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The Only Upwork Course You Need in 2026 (I Made $500K on This Platform) — Transcript

by Michael Elliott · 8,676 words · 1,232 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Tonight somewhere a freelancer will
0:01delete their Upwork account convinced
0:03that the platform is rigged against
0:05them. And they're right, but just not in
0:07the way that they think they are because
0:09the rig is not a country. It's not a
0:10rate. It's this. On Upwork, the best
0:13freelancer doesn't win the job. The
0:16safest ones, they win the job. And once
0:18you understand that, everything that's
0:19been happening to you starts to make
0:21sense. The silence after the proposals,
0:23the connects draining with nothing
0:25coming back. the job's going to
0:27freelancers you know you're better than
0:28while every job post drowns in AI
0:31applications that sound exactly the
0:33same. None of that means you're not good
0:35enough. It means that you look like a
0:38risk. And in the next 40 minutes on my
0:40real account, I'm going to give you the
0:41complete Upwork course. How to become
0:44the safest choice on Upwork in 2026.
0:47Every screen, every step in the order
0:49that actually works. But first, the
0:52receipts. So, I've got over half a
0:54million dollars earned on Upwork. I'm
0:55expert vetted, which puts me in the top
0:571% of freelancers globally. But none of
0:59that helps you. I understand. However,
1:02it does mean that unless you've earned
1:03over half a million dollars on Upwork,
1:04that I'm qualified to give you
1:07information and it's worth your time
1:09watching the entirety of this video
1:11because I'm going to give away all I'm
1:13making the same mistakes every day that
1:15you're making right now. The difference
1:17is that I have a backlog of 500K of
1:19earnings that shows me exactly what
1:21works and what doesn't. I don't always
1:22get it right, but I have done more often
1:24than not. And when it comes down to the
1:26projects, yeah, that means that my
1:28profile comes with some big projects,
1:30six figures plus. I've got a lot of
1:32mid-range five figure projects that have
1:34come through. My account is literally
1:35littered with them. However, I also have
1:37the battle scars, which you'll probably
1:39know all too well. I've also been
1:41through the winning your first project
1:43on Upwork scenario, let's call it. So,
1:46I'm in a position where all of that plus
1:48more is given away in this video and is
1:51designed to be your concrete one-stop
1:54shop for winning your first project on
1:56Upwork, delivering clients consistently,
1:58building monthly recurring revenue, and
2:00turning Upwork into the powerhouse of
2:02business lead generation that it can be.
2:04All of that is designed to do nothing
2:06more than showcase to you that I've sat
2:08in your exact seat. I have been there. I
2:10have won my first Upwork project. I have
2:13fought for months to try and win that so
2:15I could get some reviews. If we take a
2:17look at my profile here, you can see
2:19$374.40.
2:21This was the second project I ever won
2:23for an orthodontist on Upwork. It was a
2:25five-star review, but it took me months
2:27to get to that position. This was the
2:29very first project that I got hired for.
2:31You know, I got a great review, but
2:33$542.
2:35This though was the most important
2:37period of my Upwork career because this
2:39is an example of something not working
2:41and then it happening all at once
2:43because if you look at the dates that
2:44these were won, these were all in the
2:46space of a week. I must have spent 3
2:49months trying to win these Upwork
2:50projects. There's been a lot of things
2:52change between now and then, you know,
2:54the connect platform, the bidding can
2:57actually boost your profile, etc. But
2:59everything between that number that I've
3:01just shown you, the $374
3:04and the half a million is this one
3:07decision made in the right order today.
3:10You get all of them. Two promises before
3:12we deep dive. Somewhere in this video,
3:14I'll show you the part of this platform
3:15that is properly paytoplay. My real
3:18spend when paying wins and when it's a
3:20bonfire as well. And I'll hand you one
3:23move that costs nothing and roughly
3:25tripled my replies. Both are coming. Now
3:27look at this. This project in my
3:29industry that was posted 5 hours ago
3:31already has 20 to 50 proposals. If you
3:33remember my opening line of this video,
3:35it was that safest wins, not best. And
3:37this is proven because this client,
3:39let's look through their lens for a
3:40minute. They now have 50 applicants up
3:43to 50 applicants applying for this job.
3:45They don't have they well they can't
3:47judge skill because they're hiring for
3:49the project in the first place. They
3:51only can judge who looks safest to them.
3:53and no reviews is the most unsafe option
3:56that you could possibly pick. But Upwork
3:58is not a skills marketplace. It's a
4:00trust marketplace. Everything in this
4:03video is designed to make you the safe
4:05choice. If you get the order right and
4:07each step feeds the next one, you've got
4:09a system going. But if you get it wrong,
4:11you'll sit in silence wondering why for
4:13months. At least I did. So, let's build
4:16it properly. And step one has nothing to
4:18do with Upwork at all. Before you build
4:20a profile, before you spend a single
4:22connect, you need one sentence. And this
4:24sentence decides everything that comes
4:27after it. Here it is. I help this type
4:29of client get this result. That's it.
4:31That's the sentence. I help e-commerce
4:33stores fix the checkout pages that are
4:35losing them sales. I help coaches write
4:38emails that fill their programs. I help
4:40local businesses manage Google Ads
4:42campaigns that actually make the phone
4:44ring. One type of client, one result.
4:46And I know what you're thinking because
4:47everybody thinks it. I did. But I can do
4:49loads of things. My service expands. If
4:52I narrow it down, I'm turning work away.
4:54Listen carefully. On this platform, the
4:56generalists, they fight over scraps. Not
4:58because they lack skill, but because of
5:00that client that I just showed you.
5:01They're scrolling 50 proposals looking
5:03for safe. I do web design, logos, and
5:06video editing. It reads like a gamble. I
5:08rebuild Shopify checkouts. If it's
5:10obviously a Shopify job, reads as the
5:12exact person for the project. A client
5:14cannot verify that you're brilliant, but
5:16they can absolutely verify that you're
5:18the specialist for their specific
5:20problem. Specific feels safe and safe
5:24gets hired. When I came onto the
5:25platform, I wasn't a digital marketer.
