proposals get rejected: Welcome guys. We are going to talk about writing winning proposals on upward. The ability to writing a winning proposal is one of the most important skills you must know as an upward felancer. It is obvious that you write proposals when you're bidding for a job, every freelancer does. But all of the proposals you're writing are not winning proposals. You need to know what is a winning proposals. In this lesson, we are going to this topic. Actually, we will cover four topics. The first one is, what is a winning proposal? Second, why most proposals get rejected? Third, why the word proposal is a trap itself. Finally, what to avoid when sending a proposal? Let's get started now. What is a winning proposal? A winning proposal is something that clients love to answer. It doesn't mean a sure job. It means a doorway to start a conversation with the client. Once you can start a conversation, you have a chance to convince the client how good you are for their job, isn't it? Most felancers write their proposals in the wrong way, and that's why most of them get rejected at the first site. Okay, let me explain it with an example. As an up client, once I have posted a job for a video editor, I got 22 proposals and I rejected 16 proposals. At the first glance, I didn't even read a single line of their proposals. Why? Because their profile titles were irrelevant. Let me show you, as you see on the screen, the profile title of one philancer is Data Entry Admission Support Transcription, Bengal Translation Web Research, and another title is Translator. Now you tell me what did I do with a data entry operator or translator for editing my videos? Is there any point at all This happens many times. Most of the freelancers don't even read the job post carefully. They consistently send proposals for random jobs and hope when the next job comes, but this doesn't work that way. If you are sending proposals for random jobs, you are going to be disappointed very soon and want to leave this marketplace. Here are a few points you must keep in mind before sending your next proposal, right? Let's check them one by one. The first point is you have to be a good fit for the job and your profile title must reflect your ability. Otherwise, there is no point to send a proposal, right. As I mentioned earlier why I rejected 16 proposals without even read a single line. So make sure you are a good fit for the job and you have the required skill set to finish it. Okay. Secondly, read the job post very carefully. Most of the philancers don't even read the post. And many plans send a generic proposal. Don't do it without reading the post. How could you be so sure that you can get the job? Clients are not fools. They're familiar with this behavior. Many clients in their job post write some phrases and instruct felancers to follow them. It is a way to ensure that you read the job post carefully from top to bottom. For example, the client may mention type flower at the top of your application. Now if you miss the point and don't start your proposal with the word flower, you are out of the game, right? Reading the job post carefully is a must do, okay? Finally, you need to send the right proposals and you need to do it first. The quicker you send your proposals, your chance of getting noticed will grow. You need to practice how to write quality proposals very quickly. It's not that difficult though. With good practice, you can craft a winning proposals within just five to 10 minutes. These are the three main points you should do when you are sending your proposals. Now we are going to check the word proposal in a different perspective. Okay. Think for a second that you are applying for a nine to five job. Do you think they will hire you based on your application without even interviewing you? No. Right. The application is a doorway to confirm a seat for the interview. The word application and the word proposal create different impacts on our heads. When you are applying for a job, your mind hopes for an interview call or a rejection, isn't it? But when it is the question of proposing someone or prospecting someone, people get desperate. They're pushing hard to close the deal. For example, in love people they don't apply, right? My point is pork uses the word proposal deliberately to give you a feel that you are going to close the deal. Most freelancers fail into this trap and they desperately try to sell them. And to do this they either undersell them by offering a very low price, or they push clients to hire them. It makes them either a random Panymaker freelancer or they don't get any job at all. So be sure you are not in the same trap. Remember, Por proposal is not actually a proposal, this is an application. Okay, let's go back to the nine to five job application. What will you write in your application? Is that like something, I will work 2 hours extra daily, Please give me the job. Or I will take $1,000 less salary for this post. Does that make any sense to you? Not at all. Right. Nobody writes an application in this manner. They write something that tells why they're a good field or how they can help the company to grow or how their quality or skill sets become a great help for their business. Same thing for the upwork proposals too. If you think your proposal is an application, you are not going to undersell or you don't need to push the client to hire you. Instead, you will focus more on client's problem and we'll write how we can solve them. Now think this from the client's shoes. They got tons of proposals. I mean, literally they got a lot of proposals where there are very few applications. Eventually it is 20% 30% application. Most of the, most of the Philos are desperately try to sell theirselves. If you can shift your perspective, you can easily outshine 70 to 80% of freelancers who are bidding for the same job max. Here are some does you need to keep in mind while sending a proposal? First, upper proposal is actually an application, not a proposal at all. Your goal is to open a conversation with the client, okay? Secondly, do not focus on closing the deal. First, focusing on the end result At the beginning, we'll just ruin your proposal, okay? Thirdly, don't undersell yourself or do not push the client to hire you. Finally, don't get desperate by thinking you are closing a deal. Remember, client can smell your desperation from far, far away. Your goal here is to open space for a conversation. That's it. You now understand what to do and what not to do when sending a proposal. In the next lesson, I will show you how you can write your application or proposal, whatever you say in a persuasive way. I hope you have enjoyed it. See you in the next lesson. Thank you. 3. 3 steps winning proposal writing method with 5 Case Studies (Part 1): Welcome back. In the previous lesson, we talked about how the word proposal traps most freelancers and how to skip it. We also saw how a shifting of perspective from proposal to application can outshine most of the freelancers. Right now, it's time to write some winning proposals. In this lesson, I will tell you my three step rules to write a persuasive proposals. These rules, I called it LSD method, where L stands for liable, S stands for solver, and B stands for doable action. I want to remind you that writing a proposal for only getting hard is not our initial goal. We are not trying to close the deal on the first contact with the client. The hiring decision is a big deal. We are not going to push the client for the commitment at the very first attempt. What should we do? We should create a very small action for the client that is easy and doable. What is that? Small action is something that help us get a response back from the client. That's it. How can we do that? Okay, We will come to this point very shortly. Let's start with the LSD method and let's start with the first rule, which is the L, or liable. Now to get a response, the client must have to read the entire proposal again. Clients proposal to check, all they can see is only one or two lines from your proposal at first sight. As you see on the screen, make sure your first line maximum first two lines of that proposal are stunning, okay? Now, it doesn't mean something poetic, just something easy to read and attach clients emotionally, They keep going. Okay. Note that I said it, emotional attachment, not logical. In the very first line, you need to prove that you care for the clients. Failing to do it means clients dislike you. They will probably skip. The client must like you. First, you are the man who has to make it possible. Sounds difficult. Don't worry. There are several ways to do it and I'm going to show you how the most effective way is to start with the name of the client. Most philancers start with hi, hey, dear hello. And phrases like that. But they don't take the benefits of addressing the client by their name. Now you may ask, how do I know the client's name, right? Well, with a little research, you can find it if the clients didn't say their name in the job post. Actually, most clients don't bother to do that. Check the client, recent history and you find