Awesome video! How would you go about getting started when you work as a full-time dev? Any tips on how to "convert" that experience to getting the first client?
Thanks! My short answer to this: I'd identify how many hours you can spare every week on this, schedule it, commit to it-and then just start building your freelance presence. Build a portfolio, build a profile, and once you feel comfortable, you can even leave your regular job. Some do this whole process in weeks, others in months. No right or wrong answer, whatever your journey is!
in my experience being faster is better than boosting (I only bid on porjects in 2-3 hours). When I was on the other side, hiring talent on upwork, I always looked at booested posts as a bit "desperate"-- bit maybe that's just me haha
The main question is why top-rated freelancers with 100K++ earnings write super generic CL, have very low-quality portfolios, and don't even read the job description - but obviously, they get the jobs. How to stand out? I don't get Upwork at all:( When I needed to find a constructor at Upwork, it was a total disaster - nobody cared about my needs, about my post description, and showed irrelevant unprofessional work examples:(
Two things to unpack here I guess! On how to stand out-quality of the bid does matter, but what you describe can be down to SPEED. In my experience, the faster people react to a job post, the better their chances. And by fast I mean hours. So I guess it goes like this: within those replying the fastest (within 1-2 hours), the best quality gig actually gets a chance. On how to pick the right candidate when hiring-this is all down to experience I guess. When I hire people I do pay attention to their profile, their previous work, scan the references as well as the generic vibe of the person. If that quick chack goes through, I decide to drop a quick line in the chat... if they reply, and reply like a professional, then we start a conversation... then if we are still on the same wavelenght, I decide to award a small scale, paid test. This process has never failed me, but then again I've been told that I do have a good eye for sizing up talent... so maybe it's that. Btw, you can find a "review my profile" link in the descriptions, I've been gathering a few of you guys now and will be doing a video on this! 🙌
@@freelancepizza My point is that it feels quite exhausting and pointless sometimes to write a great individual cover letter when a job gets people who don't even bother to read the job post and have a poor-quality portfolio. I just don't understand why top-rated + freelancers with a long job history act so unprofessional and still be chosen for every project..
hmm I think writing a cover letter should not be exhausting. To be honest, a short and snappy cover letter should not take more than 5 minutes to get it done (hint, ChatGPT is your friend!). The key is to: - keep it short-nobody reads a long cover letter. Short = under 2 paragraphs. - personalize it-talk about the gig from the first sentence, demonstrate that you are here to tackle the client's problem and provide value I know this is a bit superficial, but still, hope that helps! If not, I do offer personal coaching on the website, happy to look in detail at your cover letters! 👊
Because they simply look good. I personally wouldn't recommend Upwork or any freelance marketplace out there when looking for clients or freelancers because these platforms are more interested in making money for themselves than they are in actually helping people out with their projects and needs. I am a designer and I have been freelancing for just a couple of months. I have been able to land really awesome clients by establishing my brand and I think that is what you need to do. Stop wasting your time and your money and just work on your brand and you'll see that freelancing doesn't have to be rocket chemistry where you have to write a proposal in a systematic and pretty much boring way need I add. Focus on LinkedIn or even IG, Facebook has plenty of awesome communities, go there, talk with people, provide value, then afterward, negotiate prices and you'll see that life becomes very easy. It takes time though but the results are totally worth it. Just my own opinion though from my own experience. All the best with Upwork!
Good video ! Thanks for the tips you got a new follower
Awesome, thank you!
Awesome video!
How would you go about getting started when you work as a full-time dev? Any tips on how to "convert" that experience to getting the first client?
Thanks!
My short answer to this: I'd identify how many hours you can spare every week on this, schedule it, commit to it-and then just start building your freelance presence. Build a portfolio, build a profile, and once you feel comfortable, you can even leave your regular job.
Some do this whole process in weeks, others in months. No right or wrong answer, whatever your journey is!
@@freelancepizza I see, thanks for the tips!
happy to help!
is it still make sense to do biding on Upwork on 8-12-16 connects + Boosting?
in my experience being faster is better than boosting (I only bid on porjects in 2-3 hours).
When I was on the other side, hiring talent on upwork, I always looked at booested posts as a bit "desperate"-- bit maybe that's just me haha
The main question is why top-rated freelancers with 100K++ earnings write super generic CL, have very low-quality portfolios, and don't even read the job description - but obviously, they get the jobs. How to stand out? I don't get Upwork at all:( When I needed to find a constructor at Upwork, it was a total disaster - nobody cared about my needs, about my post description, and showed irrelevant unprofessional work examples:(
Two things to unpack here I guess!
On how to stand out-quality of the bid does matter, but what you describe can be down to SPEED. In my experience, the faster people react to a job post, the better their chances. And by fast I mean hours. So I guess it goes like this: within those replying the fastest (within 1-2 hours), the best quality gig actually gets a chance.
On how to pick the right candidate when hiring-this is all down to experience I guess. When I hire people I do pay attention to their profile, their previous work, scan the references as well as the generic vibe of the person. If that quick chack goes through, I decide to drop a quick line in the chat... if they reply, and reply like a professional, then we start a conversation... then if we are still on the same wavelenght, I decide to award a small scale, paid test. This process has never failed me, but then again I've been told that I do have a good eye for sizing up talent... so maybe it's that.
Btw, you can find a "review my profile" link in the descriptions, I've been gathering a few of you guys now and will be doing a video on this! 🙌
@@freelancepizza My point is that it feels quite exhausting and pointless sometimes to write a great individual cover letter when a job gets people who don't even bother to read the job post and have a poor-quality portfolio. I just don't understand why top-rated + freelancers with a long job history act so unprofessional and still be chosen for every project..
hmm I think writing a cover letter should not be exhausting. To be honest, a short and snappy cover letter should not take more than 5 minutes to get it done (hint, ChatGPT is your friend!).
The key is to:
- keep it short-nobody reads a long cover letter. Short = under 2 paragraphs.
- personalize it-talk about the gig from the first sentence, demonstrate that you are here to tackle the client's problem and provide value
I know this is a bit superficial, but still, hope that helps!
If not, I do offer personal coaching on the website, happy to look in detail at your cover letters! 👊
I feel like you didn't get my point but thanks for the advice anyway!
Because they simply look good. I personally wouldn't recommend Upwork or any freelance marketplace out there when looking for clients or freelancers because these platforms are more interested in making money for themselves than they are in actually helping people out with their projects and needs. I am a designer and I have been freelancing for just a couple of months. I have been able to land really awesome clients by establishing my brand and I think that is what you need to do. Stop wasting your time and your money and just work on your brand and you'll see that freelancing doesn't have to be rocket chemistry where you have to write a proposal in a systematic and pretty much boring way need I add. Focus on LinkedIn or even IG, Facebook has plenty of awesome communities, go there, talk with people, provide value, then afterward, negotiate prices and you'll see that life becomes very easy. It takes time though but the results are totally worth it. Just my own opinion though from my own experience. All the best with Upwork!