5:27I'd been running Google Ads for years.
5:29That was the lane. So that was the
5:30sentence. And every single thing that I
5:32built afterwards, the profile, the
5:34portfolio, the searches, the proposals,
5:36the reviews, inherited it. That's why
5:39this comes first. If you get the
5:41sentence wrong, everything downstream,
5:43well, it fights you. But if you get it
5:45right, everything clicks together like
5:47Lego. Now, how do you actually pick?
5:49Because this is where people freeze. And
5:50the mistake almost everyone makes is
5:53hunting for the shiny new object, the
5:55lane that everybody's shouting about
5:57this month. That's the wrong test. The
5:59right test is free questions. Can I
6:01deliver this consistently to a high
6:02standard? Do I actually enjoy delivering
6:05it? And do I get satisfaction from
6:07watching it work for someone else? Find
6:09the thing where all three are a yes and
6:12do it to the highest standard that
6:13you're capable of and you will get paid
6:15handsomely for it. That's not
6:17motivational talk. Boring lanes
6:18delivered brilliantly out earn exciting
6:21lanes delivered poorly every single day
6:23of the week. And if you're still frozen
6:25on this decision, then ask yourself a
6:27question. Is what I'm doing right now
6:28moving me towards my goal? Because if
6:30you're stuck at this point, this step,
6:33the honest answer is no. And staying
6:34frozen is the only choice that
6:37guarantees it stays no. So give this one
6:39day maximum, not a month. Write the
6:42sentence and move on. You can widen out
6:44later once the reviews exist, but you
6:45cannot start wide. Wide is invisible.
6:48It's darkness. One last thing on this,
6:50and it matters more than people realize.
6:52Whatever lane you pick, you have to
6:54believe in it. Because if if you don't
6:55believe in what you're selling, why on
6:56earth would the client that you want to
6:58believe in it pay enough for it?
7:00Conviction travels through a screen. So
7:02does doubt. And doubt travels faster.
7:05Right? You've got your sentence. Now, we
7:07build the thing that sells it while you
7:09sleep. Let me show you my actual profile
7:11and we'll go through it line by line
7:13because every piece of it is doing a
7:15specific job. And once you see the jobs,
7:17you can copy the machine. Upwork profile
7:19optimization is the number one thing
7:21that I get asked about in my LinkedIn
7:22DMs, in my Instagram DMs, and it's for
7:25good reason. It's because this is the
7:27most significant impact you can control
7:29for and for the percentage of the times
7:33that you show that actually receives an
7:35invitation. Those things are critical to
7:37your success on Upwork along with
7:39everything else that goes on a profile,
7:40but the headline is the number one
7:42factor. You should focus on the client's
7:44outcome, not a job title. I have number
7:46one ranked Google Ads expert.
7:48Technically, a job title. You could
7:50argue it's 50/50. Um, I'd get creative
7:52here. This works for me and has done for
7:54a a little while because of this. You
7:56likely don't have this. And if you if
7:58you don't have that, claiming you're the
8:00number one ranked anything is not going
8:02to go well from the trust perspective.
8:03Go back to the generalist discussion
8:05that we had earlier. Copywriter versus
8:07email killer email copy to increase ecom
8:10sales. You could write something better
8:11than that, but it's a great example of
8:13the difference. Well, one of them is
8:14clearly an email copywriter for
8:15e-commerce businesses, and the other one
8:17is just a copywriter. So, which one is
8:18it? You're going to go with the latter.
8:20Then you have the first two lines. Mine
8:22is, I've managed $130 million in Google
8:24ad spend and generated 1.1 billion in
8:26revenue using my services. This
8:28immediately grows their trust in me
8:31because of what I'm explaining that I've
8:33done. The these are true numbers. This
8:35is higher now and so is this. But the
8:37these are true numbers. I've achieved
8:38these. But the key for me is this bit.
8:41If your campaign performance is
8:42decreasing, this since implementing
8:44this, this has seen a significant
8:46increase. And I know I'm going deep on
8:48this, but when it comes down to the
8:49decreasing element of this, why do I say
8:51your campaign performance is decreasing?
8:53Because that is their exact pain point.
8:56If they're looking for a Google Ads
8:57manager, it's not because performance is
8:59incredible. It's because their
9:00performance is on the decline. So, I say
9:02it straight back to them. When they read
9:04that, they immediately invite me. If
9:06they get to this stage, they're in a
9:08position where the percentage chance of
9:09them inviting me to the project is
9:11really, really high. The rest of your
9:13profile doesn't matter as much, but is
9:14important for rankability and giving if
9:17in the rare case somebody does read your
9:19entire profile. So, keep it condensed.
9:21Don't go too crazy, but make sure you
9:23give enough context to ensure that you
9:25actually rank for the terms and the
9:27industry that you want to rank for.
9:28We've then got the portfolio. I'll show
9:30you an example. Obviously on here, we've
9:32got these green click here buttons. Test
9:34the call to action, but this is a good
9:36way to build trust because if you've got
9:38a catalog of work, and again, this
9:40doesn't need to be Upwork projects. So,
9:42you can use things you've worked on
9:44historically and create a case study
9:45that showcases to that user how you've
9:48helped people just like them. That will
9:49give you a leg up. I have some reviews
9:51inside of here. I have the client
9:53information. I have the brief. And then
9:54I have the results. I have that in every
9:56single one of my portfolio pieces. And
9:58finally, I have I say finally, this is
10:01the catalog. If you do anything for free
10:04or paid, it needs to be inside of your
10:06catalog. I don't have a set price for
10:07management because it changes based off
10:09a project size. So, I can't add all of
10:11my Google Ads management inside of here.
