A quick introduction and background:
Around October 2018, I knew nothing about copywriting. I decided to go through and complete Lex' 15 day copywriting challenge/exercise thread. In fact, I was about on day 10/11 when I decided to get the balls to start sending in proposals to people on Upwork.
This is how it progressed:
1. Struggling a lot to get a job
2. Landed a few small jobs with clients that were paying $5-$10 for blog posts/articles, etc
3. Built up some feedback, and had more writing samples to show people
4. Changed my proposal approach to see if I could be more successful at landing jobs
5. Got the Rising Talent status, moved higher up the search algorithm and now get 1-2 invites daily
6. Raised rates, landed my first off-site ongoing job at $25 an hour
7. Feedback continues to grow, and I am eligible for Top Rated status in 8 weeks if I continue
Here is what I have learned and how you can become more successful:
Upwork is very saturated but there are a lot of people who are not very good. So you must position yourself as a good writer. And you will learn later that there are higher quality client's that are searching for good writers and will pay more.
In my experience, feedback matters. It helps you move up the search algorithm. But some people can land great jobs with zero feedback. I am just sharing my experience though.
There are a few things I learned that have made my hiring and interview success rate about 90%.
Your proposal must be good. You will have to work on this and constantly tweek it. We all know that it is said that you have to write a "you" focused proposal rather than a "me" focuse one. But it doesn't stop there.
Look at each job and read through it. If they attach files, link their website, or mention a particular task, talk about it in your proposal. These people want to know what you can do for them and you have to show in your proposal you have ideas.
Come across confident and like an authority. But, do not pretend you can do a job if you can't. I got caught once trying to bullshit some guy.
Keep your proposal conversational, brief, concise, etc. Outline how you will get through the project. Walk them through how easy and smooth the whole thing will be and how you can help them achieve it. Take charge. Some people don't even ask for my samples because they were impressed with my proposal and they had no doubts that I couldn't do the job. I even end my proposals telling them what to do, "send me the invite" or, "If you would like to move forward, hire me for the job".
Once I figured out how to write great proposals it made me more successful. But this is only one part of it. The other part is picking the right job.
If you see that 20-30 proposals have been sent, forget about applying. Especially if it shows they are already interviewing a few people. Your application won't even be looked at.
I would focus only on jobs that say less than 5 proposals have been sent and preferably with 0 interviews. It can still work with perhaps, 5-10 proposals.
When I have applied to jobs with less than 5 proposals, with little to no interviews, paired with a great proposal, I got interviews and jobs almost every single time.
A few other things I learned...
Don't be desperate and take any job. Over time you will get a sense of what type of work you like and what type you don't. You will also get a sense of what type of client you like and the ones you don't. This takes a little time to figure out. You have to decide what is worth your time and what you want to accomplish. And it is better to not take a job if something doesn't feel right to you.
I regularly decline jobs if I don't like it or the client seems a little difficult or clueless.
If you keep it up on Upwork, eventually, things will start to sell itself for you. People will find you. People will want to come back to you for work in the future. I am in a stage right now where jobs are not as much as a hassle anymore. And, I am getting closer to making some decent money. I know if I keep this up, in another few months, things will be really good.
My plan moving forward is to move offsite. Get a few regular client's where the pay is good. Not only that, do the type of work that I think is most impactful. In time you will learn what it is you want to achieve from this.
Going through this I am getting all kinds of insights in various niches, marketing, getting access to people's suppliers, etc. My sales skills are becoming better. I now have a pretty good grasp on how to talk to people the right way to give me the job. So, there is a learning factor you get out of this that can help you in the future.
It is not just copywriting. Don't give up, get better.
Around October 2018, I knew nothing about copywriting. I decided to go through and complete Lex' 15 day copywriting challenge/exercise thread. In fact, I was about on day 10/11 when I decided to get the balls to start sending in proposals to people on Upwork.
This is how it progressed:
1. Struggling a lot to get a job
2. Landed a few small jobs with clients that were paying $5-$10 for blog posts/articles, etc
3. Built up some feedback, and had more writing samples to show people
4. Changed my proposal approach to see if I could be more successful at landing jobs
5. Got the Rising Talent status, moved higher up the search algorithm and now get 1-2 invites daily
6. Raised rates, landed my first off-site ongoing job at $25 an hour
7. Feedback continues to grow, and I am eligible for Top Rated status in 8 weeks if I continue
Here is what I have learned and how you can become more successful:
Upwork is very saturated but there are a lot of people who are not very good. So you must position yourself as a good writer. And you will learn later that there are higher quality client's that are searching for good writers and will pay more.
In my experience, feedback matters. It helps you move up the search algorithm. But some people can land great jobs with zero feedback. I am just sharing my experience though.
There are a few things I learned that have made my hiring and interview success rate about 90%.
Your proposal must be good. You will have to work on this and constantly tweek it. We all know that it is said that you have to write a "you" focused proposal rather than a "me" focuse one. But it doesn't stop there.
Look at each job and read through it. If they attach files, link their website, or mention a particular task, talk about it in your proposal. These people want to know what you can do for them and you have to show in your proposal you have ideas.
Come across confident and like an authority. But, do not pretend you can do a job if you can't. I got caught once trying to bullshit some guy.
Keep your proposal conversational, brief, concise, etc. Outline how you will get through the project. Walk them through how easy and smooth the whole thing will be and how you can help them achieve it. Take charge. Some people don't even ask for my samples because they were impressed with my proposal and they had no doubts that I couldn't do the job. I even end my proposals telling them what to do, "send me the invite" or, "If you would like to move forward, hire me for the job".
Once I figured out how to write great proposals it made me more successful. But this is only one part of it. The other part is picking the right job.
If you see that 20-30 proposals have been sent, forget about applying. Especially if it shows they are already interviewing a few people. Your application won't even be looked at.
I would focus only on jobs that say less than 5 proposals have been sent and preferably with 0 interviews. It can still work with perhaps, 5-10 proposals.
When I have applied to jobs with less than 5 proposals, with little to no interviews, paired with a great proposal, I got interviews and jobs almost every single time.
A few other things I learned...
Don't be desperate and take any job. Over time you will get a sense of what type of work you like and what type you don't. You will also get a sense of what type of client you like and the ones you don't. This takes a little time to figure out. You have to decide what is worth your time and what you want to accomplish. And it is better to not take a job if something doesn't feel right to you.
I regularly decline jobs if I don't like it or the client seems a little difficult or clueless.
If you keep it up on Upwork, eventually, things will start to sell itself for you. People will find you. People will want to come back to you for work in the future. I am in a stage right now where jobs are not as much as a hassle anymore. And, I am getting closer to making some decent money. I know if I keep this up, in another few months, things will be really good.
My plan moving forward is to move offsite. Get a few regular client's where the pay is good. Not only that, do the type of work that I think is most impactful. In time you will learn what it is you want to achieve from this.
Going through this I am getting all kinds of insights in various niches, marketing, getting access to people's suppliers, etc. My sales skills are becoming better. I now have a pretty good grasp on how to talk to people the right way to give me the job. So, there is a learning factor you get out of this that can help you in the future.
It is not just copywriting. Don't give up, get better.
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