philancers feedback there. Many philancers use the name while they giving feedback to the client. You can find the name from there. For example, if you see on the screen, you see how a philancer's feedback reveals the client's name. In this case, you can write High Jeremy instead of only a high. Okay, This is the first rule. Start addressing your client by their name. But what if if the clients are new to up work and doesn't get any feedback yet? Then you can check the job post carefully. For a name, many job post clients mention their company name or website. In that case you can address by the company, like dear World Bank client, dear agent client. If the job post doesn't have that information too, then check about the client's section, just right side of the job post. See it shows where the clients live. As you see in the image, the clients live in London. Now you don't have client's name, right? You can say Hi London client. At least it works far better than is simple high. Once I posted a job for some of my work, I didn't mention my name or company info in that post. One of the felancers started with here Mumbai client. This word Mumbai. I don't know why Click on my head and I started reading her proposals finally hired her. You see how a simple treck of her make me emotionally attached and later helped her to win the job. This is the starting. Rather than saying just a simple hi or hello address the client by the name. If the name is not available, then by the company name or even by the location. Is it clear? Okay? The second approach is to get a mental ES from the client and you need to get it from your first line or first two line of your proposal, okay? I always recommend binding this in the very first line, not the second or the third line. What you need is a trial line about the solution that clients are looking for, right? If you read the job post carefully, you see clients give some information about what they need. You need to pull out one vital information from there and use it at the very first line. That's it. Let me explain this with an example. You see there is a job post and it says, let me read it. Need a brochure finished. Have content from previous brochure website and designs that already started, but need to be completed in a timely manner with content just up. Brochure is for healthcare company. I can provide logo images, blah, blah, blah. Okay, This is my proposal. In my proposal, I started with the name of the client. One extra minute to find her name, but it worked better than other competitors. Rather than writing a long proposal, I kept it short. The reason behind it was she needed it very urgently. Miss she was eager to hire someone very first. And I found this information from her job post. You need design done in 8 hours, right? She said it in the job post. I'm going back to the job post and you see it shows need design done in 8 hours. At the last line in my proposal, I started like that. I can help you finish the brochure design within less than 8 hours. That's the vital point I put in the very first line. That's it. Okay. And as a result, I own the job which was $200 job. That's the method, it is to use a figure line at the first line or maximum in the first two line of your proposal. Here is another example. You can see how even with my incapability, I still managed to win the job by using the right trigger line. The job post was like that. Let me read it. We are looking to hire an experienced and extremely talented editorial designer to create workbooks and Powerpoint presentations for an online course called the School of Freedom. The workbooks will be both for online download but also for print. As for the Powerpoint presentation, they will simply be the same as the workbook pages but in pot point form. Here is the first of all eight workbooks and the client gives some links. This is an old version that we are looking to update and modernize. You can see the new logo for inspiration. Okay, that's it. Now, here is my proposal. Now let's read this proposal. Hello, Alexander. I have seen your first 52 pages workbook and don't understand the language. It is mandatory. Is it mandatory to know the language you used in the workbook? If I'm quoting right now, but if no, I can help you finish the project, Then I put some work link of my previous project and then I put a testimonial from one of my previous client. I said the testimonial is taken directly from one of my Po clients. I did a 270 pages long workbook that helps people to fight stress. You can see the work by clicking at the link. There is another 88 pages workbook I create for an event management class. You may want to see in both cases. I used Arab in design. By the way, have you talked to a printer yet? What are the print specifications for your workbook? Haram, Powerpoint works. I'm interested to hear more about your work. The design style you are looking for, and other small details in your mind. Brief discussion of the project would be very helpful. Are you available for a 5 minutes po chat? That's it. Now you see in the very first line, I again, use the client's name and wrote first 52 pages workbook. The client never said how many pages in the workbook. She only gave a link. I checked the link and counted the pages. This trap told the client that I cared for her job and the words don't understand the language told that. I was honest with my work. That's how even the lack of that language knowledge I outshined 22 50 filancers and own the job. That's simple. You need to find out a piece of information which is very important and which you need to use as a trigger. In maximum cases, you can find it in the job post. Okay, now here comes some post where it is very difficult to find some important information. In that case, you can repeat the client's word as a trigger line. Let me explain it with an example. Here is a job post. It says, hi. We need an indesign catalog, template, graphics elements, colors and phone should reflect the company website. Very basic, light and white. Five pages cover, company profile, index, produce, product page and back cover. To apply, please point to your print portfolio. We could have plenty of opportunities like that in the near future. My proposal was like that, Hi Luka, I see you're looking for a five pages catalog design. Nice and clean. I'll be happy to help you with the project. Can you please share me the link to your website so that I can get a general idea of what type of look and feel you already have and how can I use this. In the catalog, I have posted two of my past projects which are most relevant and my behi portfolio link. Anyway, do you have 10 minutes for a quick discussion via Thanks. You see how I repeat the client's need in a single line. All he needed was a five pages in design catalog, right? And this is what I wrote. I see you are looking for a five pages catalog design nice and clean. In the very first line, I just simply repeat the client word by word. That's pretty simple. This is the easiest way if you cannot pull some very important information out from the job post. In that case, just repeat the client's word, just to mention I own that job dollar 105. Another effective way to create a trigger line is to ask a question very related to the problem or relevant to the job post. Now, asking a question is a little freaky. Do not ask something that requires too much time to answer. Like if you're asking for the client's opinion or how they want to start, it will be difficult for them to answer. They need to think before answering it. Chances are they just keep you and check out the next filancer in the room. Keep your questions simple and make sure clients don't have to think hard to answer your question. A question with the answer yes or no is always the best question to ask. Let me show you an example. You can see how a good question can win a job even if the job description is not that clear. Here is the job post. It says, I'm looking for someone who can help me finalize design and print a custom marketing project. It would require having printing capacity to print out the collateral in small batches and do some die cutting type work. I'll provide the graphic design, you can provide suggestions for changing it or improving it and then get it printed. Okay. My proposal was Hi Gillian. What do you need exactly? Is it a multipage booklet type material or a single pace flyer or brochure? I'm interested to know the detail about the project as I'm not sure about the industry or business, or the design style you're looking for. Rather than showing you one or two relevant projects, I just put my beach portfolio link for you and then I put the link. If you come up with more details, I can show you relevant projects I did earlier and can give you my best suggestions to make your existing design more beautiful. However, when is a good time to talk to you? Best wishes. You see, the job post was not that clear and it seemed the client didn't have a clear vision about what she wanted. That's why I started with the question, what do you need exactly? But that was not a question easy to answer, right? She was