10:12But, I do have the free Google Ads audit
10:14and I charge $5 for it. So, it's not
10:16free. But $5 is a nominal figure. Why do
10:19I put this on the catalog? Well, it's
10:21similar to the restaurant, you may have
10:23heard this before. When it comes down to
10:24restaurant visitors, if somebody visits
10:26a restaurant, the same restaurant three
10:28times, they are like 83% or something.
10:30The probability is 83% that they're
10:32going to return. If they only visit
10:33once, it's like 30%. So, restaurants do
10:36clever things or watch this next time
10:37you're out. They put different color
10:39napkins down. If you're somewhere
10:40decent, they put different color napkins
10:42down if you're a first time visitor.
10:43They'll ask during the booking process
10:44and you won't even know. So, keep an eye
10:46out if it ever happens to you. But the
10:48point is they make an effort whilst
10:49you're there because they know if they
10:51get you to come back three times that
10:53will give you an opportunity to capture
10:55that customer and have them come
10:56basically forever. So get a client to
10:58transact with you. If it's $5 and that's
11:01it, you get the review. If it's $5 and
11:03they go on to become a service, you've
11:04already open the barriers to them
11:06working with you. There is no downside
11:08of doing it and it's such a nominal
11:09figure that nobody will ever complain
11:11about it if you're doing high quality
11:13work. And finally, sounds basic, but
11:15look like somebody who answers emails,
11:17like professional, you know, don't have
11:19an incorrect image on here. I've got the
11:21Google Ads color so somebody knows
11:23exactly what I do the minute that they
11:24see me. This overview here, this image
11:26is is really important because they do
11:28see it before they invite you. Make sure
11:30you've got a clean picture, professional
11:32looking picture that is going to
11:33showcase to that client that you are
11:35serious about what you do, even if your
11:36profile is unseasoned. do all these
11:39optimizations to your profile and keep
11:41them under review and it will increase
11:42the amount of invitations and projects
11:44that you ultimately close. Now, you need
11:46proof. And before I show you how to
11:48build it, let me tell you exactly how I
11:50got this step completely wrong because
11:51it cost me months of silence. I firmly
11:54believe it. When I landed on this
11:55platform, my portfolio was empty. Years
11:58of results behind me, big accounts, big
12:00brands, real numbers, departments that
12:01had scaled, and not one bit of it was
12:03visible on here. I didn't understand how
12:05Upwork worked. So, I turned up looking
12:07like a beginner while sitting on a
12:09decade of proof. Everything I was doing
12:11off the platform should have been the
12:12one feeding one place, making me look
12:15undeniable on Upwork, and it wasn't.
12:17Don't repeat that, but it wasn't. So,
12:19step one, you have to raid what you've
12:21already got, the results from jobs that
12:22you've had, the businesses that you've
12:24worked for, the department that you led,
12:25what the position entailed, what it grew
12:27by while you're in it, the project that
12:29you quietly carried while someone else
12:30took the credit. Every single bit of it
12:32is a credential. Write each one up as a
12:35small case study like the one I just
12:36showed you. The situation, what you did,
12:38what happened, and load your portfolio
12:40with them. That way, you're not starting
12:42at zero. You're starting from everything
12:44that you have ever done. Most people
12:46just never write it down. And I know
12:48what your head's saying right now, cuz I
12:49felt the same way. That stuff's too
12:51small. Anyone can do what I do. I had
12:53that feeling. And look at me in the eyes
12:54when I say this. They can't. It only
12:56feels ordinary to you and to me because
12:59you're the one who can do it. To the
13:00client, it's the exact thing that they
13:02can't do. And that is literally why
13:04they're hiring. I guarantee there is
13:06more inside of you than what you think.
13:07Undervaluing it isn't humility. It's the
13:10most expensive mistake on this platform.
13:12Then if the cupboards are truly bare and
13:14you don't have experience, no jobs, no
13:16results, nothing to raid, make the proof
13:18from scratch. Real work done properly
13:20for a client that doesn't exist yet. If
13:22you're a designer, find a real business
13:24with an ugly landing page. Redesign it
13:26before and after side by side. If you're
13:28a writer, pick a real brand and write
13:30five welcome emails that they should be
13:32sending. If you're a developer, build a
13:34small tool that your dream client always
13:36needs. Document it like you delivered it
13:38because you did. Whatever your lane is,
13:40three pieces finished, specific, and the
13:43word that matters there is finished. One
13:45completed piece of work beats 10
13:47screenshots of things that you half did.
13:48It does every time. Nobody's asking
13:50where the work came from. They're asking
13:52one question. Can this person actually
13:54do the thing? Three finished pieces
13:56answers it before you've even spoken to
13:58them. Present each one like a tiny case
14:00study. the brief, what you did, what it
14:02would achieve, because that's the exact
14:03format real client work takes. So before
14:06you've had a single client read
14:08something on your profile and it already
14:10and your profile already reads like
14:12someone who's delivered for clients, if
14:13you like, do you see what's happening
14:15there? Every step so far is building the
14:17same thing. Safety brick by brick. So
14:20profile built, proof loaded. Now we get
14:22to the part of this platform nobody
14:24explains properly, the money machine
14:25that sits underneath it. And I told you
14:27at the start I'd show you the rigged
14:29part. This is it. Before I show you a
14:30single number, I need to rewire how you
14:32think about money on this platform
14:34because most freelancers think like
14:36freelancers. Job lands, job ends, back
14:38to zero. Start hunting again. Every
14:40month begins at zero. Nothing. That's
14:42not a business. That's a hamster wheel
14:44with invoices on it. Hear me when I say
14:46this. One-off projects are a black hole.
14:47They have exactly one purpose, and it's
14:49early doors. Building your profile,
14:51banking reviews, getting proof. We've
14:53just built that phase together, and it
14:55matters. But the moment that your
14:56reviews exist, the game changers. You're
14:58not a freelancer picking up jobs
14:59anymore. You're running a business and a
15:01business is measured on one thing.
15:03What's already coming in next month
15:05before you've even lifted a finger?
