Upwork Proposals: 8 Golden Rules for Writing Upwork Cover Letters to Get Top-Level Jobs — Transcript

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1. 0:0095% Of Upwork freelancers get their job proposals instantly archived.
2. 0:04I'm going to show you the 8 hilariously wrong things that they're doing so that
3. 0:07you can be in the 5% that land the big jobs. What's up guys,
4. 0:11I'm Evan Fisher, Upwork freelancer-turned-founder of Unicorn Capital.
5. 0:15In the past four years, I've earned over $1.5 million on Upwork,
6. 0:19and I want to help you do the same.
7. 0:21Your goal is to win jobs with great clients that pay lots of money.
8. 0:26Comment with the dollar sign down below if that's your goal on Upwork.
9. 0:29My goal is to show you how to do that with a simple, repeatable process.
10. 0:33So I'm about to break down the 8 things to avoid at all costs within your
11. 0:37proposals, the golden rules to follow to get 3x the replies,
12. 0:40and the one secret that no one else is telling you. Let's go. Full disclosure:
13. 0:45I'm not a sales copywriter. I haven't read all the books.
14. 0:48All I know is what consistently worked for me in attracting awesome Upwork
15. 0:52clients who are a blast to work with and who pay top dollar.
16. 0:55The path of the job is pretty straightforward and we are on step one.
17. 0:58People winning jobs on Upwork starts with a high-converting cover letter.
18. 1:03So first, let's look at what people are doing wrong in their cover letter:
19. 1:07Dear Sir / Madam. I am very Confusion right now.
20. 1:11I am certain that I fully understand your job requirements. Oh really,
21. 1:14do you now?
22. 1:16Although it is true that I do not have much professional experience.
23. 1:21Yeah, don't do that. I promise that I will... Oh,
24. 1:24you're making promises already?! Please consider my proposal... If it was good,
25. 1:29you wouldn't be writing that.
26. 1:30You asked for two relevant work examples - I included four.
27. 1:35So you don't listen, or what...? I have already done a draft of your job.
28. 1:39You definitely don't listen. Here are my questions about your job. Thank you,
29. 1:44bye-bye! If you have done any of those,
30. 1:46then you must leave a comment down below. It is physically impossible not to.
31. 1:49About that last one: Yes, you should be asking questions,
32. 1:52but now is not the time to do it. Not in your proposal.
33. 1:55Let's talk about where you should be asking questions.
34. 1:58As we get into the golden rules for proposals, wherever possible,
35. 2:01use the client's first name. It shows that the message is clearly personalized.
36. 2:05You can find it in the feedback history along those same lines.
37. 2:08If you have the information, Google the business,
38. 2:10because industry experience plays.
39. 2:12But if you've worked with someone extremely similar,
40. 2:16then do not mention them. Instead, here's what you should be doing:
41. 2:20I've worked with another client in this space,
42. 2:22and I think you might find it very interesting to have a chat. That's it.
43. 2:27Keep your proposals short and sweet. Surprise!
44. 2:29The highest paying clients don't have time to read long messages!
45. 2:32Then hit them with authority and social proof. You have to show them your value.
46. 2:37What I like to do to establish authority is use client quotes from your
47. 2:41profile. You also then have to be offering a very clear CTA.
48. 2:45There should be only one thing that that client has to do. And that CTA,
49. 2:50that call-to-action, should be to book a call with you. Yes,
50. 2:54you're going to have questions.
51. 2:56You ask those questions either in a call form or on that call
52. 3:01itself. Remember: the P.S. Plays.
53. 3:04People will skim through an entire message, not even click your links,
54. 3:09but will read the "P.S." On the bottom of the message.
55. 3:12It is scientifically proven by someone that I can't even remember their name.
56. 3:16You've got to keep experimenting -
57. 3:17you're going to find that you're going to put in a lot more work when you're
58. 3:21early on in your freelance journey,
59. 3:23but the more work and more track record that you have with clients,
60. 3:26the more that your work, examples and projects,
61. 3:28feedback is going to do the heavy lifting for you. So, think you're ready to go?
62. 3:33Hold on a second. The number one thing that no one else will tell you,
63. 3:36you have to read Upwork's terms of service in full.
64. 3:40This is not optional, people.
65. 3:42Every single $1 million+ freelancer knows the terms of service like the back of
66. 3:46their hand. The better you know the terms of service,
67. 3:49the more money you're going to make,
68. 3:51because not doing this is like not reading an employment contract for $10,000.
69. 3:56You show up on Monday, you work like a dog all week and on Friday,
70. 4:01you show up with the work and ask to be paid, and the CEO's response is like,
71. 4:04"thanks for the work. I'll take that, but we didn't approve for you to do that.
72. 4:09So we're not going to be paying you." That is literally what you're setting
73. 4:12yourself up for. And if you're sitting there nodding your head, thinking, "Evan,
74. 4:16I know the exact situation of how that can happen on Upwork," then I want you to
75. 4:21comment with a 100 emoji down below. But don't spoil it for everyone!
76. 4:25If you're kind of fuzzy or sitting there thinking like, "yeah,
77. 4:28I'm lost," Then the item at the top of your to-do list is take an
78. 4:32hour, read through and understand the Upwork Terms of Service.
79. 4:36I guarantee you it'll help you get your next job faster,
80. 4:39which is what we're going to talk about in this video right here.
81. 4:42(Outtakes) Let's do another take though. Don't even. Okay. So you,
82. 4:47okay. So let's just, let's just like... OK, sank you bye... OK sank you bye....
83. 4:52Thank you, bye-bye. Okay, sank you bye-byeeeeeeeeeee...!