thinking, what does the hell mean exactly? Needed to think, right. That's why I put the second line with some option. Is it a multipage booklet type material or a single page flyer or brochure? Now you say this is a question that can be easily answered is a multiple type of questions, Client can say yes, it is a multipage booklet or It is a flyer, right? So whenever she viewed the second line, she saw something that should be mentioned in the job post. It somehow made me liable because I was pointing the client to a particular direction and she hired me for 1 hour consultation at $50 per hour. This is how a simple question can be trigger one client and can drive the client to start a conversation. Okay, now here is another effective technique to write a trigger line. You can do this by appreciating the client. Now, appreciating clients doesn't mean licking their boards. No, I don't mean that people don't like adulator. If you don't find anything really appreciable, don't try this approach. It will surely back and you just means some money along with your time. Let me show you an example how a real appreciation can make you liable to the client job post. Let me read it. So I have a mock up, two pace flyers that I would like to be professionally designed. I have attached the mockup for your review, the mock up is done in Arab in design and some of the assets were created in Arab Illustrator. I will provide the Arab files for you to work form. I would like two versions of the final design. One that includes the placeholders on page one for self executive pictures and contact information. The second design should be redesigned to exclude the information on page one. Everything else should remain constant. You can change the layout, assets, color scheme, forms, and messaging as you see fit. If you'd like to recommend different assets for me to purchase, please feel free to do so. The only thing you can't change is the company lower itself. We just put the original file together to help get you started. From a work product perspective, I would like you to work in Arab, in design, so that I can get the working files back. I need those files so I can update for new sales executives as we bring them on board. Unfortunately, I have a tight timeline on this project. I will need it to be completed by 12:00 P.M. SD on Monday, July 13. Accordingly, I will select some to do the work by 05:00 P.M. SD on July 26. Thank you for considering this project. Okay, and here is my proposal. It says High Corey out, obtain your post. I rarely see an organized post like you are too clear about your needs. I appreciate it. I've seen the PDF. As a designer, I think there should be more space to breathe. It is a good design, but pretty congested. More spaces can make it more beautiful. For example, we can make the steps and the important note section more prominent. Again, in design is a good choice for the print related task. By the way, the top link is a brochure I have created for Health Lucid. Though your project is unique, it is, I think, pretty similar in the sense of design. Here is the testimonial from the satisfied client of Health Lucid. And then I put the testimonial and then I wrote, again, hope to hear you, hope to hear from you by five MSD on July 26. Best figures. Now you see in the job post how the client expressed everything he needed. Honestly, many of the job posts are incomplete and don't have a clear direction to follow. But this post was not like others. That's why I appreciated the client and told in my proposal why I appreciate him. It was not like something to pump him or lift him. Sky, it was a real emotion that I expressed in the proposal. Okay, I own the quick job and earned $115 within just 2 hours. The client was so happy, he gave me $15 extra as a bonus. That's the L of my LSD method. Let's check it just one more time, from top to bottom. Okay. In this L part, your goal is to become liable to the client. And you can do it approaching two methods, okay? The first method is address the client properly. May be their name, their company name or where they live. Check the client, recent history or about the client section to get this information. It will take just 1 minute extra. Okay. The second method is to write a single line that can attach your client emotionally and drive them keep reading. To make the first line a trig line, you may use some technique. The first one is, use the most important information from the job post and write it in your first line. The second one is repeat the client's word as a trigger line if there is not much information or you can ask an easy question to the client that is relevant to the job and very easy to answer simply a yes or no. Finally, you can appreciate the clients for their words in the first line, here are four methods. Number one, just find a piece of important information and write it in your first line. Number two, repeat what the client says. Number three, ask question that is relevant and easy to answer. And number four, appreciate the client in your very first line. That's it, that's all about L, or liable. I hope you now understand how to be liable to the client so that your proposal can be answered. In the next lesson, I will show you how you can make an impression to the client as a solver, which is the second part of my LSD method in the next lesson. 4. 3 steps winning proposal writing method with another 5 Case Studies (Part 2): Hey guys, welcome back. In the previous lesson, we learned how to attract clients by addressing them by the name or writing a trigger line at the beginning of your proposal. In short, you learned how to be liable to the clients, right? Well, now we are talking about the of my LSD method. Where stands for solver? It means you have to prove to the client that you are a solver. Simply put, you have to prove your authority now. Now, what do I mean by this? Well, this means you understand the client's problems and you are capable of solving their problems. You have the right skill set to make their project more than successful, okay? Means you need to prove yourself as an authority. It doesn't mean to show clients your certificates or rewards, et cetera. Focus on their problem first and suggest them a solution. Remember, suggest them a solution. I'm not saying that you will give a solution. Obviously, we'll give you a solution when they hire you, not before that you can suggest a solution to the client. And after that, go with your academic skills, awards, certificate and experience, and whatever other staffs you have. The question is, how can you prove your authority? Well, let's talk all the approaches one by one. I'm going to show you six approaches you can use to show yourself as an authority or a solver. Okay, let's get started. The first approach is my favorite approach, and it is to give the clients some room. Now, think of a departmental store and a local grocery shop. They both sells products, right? But in the local grocery shop, you only see what the shopkeeper shows you. In the departmental store, you have a space to think, choose, and peek, right. In the first case, you may feel a little uncomfortable because you have to ask the shopkeeper, please give me that, this, et cetera, and the shopkeeper will gave you that. But in a departmental store, there are a lot of things in front of your eyes. You can choose. You can pick, okay. In the grocery shop, you may a little hesitate to ask the shopkeeper for showing many products once at a time, right? But in the second case, you are free to do that, isn't it? It makes you more comfortable. The same approach you can use in up to prove that you are a good fit for the job. How can you do that? Well, it is pretty simple. Just give some relevant samples of your works at the beginning of your proposal. And if you are from a creative area, like if you are a designer, then it is a very good approach. I personally use this approach for a long time anyway. So put your samples of work at the top of your proposal so that they can check them first and then can proceed to read your inter proposal. Okay. This approach gives clients some room and some space to think about. It's better to see your work first rather than reading 1,000 words about you, isn't it? If they like your work, they obviously read your proposal. Now, it is very important how you are going to show your works to the client. The oldest way is to attach your work and tell the client to see the attachment. But remember, upwork has a limit. Attachment files, limit, probably it is 25 MB. If you have a file bigger than 25 MB, you can't attach it. Now you can solve this issue by creating a G file or a raw file. But many clients don't have the software to open the jeep or the raw file, it will not work either. Also, downloading a file and, and checking them is time taking and a little bit boring. It may difficult for some cases, like when a client is using a mobile device and it hasn't enough space to save your attachment, I advise not to use attachment. What the right way? Just use a link. If you have a website or a blog, or whatever platform like Dribble or Github or Behance, you can