15:06Monthly recurring revenue. Clients who
15:09pay you every month, not once, every
15:11month. That is the whole aim. Because
15:12once you've got recurring income, you
15:14never start a month on zero again. And
15:16every new client, well, they stack on
15:17top of one another instead of replacing
15:19it. And before you tell me your services
15:21doesn't work that way, it almost
15:22certainly does. If you're a web
15:24developer, you create a website. Then
15:25what? Well, websites need hosting,
15:27maintenance, updates forever. There's
15:28your monthly. You're a writer. Brands
15:30need emails every single month, not
15:32once. You run ads like me. An account
15:34needs managing every day. It's switched
15:35on. If you truly cannot find the monthly
15:37version of what you do, that's not bad
15:39luck. That's a signal to take a long
15:41hard look at the service that you're
15:42offering. One more thing whilst we're
15:44here, because I'm seeing it everywhere
15:45right now. AI automation is the boom
15:48industry. And after the internet has
15:49decided it's the only way left to make
15:51money freelancing, it isn't. It's one
15:53way and it's arguably right now the best
15:56way, but it's got a lifespan for how
15:58impactful it's going to be as tools
16:00evolve. You can see what Claude has done
16:01recently. The real rule is older and
16:04simpler. If your service makes people
16:06money or it saves them time, someone
16:08will pay you every single month for it.
16:10It's as simple as that. That's the test.
16:12You don't need to chase a shiny
16:14industry. You need a service that passes
16:16the test. The economics of boosting and
16:19connects on the Upwork platform. This is
16:21a critical piece in 2026 into 2027 that
16:25you need to understand if you're going
16:26to scale your business, which is what it
16:28is. Even if you're a freelancer, this is
16:30your business. That's how you should
16:31look at it. Businesses reinvest their
16:34profits to grow staff, buildings,
16:36marketing, all of these things. Well,
16:38this is your version of that. And there
16:39isn't a better way to win clients. Even
16:42though this is now paytoplay effectively
16:44in some cases at least, you are in a
16:46position where it's still the best and
16:49most viable way of generating business.
16:51And if you go without it, you can win
16:52projects, but you're not going to be in
16:54a position where you can capitalize in
16:57terms of how much money you actually
16:58make on a monthly basis because you will
17:01never max out unless you do these
17:02things. When it comes down to the
17:04connects that I bid, I bid 200, that's
17:06$30. Every application has a price tag.
17:09Now, if you want to be in the top
17:11positions, you have to bid. But with
17:13that, if you spray 50 lazy applications
17:15a week, no looms, etc., and again, we'll
17:17get to that. You're not just wasting
17:19time, you're now wasting money. You're
17:21paying to be ignored. So, if we look at
17:24the individual connects here, 200
17:26connects per click, 3,500 connects per
17:29day, that's 17 visitors. I'm probably
17:31looking at between one and four
17:33invitations a day, averaging two to
17:35three. If you look at my transactions,
17:37it's the 8th of August today. I've spent
17:39$1,800 on Connect so far. I have burnt
17:42thousands in individual weeks boosting
17:44my profile, applying for jobs. You're
17:46not buying a job. You're paying for a
17:48client who pays you every month. If you
17:50spent $30 on a one-off project that pays
17:52you 50 100, then you'd be crazy. But if
17:55you spend it landing a recurring monthly
17:57income, you're just running a business
17:59like everybody else. You're actually
18:00running it properly. The key thing that
18:02I want you to understand about this is
18:03that connects are part of the game now.
18:05But I didn't start bidding 200 connects
18:08from day one. Connects launched, dry
18:10patches happened, others outbid me, and
18:12then I bid too much. I made the
18:14mistakes. Nobody should be bidding 200
18:16connects in their first month. I like to
18:18operate around the beginner rule of
18:19three. And this is it. If they're in
18:20your lane and the client checks out and
18:22they've only got a few proposals, say
18:24less than 20, boost small. If it's a
18:26crowded post in the wrong lane or an
18:28unchecked client, that's not marketing.
18:30That is literally a donation to Upwork.
18:32So, pick your battles. But the fair game
18:34truth is this. Some people, half the
18:36internet or half the Upwork users are
18:38furious about payto-play. But most
18:40competition pay stupidly or not at all.
18:42Smart payers get seen first. That's not
18:45fair, but it is the game. Quick one,
18:47guys, before we go job hunting. Wake up.
18:49Shake yourself out cuz there's a lot of
18:51really important content coming. But do
18:53me a favor. If you enjoy this content,
18:55hit the subscribe button because I'm
18:56going to be doing a 10,000 connect
18:58challenge. I'm going to buy 10,000
18:59connects and I'm going to spend them as
19:00fast as I can and let you know what the
19:02results are. No inquiries, I'll tell
19:04you. Loads of inquiries in closed jobs.
19:06I will tell you. Hit like, hit subscribe
19:08so you don't miss them. And drop the
19:09most connects that you've ever boosted
19:11or applied for a project with because I
19:13want to know if anybody is as crazy as
19:15me. Applying for jobs is one of the
19:17biggest cheat codes to growing your
19:19freelance business that exists. And
19:21there's a few things that you need to do
19:23in order for you to be successful at
19:25doing this. Now, if I was to just come
19:27and search whenever I wanted, I'd
19:29probably end up doing it in the
19:30evenings. But I've seen everything
19:32before people browse. And here's how. If
19:34you hit the little bell icon here and
19:36you go to see all notifications, you
19:38then hit job alerts. And then there's
19:40this little settings cog here. Alert
19:43preferences. This gives you the ability
19:46to be able to choose how you get
19:48notified. Make sure that you turn email
19:50on. Frequency is instant. So as soon as
19:52a relevant job is posted, you get
19:54notified. Can't get any quicker than
19:56that. And then it also has the hourly
19:58jobs. So I can select it. minimum hourly
20:00rate is $10 and then the fixed price
20:02project is $5. Why do I have such low
20:05projects on? Well, I I once won a
20:08project that had 400k total spent and
20:10they'd posted a job for 10 bucks. Their
20:13average hourly rate paid was $50 an hour
20:14and I ended up closing them on thousands
20:16of dollars a month. So, what they put in
20:18their job post is simply because they
20:19don't understand how it should be
20:21quoted. They don't know what the price
20:22should be. That will take you 2 minutes
20:24to set up. In the description, there's a
20:26video that I've created around a claude
20:29routine. I give it away for free. Go and
20:30watch that in its entirety at the end of
20:32this training course and set that up so
20:35that your alerts that come to your inbox
20:36are automatically digested and fed back
20:38to you. That way you know exactly which
20:40ones you should apply for based off of
20:42your criteria and you can go after them
20:44straight away. But let's get back to
20:47searching for the project and I'll show
20:48you a few things around filters. So I'm
20:50going to search for Google Ads. Now
20:52ignore the categories. I keep it open.
