10 Golden Rules To Getting High Paid Job on Upwork

Introduction:

Each day hundreds of employers and individuals post job announcements on Upwork. All of them are there to ask for your help for a specific task or project. Are you ready to start earning money without leaving your comfort zone? If you answered yes, then stay with us. Here we are to find out the secret to getting high paid jobs on Upwork. In this article you’ll discover the top 10 golden rules that truly work and make you stand out in the crowd. 

Note, that in this article we’ll talk more about the client rather than the freelancer because we need to understand the psychology and strategies of clients to make them hire us. So, let’s get started!

Rule #1: Make Sure your Profile is Complete

The first and most important rule for upwork freelancers is the completeness of the profile. You can’t get a job without having a perfect profile. The most important part of proposals is to represent yourself with a perfectly complete profile. It’s just because when the client looks at your proposals, his next step is to view your profile. You should do everything to show a 100% complete profile before you may send a proposal. This way you won’t waste a single connect. 

A complete profile includes the following: a profile picture, bio, your education info, employment history, portfolio, skill set, verification as well as a video introduction. In some cases, they just want to confirm you are a human being. That’s why making a video introduction has become so popular on upwork and we highly recommend you having it in your profile. On the other hand, your video may answer all the questions a client may have. 

When you make sure your profile looks amazing, there is no need to convince the client to talk to you. They’ll just come and check and contact you for further discussions. 

Rule #2: Learn what the Client Needs

When submitting a proposal, it’s more than important to learn what the client actually needs and what you can offer them. In the majority of cases freelancers try to be the first to bid and send a cover letter without reading the job requirements till the end. Go through the entire job post and pay attention to the details. Believe me, details play a greater role than you can imagine. 

Sometimes, the clients put keywords or secret words/sentences to check whether the applicant has read the job description before sending a proposal. So, spend some time investigating not only the job requirements and goals but also the clients themselves. Who they are, what other projects they offer, how they pay and how they leave feedback. All of these can be found at the bottom of the job post you are viewing. 

Rule #3: Find out the Client’s/Company's Name

This rule is the continuation of the previous one and as mentioned above, you can learn a lot about the client from their job post. Once you learn all of the details about the job, scroll down the screen to see the client’s feedback on other jobs, other projects/jobs they have posted on upwork.

On the right side of the page, you can see some info about the client. It includes their location, time zone, name/company name. You can see whether their payment method or phone number is verified or not. 

Use some of this info in your proposal to make it personalized. You can find their name between the feedback/reviews on completed jobs where freelancers tell about their experience with that client using their name. According to psychology, people like to hear or read their names. It makes them feel special and signals attention and respect. So, take advantage of this useful hack and instead of saying sir, madam, etc., just start your letter greeting them by their name. 

Rule #4: Stay on Track

Try to provide the client with the most relevant and necessary info. Avoid talking about skills and experiences that don’t relate to the job. You may have tons of other skills and interesting experiences, but the client is interested only in the skills that can make his goal come true. 

Their main aim is to find a freelancer who can help them fulfill their project successfully and reach the result they wanted. You can provide additional info only if they ask about it and only if you find they are interested in some other skills. 

Rule #5: Keep Your Proposal Tight

You don’t need to write long paragraphs to be noticed by a client or to impress them. A lot of information is already covered in your profile and the client already sees it. Avoid repetitions and talk only about the job the client has. 

Talk about what you can do to fulfill that specific project and suggest ideas that can be helpful in your cooperation. Again, pay attention to the requirements and use some keywords in your cover letter to grab the client’s attention. Try to be concise and precise.

In case the client has included questions in their job announcement, make sure to answer them without repeating the same things as you have already mentioned in your cover letter. All the client wants to see is the info that’s corresponding to their goal. 

Rule #6 Do NOT Copy & Paste

Know the cost of your connects, time and effort. Don't waste a single connect or a minute by sending the same cover letter to different projects because it won’t work. Every project is specific and every client comes with a list of requirements you need to focus on. 

99% of employers hate copied and pasted job proposals. Believe it or not they realize it’s a copied text from the first glance and don’t even view your profile. It’s actually annoying to see how frivolous an employee can be and how they take your precious time. 

They want something, but you offer a totally different thing. They talk about web design, you talk about your wordpress skills. So, just put yourself in their place for a second and you’ll understand what it means to them. 

On the other hand, if you do this frequently, upwork will automatically put your name in the list of freelancers who are copy-pasters. Therefore, they may not suggest your profile to potential clients in the search section. Thus, write a specific cover letter based on the job you are applying for. 

Rule #7: Let the Magnetism Bring the Client into your Profile

It may take you some time to learn the art of being noticed by the client, but since we are here, we’ll help you with several other tips to bring the client into your profile. When you see the client has mentioned skills, experiences and talent they are looking for in a freelancer, try to provide them with at least one eye-catching example. 

For instance, if they are looking for a logo similar to the one they show, just provide the one that looks like it. Well, you may have hundreds of other examples, but focus on what he truly looks for. This is just one example for you to understand but it can refer to all the career categories on upwork including web development, languages, marketing, design, writing, content creation, etc. 

Also, be quick on your responses and never make the client wait for your reply too long. If you do so, they’ll refer to another freelancer. We recommend you to give quick answers to messages even if your time zones don’t match. 

Rule #8: Get the Client to Respond

Have a clear call-to-action that lets the client know you are available and talk to them on the phone. We agree that this may be challenging for some of you, especially for non-natives, but if you believe you can do this, then keep the conversion by phone. 

The faster you get a response, the quicker you’ll discuss the further steps. This will allow you to start the job immediately. In some cases, clients prefer to discuss the job details on the phone because it’s faster and saves them time. So, go forward to their needs if possible. 

Rule #9:Choose Correct Time-Based or Package-Based Projects 

You need a system for your clients to utilize your services. You can go through time-based contracts or package-based projects. If you are in the stage of looking for high-paid jobs on upwork, then try to focus on long-term projects that seem to be serious both for you and the client. 

Discuss all the details upfront to know what you are expected to do in the upcoming couple of months or even years. This will ensure consistent work without rapid changes and unexpected tasks that usually happens in milestone-based contracts. Finally, give priority to hourly-based contracts. 

Rule #10: Leave a Great Impression 

At last but not least, leave a great impression on the client. You may ask, how should you do it? Here is a secret: use a loom. Loom is a video messaging tool with which you can record your camera. It’s a helpful tool to use when you want to take your client to a tour of your past works that are similar to the one he wants. Here you use your voice and your client can hear it. Then the conversation becomes more friendly and productive. This is how you impress them and make them stick around your profile. 

Conclusion

As a freelancer you may have a lot of other questions related to upwork jobs. We are always here to support you and help you stand out. 

👇📚 Click below to download our free proposal worksheet: https://www.freelanceking.com/perfect...  and 

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 https://www.upworksavedmylife.com/book

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