use a direct link. But what if you don't have any of them? Well, in that case, you can use Google Drive. Google Drive gives every user 15 B space for free. All you need is just a Gmail account to get the free space. Upload your works in the Google Drive and send the clients a direct link. I'm not going to show you how to do that. It is a pretty basic thing. You can learn it from Youtube also. Anyway, I suggest you to upload all or some of your works in your laser time and make a note, notepad or Excel or whatever the space with the work name and its link. When you send a proposal, you can check out the notepad or Excel sheet and just copy the link and paste it directly to your proposal. It will save some time of uploading files in Google Drip while you're applying for a job. Get my point. When you're applying for a job, upload the file to the Google Ripe and then send the link because it will take your time and you don't have much time for sending a proposal, right? You need to upload all your files sometimes and you need to keep Excel sheet or any other sheet to maintain the link or to track the links. One more point. While you are using Google Ripe, you must upload your works in an organized manner. Now you can create folders inside Google Ripe to get things organized. Now, why should you need it organized? Well, let me explain this. Because when you are applying for a job, you cannot put your entire Google Drive link with your proposal. It will confuse your clients. Giving them the entire portfolio is somehow boring, will get confused, they don't have the time or intention to check every single piece of your portfolio items. Be like a librarian, you should have a clear idea what you are going to show to your clients. And finally, select only the relevant items and give it to them. Here is a caution. Do not overflood the client with relevant portfolio items, like don't put ten portfolio links for a single proposal. One single piece of your best work is more than enough. But if you want to show more, try to keep it within maximum three links. Here comes the confusion. That is, what should I do? May I put my work links first or may I put my trigger line? What you have learned in the first method, that is L method at the top of your proposal. Well, you can do both. You may put the trigger line at the first or you may put the work link at the first. For my case, the work links work better. Because I am a presentation designer, my works talks more about Coverletor. I normally give the clients room to see my works at first, but if you're from a different area, like a marketer or a copywriter, or a web developer, whatever, maybe you should start with the trigger line. It's an experimental thing to try to do it by yourself. Try five to six proposals and you can figure out which works for you best. Okay, well that's the first approach. Now we're going to talk about another approach to prove your authority to the client. And this approach is to use testimonial from other clients. If you're telling the client that you are the best, the client will not care. But if others are saying the same, they definitely do. So if you have some relevant testimonials, use it. Choosing random testimonials or relevant testimonials is a different thing. A relevant testimonial impacts a lot for decision making. Suppose you are a digital marketer, you do Facebook marketing, Instagram marketing, and Googles. You did three types of works for different clients and got many different testimonials from your clients. Some about your skill on Facebook marketing, some about your skills on Google ad campaign, and some about your Instagram skill. Now, if you're going to send a proposal for a Youtube ad campaign, which testimonial will you use? It is obviously the Google ads testimonial, not the Facebook campaign or the Instagram skill testimonial. Right. Because this is more relevant, Pick your testimonials wisely and like work links do not overflood the client. With so many testimonials, use only one. That's enough. But If you were very new and didn't get any feedback from any clients yet, then what to do? Well, in that case, you can skip the testimonial part. Obviously, a testimonial is a good approach to prove yourself, but it is not the least. Here is a professional tip for you while you are using a testimonial and link both try to put that particular work link for which you received the testimonial and mention clearly that you received this testimonial for this particular work on your proposal. Let me explain it with an example. Okay, here is a job post. Let me read it first. I'm looking for a graphic designer to redesign a slide show that will be looked on TV screens at a charity golf tournament. I'll provide branding guidelines and additional information to be included in the slide show throughout the extent of the project timeline, completion of the slide show must be done on or before June 4. Well, my proposal was like that. Dear client. Do you have the written content ready for the slide show? How many slides are you planning for this slide show? Then I put a testimonial and wrote the testimonial is taken directly from one of my happy client, the Mckinstitute. I did ten slides PT from, for them to present it to their donors. You can see the work by clicking the blow link. Also, there are three more works I did for you may want to see. And then I put the work links. I have seen the Big Hearted mavericks brand book. And I can produce a slideshow that goes with the brand guideline. Anyway, a brief discussion of the project would be very helpful. Are you available for a 5 minutes poc chat? Okay, you see I mentioned the testimonial I received from Institute and also put the link of the work I did for Institute with other links Here I did a mistake though. I should have told that you can see the work by clicking on the third link, rather than saying you can see the work by clicking on the Billow links. Anyway, everyone do mistakes, but it didn't make a problem to win the $200 job. I hope you will not do the same mistakes. Okay, Now let's see another approach to show you a problem solver or N authority to your clients and that is giving clients some suggestions that can help to solve their problems. Remember, your goal is to help the clients try to be helpful. Don't try to close the deal here, okay? Well, giving a suggestion is not an easy thing to do. Actually, nobody wants you to lecture on their work. If you are not very good at your work, you cannot give the right suggestion right now. Here are two things you need to keep in mind while giving suggestions. First of all, be polite. Don't say your suggestion is a must do. Just say, as a professional, you did similar types of jobs before and your suggestion may help to solve the client's problem. And secondly, don't give a long list of suggestions. Keep it short, and rather than using a long paragraph, use a short paragraph. Or you can use number list or bullet points. The list should have maximum three to four points. Here is an example of how I win a job by giving the client a proper suggestion. Let me show you the job post is like that. I'm working on a logo and need to find two icons or maybe slightly larger than an icon that are in a watercolor style. I want them to look similar to the test I sent the proposal like this. Hi, I have seen the attachment you gave, and I think the best approach for getting best result is to draw the icon on a drawing paper, then watercolor it and take photograph and make it digitalized using Photoshop. This is what I'm going to do, it will give you the perfect result. Perio did, what do you think? Thanks. Obviously, I win the job. See how a right suggestions can help you win a job. Check the testimonial from the client here, he also mentioned how the suggestion went great and produce a result beyond his expectations. Okay, this is the third approach, relevant suggestion. Anyway, here is a pro type for you. What should you do while suggesting clients for a rework type of job? Sometimes clients need some upgradation to their existing work like a. Upgrade to their presentation, or upgrade to their logo, or upgrade to their website. Now as a professional, you may see that the existing work is just a disaster. It's looking very bad. Don't tell directly how bad is their current work is. Even if it is bad, clients don't want to hear it from a third party. Actually, it doesn't matter how bad the work is, the clients still love their business, right? That's why they want to renovate it. So you should point out how you can improve it, but never tell how bad it is or how ugly it is. Okay, let me explain it with a real example. Here is a job post, and the job was just cleaning of a very unorganized file. The job post was like that. We are in need of a creative wizard that can help put together graphical images and theme for an investor deck. And one per, we have already raised numerous rounds. But the next is a biggie and need it all to look sharp and neat. Happy to send photos, et cetera and past examples. Please get in touch as we need it for tomorrow, our current one page. Okay. My proposal was like that. Uh, first