20:55But if I select hourly jobs and then I
20:59set it at $5 an hour, $10 an hour,
21:02whichever one I want to choose. Let's go
21:03with 10. Then fixed price projects and
21:06then just tick all of these. That's
21:09fine. I'm not going to worry about the
21:10proposals. I want their payment to be
21:12verified. I want them to have hired
21:14before because there's 400 projects in
21:16here that haven't hired before. And then
21:18I'm going to set this to the United
21:20States. You can go through this. In
21:22fact, I'll show you because I don't want
21:23to skip anything expecting it to be
21:25common knowledge, but you can select
21:27multiple individual locations at once.
21:30So, UK, United Kingdom, Canada, and
21:32Australia are the ones that I go for.
21:35You can go sub regions, too, which is a
21:37good way to approach it, but that'll do.
21:39That's more than enough. Four countries.
21:41Project length, leave that as it is.
21:43This is good enough for me. So, when I'm
21:46looking through this, there's a few
21:47things that you really want to look at.
21:49You want to make sure that anybody with
21:51these like fixed price of what they've
21:53got set up, you can ignore it. Just
21:54select them all. You want to get them,
21:56right? It don't matter how. But when you
21:58scroll through and you look at the
22:02individual job types, the first thing
22:04bit of advice I would give you is
22:05anything related to an agency. This
22:07screams of an agency. Yeah, I don't like
22:10you. See this? This is one way you can
22:11tell generally like I don't know, but it
22:13could be AI, but it says manage and
22:15optimize paid search campaigns for a
22:17growing healthcare practice. a growing
22:19healthcare practice, not mine or our
22:21like it's it's a these things you just
22:24get a spidey sense about what is
22:25actually happening. When you see
22:27anything like that and you see that it's
22:29related to an agency and you're three
22:31rungs down on the ladder, you're being
22:33your quote's been 4xed and you're going
22:35to be expected to deliver a service that
22:37goes at the price that they're charging,
22:39not the one that you're being paid for.
22:41Run a mile. Stop reading the job post.
22:43Start reading the client and start to
22:44understand exactly who you're going to
22:46be working with. If we go through and we
22:48look at this, see digital team skip like
22:52you're trying to grow your own business,
22:53not do this. This also looks like an
22:55agency. Yeah. Looking asking about time
22:57zones and stuff. Our care company. This
22:59looks good. United Kingdom. You see 40k
23:02spend $100 project. The average hourly
23:04rate paid will be low. They obviously I
23:06knew that was going to be the case
23:07because of what what's inside of there.
23:08But to be honest with you here, that is
23:10a decent job, but I'm not going to waste
23:12I would apply for that generally with a
23:14lower amount of connects. I want to get
23:16something that's really tasty for us.
23:17Laundry delivery company. They're going
23:19to be small, too. Australia restricted
23:22that account. Run a mile. In order to
23:24help me with this, what I'm going to do
23:25here is I'm going to change this to most
23:27recent because this gives us obviously
23:30the actual order that these jobs have
23:32been posted in and you get the best
23:33chance to get into somebody. So, this
23:36could be a great opportunity for us meta
23:38ads for a software company. This is one
23:40of those cases where my profile touches
23:42on this, but I offer holistic marketing
23:44strategies. So, this is a a decent
23:46project with a reasonably hourly rate
23:48paid. They'd be willing to pay $50 an
23:50hour or whatever. Avoid the hourly rate
23:51conversation anyway. But yeah, this is
23:53it. And I have great experience in SAS.
23:56So, this is one of the projects that I'm
23:58going to well, this is a project that
23:59I'm going to apply for with you in a
24:00moment. I've done that before with the
24:02client that I mentioned 400K. If you go
24:04and wait till the evenings to apply for
24:06these jobs, you're going to be invisible
24:07to people who read like beginners. When
24:09it comes down to the red flag post, skip
24:11them. Avoid them like the plague.
24:12Agencies, etc., you know, cheap labor.
24:15It just doesn't work. I've saved that
24:16project, and we're going to do that
24:18together in a moment. But there are more
24:19good clients than you have connects. So,
24:22spend them on the right ones. And now,
24:23the part that everything's been building
24:25to the proposal. This is where I show
24:26you the move that I promised at the
24:28start, the free one that roughly tripled
24:29my replies. It's the first line. That's
24:32it. That's the whole secret. The first
24:34line of your proposal mirrors their
24:36exact problem. in their words back to
24:38them. Not dear sir, not I'm excited to
24:41apply for this opportunity. Their
24:43problem in the first line because think
24:45about what the client is doing. They're
24:47scrolling a wall of 80 proposals and in
24:492026 most of that written by AI. That
24:52wall of text is done in 4 seconds and it
24:54reads like it. Same greeting, same
24:56waffle, same list of skills, same AI
24:58tool applying for them. And then yours.
25:00You mention your checkouts losing people
25:02on mobile. That's usually one of three
25:04things. Two of them are a quick fix.
25:06Stop. Hear that difference? That's
25:08someone who actually read the post.
25:10Clients feel it instantly. They go warm.
25:11And it cannot be faked at scale, which
25:14is exactly why it's worth triple. The
25:16whole proposal is freebies. Their
25:18problem, first line, their words, your
25:20proof, one or two lines, a result you've
25:23had or one of those portfolio pieces
25:24that you built. And a next step that's
25:26easy to say yes to. Do not give them an
25:29out. They have to answer yes or no. This
25:31time or that time, this today or
25:33tomorrow. these things. Four to five
25:35lines, six maximum total. No life story
25:38nobody has ever hired. The longer
25:40proposal. Then if you want the version
25:42of this that wins jobs everyone else is
25:44fighting for, you add the step that
25:45nobody's willing to do. You do 10 to 15
25:48minutes of research before you apply. If
25:50they've named their company, look them
25:51up, look their competitors up, their
25:53industry, you know what they've tried.
25:54With the AI tools that are available to
25:56you now, this takes minutes, not hours.
25:58And then you record a 2-minute video
26:00walkthrough going through what you
26:02found. When a client watches that for
26:04the first time, they're amongst that
26:05wall that I just mentioned of AI
26:07applications. They're thinking one
26:08thing. This person knows my business,
26:10took time out of their day to apply for
26:13this job, and they're better than all of
26:15the agencies that I've paid combined on
26:17a wall of robot proposals. You're not
26:19competing anymore. You're the only human
26:21in the room. And I'm not going to just
26:23tell you about it. You're about to watch
26:24me do the whole thing in its entirety
26:27from the first step on a real job. the
26:30research, the proposal, the first minute
26:32of an actual or two minutes of an actual
26:34video recorded right in front of you.
26:36And then once you've seen the craft,
26:38I'll show you the tool that I built.
26:40You'll see it during the application.
26:41It's a free tool that does the heavy
26:43lifting on putting applications together
26:44properly. I'm deliberately not teaching
26:47the tool in this today because has its
26:49own full video and I'll link that in the
26:51description too showing you exactly how
26:53to use it, where to grab it, and you
26:55know, it's going to increase your uh
26:57application success rate drastically.
26:59The craft comes first because the tool
27:01only works in the hands of somebody who
27:03knows what good looks like. So watch. So
27:06I've opened the job post from earlier.
27:07I've identified the core issues that
27:10this client is worried about. Creating
27:12content, monitoring the campaign
27:14results, and recommending improvements
27:16on an ongoing basis to increase
27:17efficiency. That's it. I put this in my
27:20tool and then I pasted the tools output
27:22into here. It gave me a Loom script. I'm
27:24not going to use that today because I've
27:25got something a little bit better that I
27:27didn't upload and I want to freestyle it
27:28for you. so you can see it. But this is
27:30the job post fully ready to copy and
27:32paste the brackets there. Make sure you
27:34delete them when you use it. But that
27:35video is at the in the description and
27:37at the end of this video, so you'll be
27:39able to take it. Now, when it comes down
27:41to what I did, I literally just went to
27:43Perplexity. I voice noted this
27:45explaining that I'm applying for the
27:46Upwork job. I'll put the listing below.
27:48I've got 500k on Upwork. There's nothing
27:50crazy inside of that. Pause it if you
27:52need it, but it isn't anything crazy.
27:53You can literally freestyle that. And
27:55then I pasted in the job post and it
27:57gave me this which is a nice looking
27:59document created by Plexity. They'll
28:01know it's AI but we own it on the video.
28:03The fact is is that we've done something
28:05that the majority of other people just
28:06simply will not do. 99% of other people
28:08will not put any more effort in. They
28:10think that they're entitled to that
28:11client's money without doing any work.
28:13And the fact is is that you're not. So
28:15it took a couple of minutes for
28:16Perplexity to run. And it took 30
28:18seconds for me to get that job post
28:20using the automated tool. So, I don't
28:22have anything else left to do other than
28:23to create the application. If you need
28:25to follow the Loom script when you use
28:27my tool, do it. It writes the full
28:29script for you. You could do it full
28:31screen like this on Loom and have it
28:33that way. Obviously, I need to make sure
28:35that I'm covering a few key and core
28:36points around this because I've got this
28:38document. So, I'm going to record this
28:40Loom right now. There isn't anything
28:42else to really wait for. So, let's go.
28:44Hey, Victor, Michael Elliot here. I've
28:46been scaling SAS businesses on Meta for
28:48years. What caught my attention about
28:49this is I understand you're worried
28:51about creation of content, monitoring
28:53campaign results and being proactive in
28:55giving you the efficiency increases that
28:57you need. Well, I did exactly that for
28:59sales flow. I took them from 20K to 60K
29:01a month in ad spend just over and I
29:03tripled their rorowass inside of 12
29:05months. That's why I've applied for
29:07this. It's right in my wheelhouse. So,
29:09if we look at what I've put together, I
29:11did some deep research with perplexity
29:14to put together this document for you.
29:15But the experience here three times
29:18rowass increase 20 to 60k monthly meta
29:20spend in terms of scalability and the
29:23SAS ICP sales automation same buyer you
29:26know it's exactly the same sort of tool
29:28on the same platform that cloud-based
29:30LinkedIn outreach platform is going to
29:32be extremely similar to the audience
29:34that you're targeting even if the SAS
29:36tool does something completely different
29:37getting people to sign up is a
29:39completely isolated process and unless
29:41you've worked in SAS you don't really
29:43understand how to do it so B2B SAS Meta
29:45ads. The benchmarks that I'll measure
29:47against, I've took the averages here.
29:48$2.52, 0.78% link click-through rate.
29:52That's the average CTR in B2B and SAS.
29:54The cost per lead should be $50 to $150.
29:57And a decent rorowass for funded SAS is
30:003 to 5x. That could easily be achieved
30:02when it comes down to the SAS funnel.