of all, I put some work links and then I wrote, Hi, by when do you need it completed? In tomorrow. I just want to estimate the exact time left for the project. I see your one pager. It is no doubt good and unique. It can be more attractive by changing small details like number one milestone part, by using a divided between each line. Number two for each section we can use an icon like for fac problem solution, et cetera. Number three, the alignment of the text background gray and image three cars not in line. We can change it to and we can look after many small details like that. If you are interested, we can discuss the project. At the top, I have posted to three of my past projects you may like to see. Are you available for a quick chat now? Well, I own the job too and earned dollar 850 from that job. You see how a good suggestions can help you win a job. Okay, here comes my next approach. This is asking some relevant questions to the client. Again, the questions you are asking must be relevant to the project. Like the suggestions, keep the questions short and to the point. If you have more than one question, then use number list or bullet points. Again, I do not overflood with so many questions. Three questions are good enough. Here is an example of how I own a job by asking the right questions. Here is the job post. And the job post says, this is a short term project and we'll need to have the first revision done by Odt Time in the US on Sunday for the final product to be completed by OD Monday ST in the US. The deliverable is a PDF handout designed from a Word document with some facts and figures that need to be designed. There are a few notes in the dock that will help. And some example documents also in the note section of the doc that should give ideas. There are a bunch of US Federal Government Department logos that you will have to be sourced and implemented by the designer at the end of the document and arranged in a professional and visually appealing manner. This document is to be presented to Amazon AWS Executive. So it needs to be creative, yet slick and professional. Okay, and my proposal was like that. Hi, as time is very sensitive here. So let's get to the point number one, what is the paper size of your handout? Number two, do you need it for print then? What should be the print specification Number three, do you mind if I create a front cover for the handout number four, Do you want to keep the PDA two pages only or may I extend it? If needed. Here are three works I did for the World Bank Institute and some other clients you may want to see and then put the links. Are you available now for a quick chat and you see the right questions? Help me to win the job too. This is another approach, ask the right questions in your proposal. Now comes another approach. Well, the fifth approach is to be confident. Most of the filancers send their proposals in a wrong manner, many are literally begging for the job. This is a very bad approach. People who don't have self respect can't get respect from others. Right? So do not under judge your quality. Ask yourself, am I good enough with my work? If S show this confidence in your proposal. Now, this doesn't mean to be overconfident or to be rude. Despect yourself as well as the client. Confidently. Stick to your point and express your reason clear and loud. I want to share a job that I own applying this approach well, the job post was like that. Create a simple, clean looking template and format 70 slides. Colors will have to follow specific branding guidelines. And they put the color code must receive back by 11:00 P.M. ET this evening. Extra bonus of $50 If provided by 08:00 P.M. T, then font hex color code is given. Well, my proposal was like that high. What is the exact time on your watch? Now this is very challenging and I dare to take your challenge, but with a single condition you need to communicate with 1 hour max. Because in my experience, I have seen many job posts with very argentx and the clients never bother to interview a single freelancer. Hope you are an exception as you asked, I have posted some links to my best works below, When can we talk and then I put some links. As a result, I just not only own the job but also got $1.50 bonus. But remember one thing, this approach is not appropriate for every time it is a little uncomfortable and the client may think you are arrogant. Use it properly. And only use this approach when you are super confident about your skill. Not before that, Okay, we are coming to the final and last approach that is mentioning your awards or certificates or experience, whatever you have or academic qualification to your proposals though, this is not a very favorite approach of mine. People really don't care about your academic qualification until unless this is something really big, authorized by some renowned institute like Google or Microsoft or something like that. Anyway, you can use it, but keep it very short. I guess two lines are good enough. That's all about or solver part. I'm not saying to use all those approach, all those six approaches together. It will make your cover letter unnecessary. Very big. Using one approach or a punch up two to three approaches can produce an outstanding result. So you need to be creative how you can mix mass those approaches to get best results. Anyway, let's check the part one time more from top to bottom. Okay. Let's recap it in the, as part of the LSD method, your goal is to prove your authority by becoming a problem solver. And to do it, you can apply one or more of the six approaches I have mentioned. Let's check out the six approaches real quick. The first one is to give the clients some room, give relevant samples, or work links at the very beginning of your proposals. Don't use attachments. Use links from your website, Behance or Dribble or other portfolio or simply you can use Google Drive, okay, approach to use testimonial from other clients. This is one of the best approach for proving your authority. And then approach three, give the client some suggestion, but be very careful about that. Be polite, maximum of three suggestions and make the suggestions relevant to their problems. Use short paragraphs or better use a number list or bullet points. Number four, approach number four is ask relevant questions, okay? You can ask maximum of three to four questions, keep your questions short to the point, and you can use number list or bullet points. Approach five, show confidence in your cover later. Again, this method may backfire you if you are not very skilled. And don't be arrogant when you are showing confidence in your proposal. Okay. And the last approach is mention special awards, certifications, your experience, whatever you have. That's it. That's the second rule of my the L method and it is completed. Now, I'm going to talk about the final rule of the LD method, which is D or doable action. Now, this is You need to do. It is an easy, doable action for the client. You just ask them to do it. Now what I mean by it, it means you should end your proposal with a CTA. A CTA, or call to action means a clear instruction to the client what to do next. Suppose the client loves your proposal then, okay? Ask the client exactly what to do next. Now, what you should ask a little freaky. Your goal is to make things simple for the client. We do not ask the client for a long discussion or do not ask for a list of their needs. Ask something that can be answered very easily. Literally by a simple yes or a no. If you are asking like, what is your thought about my suggestions? Now, this is something clients can't answer very quickly, right? The clients need to think about that unless until your suggestion is very impressive, the client will not bother to answer your questions. In general, these types of questions makes them pause because they need to think before answering your questions. Your goal is to open a room for conversation, More client pause. It becomes more difficult for you to get response. Be tricky, and try to figure out a question that can be answered without even thinking. Let's check out some examples here. Are you interested for a 5 minutes chat? Now you see the answer can be simply yes or no. Can you show me your current piece deck? Yes. Again, the answer can be yes or no. Have you run at camp before? The answer can be a simple yes or no. Do you notice all of them can be answered by simple yes or no? This is what your goal, just to get the answer to your questions so that you can start talking with your client. Here is a screenshot from my Apoc message. You see how the clients responded to my questions. The client said yes, she can talk. You see, again, there is another screenshot. In this case, the client went one step further. He provided his Skype for talking. That's our goal, to start a conversation, and once you start a conversation, you can lead it to a win. That's it. That's how the LSD method works. Hope that helps you craft your winning proposal faster and better. Now before ending, I want to give you two more tips that will help you a lot. Number one, when you're finished writing your proposals, don't press the Submit button. Immediately revise it, or read it loudly so that you can hear it. It will help you to find out if there is any mistakes in your proposal. Okay, Tip number two. Use the grammarly app as a browser extension, or you can download the softer and use it or install it on your PC. This app will help you correct your spelling and grammatical mistakes. Also, you can use chat GPT to correct your spelling or grammatical mistakes. That's it. Now you get an entire picture of how to write winning proposals, right? For your help, I am attaching a proposal checklist. She, with this lesson, just download it and make sure you're applying all those methods properly. Now as your proposals connects and need money for practice purpose, select three to four job post daily. And select those job posts which you think you are a good fit. You don't have to submit the proposals, right? You just need to write the proposals. Just write them and set them in a Word Doc or Google Doc or other notes for practice purpose. The very next day, check the previous day's work and find out what mistakes you did and how they can be improved. You'll be surprised that you can make them better today. Initially, it will take time and actually this is a little boring in the beginning. It will take hours to write winning proposals, and checking them is also time taking. But doing this for one or two weeks or a month will make you so faster you can ever imagine. Trust me, it works for me and for many of my students. So you can do it too. Guys, go download the checklist and start writing your own winning proposals. I hope you find these lessons extremely helpful. See you in the next lesson. Thank you so much. Bye bye. 5. All about invitations with 2 more winning case studies: Hi guys, welcome back. In the previous lesson, we covered how to write winning proposals. In this lesson, we will talk about invitations and how to answer them. Invitation is a little different from a regular job post. If you get an invitation from a client, you don't need any connects to send a proposal. That's obviously a big plus. Secondly, people who invites you are more likely to work with you. That's why they invite you, right? In case of invitations are one step ahead from a regular job post proposal sending, get my point. Okay. Anyway, in this lesson we will cover four topics. Actually, we will answer four questions all about invitation. Okay? The first question is, does every invite you receive a quality invite? Number two, what to check when receiving an invitation or applying for a job? Number three, how to answer an invitation. And finally, why decline invitations? A must do. Okay, Let's check one by one. Let's start with the first question, which is, does every invitation you receive a quality invitation. Okay? Once a client post a job upper, send the client a list of filancer's name that upper thinks a good fit for the client's job. Okay? Client can invite randomly from that list. Okay, or can search philancers on their own. Many clients send invitation based on the upper referral. Okay? Means upper list. They don't have the time or energy to search philancers according to their needs. In those cases, the invitations you receive just a random invitation. Also, in many cases, upwork helps clients to find pilancwers for their job. They send invitations on behalf of the clients. My experience, many of the invitation, which upper sense on behalf of the clients are totally irrelevant, no matches with your skill. Let me show you an example. You see here, I got an invitation from an upper talent specialist. Now an Up Talent Specialist is someone who works for upper and send invitations on behalf of a client's job post. Okay, now the job post was like that. Let me read it, Shower. I am a talent specialist from upper who helps freelancers and clients use Po to connect. I thought you might be interested in the job post administrator. Since your background and skills appear to match these jobs requirements, I encourage you to submit a proposal If you think it's a good fit for your finance business. It's up to you to determine whether you are interested in and qualified for this job. No connects are needed. When you accept a job invitation, you can find project details within the job post administrator. The client will ultimately decide who to hire. Please direct any message about this job posts to the client through Apoc message. Best Apoc Talent Specialist. Well, nice to hear, right. The truth is totally opposite. Let me show you the actual job post. Well, you see the job post was like that. Looking for a highly motivated and start up minded senior geo Python engineer. And see, I got an invitation for doing some geo Python developing work. While I didn't know a single thing about Python programming, this happens, each invitation you receive is not a good fit for you. You need to check out what actually is for you and should act accordingly. Our first question, does every invitation you receive a quality invitation? The answer is no. You need to check it before submit, accept the invitation. Let's jump to the next question, which is what to check when receiving an invitation or applying for a job? Okay, When you get an invitation or when applying for a job, click on the view job posting. Link, it will give you the Er details about the job post. When you click on that, you need to check few things. First of all, read the job post. Carefully check the job matches with your expertise and quality. If not, you have to stop here right now. Otherwise, check the right side of the page and you will find details about the client here. First, if there is any badge like Upwork Plus Client, or Upwork Enterprise Client. If there is a badge like that, it means the client purchased or special plan as a client, which means they are willing to work on this platform. You can consider a job post or an invitation as a good one. Which job post has a tag like upwork enterprise client or upper client like that. Okay. But hold, don't make your decision so fast. You have more things to check. Next thing you need to check the payment method. Is it verified? If yes, that's great. If no, then there is a chance that the client post a job and never come back that platform. So be careful if there is no verified payment method. Okay. Sometimes many new clients post a job on upper without verifying their payment method. That's okay. They think they can add it later, but they really want to hire someone. I once got an invitation from a client without a verified payment method, but later I earn $1,800 or more than $1,800 from that particular project. But how could you guess the client intention? Well, you can get an idea from their job post. Is it a really descriptive one? Is it clearly talks about the client's need. People sometimes post a job from a mobile device with a full of typos. Avoid this kind of job, especially if they have not a verified payment method. Okay, so this is the second thing you need to check. Well, here comes another technique of cross checking. If the client without a verified payment method is a good client or not. If you see the client is new, like the client joined up work last week or a few days ago. It means maybe the client doesn't even know how to verify a payment method. You can accept the invitation or can send a proposal if the client very new and the job post is clear and loud. Okay, Now comes the most important thing and that is the higher rate for an imputation. Higher rate doesn't matter so much because you are not losing any connects means any money, right? But when you are applying for a public job post, check this section very, very carefully. A client with a very low high rate means probably the client will not going to hire anyone. Applying for a job where the client has a very low high rate can simply cost you connect means your money. Ic clients with a 10% high rate too, means the client posts ten jobs and hire for only one job. Isn't it weird, it will be wise to avoid such clients. Now, there is no exact rule to figure out what percent is is good, but in my opinion, you should avoid clients whose high rate is less than, at least 62, 65% Okay. Now check the client is easy to work with or not. And how can we check that? Okay? It is easy by checking the ratings. The filancers also give ratings to the clients. Now, if a clients have a four star plus ratings, it means the client is great to work with, okay? But what if you see the ratings below four stars in that case, Check the client's recent history, just below the job description, find out why the rating is very low. If you see most filancers give the client great ratings except one or two filancers, it means the client is okay to work with. Sometimes a good client received an unfair rating from one or two filancers, this makes their entire rating score bad. That's why you need to check out at least three to four reviews and then make your decision. Is that clear? We finally check the client's strength. Now what I mean by strength, strength means, is the client a high ticket client does. The client has the capacity to pay. You can