30:04Obviously, one thing that you'll know is
30:05that the lifetime value of a customer is
30:08the important metric. Your average
30:10customer value is what makes up whether
30:12the strategies are working or not. It
30:14isn't by the I don't know the average
30:17value of the user's first payment being
30:21you know 20 bucks. It's the fact that if
30:23on average they stay for 10 months
30:24that's $200. And I understand the
30:27logistics of how an individual cost per
30:29acquisition actually works. So you know
30:32you volume AI bidders offshore agencies
30:34and genuine specialists. These are the
30:37three individual types that you get on
30:38Upwork. I'm obviously the latter. The
30:40SAS hiring and ad landscape that you're
30:42operating has 18 million active
30:44freelancers, four billion annual client
30:46spend on Upwork, you know, plus 35%
30:49growth in this quarter and a 40% surge
30:51in AI category work on Upwork. So,
30:54you're falling into a category here
30:56where you're going to fall foul to some
30:58of those things unless you tackle this
30:59properly. I lead with proof, not
31:01promises. I can showcase anything you
31:03want to you, including a video
31:05testimonial from SalesFlow themselves.
31:06So, let me know. I'll start with a clear
31:0830-day plan. audit, creative testing,
31:10scaling rules. One question that I'd
31:12want to align on early is lead
31:14qualification. Is it handled in-house or
31:16through a CRM stage because that's for
31:18the track for tracking purposes. So, I'm
31:21not going to go through every single
31:23thing that I put together inside of this
31:25doc. I'll just fire it over. But your
31:26first 30 days with me start with a full
31:28account audit. So, I'm not going to go
31:30to weeks two, three, and four because
31:32they don't matter unless we take care of
31:33that audit together. But if you're
31:35looking for a professional who wants to
31:37work with somebody on a part-time basis
31:39that actually understands your industry,
31:42what you're trying to achieve, and how
31:43money works, then I think you'll
31:45struggle to find somebody more suited
31:46than me. Victor, have a great weekend.
31:48Drop me a message. We'll speak when you
31:50can. Bye-bye. You'll see there, guys. I
31:52went through the individual audit phase,
31:54like the the Loom phase. It wasn't that
31:56long, but it was longer than what I
31:57would like at 3 minutes. The document
31:58was a bit longer than I'd anticipated.
32:00You probably saw me skip for a few pages
32:02if you were paying attention closely
32:03there. But yeah, the tool took 20
32:05seconds to give it to me. I used
32:07perplexity in order to be able to go to
32:09the next step. Now I've got a full loom
32:10that I can send to the client and I
32:13literally just need to copy this link,
32:15paste that inside of the uh application
32:18that I just put together, which is here.
32:21and then remove this. And I've got a
32:24perfectly good I'm going to attach a
32:25video testimonial to it that I've got.
32:27But that I've got a perfectly good
32:28application that gives me direct points
32:31that actually showcase how we can do
32:33this. And then the only thing left to do
32:35after I attached the video testimonial
32:36is decide how much we're going to boost.
32:38Well, to prove a point here, I'm
32:40actually going to boost 200 connects.
32:41And the reason is just simply that I
32:43want to be in the first position and be
32:45future proof for bids that come in since
32:47then. everyone will go underneath that
32:49or somebody might come and blow me out.
32:50But the chances of four people doing
32:51that in the time it takes Victor to see
32:53it is quite slim. And that's pretty much
32:56it for this section. I'm going to fire
32:58this off and then I'll join you in the
32:59next bit. Let's reset. Now the machine's
33:01built the profile proof hunt in
33:03proposals. All of that's taken care of.
33:05And now we hit the wall. The real one,
33:07the one that ends more freelancing
33:09careers than anything else. And it
33:12nearly beat me. It's your first job.
33:13Because here's the trap in full. And
33:15you'll feel this if you're in this
33:16situation. Because clients hire safe.
33:18Safe means reviews and you maybe you
33:20don't have any. You can't get hired
33:22without reviews and you can't get
33:23reviews without getting hired. Round and
33:25round on the hamster wheel. That loop is
33:28where those Upwork careers get ended.
33:30And there's two ways to break it. I've
33:32used both and they both work really
33:33well. The first is a tiny paid project.
33:36On my profile right now, as you saw
33:38earlier, there's a $5 audit that anybody
33:40can book. When I was building this
33:42account up, you know, taking small
33:44projects like that were how I banked
33:45reviews. a strategy document, an audit,
33:48something real. Competitor analysis in
33:50your lane price so low that saying yes
33:52cost the client nothing. But $ five
33:54dollar is a symbol potentially for the
33:57relationship moving forward, but
33:58importantly to get a review on your
34:00profile. It doesn't pay your bills, but
34:02guess what? It's not meant to. We're
34:04building a future proof profile here. It
34:06basically generates a review and in
34:08month one, a review is worth more than
34:10any money you could physically possibly
34:11earn. Every completed one makes you a
34:14safer bet and safer gets hired. The
34:16second one is if you're part of any
34:17community, Facebook groups, Reddit,
34:19forums in your niche, even do a defined
34:21piece of work in exchange for a video
34:23testimonial. That's not theory for me.
34:25When I quit my job with three grand in
34:28the bank, and a 4-month old baby, that
34:29was the entire plan. A laptop, a phone,
34:31and free work for testimonials in
34:33Facebook groups. It's how ad train
34:35started. Free work isn't charity. It's
34:37buying proof and price your first real
34:40jobs to win. you know, $25, $35 an hour.
34:43Depending on your lane, where you are,
34:45what you're happy with, you could go
34:46lower. But write yourself a note that
34:48says this number expires in 90 days
34:50because your launch price, it's not your
34:53actual worth. Job one's goal is not
34:55income. It's a fivestar review and 100%
34:57job success score. That is all that
34:59matters. It's the foundation that
35:01everything else in your career will
35:03stand on. Now, the part that I need you
35:04to hear is this, because this is where
35:06you'll be tested. Even doing everything
35:08right, I sat through months of silence
35:10on this platform, proposals into the
35:12void. And worse than silence, I was
35:14getting calls, getting all the way to
35:16the final conversation and hearing, "We
35:17really like you, but we've gone with
35:19someone with a bigger profile." Over and
35:20over, losing to the season freelancer,
35:22not because I was worse than they were,
35:24but it was because I looked riskier on
35:27paper. One of those was a private
35:29aviation company that they he loved me.