calculate this from the client's total spent, the average hourly rate paid, and the number of job post. Also check the client recent history. Find out how much they're paying for each recent project. What's the hourly rate they're paying for the last few projects? You will get a rough idea from there, okay? Now let's break down about the client section. See in the example, and you see the client has pain, $10,000 More than $10,000 with an average 13.06 And the client post only eight jobs and has a 75% hire rate. This means the client for six job right. The client joined up work just six months ago for six jobs. The client paid $10,000 which means for each job, the client average Spain $1,600 which means the client can provide big projects, right? Secondly, the client Spain $10,000 in six months. Most upper clients spin an average $10,000 or less in a single year. The client is far better than other clients. That's the process. In this example, you see how we find or how we calculate the client is or not. That's the process, simple process. This is how you can check a job post or an imputation and then you can apply or you can accept. One last thing I want to mention, while you get an invitation, that is to check how many invitations are sent by the client. If you see the client send so many invitations, try to avoid the invitation. In my experiences, the client who really want to hire someone send fewer invitation to some selected freelancers. Maybe ten or maybe 15. But I see people sending 50 plus invitations and never ever interview a single freelancer. In most cases, they are spammers and you should avoid the spammers. But before doing that, please cross check with the other six criteria I mentioned just now. Many new clients don't understand what they need. And that's why sometimes good clients also send too many invitations. Cross checking is a necessary part whenever you are applying for a job or accept an invitation. Is that clear? That's it. Let's jump into the next question. The question is how to answer an invitation? Well, you already know the answer. Use the same LSD method for answering the invitation. But remember, an invitation is always better than a regular job post. Because whoever invites you in general interested in you. That's why they invite you. They check your profile and then decide to send you an invitation. So in the case of an invitation, you are one step ahead of sending the proposal for public job post, right? The client is already interested to work with you. What you need is to close the deal. Now most philos start with the phases, like thank you for your invitation. I personally try to avoid this sound like some copy paste template to the client. Just apply the LSD method and it will give you a better result than a simple thank you at the very beginning. Still, if you want to thank the client, that's okay, no problem. You can do it. My advice is, write things that are relevant to the job at first and then say thanks to the client at the last. Let me show you some example. Here is an invitation I got. And it says, we have Avada WP. Then there is a link. Want to fix, add, and change few things. In addition to redesign some pages, please see the attached dog. Okay, here is my answer. Hello Dr. Kimo. I have been checking your website and I want to thank you from my heart because you are doing really a great job by helping people to quit smoking. One of my relatives got cancer for this dangerous habit. Thumbs up. Let's stock business. You need a Wordpress website now. It has two meaning that you are using any Wordpress template and modify it. Or you can create design for each individual page and then create the Wordpress site accordingly. The question is, what do you want to do? Well, if you have some time to discuss the project, it will be great. Can you please message me a suitable time for a quick apo chat? Thanks for the invitation. Okay. You see I started with addressing the client by his name. Okay. And appreciate him for his work that is becoming liable, the L. Then ask him a very relative questions, means becoming a problem solver or S, and finally end with a CTA that with a doable action. That is the D part, right? At the very least, I thanked him for the invitation. That's simple. And I own the job. Even Wordpress was not my special area at that time. Now if this was a public job post, I never applied for the job because the job title clearly told that the job was not fit the line of my work. But as it was an invitation. So I took the chance, I had little knowledge of Wordpress then, and I thought I can do it. So I accepted it. But if I knew nothing about Wordpress, I surely declined it. If you have little experience, you can take your chance to. But again, be honest if you feel you cannot make it, just declined the invitation. Okay, here is another example of an invitation. You see, this is again an invite only job. And it says, let me read it, Logo design and branding. The logo on there is a link is graphically confused. The logo needs to stand free of the blue ribbon behind it and it doesn't. Someone thought the blue background panel wave through the frame on the logo would be interesting, but it isn't. The logo needs to be lifted graphically above the background, which involves adding some defining lines to the whole system. Then we have two more with the same problem. My answer was like that, Hello, Pat. This is because the logo has a PNG format or SVG format. There is blank space between the blue border and the white area. What I will do that I will fill the space with water color and then the logo will be over the background. It will take a little time to do it. Are you interested? Please feel free to contact me back. Thanks. You see I just pointed out the problem and told exactly what to do to solve it, right? Simple, short and to the point even. No formal thanks for inviting me. Yes, I own the short time job with the $50 per hour rate. That's it. Now you understand how to answer an invitation, right? Let's check out the last questions. Why decline invitation a must do? I already told you that many invitations are random and sometimes irrelevant. Just decline them to keep your responsiveness better. Now, what is responsiveness? It is a metric calculated by upwork. And it defines how quickly you do response while a client sends even invitation. Okay? Faster you do, your responsiveness will perform better. Suppose you get ten invitations, and four of them are irrelevant. You didn't accept the invitations or didn't even decline them. Now, what happens in that case, the upwork will consider this as a lack of your responsiveness and your response rate will go down Pork stops showing these metrics on your public profile from the beginning of 2020. But it doesn't mean park, stop calculating this metric, okay? They monitor your responsiveness and it goes bad. Your rank will go down to. In a nutshell, a bad response rate makes your impression bad to the park search algorithm. That's why decline invitation is a must do. Well, one prote for you, whatever you do accept or decline the invitation, do it within 24 hours. It will keep your response rate high. Okay. There is another reason for which you should decline the irrelevant invitations. While you decline an invitation, normally ask you for a reason. You see a pop up with a list of reasons like job is not fit for my scale, not interested in work type, you just need to select anyone from the list. Or you can select other and type your own reason. Now, while you are doing this, you are giving up the information why you declined the invitation, right? With this information, the upwork search algorithm can find more suitable invitation for you. That's why if you see an invitation that is irrelevant, just decline it. Okay, that's all about invitation. We have finished all the queries about invitation. I hope you find this lesson extremely helpful. See you in the next lesson. Thank you so much. 6. How to deal with screening questions fearlessly with 2 winning case studies: Hi, welcome back. We are almost done about how to write winning proposals, But before ending, a few things we will cover in this lesson. The topics we'll cover in this lesson is actually three questions. Number one is a screening question. Number two, how to answer screening questions. And number three, I beat more than the budget set by the client. Okay, let's answer the question one by one. First question is, what is a screening question? In many job posts, you might notice that some questions asked by the client. These questions are called screening questions. When clients post a job, they see a list of selected questions suggested by P or client can ask their own questions. In most cases, clients select questions randomly from the list. And times the questions are out of the list, they made their own questions. But still, these questions have played an important role in the selection process. Why? Because this is the first thing client sees when opening your proposal. Yes, not the proposal you write. The question comes first as you see on the screen, okay? This is how the client see. When you send a proposal to the client, you need to gain the attention of the client in the very first screening question. Again, you can apply the same LSD method to answer the question. Let me show you an example. Here is a job post. Let me read it. Hello. We are producing two products for our organization in which we need professional level graphic design. And formatting that creatively and compelling displays the results of mostly qualitative research. We envision both being handouts of dips that are quickly and easily digestible to the reader product. One summary of research, a two page bulleted summary of our research findings in countering violent extremism over the last year and a half. The content will already be copy edited and ready for layout and product to summary of who we are as a research organization. This will include number of respondents interviewed, where we have done research, what our added value and capacities are, where are our strengths, Team configuration, approach to research. Okay? As you see, the job was to design a report on violent extremism in Africa. Okay? With the job post, the client ask a question, actually, not a single question, it was a combination of three questions, randomly peaked from upper list. And the question is like that, what past projects or job have you had that is most like this one? And why? Why do you think you are a good fit for this particular project? Three, what challenging part of this job are you most experienced in? Okay, I answered the questions like this. Dear UK client, I noticed you are looking for help designing two of your products, a visually appealing way countering violent extremism over the last year and a half. It seems to me that your projects are completely realized based and will be a great help for the humanity. I appreciate your effort. Indeed, a few days back, I designed a one page layout for a non profit company that helps kids all over the world. Below is the testimonial of that satisfied client. I attach the outcome PDF for you with the application. Please see the attachment, then I put the testimonial. If you are looking for another style of work, I can show you an annual report I did for some client. Please see the attachment, still need more. Feel free to message me. I will be happy to send you some more examples. I did more than 15 plus designs like yours over the last six months and my expertise in Indesign and Illustrator helped me to make stands out. Thanks. Actually, this is like a cover letter I put as answer of the screening questions. You see, I didn't go through the common path as all other filancers do. Rather than giving some of my past projects or my qualification list, I just persuade the client from the beginning. The UK client was the first step. Asking the client by the location right then, I appreciate their work which made me liable. That is the L part of the LD method. And then I give them some relevant projects with a testimonial of that particular project that established my authority. That is the part. Finally, I asked the client to Mrs. me if they need different examples, that is the D or doable action from the L method. This is how I focused on the question first and then the Coverletor. As I mentioned, almost every relevant part in the screening question, I made my Coverletor very small. It was like this. Hi, I see your job post carefully and it seems very interesting to me. I'd love to work with such projects. You have stated I have some questions about the design part number one, are the designs going to be used on the web or there for print? Number two, can you tell me the paper size? Number three, Do you have any logo of your organizations? However, if I can answer any questions for you, please click on the send message button for a brief discussion for your time to read my proposal. Mr. see in the cover letter, I also applied some approaches from the SD method. I asked three relevant questions. Okay. That's it. And as a result, I earned $1,153 That's the technique you need to apply while you are answering screening questions. Now, some screening questions are not from the list. It means clients know very well what they're asking. In that case, answer to the point. Okay, don't try to get out of the text. Let me explain it with an example. Here is another job post. And the job post was like that. We need graphic designer to clean up my Dak that I created in Pott. Add graphics photos, illustrations break up the text, make it look engaging. We have a brands and color guide. Look at the page, then there is a link. If this project is successful, we have more work down the road. We are a training company constantly developing training and workbooks. Our trusted graphic designer has taken a full time position after working with me for over eight years timeline. Immediately you elegant and time less are not afraid of color. You are an experienced professional graphic designer for at least three years and have a portfolio you can show that clearly outlines what you can do. You are able to follow direction, but not afraid to make suggestions when what you do looks way better than what I envision. You will find that I like that a lot. You have good communication skills and respond during work hours within a reasonable time frame. You are professional then you are not an agency but an individual provider. You speak fluent English. Thank you. If you see the job was to redesign some Powerpoint file, but you see the client also post a question. And the question was different, not from the upwork list. And the question was, what makes your design different? Okay, My answer was consistency. This is the most important difference. You can see my works, and you will find that every slide is consistent according to the design aesthetics, like the margin color space, fonts and other design elements. Here are some works you may want to see. Then I put work lings. You see the answer was short. And to the point, I put some work links to the answer. Now there are two reasons for putting work links inside the answer. The first reason is I want to show the client that whatever I am telling in the answer is true. If the client see the works, the client will see that my work is really consistent according to the design aesthetic, as I said in the answer. The second reason is I want to prove my authority in the screening questions. What if the client never goes and check my proposal, where I put my work link right? I didn't give her that chance. Also, I didn't make it robotic either. I put the work links as it was the part of the answer. Be honest with your answer. Keep it short to the point. No extra talks and try to apply at least one to two approaches from LSD method to prove that you are capable to do the job. This $120 job later expanded to 1,300 plus dollar job. This client worked with me for more than four years later outside per That's all about screening questions. I hope you now understand how to answer screening questions without fear. Why should you focus on the question first and then you should focus on the proposal? You can download the mostly asked screening questions list attached to this video. Now comes the last question, which is, can I beat more than the budget set by the client? The answer is yes. Many quality clients don't know the exact cost of a particular project. They just put a random figure in their budget. First, you need to check the client's quality history, feedback, et cetera, as I told earlier. And if you fail, the client is a great client and you are good enough to complete the client job. Then you can bid more than the budget set by the client. Remember to get the extra money you need to give some extra service than other freelancers. Think out of the box and find out what you can give extra and mention it in your cover letter. For example, a client needs a word dog to be designed nicely. You can offer an extra cover page for the dog. Okay, This extra offer gives clients a real satisfaction and they will be happy to pay you more than their said budget. Remember, great clients always seek quality, worse quality comes first to them and then the money. If you had a solid proposal, the client will respond, even if your proposed budget is high, you can convince the client, or at least you can negotiate. Here is an example for you. From the screenshot, you see the client's budget was $300 and my bid was $400 See, client responded and clearly told that my bid was out of his budget. I didn't say just no, I cannot do your work or your budget is too much cheap like that. Rather than use these common phrases, I gave him a solid reason and still I managed to earn $60 extra then his budget. Okay, that's all guys. I hope you have enjoyed the entire course and found it extremely helpful for building your upper career. I encourage you to share your winning proposals in the discussion board or comment section so that other can get help from you. After all, this is our duty to make this world a better place and what can be the best way rather than sharing and caring for each other. Right, so thank you so much for being with me for this long time. Have a good day. Bye bye.