35:31Like, it was a great relationship and
35:33conversation, Sam. They picked the
35:35established option anyway. A few months
35:37later, they came back. The safe pick had
35:39tanked their account and they asked if
35:41I'd still take it on and I did. That
35:43year, they had the best summer in their
35:44company's history. So, hear me when I
35:46say this. Losing is not final on this
35:48platform. It's actually a part of
35:50everyday life and you need to get used
35:52to the feeling of losing projects cuz
35:53you're going to lose more than you win.
35:55The proposal that gets ignored today is
35:57still sitting in an inbox tomorrow. The
35:59client who says no in March might come
36:01back in June. The silence that you're
36:02about to sit through is not the platform
36:04telling you it doesn't work. It's lag.
36:06And the only people who lose for good
36:08really are the ones who aren't there
36:11when it catches back up with them. So,
36:12the replies are now coming. And there's
36:14a call in your calendar. Most
36:15freelancers, they get this wrong. They
36:17treat it like an audition. It is not an
36:19audition. Most freelancers, they
36:21completely blow this up because they go
36:23through this without looking at it as a
36:25diagnosis. The client isn't there to
36:27watch you perform. They've got a problem
36:28and it's costing them money. That's why
36:30they're reaching out to you. They want
36:31to feel like the person on this call is
36:33the one who makes it stop. So you ask
36:35about the problem. You ask what they've
36:37tried. You listen and then you give them
36:39something, one small specific useful
36:41thing just like I did with that
36:42individual presentation there right
36:44there on the call. This is my 15inute
36:47ritual. And clients mention it to me
36:48more than anything else that I do.
36:50Before any call, I take the job post and
36:52if I know the company, their website,
36:54their industry, like I just showed you,
36:55I spend 15 to 20 minutes understanding
36:58their world, their competitors, their
36:59industry, their costs. Not even that.
37:01Some days with AI, it takes 5 minutes to
37:04do. Then on the call, I hand them one
37:06insight from it. Something small. It
37:07costs me a few minutes. If I've created
37:09a document like I have done today, I
37:11would share it with them. To them, it
37:12means the earth because every other
37:14freelancer turned up to talk about
37:16themselves, how much they're going to be
37:18paid. and I turned up already working on
37:21their problem. I was the safest option
37:22in the room every time I am. Then you
37:24win the job and this is where most
37:25freelancers make the mistake that caps
37:27their whole career. They think winning
37:29the project is the finish line. Listen,
37:31when you win a project, the project
37:33hasn't even started. The win bought you
37:35one thing, a chance to make an
37:36impression. And if you don't overd
37:38deliver on that chance, someone else is
37:39going to come along and take that client
37:41off you. They will. I do it to people
37:43all the time. My dad's got a saying, and
37:44it's quietly run my business since day
37:46one. It's not what you pay a man, it's
37:47what he costs you. And what that means
37:48is, think about it from the client's
37:50side. The cheaper freelancer who
37:52delivers lay half right full of
37:54surprises, it costs a fortune whatever
37:55the invoice says. The one who delivers
37:57early, communicates before being asked
37:59and never leaves them wondering what's
38:01going on. Costs nothing. Be the one who
38:03cost them nothing. That's what overd
38:05delivering actually means. It's not free
38:07extras. It's zero headaches for the
38:09client. And understand what's at stake
38:11here because it's bigger than a review.
38:12Winning jobs is the engine of your
38:14business. Service is the chassis of it.
38:16It's the thing that holds your revenue
38:18together. If you're brilliant at winning
38:20work and average at delivering it,
38:22you've got a retention problem waiting
38:23to blow up. And a retention problem
38:25means that you spend every month chasing
38:27your tail, spending more connects,
38:28replacing the clients leaking out of the
38:31back. That's the hamster wheel from the
38:33money section rebuilt by my own hand.
38:35Let me show you what the other road
38:36pays. Years ago, I looked after one
38:38client properly, someone I'd met in a
38:40Facebook group, as it happens, because
38:42this rule doesn't care where the client
38:43came from. He pays me $35,000 a month
38:46for Google Ads management. I've added
38:48three million to their pipeline. Off the
38:49back of that work, he introduced me to
38:51two more people. They each pay the same.
38:53That's over $10,000 a month. $120,000 a
38:58year from one relationship delivered
39:00properly. No proposals, no connects, no
39:02boosting, not a penny spent winning
39:03them. Overdrive for one client and they
39:06start selling you to the next one. That
39:08is the highest paying marketing strategy
39:10on earth and it costs nothing but doing
39:12your job and doing it brilliantly. So on
39:14Upwork, the rule is simple. Your first
39:16three reviews are the foundation this
39:17entire account gets built on. If you
39:19fail at them, you're going to really
39:20struggle. Treat job one like it pays 10
39:23times what it does. Deliver early,
39:24communicate more than feels natural, and
39:26make the review inevitable. And that's
39:28the whole machine from head to toe. When
39:30I started this profile, I had no
39:32reviews. I was in the exact same
39:33position as you. But guess what? Nobody
39:35came to save me. and nobody is coming to
39:38save you. So go and check out the
39:40application video and the tool that I
39:42mentioned. In the description will be
39:43the videos that I've mentioned
39:44throughout and a couple of others that I
39:46think are essential to anybody who's
39:48watched this video. If you've enjoyed
39:50it, hit like, hit subscribe. I'm
39:52debating running a free school community
39:55or some sort of training so that people
39:57can actually get this stuff wired into
39:59their brain. It's important. If you're
40:01interested in that, hit the like, hit
40:02subscribe button, drop a comment below.
40:04But listen, my name is Michael Elliot.
40:06Go crush it on Upwork. It's doable by
40:08anybody.

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